Rory A. Cooper, Ph.D. received the B.S. and M.Eng degrees in electrical engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in 1985 and 1986, respectively. He received the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering with a concentration in bioengineering from University of California at Santa Barbara in 1989. He is FISA & Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) Chair and Distinguished Professor of the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology, and professor of Bioengineering and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. He is also a professor in the Departments of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Health System. Dr. Cooper is Founding Director and VA Senior Research Career Scientist of the VA Rehabilitation Research and Development Center of Excellence in Pittsburgh. He is also the Co-Director of the NSF Quality of Life Technology Engineering Research Center, a joint effort between the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.
He is the Editor of the journal Assistive Technology and the Assistive Technology Research Book Series of IOS Press. Dr. Cooper serves or has served on the editorial boards of several prominent peer-reviewed journals in the fields of rehabilitation and bioengineering. Dr. Cooper has received multiple prestigious awards to include the Olin Teague Award, Paul Magnuson Award, James Peters Award, Maxwell J. Schleifer Award, the DaVinci Lifetime Achievement Award, and a member of the inaugural class of the Spinal Cord Injury Hall of Fame. Dr. Cooper has authored or co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed journal publications. He has ten patents awarded or pending. Dr. Cooper is the author of two books (which have been translated into Japanese and Chinese): "Rehabilitation Engineering Applied to Mobility and Manipulation and Wheelchair Selection and Configuration, and co-editor of An Introduction to Rehabilitation Engineering and Care of the Combat Amputee. Dr. Cooper is an elected Fellow of the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). Dr. Cooper has been an invited lecturer at many institutions around the world, for example the National Academies of Sciences Distinctive Voices Lecture, and was awarded Honorary Professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Xian Jiatong University. He has also been elected to Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Xi honorary societies.
Dr. Cooper is a former President of RESNA, and a member of the RESNA/ANSI and ISO Wheelchair Standards Committees, and IEEE-EMBS Medical Device Standards Committee. In 1988, he was a bronze medalist in the Paralympic Games, Seoul, Republic of Korea. He was on the steering committee for the 1996 Paralympic Scientific Congress held in Atlanta, GA, and the Sports Scientist for the 2008 U.S. Paralympic Team in Beijing, China. In 2009, Dr. Cooper was featured on a Cheerios cereal box for his achievements inside and outside the athletic arena. He has been a member of the United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Medicare Advisory Committee, Steering Committee of the Academy of PM&R on Research Capacity Building. and Chair on the National Advisory Board on Medical Rehabilitation Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and National Academy of Sciences Keck Foundation Initiative on Human Health Span Steering Committee. Dr. Cooper is a U.S. Army veteran with a spinal cord injury and a Director of the Paralyzed Veterans of America Research Foundation. He currently serves as a member of the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs Prosthetics and Special Disability Programs Advisory Committee, and the Board of Directors of Easter Seals. Dr. Cooper has been actively collaborating with the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (Delhi) on increasing access to quality services and devices for people with disabilities in India and throughout developing countries.
