Dr. Christopher J. Arellano
I have a broad interest in understanding the biomechanics, energetics, and balance of human and animal locomotion. Current projects focus on four main areas:
Graduate Student Opportunities
PhD in Kinesiology: Currently, I am not recruiting students interested in pursuing a PhD in Kinesiology at this time. However, students interested in biomechanics, energetics, and balance of human and animal locomotion as part of a graduate degree in the Department of Health and Human Performance at UH are encouraged to email me to inquire about future opportunities to potentially start in Fall 2023. Students who have earned a Master of Science degree in biomechanics or related field will be given priority in the review and selection process.
PhD in Biomedical Engineering: Currently, I have a Joint Appointment with the Department of Biomedical Engineering, which gives me the opportunity to mentor and advise students interested in pursuing a PhD in this field. I am currently seeking a highly motivated student with an engineering and computational background interested in animal locomotion and muscle-tendon research to start in Fall 2022. Students who have a earned a Master of Science degree in biomechanics/engineering or related field and have experience in muscle-tendon research will be given priority in the review and selection process. The selected candidate will be supported by funds from a National Science Foundation Career award. See link for details on admission start date and requirements: http://www.bme.uh.edu/graduate/admissions
Lab News and Updates
2021 News and Updates:
11/29/2021 - Congratulations to Shernice A. Thomas for successfully defending her dissertation proposal for the UH PhD Kinesiology program.
11/29/2021 - Congratulations to Daisey Vega for being awarded the “The Broadening Participation Travel Award” by the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB). The goal of the award is to increase the diversity of SICB in terms of gender, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, ability/disability, and socioeconomic background. You can learn more about SICB here https://sicb.org/
10/18/2021 - Congratulations to Vivian L. Rose, whose first-author paper was accepted to the Journal of Experimental Biology (JEB). The title of the paper is “Simple models highlight differences in the walking biomechanics of young children and adults”.
09/29/2021 - Dr. Arellano gives an invited webinar titled “Coupling the arms and legs during treadmill walking: Cost, Benefits, and Tradeoffs”. The webinar is hosted by Bertec, Inc. as part of the Bertec Knowledge Series.
08/14/2021 - Congratulations to Daisey Vega for completing her candidacy project, which fulfils the first milestone of the PhD program.
08/12/2021 - Podium presentation titled “Stepping kinematics indicate minimal disruption to balance control when linking the arms and legs during walking” is given by Daisey Vega at the American Society of Biomechanics (ASB) 44th Annual Meeting.
08/01/2021 - Dr. Arellano awarded National Science Foundation CAREER. The funding will span 5-years (Aug 2021 - Aug 2026) and will support research on understanding the role of muscle-tendon function in stabilizing movement.
07/28/2021 - Poster presentation titled “Stepping kinematics indicate minimal disruption to balance control when linking the arms and legs during walking” is given by Daisey Vega at the XXVIII Congress of the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB).
07/01/2021 - Dr. Arellano and Daisey Vega travel to the University of California, Irvine for a month-long Summer Research Institute (SRI) hosted by the Integrative Movement Sciences (IMS). The aim of the SRI is to train the next generation of interdisciplinary movement scientists. You can learn more about the SR-IMS here https://cims.uci.edu/education-training/cims-summer-research-institute/
04/16/2021 - Congratulations to Daisey Vega, whose first-author paper was accepted to the Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation (JNER). The title of the paper is “Using a simple rope-pulley system that mechanically couples the arms, legs, and treadmill reduces the metabolic cost of walking”.
03/24/2021 - Shernice A. Thomas gives an invited talk at a sport coaching conference jointly hosted by the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago and the University of the West Indies Mona Faculty of Sport. The talk was entitled “Biomechanical analysis using video technology.”
02/12/2021 - Dr. Arellano and Shernice A. Thomas give an invited talk at a research seminar hosted by the University of California Irvine’s Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Seminar. The talk was entitled “Do humans exploit the metabolic and mechanical benefits of arm swing across slow to fast walking speeds?”
