Max Shepherd
Assistant Professor, Physical Therapy, Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences
Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Contact
- m.shepherd@northeastern.edu
- 360 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 02115
Related Links
Research Focus
Prosthetics and wearable robotics design and control, gait rehabilitation, preference optimization, and machine learning
About
Dr. Shepherd is an Assistant Professor with a joint appointment in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, and Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation. Prior to coming to Northeastern, Dr. Shepherd did his PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Northwestern University while performing his research at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, and was a Postdoctoral researcher at Georgia Tech. He has previously worked at X (formerly Google X) and was a visiting scholar at Ossur, an Icelandic prosthetics manufacturer. Dr. Shepherd’s research seeks to improve the individualized design and control of robotic prosthetics and exoskeletons for people with mobility impairments. His research spans gait biomechanics, machine learning, robotics, mechatronic design, and human motor control and perception.
Education
- PhD, Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, 2019
- MS, Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, 2017
Professional Affiliations
- IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society
- IEEE Robotics and Automation Society
Research Overview
Prosthetics and wearable robotics design and control, gait rehabilitation, preference optimization, and machine learning
Selected Research Projects
- Towards Task-Agnostic and Device-Agnostic Ankle Exoskeleton Control for Mobility Enhancement
- – Principal Investigator, NSF
Department Research Areas
Selected Publications
- M. Shepherd and E. Rouse. “Comparing Prosthetist and Patient Preferences for Foot Stiffness,” Nature Scientific Reports, 2020
- M. Shepherd, A. Simon, J. Zisk, L. Hargrove. “Preferred Prosthetic Ankle-Foot Alignment for Level Ground and Ramp Walking,” IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 2020.
- M. Shepherd, A. Azocar, M. Major and E. Rouse. “Amputee Perception of Prosthetic Ankle Stiffness During Locomotion,” Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, 2018.
- M. Shepherd and E. Rouse. “The VSPA Foot: A Quasi-Passive Ankle-Foot Prosthesis with Continuously Variable Stiffness,” IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 2017.
- M. Shepherd and E. Rouse. “Design and Validation of a Torque-Controllable Knee Exoskeleton for Sit-to-Stand Assistance,” IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics, 2017.
Sep 14, 2023
Designing Exoskeletons to be More Versatile and Accessible
Bouve/MIE Assistant Professor Max Shepherd, in collaboration with Aaron Young from Georgia Tech, was awarded a $800,000 NSF grant for “Towards Task-Agnostic and Device-Agnostic Ankle Exoskeleton Control for Mobility Enhancement.”
Mar 02, 2023
Shepherd’s Research Featured on Cover of Science Robotics
Bouve/MIE Assistant Professor Max Shepherd’s research on “Exoskeletons need to react faster than physiological responses to improve standing balance” was featured on the cover of Science Robotics.
Jan 03, 2022
New Faculty Spotlight: Max Shepherd
Max Shepherd joins the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering department in January 2022 as an Assistant Professor with a joint appointment in Physical Therapy, Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences.