Dagmar Sternad

University Distinguished Professor,  Biology
University Distinguished Professor,  Electrical and Computer Engineering
Affiliated Faculty,  Bioengineering
Affiliated Faculty,  Physics

Contact

Office

  • 617.373.5093

Research Focus

Motor control and learning, variability and stability, virtual rehabilitation, dynamic modeling, rhythmic and discrete movements as primitives for action

About


Dagmar Sternad received the BS in Movement Science and Linguistics from the Technical University of Munich and the PhD in Experimental Psychology from the University of Connecticut. From 1995 until 2008, she was Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor at the Pennsylvania State University in Kinesiology and Integrative Biosciences. At Northeastern, she holds an interdisciplinary appointment in the departments of Biology and Electrical and Computer Engineering with affiliated appointments in Bioengineering and Physics. Her research in computational neuroscience and motor control focuses on learning and control of sensorimotor coordination in humans, both in healthy and neurologically impaired individuals. This work spans behavioral experiments with mathematical models of control and nonlinear dynamics, bridging biology with engineering and physics. The results are documented in over 80 publications in scientific journals and several books. The research has been continuously supported by grants from the National Institute of Health, the National Science Foundation and Office of Naval Research.

The central interest of research in the Action Lab is the control and coordination of goal-directed human behavior. Adopting a systems-level approach we aim to reveal the organizational principles of the nervous system in interaction with the mechanical system of the body and the environment. Our research strategy intertwines behavioral experiments on human subjects with theoretical work using mathematical models of movement generation. The theoretical approach views the actor in the environment as a dynamical system, which is high-dimensional and nonlinear. Our experimental research focuses on single- and multi- joint human movements including upper limb manipulation tasks and locomotion examined in virtual environments. We have extended these experimental paradigms to study the elderly and patients with neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.

 

Honors & Awards

  • 2021-22 Fulbright Award to research “Variability and Redundancy in Motor Learning” at the Santa Lucia Foundation at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy
  • Klein Lectureship Award
  • Distinguished Lecturer on Life and the Sciences of Complexity, Center for the Ecological Study of Perception and Action

Research Overview

Motor control and learning, variability and stability, virtual rehabilitation, dynamic modeling, rhythmic and discrete movements as primitives for action

Predictability in complex object control, Hierarchical coordination of complex actions, Learning to control dynamically complex objects, Neural basis of motor expertise, Characterization of predictive abilities in individuals with ASD using web-based interactive games

Action Lab

Research in the Action Lab is dedicated to the experimental and theoretical study of human motor control and learning. Our experiments collect kinematic and kinetic data, complemented by electromyographic and encephalographic data. Physical models of the task and their mathematical analysis provide understanding task solutions as basis for insight into human control.

Action Lab

Selected Research Projects

Research Centers and Institutes

Selected Publications

  • Balasubramaniam, Ramesh, Haegens, Saskia, Jazayeri, Mehrdad, Merchant, Hugo, Sternad, Dagmar, Song, Joo-Hyun (2021). Neural Encoding and Representation of Time for Sensorimotor Control and Learning. Journal of Neuroscience, 41(5),866-872. 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1652-20.2020
  • Bazzi, S. & Sternad, D. (2020). Human control of complex objects: towards more dexterous robots. Advanced Robotics, 34, 17, 1137-1155
  • Bazzi, S., & Sternad, D. (2020). Robustness in human manipulation of dynamically-complex objects through control contraction metrics. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 5, 2, 2578-2585. doi: 10.1109/LRA.2020.2972863
  • Sharif Razavian, R., Bazzi, S., Nayeem, R., Sadeghi, M., & Sternad, D. (2021). Dynamic primitives and optimal feedback control for the manipulation of complex objects. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2021), Xian, China and virtual, May 30-June 5.

Faculty

Dec 07, 2023

2023 Stanford University Annual Assessment of Author Citations

The following COE professors are among the top scientists worldwide selected by Stanford University representing the top 2% of the most-cited scientists with single-year impact in various disciplines. The selection is based on the top 100,000 by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above. The list below includes those […]

Students

Oct 18, 2023

Testing Extremes of Human Motor Control to Advance Robotics

Dagmar Sternad, university distinguished professor of biology, ECE, and physics, and her research group at Northeastern’s Action Lab, including mechanical engineering PhD student Mahdiar Edraki, are looking at extreme human movement to understand how humans manipulate complex objects, like whips.

Faculty

Apr 27, 2023

Announcing Summer 2023 PEAK Experiences Awardees

Several engineering students and science students mentored by COE faculty are recipients of Northeastern’s Summer 2023 PEAK Experiences Awards. They will be pursuing a diverse set of projects, including a study of a pathogen that haunts hospitals, an examination of segregationist rhetoric in Boston newspapers, and an analysis of creativity in music.

Faculty

Feb 09, 2023

Active Video Games can Improve Physical Therapy Results

Dagmar Sternad, university distinguished professor of biology and electrical and computer engineering, is studying the role that active video games could play in regaining your balance during physical therapy.

Faculty

Nov 02, 2022

2022 Stanford University Annual Assessment of Author Citations

The following COE professors are among the top scientists worldwide selected by Stanford University representing the top 2 percent of the most-cited scientists with single-year impact in various disciplines. The selection is based on the top 100,000 by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above. The list below includes […]

Dagmar Sternad

In the Media

Oct 04, 2022

When You Step Inside This Lab, You Must Whip It

Whip cracking can showcase “the pinnacle of human skill, and we as scientists do not understand it,” said Dagmar Sternad, a biologist and engineer at Northeastern University in Boston. (Featured in The New York Times)

Undergraduate

May 18, 2022

Announcing Summer 2022 PEAK Experiences Awardees

Several engineering students and science students mentored by COE faculty are recipients of Northeastern’s Summer 2022 PEAK Experiences Awards.

Dagmar Sternad

Faculty

Feb 28, 2022

Sternad awarded $3M NIH-MERIT Award for Human Control of Complex Objects

Dagmar Sternad, University Distinguished Professor of Biology, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Physics, and Core Faculty in the Institute for Experiential Robotics, has been awarded a five-year $3M Merit Award from the National Institutes of Health to investigate human sensorimotor control of dynamically complex objects.

Faculty

Dec 23, 2021

COE Professors Selected in Stanford University List of Top 2% Scientists Worldwide

The following COE professors are among the top scientists worldwide selected by Stanford University representing the top 2 percent of the most-cited scientists with single-year impact in various disciplines. The selection is based on the top 100,000 by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above. The list below includes […]

Dagmar Sternad

Faculty

Sep 17, 2021

Monitoring the Neurological Functions of Preterm Infants

University Distinguished Professor Dagmar Sternad, biology/ECE, in collaboration with David Paydarfar at the University of Texas at Austin Medical School, was awarded a $1M NSF grant for “Movement as a Vital Sign in Preterm Infants.”

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