Mehmet Akif Gormez

I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at MetroHealth Center for Rehabilitation Research, where I develop adaptive functional electrical stimulation (FES) control systems for stroke rehabilitation. I earned my PhD in Systems and Control Engineering from Case Western Reserve University. My research translates laboratory innovations into clinically viable, wearable neurostimulation devices, validated through clinical trials with human participants.

News

12/2025: Stability of human in the loop manuscript accepted for publication by Journal of Neural Engineering.
10/2025: Gave an invited talk at MECC on "Developing Assist-as-Needed FES Control for Stroke Rehabilitation" Pittsburgh, PA
07/2025: Occlusion-corrected effort estimation work presented at IEEE EMBC in Copenhagen, Denmark
05/2025: Started position as Postdoctoral Research Fellow at CWRU
05/2025: Presented poster at IFESS RehabWeek in Chicago, IL on EMG-based effort estimation
03/2025: US Patent Application filed: "Assist-as-Needed Functional Electrical Stimulation Based on Measured User Effort"
01/2025: Successfully defended PhD dissertation on Assist-as-Needed Control for FES
01/2024: Invention I contributed received Best of Innovation XR Technologies & Accessories award. at CES 2024
06/2023: European Patent Application filed: "Surface Electrical Stimulation Delivered as Haptic Feedback"
03/2023: Presented computational stability analysis at NSF DARE conference in Los Angeles, CA
05/2019 Received admission to PhD in Systems and Control Engineering program at CWRU
2018: Completed MS in Electrical Engineering at University of Akron

Selected Publications

Patents

Assist-as-Needed Functional Electrical Stimulation Based on Measured User Effort

Inventors: M. J. Fu, M. A. Gormez, et al.

Application No. US20250281744A1

Novel adaptive FES control system that adjusts stimulation intensity based on real-time measurement of user voluntary effort, enabling personalized rehabilitation therapy.

View Patent

Surface Electrical Stimulation Delivered as Haptic Feedback

Inventors: M. J. Fu, L. M. Flores, D. J. Tyler, et al. (incl. M. A. Gormez)

Application No. EP4540682A1

Method for providing sensory feedback through distally-referred surface electrical stimulation for neuroprosthetic applications.

View Patent

Awards & Honors

7/2025

Invited to a talk at Modeling, Estimation, and Control Conference (MECC'25)

1/2024

Co-invented neural interface technology for Phantom Haptic Glove, enabling artificial touch in spatial computing. Winner of "CES 2024 Best of Innovation Award in XR Technologies & Accessories"

2020–Present

NSF CAREER Research Team Member

Services

Reviewer

IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering (TNSRE), Journal of Neural Engineering (JNE), IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering (TBME), IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference (EMBC), IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)

Teaching Assistant

Signals & Systems, Digital Signal Processing, Control Engineering, Biomedical Systems

Leadership

Led multi-disciplinary FES research team for NSF-funded stroke rehabilitation project, Organized internal lab workshops on real-time control and EMG signal processing, Supervised undergraduate interns and graduate students

Mentorship

Mentored graduate students on thesis design and real-time biomedical systems development, Guided undergraduate students in senior design projects involving wearable FES devices, Developed lab tutorials and control demonstrations for biomedical courses

Miscellaneous

Technical Expertise: Specialized in MATLAB, Python, C/C++, real-time control systems, EMG signal processing, and biomedical device development. Experienced with SpeedGoat, NI DAQ, Arduino, and various signal processing platforms.

Photo Gallery

Snapshots