(Photo Credit: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
JNERL Engages Local Seniors through “Dine with a Doc”
In June 2025, members of the Joint NeuroEngineering Research Laboratory (JNERL) participated in a “Dine with a Doc” community outreach event, in collaboration with the Collaborations in the Advancement of Research on Disability (CARD) team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This event provided a valuable opportunity to introduce our research to local senior populations and strengthen community partnerships that aim to advance inclusive and accessible science.
JNERL representatives, Rita Huan-Ting Peng and Bethany Flynn, met with local seniors to share information about our lab’s mission and ongoing projects. As a research group dedicated to the development and application of neuroengineering, biosensor technologies and biomedical imaging, our work is highly relevant to populations affected by aging, mobility challenges, or physical impairment. Engaging directly with community members allows us to better align our research goals with the needs and perspectives of those who may ultimately benefit from our work.
Dine with a Doc (https://www.dinewithadoc.com/) is a national program designed to bring healthcare providers and researchers together with seniors in an informal setting that promotes education, trust, and dialogue. Our collaboration with CARD (https://card.ahs.illinois.edu/), a cross-disciplinary initiative housed within the College of Applied Health Sciences, reflects a shared commitment to disability research that is collaborative, community-centered, and impactful.
As a new member of the CARD network, JNERL looks forward to deeper involvement in ongoing outreach and recruitment efforts. We believe that outreach efforts like Dine with a Doc play a vital role in making scientific research more inclusive, and we are excited to continue building bridges between our laboratory and the broader community.
Beckman Open House Event 2025
JNERL Engages the Community at Beckman Institute Open House with Interactive Science and Fun
On April 4–5, 2025, the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign hosted its highly anticipated Open House, welcoming thousands of visitors from the Champaign-Urbana community and beyond. Among the many engaging exhibits, the Joint NeuroEngineering Research Laboratory (JNERL) stood out with an interactive and educational display that combined research posters, physical models, and fun games. Through this creative and hands-on approach, JNERL successfully showcased its latest work in neuroengineering and robotics. Visitors of all ages, especially young children, were excited to explore the exhibit. Laughter and curiosity filled the air as kids engaged with games designed to teach them about neurophysiology, brain function, and brain-machine interfaces in a playful and accessible way.
The success of JNERL’s participation would not have been possible without the dedication of our volunteers. A heartfelt thank you to Luka Bryant, Grace He, Adrian Nevarez, Quoc Minh Nhat Bui, Lareina Guo, Zak Ali, Rhea Parekh, and Xiner Tan, who generously shared their time and energy to explain research concepts, guide activities, and ensure that every visitor had an enjoyable experience.
The Beckman Open House is a biennial event that invites the public to discover cutting-edge research in areas such as artificial intelligence, health sciences, and materials science. It serves as a valuable opportunity to bridge the gap between science and the community, and JNERL is proud to be a part of it. To learn more about the event, visit the Beckman Institute Openhouse official page.
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Fair – Spring 2025
The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Fair, hosted by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and the Grainger College of Engineering in spring 2025, offers students a chance to explore research across diverse fields, from STEM to the humanities and social sciences. This event connects students with exciting research projects, helping them develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills. It also provides an opportunity to network with faculty, graduate students, and peers while emphasizing diversity and inclusion in research. Attendees will gain valuable insights, discover new academic interests, and access resources to support their research journey.
During the event, Grace He represented JNERL by explaining the laboratory’s research to the audience, while volunteers Chung-Fu Sun, Lareina Guo, and Andrew Justin Ding assisted with related explanations.
About the Presenter:
Grace He is a sophomore at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Neural Engineering with a minor in Computer Science. With a strong foundation in biomedical data science and programming for brain and cognitive sciences, she is particularly interested in computational neuroscience and medical technology. Her research at the JNERL focuses on neural imaging and biosignal engineering for neurorehabilitation. Passionate about advancing medical technology, Grace aspires to design innovative medical equipment for more effective diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders while also exploring deep learning applications in the field.