01/01/2021 - Dr. Arellano and Daisey Vega team up with start-up company, AIKYNETIX, LLC, to carry out a funded research project titled “Understanding the effects of elevation change, weight, and changes in center of mass on running biomechanics”.
2020 News and Updates:
12/17/2020 - The Graduate Research Award by the University of Houston’s Health and Human Performance Department is awarded to Daisey Vega to assist with her candidacy project.
12/15/2020 - Congratulations to Shernice A. Thomas, whose first-author paper was accepted to the Journal of Biomechanics (JOB). The title of the paper is “Do humans exploit the metabolic and mechanical benefits of arm swing across slow to fast walking speeds?”.
11/12/2020 - The Cullen Graduate Student Success Fellowship is awarded to Daisey Vega to assist with research. You can learn more about funding opportunities from the UH Graduate School here https://www.uh.edu/graduate-school/graduate-funding/
10/12/2020 - Congratulations to Shernice A. Thomas on passing her comprehensive exam for the UH Kinesiology PhD program. She is now considered a PhD Candidate (ABD).
08/05/2020 - Daisey Vega is a finalist for the 3-Minute Thesis Competition in the Masters Student Category at the 44th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Biomechanics (ASB).
08/05/2020 - Podium presentation titled “Reducing the Metabolic Cost of Walking by Using the Arms to Drive the Legs.” is given by Daisey Vega at the American Society of Biomechanics (ASB) 44th Annual Meeting,
05/14/2020 - Poster presentation titled “Reducing the Metabolic Cost of Walking by Using the Arms to Drive the Legs.” Is given by Daisey Vega at the Dynamic Walking Annual Meeting.
09/24/2018 - A paper, in collaboration with colleagues Dr. Wouter Hoogkamer and Dr. Kristine L. Snyder, was accepted for publication in Sports Medicine. In the paper, we develop a general framework to model the fastest marathon times possible when a team of elite runners cooperatively draft.
07/10/2018 - We are excited to welcome Gerard Ap, who will be conducting a Summer research internship from 07/10/18 - 09/09/18. Gerard is visiting us from Barcelona, Spain and is working on a BS degree in Biomedical Engineering. He is studying at the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya Barcelona Tech. Gerard will be helping with several of our projects and learning as much as possible about biomechanics and sports performance.
07/09/2018 - We are excited to welcome Elizabeth Gore, who will be joining our lab as a research volunteer. Elizabeth is the Strength and Conditioning Coach here at the University of Houston. Elizabeth earned her MS degree in Exercise Science and Biomechanics and brings a strong research background and understanding in athletic performance.
07/03/2018 - Congrats to Danny Guevara for being selected for the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI) Program. Danny will spend the Fall at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California. You can learn more about the SULI program here.
06/13/2018 - We are excited to welcome Vivian Rose to our research team. Vivian will begin the PhD program in the Fall and brings a wealth of experience and knowledge as a Certified Prosthetist Orthotist.
06/11/2018 - Congrats to Shernice Thomas for passing the HHP PhD Qualifying Exam.
05/01/2018 - Congrats to Dr. Parikh for his invitation to submit a full proposal to the NASA BRASH 1801 solicitation “Biomedical Advances for Space Health". Dr. Arellano (Co-I) is working in collaboration with Dr. Parikh (PI) and Dr. Layne (Co-I) on this project proposal.
04/18/2018 - Congrats to Daisey Vega for being awarded the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) by the Office of Undergraduate Research at UH. You can learn more about the SURF program here.
03/30/2018 - Dr. Arellano gives an invited talk at the University of North Texas Health Sciences Center. The talk is titled “Is there a fundamental link between the mechanics and metabolic cost of human walking?"
02/16/2018 - Congrats to Obioma McReynolds for being selected as a finalist for his abstract submission to the Texas American College of Sports Medicine (TACSM) meeting held in Austin, Texas. You can learn more about TACSM here. The abstract was accepted and published in the International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings.