Dr. Rahul Soangra

Associate Professor

Physical Therapy, Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences; Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Fowler School of Engineering

Expertise: Gait and Posture Biomechanics; Fall Risk Assessment; Wearable Sensors; Machine Learning; Nonlinear Dynamics; Biomedical Signal Processing

Office Location: Rinker Health Science Campus 270

Office Hours: By Appointment Only

Email: soangra@chapman.edu

Website: http://soangra.com/

Scholarly Works:: Digital Commons

Education:: Jai Narain Vyas University, Bachelor of Science
Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Master of Science
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Master of Science
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Ph.D.

Biography

Dr. Rahul Soangra is an Associate Professor of Physical Therapy and Director of the Gait Rehabilitation Research Laboratory in the Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences at Chapman University, with affiliate faculty status in the Fowler School of Engineering. His research focuses on improving mobility and motor control in older adults and individuals with neurological and neuromuscular disorders—including stroke, Parkinson’s disease, and movement impairments from musculoskeletal conditions.

Dr. Soangra develops innovative, technology-driven rehabilitation strategies using wearable sensors, radar systems, smartphone apps, and virtual reality environments. His lab applies biomedical signal processing, nonlinear dynamics, and machine learning/AI to extract meaningful insights from real-world movement data, enabling personalized and adaptive interventions for gait retraining and fall prevention.

A dedicated educator and mentor, Dr. Soangra teaches graduate biomechanics and actively involves students in cutting-edge research. His mentees regularly present at international conferences, publish in peer-reviewed journals, and pursue successful careers in academia and industry.

