As Pitt’s associate vice chancellor for research for STEM-Health Sciences collaborations, Rory A. Cooper helps lead and strengthen connections across the STEM and health science areas to evolve new collaborations and research synergies at the intersections of STEM and the health sciences.
Cooper participates ex officio on the University Research Council and works to develop institutional-level funding to support research in the target areas.
With a focus on partnerships and interdisciplinary collaborations, Cooper has led several centers and projects that have included faculty, staff and students from multiple Pitt schools and campuses. He has national and global collaborations with academic institutions, nonprofits and corporations.
He is FISA Foundation–Paralyzed Veterans of America Distinguished Professor at Pitt, serving jointly in bioengineering, electrical engineering and orthopedic surgery. Cooper is also the founding director and VA Senior Research Career Scientist of the Human Engineering Research Laboratories, a VA Rehabilitation R&D Center of Excellence in partnership with Pitt. He authored or co-authored more than 375 peer-reviewed journal publications, has 30 patents awarded or pending for advanced mobility devices, robotics and assistive technologies, and is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors as well as the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America and the Biomedical Engineering Society.
Cooper sees his appointment as “an opportunity to build new collaborative efforts and to help colleagues conduct more team research of high impact by working collectively.”
