Director of AI + Health
Gene Tunik is the director for AI + Health at the Institute for Experiential AI, as well as the Associate Dean of Research and Innovation and is a faculty member in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences with adjunct appointments in the departments of Bioengineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering. He directs the Laboratory for Movement Neuroscience in the Department of Physical Therapy, Movement, and Rehabilitation Science.
Tunik’s research focuses on the study of human neural control of movement. More specifically, he looks at dextrous control of the hand as it relates to cognitive-perceptual-motor processes in virtual reality applications, human and human-robot interactions, and neurorehabilitation. His lab work includes motion capture (including gaze), physiological recording, virtual reality and robotic technology, cutting-edge non-invasive brain stimulation, and computational modeling techniques. Tunik is also currently studying neural circuits underlying reach-to-grasp organization and coordination for prosthetic, human-computer interaction, and stroke rehabilitation applications; and developing algorithms to improve human-robot collaboration on object handover tasks. His other projects explore early biomarkers of ALS and Identifying declines and reserves in cognitive-motor interactions in aging.
Tunik earned a Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy from Northeastern, and a doctoral degree in Cellular, Molecular, and Behavioral Neuroscience from Rutgers University, before completing his postdoctoral training at the Center of Psychological and Brain Science at Dartmouth College.