Recent Creative, Scholarly Work and Publications: Ranjan A, Srivastva P, Prabadevi B, Sivakumar R, Soangra R, Subramaniam SK. Classification of colorectal cancer using ResNet and EfficientNet models. The Open Biomedical Engineering Journal. 2024;18:e18741207280703. https://doi.org/10.2174/0118741207280703240111075752; Stein, Brooke; Duff, Susan; McKenzie, Alison; Advincula, Bailey; An, Isaac; Jeon, Annie; McWilliam, Casey; Potter, Will; Ruano, Virginia; Vokulich, Paulina; Howell, Audrey; and Soangra, Rahul, "Augmenting Hand and Arm Function for Persons with Hemiparesis" (2024). Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters. 633. https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/cusrd_abstracts/633; Atharva Prakash Parate, Aditya Ajay Iyer, Kanav Gupta, Harsh Porwal, P. C., K., Rajagopal, S., & Rahul Soangra. (2024). Review of Data Bias in Healthcare Applications. International Journal of Online and Biomedical Engineering (iJOE), 20(12), pp. 124–136. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijoe.v20i12.49997; Guo, Z., Wu, T., Lockhart, T.E. et al. Correlation enhanced distribution adaptation for prediction of fall risk. Sci Rep 14, 3477 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-54053-5; Harper, B. A., & Soangra, R. (2024). Assessing brain processing deficits using neuropsychological and vision-specific tests for concussion. Sports, 12(5), 125.; Harper, B. A., Shiraishi, M., & Soangra, R. (2024). Evaluating Visual Dependence in Postural Stability Using Smartphone and Stroboscopic Glasses. Electronics, 13(11), 2166. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13112166; S. R, P. Murugan, M. Mahadevan and R. Soangra, "Idiopathic Toe Walking Classification using Gait Analysis and Machine Learning," 2024 Second International Conference on Intelligent Cyber Physical Systems and Internet of Things (ICoICI), Coimbatore, India, 2024, pp. 1485-1488, doi: 10.1109/ICoICI62503.2024.10696432.; Basireddy CS, Cheruku VKG, B P et al. Hybrid prediction models for assessing the Higher Education Institutions Performance in QS World Institution Rankings. F1000Research 2024, 13:1529 (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.155847.1); Miner, D., Shiraishi, M., Gibbons, P., Soangra, R., & Harper, B. (2024). Multimodal Assessment Battery and Heart Rate Variability Enhance Clinical Utility of Buffalo Concussion Treadmill Test. Journal of Sport Rehabilitation, 1(aop), 1-17.; Soangra, R., Grant-Beuttler, M., Chang, H. et al. Two-year follow-up of gait and postural control following initiation of recombinant human tripeptidyl intracerebroventricular enzyme replacement therapy in two atypical CLN2 patients. Sci Rep 15, 1042 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-82157-5; Grant-Beuttler, M., Beuttler, R., Shiraishi, M., Gwerder, M., Asher, J., Jeng, C., ... & Soangra, R. (2023). Smart technology intervention to retrain gait in children with idiopathic toe walking. Gait & Posture, 106, S68-S69.; B. A. Harper, M. Shiraisshi and R. Soangra, "Investigating Agreement and Reliability of Mobile Health App for Continuous Walking on a Figure-Eight Path With Periodic Vision Interruptions," 2023 International Conference on Next Generation Electronics (NEleX), Vellore, India, 2023, pp. 1-5, doi: 10.1109/NEleX59773.2023.10421597.; L. Mayats-Alpay and R. Soangra, "Exploring Non-Linear Dynamical Structure for Knee Kinematics Using Machine Learning," 2023 International Conference on Next Generation Electronics (NEleX), Vellore, India, 2023, pp. 1-6, doi: 10.1109/NEleX59773.2023.10421398.; Harper, B., Aron, A., & Soangra, R. (2023). Soccer heading drills and concussion-related deficits in high school female athletes. Journal of Physical Education and Sport, 23(5), 1207 - 1220. https://doi.org/10.7752/jpes.2023.05150; Harper, B., Shiraishi, M., & Soangra, R. (2023). A portable and reliable tool for on-site physical reaction time (RT) measurement. Invention Disclosure, 3, 100013.; Chen, J., Soangra, R., Grant-Beuttler, M., Nanehkaran, Y. A., & Wen, Y. (2023). Dense & Attention Convolutional Neural Networks for Toe Walking Recognition. