Department of Kinesiology : Meet Our Graduate Students

Current Research :
In my Ph. D. study, I work with Dr. Jane Clark, Dr. John Jeka and Dr. Tim Kiemel on several projects surrounding the central theme of postural development in children. To better understand postural development and its dysfunction, I study both typically developing (TD) children and children with motor coordination issues (e.g., children with Developmental Coordination Disorder, DCD). I implement multisensory manipulations (visual and haptic information) in order to characterize sensory contributions to posture development. Specifically my research provides a developmental profile of multisensory reweighting to postural development in children 4 to 10 years old. This multisensory reweighting profile has been extended in children with DCD to understand the mechanisms of their postural deficits. Apart from understanding multisensory contribution to postural development, I am also interested in the control aspect of postural development. Currently, I am working on a newly developed protocol which is capable of characterizing the developing plant (the body and the musculo-tendon structures) and the feedback mechanisms involved in postural development. I will implement both sensory and mechanical perturbations, and measure both postural sway and electromyographic responses to understand the contributions of the plant and the feedback to postural development. In the future, I will study these postural development mechanisms in functional tasks (e.g., reaching in standing, gait initiation, and balance control during locomotion). My overall research goal is to achieve solid understanding of postural development and the mechanisms underlying its deficits. I am committed to apply this knowledge for theory driven interventions and to translate them into clinical practices. Potential populations to be studied are children with chronic otitis media, children with ataxia, and children with cerebral palsy.

Interesting Fact :
Singing and dancing are my hobbies

Planned Career Path :
My career goal is to become an independent researcher in a multi-disciplinary team specializing in postural control and development. I am very interested in translational study and standing neuron-prostheses research will be a research direction that I would like to pursuit. My career plan is to acquire more in depth knowledge in my post-doctoral training, followed by working as a faculty in an academic environment with strong multi-disciplinary support.

Skills & Qualities :

I practiced and taught pediatric physical therapy in Taiwan before my Ph.D. study. I had contributed greatly to the training of pediatric physical therapists in Taiwan by giving many continuing education workshops supported by Department of Health, Taiwan. I am also very passionate about teaching in higher education institutes. The feedback that I got from my previous students was that I was a very effective facilitator to guide students becoming active learners. For the teaching course that I took here at University of Maryland, College Park, I got an exceptional grade for my efficient teaching and interactions with students.

During my teaching in Taiwan, I had secured these funding for my research projects:

1. Bair WN (Principle Investigator), Chen JY. The application of general movement assessment in high-risk premature neonate and subsequent follow-up of gross motor development. CSMC-88-OM-B-004, Sponsored by Chang Shan Medical and Dental College, 1999.
2. Chiang PY, Bair WN (Co-investigator). Effect of strengthening muscles as a group on gross motor function and gait in children with spastic cerebral palsy. CSMC-88-OM-B-020, Sponsored by Chang Shan Medical and Dental College, 1999.
3. Chiang PY, Bair WN (Co-investigator). Anticipatory postural adjustment associated with different speed arm raise test in cerebral palsy. NSC-88-2314-B-040-033, Sponsored by National Science Council (Taiwan), 1998.
4. Bair WN (Principle Investigator), Chiang PY. Applicability of Goldie arm raise test in children with cerebral palsy. CSMC-87-OM-B-022, Sponsored by Chang Shan Medical and Dental College, 1998.

These are the papers that I published:

1. Bair WN, Kiemel T, Jeka JJ, and Clark JE. Development of multisensory reweighting for posture control in children. Experimental Brain Research, 2007; 183(4): 435-446.
2. Yang TF, Chan RC, Wong TT, Bair WN et al: Quantitative measurement of improvement in sitting balance in children with spastic cerebral palsy after selective posterior rhizotomy. American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, 1996; 75(5): 348-352.
3. Bair WN, Yang TF, Hsu TC: Physical therapy for children with spastic diplegia who received selective dorsal rhizotomy. Journal of Physical Therapy Association of Republic of China, 1993: 85-94.
4. Bair WN, Ling W, Yang TF, Hsu TC: Physical therapy early intervention program for prematurely born infants in neonatal intensive care unit: case report of the early intervention program in Veteran General Hospital, Taipei. Journal of Physical Therapy Association of Republic of China, 1991: 80-89.

These are the scholarships that I was awarded:

1. Taiwan Government Scholarship for Post-Graduate Study Aboard, 2000-Aug to 2003-July
2. Graduate Fellowship Scholarship, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada, 1995.