Kunal Mankodiya, PhD is the Director of Wearable Biosensing Lab and is an associate professor in the Dept. of Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering, University of Rhode Island, RI, USA since 2014. He is a recipient of NSF CAREER (2016) Award enabling research on “Internet of e-textile wearables for telemedicine". In 2018, he received TechConnect Defense Innovation Award for his work on “Smart Textile Trouser". He was recognized as the “Innovator-of-the-year” by Future Textiles Awards, Frankfurt, Germany in 2017. Mankodiya was also selected among “40 under 40” by Providence Business News in 2017. His embedded computing design of a smart-textile ECG system earned him the 2010 SYSTEX Award, University of Ghent, Belgium. He regularly organizes scientific workshops/symposiums on IOT for healthcare at various international conferences. He also organizes an annual 48-hour HealthHacks event to promote entrepreneurial thinking in the areas including IOT, healthcare, and aging. His course on Wearable IOT blends design thinking with IOT concepts to nurture entrepreneurial skills in students from various backgrounds. He pursued his postdoctoral research at Intel Science & Technology Center (ISTC) and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Pittsburgh, PA, USA. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Luebeck, Germany. He holds MS (University of Luebeck, Germany) and BE (Saurashtra University, India) degrees in Biomedical Engineering.


Research Areas:
- Wearable body sensor networks
- Internet-of-Things for Healthcare
- Smart textiles
- Medical cyber-physical systems
- Neural engineering


Education


Ph.D.

(2010)

Computer Science (with “Magna Cum Laude”)

Dissertation Title: A Multimodal, Wearable Health Monitor

Institute for Signal Processing (ISIP), University of Luebeck, Luebeck, Germany.

M.Sc.

(2007)

Biomedical Engineering

University of Luebeck & Luebeck University of Applied Science, Luebeck, Germany.

B.Engg

(2003)

Biomedical Engineering (with “Distinction”)

Saurashtra University, India.



Professional Experience


Associate Professor 

(Jul 2019 - Present)

University of Rhode Island (URI)

Dept. of Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering

Director, Wearable Biosensing Lab

Coordinator, Engineering Entrepreneurship Minor Program

Founding Member, the URI Artificial Intelligence Lab

Founding Member, Innovate@URI

Assistant Professor 

(Jul 2014 - Jun2019)

University of Rhode Island (URI)

Dept. of Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering

Director, Wearable Biosensing Lab

Postdoc Researcher

(Nov 2011- Jun 2014)

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)

Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering & Intel Science & Technology Center for Embedded Computing

Postdoc Researcher

(Feb 2011 - Oct 2011)

University of Pittsburgh (PITT)

Dept. of Rehabilitation Science & Technology




 Awards, Honors, & Recognition


2018

TechConnect Defense Innovation Award on “WalkSmart: A Smart Textile Trouser For Body Motion Capture in Dailylife

2018

TEDxURI Talk on Smart Textiles for Wearable Telemedicine

2017

NSF CAREER Award – “Internet of Wearable E-Textiles for Telemedicine

2017

Best Paper Award - ICSCC-2017 - Mist Data: Leveraging Mist Computing for Secure Architecture

2017

URI Early Career Faculty Research and Scholarship Excellence Award

2017

Innovator of the Year - Future Textile Awards 2017, Frankfurt, Germany

2017

40 under 40 Award 2017, Providence Business News, Providence, RI

2017

1st Winner of Aging2.0 Providence Pitch Competition

2016

NSF CISE Research Initiation Initiative (CRII) Award on "Brain-Body Sensor Fusion"

2015

VentureWell Faculty Award for the course onWearable IoT

2014

First Winner of Pitt Innovation Challenge on Smartwatch for Parkinson’s

2010

The 2010 SysTex Student Award, Ghent University, Belgium

2010

The Best Poster Prize at the 2010 International Biosignal Processing Conference


STUDENT : Awards, Honors, & Recognition


2018

Selected in 2019 CRA-W Grad Cohort Workshop for Women - Gozde Cay

2018

Student Travel Award for the NSF Connections in Smart Health Workshop - Gozde Cay

2018

CleanTech Startup Accelerator Program - AquaByte Team

2018

Boston University Summer Accelerator Program -  Dylan Kennedy

2018

First Place Winner at WaterHacks RI 2018 - Dylan Kennedy

2018

Third Place Winner at WaterHacks RI 2018 - Brendon Driscoll, Josh Gyllinsky, Travis Frink

2017

Third Place at RI Elevator Pitch Competition – Marjorie Pickard

2017

First Place at IFAI Smart Fabric Design-a-thon – Josh Gyllinsky

2017

Second Place at IFAI Smart Fabric Design-a-thon – Reza Abtahi

2017

URI Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Excellence Award Matt Constant, 3rd Year.

2017

Second Place Winner at J-&-J Hack-a-thonJosh Gyllinsky, Nick Peltier, Nick Constant, Andrew Peltier

2016

Winner of Rhode Island Elevator Pitch Competition "Smart Dog Collar" - Andrew Peltier

2016

Winner of HealthHacks Pitch Competition "ResponseRT" - Matthew Constant & Debanjan Borthankur

2016

Winner of PVDHack Competition - Team "Tunnel-Vision" - Nicholas Peltier

2016

Semifinalist of Rhode Island Business Plan Competition - Team "EchoWear" - Nick Constant

2015

Winner of RI Biz Plan Elevator Pitch Competition – Project "Always-In-Control" – Cara Nunez

2015

Final Round Contestant in Intel Makers TV Show - Project "Always-In-Control" – David Cipoletta

2015

Finalist at RICE360 Global Health Design Competition -  Trevor Bernier, Joseph Tudino, Toye Onikoyi

2015

Best Design Award to the TEAM "BIG EARS" at Intel’s BSN Hack-a-thon at MIT – Nick Constant

2015

Best Application Award to the TEAM "Queue-Ez" at Intel’s BSN Hack-a-thon at MIT – Cody Goldberg

2011

Best Master Thesis PRIZE (2011) honored by the Univ. of Luebeck, Germany – Adballah Mohammedani