Joel Perry is an assistant professor of at the University of Idaho Mechanical Engineering Department. He received his bachelor's in mechanical engineering from Gonzaga University in 2000, and master's and doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Washington, in 2002 and 2006. He spent a year and a half as a post-doc at the University of Washington Biorobotics Laboratory, followed by six years abroad as a senior researcher and project manager at Tecnalia, the largest technology research center in Spain. He returned to the US in 2013 on a TIFER (Marie Curie Action) Fellowship and joined the University of Idaho faculty in 2014.
Perry’s areas of research interests are focused on the development of exoskeletons and wearable robotics for neurorehabilitation, assistive technologies for disability, telerehabilitation, and rural patient care. He currently teaches undergraduate courses in mechanical design analysis and computer-aided design, is developing a new technical elective on assistive technologies for physical impairment and serves as one of the faculty advisors in the University’s nationally-recognized senior design program. In his passion to merge education and research to produce outcomes with real-world impact, Perry is also a member of the University’s Intellectual Property Committee and seeks to involve student in the development and protection of new technologies for industry.
Since joining the University of Idaho, Perry was awarded a 5-year grant from the NSF to develop a novel instrument for assessment of neuromuscular impairment, a UI Seed Grant toward the purchase of a laser cutter and support for several student design projects from industry. He has authored or co-authored 8 journal papers, 24 conference proceedings, three book chapters and three patent applications (one awarded, two pending) and was awarded the UI College of Engineering Outstanding Young Faculty Award in 2016.
