# RR&D Research Career Scientist Award Application

> **NIH VA IK6** · VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION · 2022 · —

## Abstract

Dr. Cooper is a world leading rehabilitation engineer. He is a US Army veteran with spinal cord injuries
who has dedicated his career to helping veterans to lead full and rewarding lives through engineering and
advancing assistive technology. He has made broad contributions to science, engineering, and capacity
building applied to improving the quality of life of veterans with disabilities, and providing them with
opportunities to become scientists and engineers. Dr. Cooper is an author on >375 peer-reviewed journal
publications, and has >30 patents awarded/pending. His current research activities are focused on the
design, engineering, and evaluation of mobility devices and assistive robots for veterans with disabilities.
Dr. Cooper is Director of the VA Rehabilitation Research & Development Center (VA-R&RDC) for
Wheelchairs and Assistive Robotics, and VA Senior Research Career Scientist. He is currently Principal
Investigator (PI) on a VA Merit Review Grant creating and investigating Group 2 powered wheelchair-
bed robotic assisted transfer device that does not require the use of a sling or physical effort on the part
of the user or assistant. A patent has been awarded. Dr. Cooper is Co-PI on 2 additional VA Merit Review
Grants one further developing and investigating pneumatically powered personal mobility devices for
Veterans, which Dr. Cooper invented and for which the VA has applied for 2 patents. The other focused
on assessment of robotic manipulators to assist veterans with both upper and lower extremity
impairments. Dr. Cooper currently mentors 2 VA Career Development Awardees – Drs. Candiotti and
Duvall. Dr. Candiotti is working on the Mobility Enhancement Robotic Wheelchair (aka MEBot) that he
co-invented with Dr. Cooper et al for which VA has a patent and has another patent pending. Dr. Duvall’s
work is extending Dr. Cooper’s contributions related to powered transfer devices for veterans who use
Group 3 powered wheelchairs to get in/out of bed and to/from their wheelchair without awkward and
often injurious lifting. Dr. Cooper is leading a project with the VA-R&RDC related to origami engineering
of assistive devices and the voice of the veteran and voice of the provider. Within the VA Technology
Transfer Program, Dr. Cooper leads the VA Technology Transfer Assistance Project, helping VA inventors
take their ideas/concepts to prototypes to further VA research and/or to facilitate transfer to the
commercial sector to benefit Veterans. Dr. Cooper has a proven track-record of non-VA funding as well
with current grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the US Department of
Transportation (DoT). For 10-years, Dr. Cooper was Co-Director of the NSF Engineering Research Center
(ERC) on Quality of Life Technology. ERC’s are flagships within NSF. Dr. Cooper is currently the Director
of the DoT University Transportation Center (UTC) focused on Accessible Autonomous Vehicles and
Transportation Systems. The DoT-UTC is a collaboration o...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10417473
- **Project number:** 1IK6RX003916-01
- **Recipient organization:** VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
- **Principal Investigator:** RORY A. COOPER
- **Activity code:** IK6 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-03-01 → 2029-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10417473

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10417473, RR&D Research Career Scientist Award Application (1IK6RX003916-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10417473. Licensed CC0.

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