T
he field of haptics seeks to understand how we use our sense
of touch to interface with the world, and then to augment
that sense through the design of technological interfaces.
Although not yet as well understood as vision and hearing,
a thorough understanding of our sense of touch is vital as
people and machines are increasingly brought together in daily
interactions.
Associate Professor Gregory Gerling works on highly
collaborative and interdisciplinary projects that bridge
computational neuroscience, engineering, medicine and
psychology. This interdisciplinary approach is a major theme for
research at the U.Va. School of Engineering and Applied Science.
His two complementary research directions are: 1) the
computational analysis and modeling of how populations
of touch-sensitive neurons, which are embedded in the skin,
encode an object’s features into neuronal signals, which are
decoded by the brain, and 2) the design and analysis of medical
simulators to ensure that health practitioners’ hands-on skills
are systematically trained, time-effective and highly accurate.
Among other projects, he also works in designing graphical
user interfaces.
We seek to understand the generation of neural action potentials from populations of hundreds
of mechanosensitive afferents and their end organs, including the Merkel cell – neurite complex,
embedded in layers of fingerpad skin. Our approach is to join computational models with
experimental approaches to address questions not approachable by traditional studies.
U.Va. ENGINEERING
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