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering.; Boyd, L., Soangra, R., Mukhar, L., Kling, R., & Beuttler, M. G. (2023). Stepping Beyond Efficacy: Understanding the User Experience of Wearables for Children with Idiopathic Toe Walking in the Natural Setting. Human Factors in Healthcare, 3, 100044.; Soangra, R., Smith, J. A., Rajagopal, S., Yedavalli, S. V. R., & Anirudh, E. R. (2023). Classifying Unstable and Stable Walking Patterns Using Electroencephalography Signals and Machine Learning Algorithms. Sensors, 23(13), 6005.; Hepp, J., Shiraishi, M., Tran, M., Henson, E., Ananthanarayanan, M., & Soangra, R. (2023). Exploring Teslasuit’s Potential in Detecting Sequential Slip-Induced Kinematic Changes among Healthy Young Adults. Sensors, 23(14), 6258.; Rohafza, M., Soangra, R., Smith, J. A., & Ignasiak, N. K. (2022). Self-paced treadmills do not allow for valid observation of linear and nonlinear gait variability outcomes in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Gait & Posture, 91, 35-41.; Abdollahi M, Kuber PM, Shiraishi M, Soangra R, Rashedi E. Kinematic Analysis of 360° Turning in Stroke Survivors Using Wearable Motion Sensors. Sensors (Basel). 2022 Jan 5;22(1):385. doi: 10.3390/s22010385. PMID: 35009931; PMCID: PMC8749703.; John J, Soangra R. Visualization-Driven Time-Series Extraction from Wearable Systems Can Facilitate Differentiation of Passive ADL Characteristics among Stroke and Healthy Older Adults. Sensors (Basel). 2022 Jan 13;22(2):598. doi: 10.3390/s22020598. PMID: 35062557; PMCID: PMC8780832.; Masoud Abdollahi, Pranav Madhav Kuber, Michael Shiraishi, Rahul Soangra, Ehsan Rashedi Abstract TP61: Can A Single Motion Sensor Identify Lower Limb Movement Alterations Among Stroke Survivors? Stroke 53 Suppl_1 ATP61-ATP61 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 2022/2; Soangra, R. (2021). Unobtrusive Accelerometer-based Longitudinal ADL Monitoring among Different Populations. SPAST Abstracts, 1(01).; Rajagopal, S., Goswami, R. D., Tiwari, R., Sabhapandit, E., & Soangra, R. (2022). Analysis of Contrast and Correlation Between Deep Learning Algorithms for Diagnosis of COVID-19 from Lung Ultrasonography. ECS Transactions, 107(1), 1877.; Rajagopal, S., Arpan, W., Thomas, S., Gomare, G., & Soangra, R. (2022). Comparison and Analysis of Different Thermography Techniques in the Biomedical Applications. ECS Transactions, 107(1), 9403.; Rajagopal, S., Arpan, W., Thomas, S., Gomare, G., & Soangra, R. (2022). Comparison and Analysis of Different Thermography Techniques in the Biomedical Applications. ECS Transactions, 107(1), 9403.; Rajagopal, S., Arpan, W., Thomas, S., Gomare, G., & Soangra, R. (2022). Comparison and Analysis of Different Thermography Techniques in the Biomedical Applications. ECS Transactions, 107(1), 9403.; Rajagopal, S., Balaji, D., Venkatesh, V., Kanishka, S., & Soangra, R. (2022). Identification of Drunk People Among Crowds Using Thermography and Machine Learning. ECS Transactions, 107(1), 1867.; Bhatia, A., Desikan, S., Tripathy, S. A., Rajkumar, S., Rajagopal, S., & Soangra, R. (2022). Smart Pre-Screening of Patients for COVID-19 Using Depth-Wise Separableconvolutional Neural Network. ECS Transactions, 107(1), 847.; Balasenthilkumaran, N.V., S, B.R., Gorti, S. et al. Correction to: Design and comparison of machine learning-based computer-aided diagnostic techniques to aid diagnosis of diabetes and detection of ulcer-prone regions in the feet using thermograms. Res. Biomed. Eng. 38, 1027 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42600-022-00221-3; Soangra, R., Sivakumar, R., Anirudh, E. R., Reddy Y, S. V., & John, E. B. (2022). Evaluation of surgical skill using machine learning with optimal wearable sensor locations. PloS one, 17(6), e0267936.; Soangra, R., Jiang, P., Haik, D., Xu, P., Brevik, A., Peta, A., ... & Clayman, R. V. Beyond Efficiency: Surface Electromyography Enables Further Insights into the Surgical Movements of Urologists. Journal of endourology.; Soangra, R., Wen, Y., Yang, H., & Grant-Beuttler, M. (2022). Classifying Toe Walking Gait Patterns Among Children Diagnosed With Idiopathic Toe Walking Using Wearable Sensors and Machine Learning Algorithms. IEEE Access, 10, 77054-77067.; Harper, B.; Shiraishi, M.; Soangra, R. Reliability and Validity