Laboratory and classroom partnership connects high school students with brain research
Beckman researcher Yuan Yang and University Laboratory High School teacher Cyndi Smyser partnered to bring MRI images and stroke research into the classroom.
By Lauren Otolski
Published on Dec. 13, 2024
Last April, University Laboratory High School teacher Cyndi Smyser visited the Beckman Institute Open House, where an opportunity caught her attention.
“I really want anatomy and physiology to be more than just memorizing diagrams, but a lot of times that’s what it gets distilled down to,” said Smyser, who teaches biology, scientific research methodology and pre-medical sciences at the public high school located in Illinois’ northern campus. “I’m always looking for other ways to incorporate a different kind of learning.”
Smyser partnered with Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology researcher Yuan Yang to bring magnetic resonance imaging data and stroke research into the classroom. Yang’s lab shared information with Smyser, who translated the research into a hands-on high school curriculum.
Yang, a professor of bioengineering, studies how the brain is impacted by strokes and other injuries. His current work sits at the intersection of biomedical engineering and medicine. He focuses on how the brain reorganizes after a stroke and the development of technologies to help people with disabilities caused by brain injuries.
Yang received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development grant in 2023. The grant supports new faculty with the potential to be academic role models in their field and emphasizes integrating education with research. Yang aimed to work with education leaders to translate his research into grade-appropriate STEAM education and outreach. As part of this, he called for local high school teachers interested in a summer partnership with the lab.
“High school teachers would gain ideas of what we do in the lab, and of our research, and bring that back to their students,” Yang said. “Then, they can include those things in classroom lectures and projects.”
Over the summer, Smyser developed a ‘mini-unit’ lesson plan containing the background information students would need to know before being introduced to Yang’s data. She hopes that this lesson plan can be shared with other high school teachers.
After the mini-unit, Smyser’s students will explore magnetic resonance imaging data of brains that have experienced strokes. By navigating these images, they can visualize the brain’s 3D structure and identify brain lesions.
“This is amazing in helping me teach anatomy, because there are parts of the brain that are hidden under other parts of the brain, and this way you can see inside,” Smyser said. “That’s really hard to express in a diagram.”
Yang and Smyser hope to expand upon the lesson and in-classroom MRI exploration with a field trip to Yang’s lab and the Physiology Teaching Lab in the Illinois Department of Bioengineering.
The two labs will showcase two sides of research. The Physiology Teaching Lab is geared toward basic science, equipped to teach concepts relevant for Illinois’ bioengineering and neural engineering programs. By visiting Yang’s lab, students will see a more translational, clinical aspect, including equipment and sample images. Students will also conduct experiments and collect data with Caroline Cvetkovic, an assistant professor of bioengineering.
Yang’s NSF grant lasts for another four years, during which he hopes to continue the partnership with University Laboratory High School and potentially expand to involve other local high schools. He intends to repeat the program next summer, with Smyser acting as a mentor for the new teacher.
In addition, Yang and Jenny Amos, a teaching professor of bioengineering, may collaborate on a new proposal to bring more community members into Illinois labs and strengthen the relationship with local K-12 schools. As other labs may not involve clinical data and patients, teachers may be able to get hands-on experience with university research, which they could translate into unique lessons for their students.
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Fair – Fall 2024
Every semester, the Grainger College of Engineering hosts the Engineering Research Fair. The research fair is held at the beginning of the semester to showcase the variety of research across the College and to provide resources to undergraduate students, including information about research opportunities on- and off-campus.
Undergraduate research is a high-impact best practice in undergraduate education. Research experiences help transform students into scientists and engineers and prepare them for graduate and professional schools. Through research experiences, our students become part of the research community, engage in mentored research, and connect with other undergraduate researchers. They also develop technical, communication, and interpersonal skills.
Beckman Open House Event 2024
In 1997, the Beckman Institute hosted its inaugural open house, offering the local community a chance to explore the groundbreaking science taking place on campus. The event invites visitors of all ages to engage in hands-on activities, view cutting-edge scientific equipment, and interact with researchers from over 40 departments. Held alongside the Engineering Open House, it provides even more opportunities for discovery and excitement.