NCBL

University of Alberta

Nasim Rahmanifar

AWARDS

  • Awarded the direct admission to a Ph.D. position in biomechanics at Amirkabir University of technology

  • Ranked 1st in class during Master studies at Amirkabir University of technology

  • Awarded the direct admission to Amirkabir graduate school for being ranked in top 3 for class

  • Attained the allowance to Pass extra units of mechanical engineering at Amirkabir University of technology as a result of being in top 10% of the entrance

  • 98.5th percentile in the nation-wide universities entrance exam

About ME

I am an MSc student in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta working in NCBL. My thesis is focused on “in-field assessment of the risk of repetitive strain injury of the shoulder in wheelchair users with spinal cord injury“.

I graduated from Amirkabir University of technology in 2019 with both BSc. and MSc. In Biomedical Engineering (Biomechanics).

Supervisor:

  • Dr. Hossein Rouhani

  • Dr. Chester Ho

Research Interests:

  • Rehabilitation

  • Sport biomechanics

  • Wearable technologies

  • Biomedical instrumentation

PROJECT

During my BSc. I worked on the Mechanical properties of the EPS foam used in Iranian helmets in order to obtain viscoelastic properties of the material and seek the frequency in which maximum energy attenuation occurs. Comparing our results with standards, an assessment of the injury prevention capabilities of the helmet was carried out. This work aimed to improve Iranian helmets’ design in the future.

During my MSc. I worked on spatiotemporal features of running gait using inertial sensors and algorithms such as continuous wavelet transform (CWT) to biomechanically assess the runners’ performance. The aim of this project was to quantifiably assess and develop running skills. Furthermore, the outputs of this project aimed to be useful for identifying running impairments among athletes.

In NCBL lab, I tend to work on shoulder biomechanics in wheelchair users using different instruments such as inertial sensors, motion analysis cameras, and smart wheels. The repetitive movements of manual wheelchair propulsion can increase the risk of developing shoulder impairments in a wheelchair. So the aim of this study is to monitor the risk during their daily life.