Rakesh Pilkar, PhD

Senior Research Scientist

Phone
973-324-6838

Rakesh Pilkar, PhD is a Senior Research Scientist in The Center for Mobility and Rehabilitation Engineering Research at Kessler Foundation and an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at Rutgers – New Jersey Medical School (NJMS). With over 10 years of research experience and training, Dr. Pilkar has gained an expertise in providing engineering solutions to biomedical research problems.Dr. Pilkar is a co-PI on a multi-investigator project funded by New Jersey Commission on Brain Injury Research (NJCBIR) to study balance dysfunction and improve balance after traumatic brain injury by utilizing a novel multisensory computerized biofeedback based intervention during upright standing. He directs the Center’s Balance Assessment and Training Laboratory.

Dr. Pilkar serves as Communications Officer to American Congress on Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) -Technology Networking Group (TNG). He also serves as an ad-hoc reviewer for Biomedical Signal Processing, Prosthetics & Orthotics International, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Medicine and American Journal of Sports Medicine.

Expertise
Electrical Stimulation
Neurorehabilitation
Neural Repair
Biomedical Signal Analysis
System Identification
Education
Postdoctoral Fellowship - Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training (ARRT), Kessler Foundation - Rutgers NJMS
PhD - Electrical & Computer Engineering, Clarkson University
MS - Electrical Engineering, Clarkson University
BE - Computer Engineering, University of Mumbai
Honors
Postdoctoral Supplement Award, Dept. of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Rutgers – NJMS 2013 – 2015
Exploratory Research Grant, New Jersey Commission on Spinal Cord Research, 2014
Small Research Grant (R03), National Institutes of Health, 2013
Coulter Fellowship, Clarkson University, NY, 2006 – 2011
Research Interests

His research focusses on studying the physiological significance of electrical stimulations on paralyzed muscles after spinal cord injury (SCI) and quantification of gait and posture recovery post neurorehabilitation in neurologically impaired populations. His general research interests are gait and posture, neural repair, biomedical signal analysis (time/frequency/scales, signal decomposition, artifact reduction), system identification pertaining to biomedical data such as EMGs. 

Publications

View more comprehensive listings of Dr. Pilkar’s publications on ResearchGate and Google Scholar.

Memberships

American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM)