The University of Rhode Island College of Health Sciences recently welcomed Assistant Professor Ryan Chapman to the college. Specializing in biomechanics, Chapman has joined the Department of Kinesiology. Learn more about one of the College’s newest professors:
Education: Ph.D., biomedical engineering, Dartmouth College; M.S., biomechanical engineering, The University of Iowa; B.S.E.E., electrical engineering, The University of St. Thomas.
Recent experience: Lecturing professor and postdoctoral research associate, Dartmouth College; Biomechanical engineer, University of Virginia; Graduate research assistant, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
Teaching focus: This semester, Chapman is teaching functional anatomy and intro to biomechanics to undergrad students, teaching them how the human body moves and what clinicians can do to help clients like athletes or clinical patients with prosthetics move more effectively. Chapman also plans to teach the College’s first graduate-level biomechanics class in the fall, which would be a more advanced look at the science of biomechanics and how it actually influences health care.
Research focus: Chapman, who is the principal investigator of the College’s Biomechanics & Wearables Laboratory, focuses his research on using novel technologies to figure out how people move and how to help them move more effectively. He uses wearable sensors, machine learning, artificial intelligence and optical motion capture technology to work with clients who have had orthopedic joint replacements, have experienced spinal trauma or any other orthopedic injuries or movement restrictions.
“It circles around how do we measure biomechanics with these novel technologies,” Chapman said. “Motion capture is the gold standard technique for quantifying how people move. We put little reflectors on the person, which tell the cameras the person’s position in space, and we convert those positions into kinematics — how much the joints are really moving. Then when we combine that with the data from a foreceplate under a treadmill in the middle of the lab floor, we can get joint kinetics — how much force or torque is being applied to the joints.”
Chapman’s specific studies underway include one on the rehabilitation process after a knee replacement, focusing on how a patient is able to complete tasks after surgery and finding ways to improve their movement. He is also working on a project involving the obstetric population, investigating how the pelvis changes throughout pregnancy to figure out and predict whether someone is ready to give birth; whether the fetus will actually fit and descend through the birth canal.
“I’m super passionate about it. No one has tried this, and I like doing science no one has tried,” Chapman said. “It has the real possibility to impact clinical care. If we can predict something is going to go wrong before it happens, and get the expectant mother to the hospital or get care pathways lined up, that would be world-changing.”
Why URI?: For chapman, choosing the URI College of Health Sciences was all about balance. He said he was interested in the size balance at URI after having worked at the very large University of Iowa and the small Dartmouth College. He also likes the balance between undergrad and graduate students in the Department of Kinesiology, and, especially, the balance between teaching and research
“I never feel overburdened or overstretched in one direction or the other in terms of teaching and research,” Chapman said. “That balance is really hard to find. At most universities, it’s either 95 percent research or 95 percent teaching, and you know you’re never going to get to do the other. So this balance was hard to find and was a big attraction.”