Alabama State University News November 4, 2014 COHS Receives Major Grant to Install Interactive Lab System The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded ASU's Prosthetics and Orthotics program in the College of Health and Sciences a $480,540 grant that will be used to purchase and install a state-of-the-art, interactive system for examining how people walk with prosthetic and orthotic devices. The GRAIL (Gait Real-time Analysis Interactive Lab) system combines 3-D motion capturing with an instrumented dual belt treadmill that will allow students to examine gait data in real time and from all angles, with immediate access to motion responses. The equipment will be housed in ASU's Biomechanics and Motor Control Laboratory<http://www.alasu.edu/biomechanics> in the College of Health Sciences and facilitate student education in prosthetics and orthotics, physical therapy and occupation therapy programs. Dr. Lee Childers, assistant professor of prosthetics and orthotics at ASU and GRAIL principal investigator, said the system will have a tremendous impact on students' education and will boost ASU's reputation as world-class institution for training medical professionals. "This system will provide us with capabilities that compete with those of Walter Reed (National Military Medical Center), Brooke Army Medical Center, and Balboa Naval Hospital," Childers said. The GRAIL system also will provide opportunities for Childers to increase his research experience through collaborative efforts with top researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GT) and Emory University. "We all know how to walk, but we don't fully understand how we walk," Childers said. The GRAIL system will provide ASU with "the necessary equipment to unlock the mysteries of how we use two legs with all of our joints and muscles to walk in a stable manner." SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-702-5854 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 200 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.