Rory A. Cooper

In December 1972, Cooper became an Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America).[8] He was profiled in the Winter 2019 issue of Eagles' Call magazine.[9]

Cooper enlisted in the United States Army in 1976 and was assigned to the 3rd Ordnance Battalion, 32nd Air Defense Artillery Command with U.S. Army Europe and was later attached to the 5th Signal Command, USAREUR, and the U.S. Military Community Activity Worms, 21st Support Command.[10]

While stationed in Germany in 1980, he was hit by a bus while riding a bicycle. As a result, he became paralyzed from the waist down.[11]

Cooper received a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in 1985 and an electrical engineering M.Eng. from Cal Poly in 1986.[12] He received the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering with a concentration in bioengineering from University of California at Santa Barbara in 1989.[13]

From 1989 to 1994, Cooper was an assistant professor in Bioengineering at Sacramento State University.[14][15] In 1994, Cooper became an associate professor at the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh (obtaining full professorship in 1998).[16] Also in 1994, he founded the Human Engineering Research Laboratories, which includes the VA Center for Wheelchairs and Associated Rehabilitation Engineering.[17][18] He served as Chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology at the University of Pittsburgh from 1997 to 2018.[19]

He is also a Senior Research Career Scientist with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.[20]

Cooper has published almost 300 peer-reviewed journal articles.[21][22][23] He is the author of Rehabilitation Engineering Applied to Mobility and Manipulation[24] and Wheelchair Selection and Configuration[25] and co-edited An Introduction to Rehabilitation Engineering,[26] Care of the Combat Amputee,[27] Warrior Transition Leader: Medical Rehabilitation Handbook.,[28] and Promoting Successful Reintegration.[29]

Cooper has been a National Academies of Sciences Distinctive Voices Lecturer, ACC Distinguished Lecturer, Smithsonian Institution American Disabilities Act 25th Anniversary Festival Speaker, Young Lecturer at the Royal Military College of Canada, and inaugural American Association for the Advancement of Science-Lemelson Foundation Invention Ambassador. He has also been elected to Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Xi honorary societies. Cooper is a former President of RESNA, and a member of the IEEE-EMBS Medical Device Standards Committee. Additionally, he has been a member of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – Medicare Advisory Committee, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Prosthetics and Special Disability Programs Advisory Committee, Chair of the National Advisory Board on Medical Rehabilitation Research, National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, U.S. Department of Defense Health Board Subcommittee on Amputation and Orthopedics, Board of Directors of Easter Seals, National Academy of Medicine Committee on Assistive Products and Devices, and National Academy of Sciences Keck Foundation Initiative on Human Health Span Steering Committee.[30]

He is the director of the Paralyzed Veterans of America Research Foundation, and currently serves as a member of the Honorary Board of Advisors of the Student Veterans of America, Chair of the Honorary Board of Advisors of the Disabled Veterans National Foundation, National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for Education and Human Resources, Command Council of the Staff Sergeant Donnie D. Dixon Center for Military and Veterans Community Services, and World Health Organization GATE Committee.[31]

In 2014, Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh appointed Cooper a Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army.[32]

Cooper holds 25 patents in wheelchair technology.[33] He is the inventor of many advanced mobility devices and assistive technologies. Among these are MEBot, a stair-climbing wheelchair;[34] PneuChair, a wheelchair powered entirely by compressed air;[35] and Virtual Seating Coach, a smartphone app to control power wheelchair seating systems.[36][37]

The July 26, 2010 issue of Popular Science profiled Cooper, and a photo of him with a robotic wheelchair he invented was the issue's centerfold.[38] Cooper and his inventions were also the cover story of the May 2017 issue of New Mobility.[39] Additionally, Cooper was featured as the cover story of the September 2019 issue of Inventors Digest.[40]

Cooper is an advocate for diversity within the invention community and in 2020 spoke to the U.S. Congress about American inventors' lack of diversity.[41]

At the 1988 Paralympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, Cooper received a Bronze Medal in the 4x400-meter wheelchair relay.[42]

Cooper was on the steering committee for the 1996 Paralympic Scientific Congress held in Atlanta, GA, and was the Sports Scientist for the 2008 U.S. Paralympic Team in Beijing, China.[43] He also received the 2013 International Paralympic Scientific Achievement Award.[44] He volunteered his expertise as a member of the US Paralympic staff in 1992, 1996, and 2008.[45]

Cooper served as the Chair of the Local Organizing Committee for the National Veterans Wheelchair Games held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1998 and 2011.

Cooper has been a competitor in the National Veterans Wheelchair Game since 1983 winning over 200 medals in total in such sports a slalom, track, swimming, table-tennis, and hand-cycle.

At the 32nd National Veterans Wheelchair Games concluded on June 30, 2012 Richmond, Virginia,[46] Cooper earned 5 gold medals in swimming.[47]

Cooper is an accomplished handcyclist and competes annually in the Pittsburgh Marathon.[48]

Cooper is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the Biomedical Engineering Society.[49][50][51][52][53][54]

Cooper has received many honors; among the most recent are a 2017 Fellowship in the American Association for the Advancement of Science for engineering,[55] recipient of one of the 2017 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals,[56] recognition as a "Health Hero" in Oprah Magazine,[57] and the 2016 Marlin Mickle Outstanding Innovator Award.[58]

Other awards Cooper has received include the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Medal, National Guard Bureau Minute Man Award, AAAS Mentor Award, Joseph F. Engelberger Award, AIMBE Advocacy Award, Herny Viscardi Achievement Award, U.S. Army Distinguished Civilian Service Medal, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Diversity and Inclusion Excellence Award, Olin E. Teague Award, membership in the Pennsylvania Military and Veteran Hall of Fame, Order of Military Medical Merit, Order of Mercury, Order of Saint Maurice, Chapel of Four Chaplains Legion of Honor, DaVinci Lifetime Achievement Award, and the inaugural class of the Spinal Cord Injury Hall of Fame.[59]

In 2009, Cooper was featured on a special edition Cheerios cereal box to celebrate his accomplishments.[60]

In appreciation of his work and accomplishments, the Pittsburgh City Council proclaimed June 17, 2014, as "Dr. Rory A. Cooper Day."[61]

In 2019, the United States Patent and Trademark Office added Cooper to the Inventor Collectible Card Series.[62]

Cooper, on his handcycle, appeared in the center of the October/November 2020 issue of AARP Magazine.[63]