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PT 595: Seminar

Dr. Tanvi Bhatt

4/26/2016

Reflection #1

“Learning why we fall and why we don’t…one step at a time” by Andrew Sawers, CPO, PhD

Dr. Sawers gave a talk focused on locomotor expertise and how our understanding of it

can help us guide rehabilitation. In his research, he has focused on studying balance control in

individuals with unilateral amputees, healthy individuals and ballet dancers. This has allowed

him to study balance across the whole spectrum of skill level. His method of studying balance

control involves the use of beams which have a modifiable level of difficulty. The use of the

beams allows him to study balance failures during walking. In addition to the beams, he uses

methods of neuromehcanical dynamics to understand balance. This requires the measurement of

electromyography and kinetics which are analyzed using the methods of synergies. Through

synergies, he is able to compute movement complexity, consistency, efficacy, versatility and

variability. Through these methods, he was able to discover that experts have more general

balance control with more complex combinations which allows them to have more versatility. By

understanding what makes experts better, he proposes that we can begin to develop rehabilitation

therapies which lead to these results.

Through Dr. Sawer’s talk, I gained a new perspective on balance control and using

failures as a means of probing the motor system. Particularly, the idea of studying experts is one

which I have never considered but given that they are at the top level of physical performance, it

may be worth paying attention to them to develop therapies.

 “Responsible Conduct of Research: A pathway to improving research integrity and reducing

research misconduct at UIC and beyond” by Mark D. Grabiner

It was a pleasure to attend Dr. Grabiner’s lecture on research misconduct. Research

misconduct is defined as any serious deviation from accepted ethical guidelines and professional

standards in scholarship and research. Dr. Grabiner’s lecture went through how misconduct is

committed by fabricating, falsifying, and plagiarizing in the process of proposing, performing

and reviewing research. He noted that the principal investigator (PI) accepts the responsibility of

the scientific conduct which occurs during the research process starting from seeking approval

from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) to the presentation of the work. And that any

misconduct leaves to the open to civil, criminal and administrative penalties.

Through Dr. Grabiner’s lecture, I was able to learn about the basic guidelines of research

conduct. Although I was familiar with the basic process of subject protection, I learned a few tips

about how to avoid succumbing to research misconduct. The most important lesson which I

learned was that the research process goes beyond experimentation and analyses, that research is

a process goes from proposal to presentation. And that this process should be respected and

carried out judiciously. With the perspective which I gained from Dr. Grabiner’s lecture, I

believe that I will become a better researcher.