Jordan Nguyen | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | Vietnamese Australian |
Alma mater | University of Technology Sydney |
Occupation | Biomedical engineer |
Website | www |
Jordan Nguyen is a Vietnamese-Australian biomedical engineer and inventor whose achievements include creating a mind-controlled wheelchair, and whose technological innovations are targeted at improving the lives of those living with physical disabilities. He is a Keynote Speaker and futurist, with strong views on using technology for maximum positive global impact. His work has gained considerable media attention across Australia, featuring on ABC's Catalyst and Channel 10's The Project.
Growing up in Sydney, Australia, Jordan Nguyen attended Normanhurst Boys' High School on the Upper North Shore. [1]
He went on to the University of Technology Sydney, [2] where he graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor of Engineering and First Class Honours. In 2012, he completed his PhD in Biomedical Engineering, and was awarded into the UTS Chancellor's List. [3] For his PhD project, Nguyen developed a mind-controlled wheelchair for people with high-level physical disability. The wheelchair used cameras to observe its surroundings and provided navigation assistance to the operator whilst scanning the user's retinas as the means of delivering commands. [4]
Nguyen has spoken at a range of events across Australia, including TEDx events across Sydney, [5] Think Inc., Wired For Wonder, [6] and the international Engineering for Medicine and Biology Conference. [3]
Nguyen has worked as a Software engineer for ResMed, served on the board of directors for Object: Australian Design Centre, and is currently a member of the board for the NSW Medical Technology Knowledge Hub. He has taught project development in Artificial intelligence design, co-founded Remarkable, a technology incubator for disability, and founded Psykinetic, a company aiming to make life-improving technology affordable and accessible. [1]
Nguyen has worked closely with the Cerebral Palsy Alliance and with a range of individuals with Cerebral palsy. In 2016, ABC's Catalyst broadcast a two-part documentary on his work to increase 13-year-old Riley's physical independence in spite of his cerebral palsy. [7] [8]
In 2016 Nguyen was nominated for Australian of the Year [9] and awarded one of Australia's most innovative engineers [10] [11] He is currently working on improving the early diagnosis of disabilities in infants. [12]
Nguyen's father is Hung Nguyen, the former Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at UTS and co-director for the Centre of Health Technologies. Nguyen has three younger siblings, a sister and two brothers, who are triplets. [13]
In his third year of university, Nguyen dived into a friend's swimming pool, hit the bottom, and damaged the muscles in his neck. Although he did not break his spine, Nguyen began exploring the options available to quadriplegics. When he discovered how limited they were, he decided to persevere in engineering to help develop technologies for disabilities. [13]
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sensation, vision, hearing, and speech. Often, babies with cerebral palsy do not roll over, sit, crawl or walk as early as other children. Other symptoms may include seizures and problems with thinking or reasoning. While symptoms may get more noticeable over the first years of life, underlying problems do not worsen over time.
The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university was founded in its current form in 1988, though its origins as a technical institution can be traced back to the 1870s. UTS is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network (ATN), and is a member of Universities Australia (UA) and the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN).
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Catalyst is an Australian science journalism television program broadcast by ABC. The program is currently the only science show on primetime television in Australia. Launched in 2001, it replaced Quantum which had ceased the previous year. Catalyst was regularly broadcast on ABC TV at 8:30 pm on Tuesdays and repeated at 6:00 pm on Sundays.
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Cerebral palsy sport classification is a classification system used by sports that include people with cerebral palsy (CP) with different degrees of severity to compete fairly against each other and against others with different types of disabilities. In general, Cerebral Palsy-International Sports and Recreation Association (CP-ISRA) serves as the body in charge of classification for cerebral palsy sport, though some sports have their own classification systems which apply to CP sportspeople.
Les Autres sport classification is system used in disability sport for people with locomotor disabilities not included in other classification systems for people with physical disabilities. The purpose of this system is to facilitate fair competition between people with different types of disabilities, and to give credibility to disability sports. It was designed and managed by International Sports Organization for the Disabled (ISOD) until the 2005 merger with IWAS, when management switched to that organization. Classification is handled on the national level by relevant sport organizations.
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