Hello there, I am Qiang Zhang!

I am an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alabama. My research is in the areas of biological signal-based neuromusculoskeletal modeling, control of rehabilitative/assistive robotic exoskeletons and functional electrical stimulation, human-robot interaction, human motion intent prediction, neuromuscular signals processing (surface electromyography and ultrasound US imaging), human locomotion biomechanics, Lyapunov-based nonlinear control and adaptive control, machine learning-based control, linear/nonlinear observer design, sensor fusion, and their applications to wearable robotic devices’ control and next-generation healthcare.

Before joining UA, I was a postdoctoral research fellow under the supervision of Dr. He (Helen) Huang, Dr. Michael D. Lewek, and Dr. Derek Kamper, in the Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training Projects (ARRTs) funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) at the Closed-Loop Engineering for Advanced Rehabilitation (CLEAR) in the UNC/NCSU Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University.

I got my Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Wuhan University in 2014, my first Master’s degree in Mechatronics Engineering from Wuhan University in 2017, my second Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 2019, and my Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University in 2021. Between 11/2021 and 08/2023, I was a postdoctoral research fellow of the Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training Projects (ARRTs) in the UNC/NCSU Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University. I have been an active research assistant in working closely with the Neuromuscular Control and Robotics Lab (NCRL), the Neuromuscular Rehabilitation Engineering Lab (NREL), the Interdisciplinary Human Movement Research Lab at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University, and the Multi-modality Biomedical Ultrasound Imaging Lab at the University of Pittsburgh on several research projects.​

My academic training and more than eight years of experience working as a research assistant in three labs prepare me to be an effective researcher in the areas of human-in-loop robotics, biomechanics analysis, control of biomechatronic devices, and so on. I am always looking for opportunities where I can combine my research acumen with my research experience to help real-world medical and daily needs.