Rate My Professor Carolin Curtze

Carolin Curtze, Ph.D., serves as Assistant Professor of Biomechanics at the University of Nebraska Omaha, within the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences. Her research centers on enhancing functional mobility and preventing falls among individuals with neurological disorders. She investigates dynamic stability and postural control during locomotion, particularly how Parkinson’s disease and its medications impact walking and turning. Dr. Curtze pioneers inertial sensor technologies to monitor dynamic balance in real-world settings, aiming to refine rehabilitation strategies and tailor patient interventions. Her scholarly pursuits encompass neuromechanics, gait analysis, balance, turning maneuvers, dynamic stability, wearable inertial sensors, aging processes, and Parkinson’s disease. She instructs courses such as Advanced Biomechanics II and MATLAB.

Dr. Curtze obtained her Ph.D. in Medical Sciences from the University of Groningen in 2012, earning cum laude distinction for her dissertation on neuromechanics in lower limb amputees. She also holds a Master’s degree in Sport Science from Justus Liebig University Giessen in 2005, graduated with distinction, and a first state examination in primary school teaching. Prior to UNO, she was Senior Research Associate and Postdoctoral Fellow at Oregon Health & Science University’s Department of Neurology from 2012 to 2018, specializing in balance and gait impairments in Parkinson’s patients. Notable accolades include first place in Educational Research at OHSU in 2017, Paper of the Month award in 2015, two Ph.D. Top Publication Awards, and the Ubbo Emmius Ph.D. Scholarship. Prominent publications feature “Levodopa Is a Double-Edged Sword for Balance and Gait in People With Parkinson’s Disease” (Movement Disorders, 2015), “Inertial Sensor-Based Centripetal Acceleration as a Correlate for Lateral Margin of Stability During Walking and Turning” (IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 2020), “Digital Biomarkers of Mobility in Parkinson’s Disease During Daily Living” (Journal of Parkinson’s Disease, 2020), and “Challenges and advances in the use of wearable sensors for lower extremity biomechanics” (Journal of Biomechanics, 2023). Additionally, she contributes as an Editorial Review Board Member for Nature Scientific Reports, ad hoc reviewer for various journals, and serves on faculty and thesis committees.