Roger W. Cholewiak, Ph. D.

Dr. Cholewiak arrived at Princeton University from the University of Virginia as a Research Associate in 1974 and became the Director of the laboratory in 1991 on the occasion of the retirement of Dr. Carl Sherrick. His research interests have primarily involved the variables underlying how the skin processes vibratory patterns presented with vibrotactile matrix systems in basic and applied situations. The majority of his work has employed arrays of mechanical contactors of his own design fitted to different body sites. He is internationally known in the area of tactile transducers, co-authoring a book chapter on vibrotactile transducers, and has consulted in the successful development of new tactor systems. These have included the Sensor Electronics (Medford NJ) MTAC, an ultra dense vibrotactile array, and the Roto-Oscillating Crown tactor, a powerful tactor with a unique set of stimulation modes, through NIH SBIR grants as well as the Tactile Situation Awareness System at the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Labs (NAMRL - Pensacola FL). In addition, he has also had consulting relationships with Barron Associates (Charlottesville VA), Engineering Acoustics, Inc. (Winter Park FL), Angel Medical Systems (Tinton Falls NJ), and the Institute of Human-Machine Interactions (Pensacola FL). He has authored six book chapters and encyclopedia articles on tactile sensitivity as well as over four dozen journal articles and presentations at national and international professional meetings. He has been a consultant with government institutions, including the National Institutes of Health and the National Academy of Science, educational institutions, the military, and commercial research laboratories, and is a peer reviewer for numerous professional journals, such as Perception & Psychophysics and Brain Research. For additional professional activities, see the links to The Cutaneous Communication Laboratory at Princeton University or The Tactile Research Laboratory at NAMRL.

His work at the Cutaneous Communication Laboratory was supported completely by his grants from the PHS/NIH Institutes of Deafness and other Communication Disorders, NASA, and the Office of Naval Research (ONR). His grant support averaged c. $400k/ year at Princeton to maintain the work of the Cutaneous laboratory. While working at NAMRL, his work and his laboratory was supported by CAPT Angus Rupert, MC, USN, and research grants from the ONR and the Naval Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) in amounts averaging c. $200k/ year. He retired from Princeton University in October, 2004, closing the Cutaneous Communication Laboratory after almost 31 years of work there. After 10 years of service, he closed his Tactile Research Laboratory at NAMRL in October, 2005.