of Inertial Sensor Assisted Reaction Time Measurement Tools among Healthy Young Adults. Sensors 2022, 22, 8555.; Moon, S. H., Soangra, R., Frames, C., & Lockhart, T. (2021). Three Days Monitoring of Activities of Daily Living Among Young Healthy Adults and Parkinson’s Disease Patients. Biomedical sciences instrumentation, 57(2).; G. Ershadi, M. Gwak, A. Aminian, R. Soangra, M. Grant-Beuttler and M. Sarrafzadeh, "Smart Insole: Remote Gait Detection Algorithm Using Pressure Sensors For Toe Walking Rehabilitation," 2021 IEEE 7th World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT), 2021, pp. 332-337, doi: 10.1109/WF-IoT51360.2021.9595676.; Perry Xu, Daniel Haik, Pengbo Jiang, Andrew Brevik, Akhil Peta, Zhamshid Okhunov, Shlomi Tapiero, Emmanuel John, Rahul Soangra, Jaime Landman, and Ralph Clayman. "PD58-11 Beyond Efficiency: Surface Electromyography Enables Further Insights Into The Quality Of Surgical Movement Of Expert Urologists"; Chou EF, Khine M, Lockhart T, Soangra R. Effects of ECG Data Length on Heart Rate Variability among Young Healthy Adults. Sensors (Basel). 2021 Sep 19;21(18):6286. doi: 10.3390/s21186286. PMID: 34577492; PMCID: PMC8472063.; Lockhart, T.E., Soangra, R., Yoon, H. et al. Prediction of fall risk among community-dwelling older adults using a wearable system. Sci Rep 11, 20976 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00458-5; Moon, S.H., Frames, C.W., Soangra, R., Lockhart, T.E.L., (2021). Effects of Rucksack Military Accessory on Gait Dynamic Stability. International Journal of Prognostics and Health Management, Vol. 12, No. 4 Special Issue on PHM for Human Health and Performance II doi:10.36001/ijphm.2021.v12i4.2778; Special Issue on PHM For Human Health and Performance II, Vol. 12, No. 4 (2021): Special Issue on PHM for Human Health & Performance II , Lockhart, T.L., Soangra, R.; M. Abdollahi, P. M. Kuber, C. Hoang, M. Shiraishi, R. Soangra and E. Rashedi, "Kinematic Assessment of Turning and Walking Tasks Among Stroke Survivors by Employing Wearable Sensors and Pressure Platform," 2021 43rd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBC), 2021, pp. 6635-6638, doi: 10.1109/EMBC46164.2021.9630791.; Soangra, R., & Rajagopal, S. (2021). Effects of visual referencing on backward and forward treadmill walking in VR environments. Displays, 66, 101975. doi:10.1016/j.displa.2020.101975; Soangra, R., & Lockhart, T. (2021). Smartphone-Based Prediction Model for Postoperative Cardiac Surgery Outcomes Using Preoperative Gait and Posture Measures. Sensors, 21(5), 1704. doi:10.3390/s21051704; Soangra, R., Shiraishi, M., Beuttler, R., Gwerder, M., Boyd, L., Muthukumar, V., . . . Grant-Beuttler, M. (2021). Foot Contact Dynamics and Fall Risk among Children Diagnosed with Idiopathic Toe Walking. Applied Sciences, 11(6), 2862. doi:10.3390/app11062862; Soangra, R., Krishnan, V., John, J., Rashedi, E., & McKenzie, A. (2021). Comparison of 360° Turn Cycles among Individuals after Stroke and Healthy Older Adults. Applied Sciences, 11(7). doi:10.3390/app11073202; Smith, J. A., Eiteman-Pang, W. K., Soangra, R., & König Ignasiak, N. (2021). Adaptations in trunk-pelvis coordination variability in response to fatiguing exercise. Gait & Posture, 84, 1-7. doi:10.1016/j.gaitpost.2020.11.019; M. L. Pollind and R. Soangra, "Mini-Logger- A Wearable Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) for Postural Sway Analysis," 2020 42nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBC), Montreal, QC, Canada, 2020, pp. 4600-4603, doi: 10.1109/EMBC44109.2020.9175167.; Pollind, M. and R. Soangra, Development and Validation of Wearable Inertial Sensor System for Postural Sway Analysis. Measurement, 2020. 165: p. 108101.; Zhang, J., R. Soangra, and T. E. Lockhart, Automatic Detection of Dynamic and Static Activities of the Older Adults Using a Wearable Sensor and Support Vector Machines. Sci, 2020. 2(3): p. 50.; Zhang, J., R. Soangra, and T. E. Lockhart, A Comparison of Denoising Methods in Onset Determination in Medial Gastrocnemius Muscle Activations during Stance. Sci, 2020. 2(2): p. 39.

Dr. Rahul Soangra

Biography

Recent Creative, Scholarly Work and Publications

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