The Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences is committed to research and scholarship activities. Such experiences benefit students' clinical practice and often influence students' interest in pursuing research as an academic career. The department has a number of research labs that provide competitive, voluntary research experience beyond course work.

In addition, the department is home to a number of clinical spaces:

  • A state-of-the-art athletic training clinical education lab that contains ceiling-mounted live cameras that enhance clinical instruction, expanded modalities that include electrical stimulation, a hot/cold tub, and ultrasound, simulating the kinds of facilities graduates will encounter in the field.
  • A new Activities of Daily Living (ADL) Suite with assistive technology tools, accessible showers and commodes, and other equipment
  • Anatomy Laboratory where cadaver dissection is paired with classroom instruction.
  • Clinical Simulation Laboratory with hardwired mannequins that allow students to practice physiological monitoring.
  • Health Sciences Library located in the Medical Education and Research Building

Research labs

Exercise is Medicine Lab

This lab examines the integration of physical activity into health systems, clinic-community links, and patient engagement in chronic disease prevention programs.

Motion-Action-Perception (MAP) Lab

MAP Lab studies how sensorimotor, perceptual and psychological influences control human movement.

Personal Health Informatics and Rehabilitation Engineering (PHIRE) Lab

PHIRE Lab focuses on understanding people with disabilities’ quality of life needs and seamlessly assisting them through science and technology.

Recreational Therapy Wise Owls (RTWO) Research Lab

RTWO is focused on advancing clinicians’ access to recreational therapy-related research to inform and strengthen evidence-based practice.

Research, Engagement and Advocacy for Community Participation and Health (REACH) Lab

REACH Lab focuses on community participation and health for people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and/or Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD).

Spinal Neuromotor Lab

This lab uses various approaches and models to better understand the activity of the central nervous system and how the spinal cord controls movement.

Sport Concussion Lab

This lab conducts clinical and translational research seeking to broaden our understanding of brain injury.

Trauma Impact on Occupation and Performance Center

Research in this lab seeks to infuse the knowledge, skills and abilities of the occupational therapy profession to prevent and/or heal from trauma.

Neuromotor Science Research Consortium

The Neuromotor Science Research Consortium is a state-of-the-art research facility consisting of the following interdisciplinary laboratories investigating a range of basic and clinical issues in human sensorimotor neuroscience. Full-time faculty and undergraduate/graduate students/postdoctoral fellows are housed in a common space to promote interaction/discussion, providing a rich scientific atmosphere to share ideas through journal clubs and invited lectures.