∙ FISA/PVA Distinguished Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology, University of Pittsburgh ∙ Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research for STEM and Health Sciences Collaboration, University of Pittsburgh ∙ Founder and Director, Human Engineering Research Laboratories
Rory A. Cooper is an American bioengineer who currently serves as FISA/PVA Distinguished Professor, Past Chair, in the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology and professor of bioengineering, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and orthopedic surgery at the University of Pittsburgh.[1][2][3] He is also assistant vice chancellor for research for STEM and Health Sciences Collaboration,[4] and a National Medal of Technology and Innovation Laureate.[5] He holds an adjunct faculty position at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, and is an invited professor at Xi'an Jiaotong University in Xi'an, China.[6][7]
Cooper enlisted in the United States Army in 1976 and was assigned to the 3rd Ordnance Battalion, 32nd Air Defense Artillery Command with U.S. Army Europe and was later attached to the 5th Signal Command, USAREUR, and the U.S. Military Community Activity Worms, 21st Support Command.[11]
While stationed in Germany in 1980, he was hit by a bus while riding a bicycle. As a result, he became paralyzed from the waist down.[12]
From 1989 to 1994, Cooper was an assistant professor in bioengineering at Sacramento State University.[15][16] In 1994, Cooper became an associate professor at the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh (obtaining full professorship in 1998).[17] Also in 1994, he founded the Human Engineering Research Laboratories, which includes the VA Center for Wheelchairs and Assistive Robotics Engineering.[18][19] He served as chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology at the University of Pittsburgh from 1997 to 2018.[20]
Cooper has published just over 370 peer-reviewed journal articles.[23][24][25] He is the author of Rehabilitation Engineering Applied to Mobility and Manipulation[26] and Wheelchair Selection and Configuration[27] and co-edited An Introduction to Rehabilitation Engineering,[28]Care of the Combat Amputee,[29]Warrior Transition Leader: Medical Rehabilitation Handbook.,[30] and Promoting Successful Reintegration.[31]
In 2014, Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh appointed Cooper a civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army.[35]
Inventions and patents
Cooper holds 25 patents in wheelchair technology.[36] He is the inventor of many advanced mobility devices and assistive technologies. Among these are MEBot, a stair-climbing wheelchair;[37] PneuChair, a wheelchair powered entirely by compressed air;[38] and Virtual Seating Coach, a smartphone app to control power wheelchair seating systems.[39][40]
The July 26, 2010 issue of Popular Science profiled Cooper, and a photo of him with a robotic wheelchair he invented was the issue's centerfold.[41] Cooper and his inventions were also the cover story of the May 2017 issue of New Mobility.[42] Additionally, Cooper was featured as the cover story of the September 2019 issue of Inventors Digest.[43]
In 2021, Cooper appeared in two articles discussing his inventions. He was in Insight Into Diversity on August 18 discussing the evolution of assistive technology.[44] Cooper discusses more innovations in a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) feature in August 2021.[45]
Cooper is an advocate for diversity within the invention community and in 2020 spoke to the U.S. Congress about American inventors' lack of diversity.[46]
At the 1988 Paralympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, Cooper received a bronze medal in the 4x400-meter wheelchair relay.[48]
Cooper was on the steering committee for the 1996 Paralympic Scientific Congress held in Atlanta, GA, and was the Sports Scientist for the 2008 U.S. Paralympic Team in Beijing, China.[49] He also received the 2013 International Paralympic Scientific Achievement Award.[50] He volunteered his expertise as a member of the US Paralympic staff in 1992, 1996, and 2008.[51] Cooper has been selected to serve on the International Paralympic Committee Science and Research Working Group and the VISTA 2021 Scientific Committee.[52]
Cooper served as the chair of the Local Organizing Committee for the National Veterans Wheelchair Games held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1998 and 2011.
Cooper has been a competitor in the National Veterans Wheelchair Game since 1983 winning over 200 medals in total in such sports a slalom, track, swimming, table-tennis, and hand-cycle.
Cooper, on his handcycle, appeared in the center of the October/November 2020 issue of AARP Magazine.[69]
In 2021, Cooper was awarded the Sigma Xi John P. McGovern Award, which recognizes achievements by a scientist or engineer that transcend their career as a researcher [70]
For his extensive contributions to wheelchair technology that have expanded mobility and reduced second hand injuries for millions of people with disabilities, Cooper was awarded the 2022 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Biomedical Engineering Award in Glasgow, Scotland.[71] In addition to the award, he was also awarded the 2022 RESNA Colin McLaurin distinguished Lectureship.[72] At the 2022 AUSA Conference, Civilian Aides to the Secretary to the Army Program, which Cooper is a part of, received The General Creighton W. Abrams Medal. The award is for groups or individuals for exceptional service to the US Army.[73]
In 2023, Dr. Cooper was inducted into the National Inventor Hall of Fame. He is being inducted with two patents. The first is No. 6,276,705 which is the Wheelchair hand rim and the second is No. 8,264,458 which is the Variable Compliance Joystick with Compensation Algorithms.
^Warrior Transition Leader Medical Rehabilitation Handbook (First ed.). Ft. Detrick MD: United States Department of Defense, Defense Dept, Borden Institute. October 2011. p. 208. ISBN9780160893667.