RG

Rahul Goel

San Jose State University, Stanford University School of Medicine, University of Houston, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Baylor College of Medicine, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

ORCID iD 0000-0002-3516-6938
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About

I am an Aerospace engineer by training with a Ph.D. in Kinesiology (Neuroscience, Biomechanics, and Space Life Sciences curricular tracks). My Ph.D. research was in the area of Biomechanics and Motor Control of human movement, particularly about human posture control and locomotion in healthy as well as special populations, such as the elderly, patients, and astronauts. As part of my Ph.D., I worked at NASA Johnson Space Center's Neurosciences lab on various projects related to sensorimotor control issues that astronauts face during and after spaceflight.

I am primarily interested in understanding human response to spaceflight and developing and testing technologies to allow astronauts to monitor and manage health and performance autonomously, using non-invasive and resource-constrained approaches. I am also interested in translational research that benefits both astronaut health in space and that of clinical populations on the Earth.

Till recently, I have been working on integrating a postural control measure in the suite of eye-tracking measures using head-mounted VR display at the Visuomotor Control Lab of NASA Ames. I was also leading the efforts to expand that to test patients with retinal pathologies at the Stanford School of Medicine. Overall, my work involved assessing changes in human performance (cognition, vision, balance etc.) using tools suitable for operational environments or/and pathological conditions

I have experience writing or assist in writing successful grants for competitive peer-reviewed federal solicitations (e.g., NASA, NSF etc.), both as PI/Co-I, primarily around sensorimotor issues, cognitive performance, and behavioral health, both in astronaut as well as clinical populations.

Previously, I was a postdoctoral researcher in the Dept. of Radiology of the Stanford School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA (Sept 2019-Aug 2020). There, I was part of the Pervasive Wellbeing Technology lab, where I led several studies around wellbeing and stress management in-the-wild carried out in a discreet way using everyday devices/sensors that we use but are not designed for health monitoring, like computer mice, trackpads, steering wheel of cars, etc. I also helped in design and testing of novel stress management interventions.

Before that, I was a postdoctoral researcher in the Dept. of Neuroscience of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX (Mar 2018-Aug 2019). There, I primarily worked on developing algorithms using machine learning and deep learning tools applied to fMRI data collected on Veterans with PTSD, with the goal to use them for real-time neurofeedback-based therapy. I also used advanced signal processing techniques to extract useful insights on data from different type of wearables worn by different clinical populations in their free-living environment.

Research interests:

Neuroscience, biomechanics, vestibular stimulation, balance and locomotion, artificial gravity, motor control, sensory systems, human performance, sports science, wearable devices, digital health, non-invasive and unobtrusive health monitoring

Skills:

Non-invasive stimulation (TMS, GVS), non-invasive brain monitoring (EEG, fMRI), structural-MRI, EMG, Force & Motion sensors (e.g., accelerometers, gyroscope etc.), wearable sensors, MATLAB, C++, Python, signal processing, machine learning, statistical modeling, controls and programming, system identification, human factors, multi-sensory interactions

Employment

  • San Jose State University
    2020 - 2021
  • Stanford University School of Medicine
    2019 - 2020
  • Baylor College of Medicine Post-doc
    2018 - 2019
  • Airbus Defence and Space GmbH
    2010 - 2011

Education

  • University of Houston PhD
    2012 - 2017
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology SM
    2008 - 2011
  • Indian Institute of Technology Bombay B.Tech.
    2004 - 2008

Projects & Funding

Projects & funding information is unavailable.

Publications (46)