Gregory Gerling is a Professor of Systems Engineering at the University of Virginia, with courtesy appointments in Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering. His group’s research interests in general relate to the fields of haptics, computational neuroscience, human factors and ergonomics, biomechanics, and human–machine interaction. They employ computational models, statistical analysis, data science, and imaging techniques, design and build unique mechanical and electrical devices, and perform psychophysical experiments with human participants. Their research is highly collaborative and interdisciplinary and primarily lies in the domain surrounding human health.
At present, Dr. Gerling’s work is investigating cutaneous and proprioceptive cues that convey an object’s softness, as well as the neural basis of social and emotional touch. This work is done in close collaboration with neuroscientists, in human and mouse model systems. A thorough understanding of tactile cues in early, peripheral stages is key to deciphering the whole perceptual chain, as well as engineering sensors and human-machine interfaces.
Dr. Gerling has been the principal investigator on several federally funded grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, DARPA, and other agencies and companies. He is a senior member of the IEEE and has mentored more than 20 PhD and MS students and published over 50 journal and conference papers. He served as the co-chair of the IEEE Haptics Symposium for 2018 and 2020, co-editor of the IEEE World Haptics Conference in 2017 and 2019. He currently serves as the chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Haptics and as an associate editor of the IEEE Transactions on Haptics.
Before entering academia, Gerling had industry experience at Motorola, NASA Ames Research Center, and Rockwell Collins. He currently consults on UX/UI design and evaluation in the field of healthcare. He has taught courses in human factors, human-machine interaction, and user experience design for several years. In his undergraduate teaching, one of his goals is to work with industry clients to orient students toward acquiring real-world experience.