John L. Trimble, Ph.D.

Dr. Trimble specializes in the physiological, behavioral, and biomechanical analysis of injury accidents. Dr. Trimble has more than 30 years of teaching and research experience, which includes work in occupational biomechanics, human factors, and medical technology. He is particularly well known for his studies on human visual and motor performance. He has also performed design, analysis, evaluation, and testing of medical and rehabilitative devices and techniques.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Trimble was Director of Human Factors & Ergonomics at Packer Engineering, as well as an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Other teaching appointments have included the University of Chicago, California Institute of Technology, Illinois Institute of Technology, and Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine. He has also served as a member of advisory panels convened by both private industry and the government. Dr. Trimble has served as a Scientific Reviewer for the National Eye Institute, National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, National Science Foundation, Social Security Administration, and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and as a Referee Editor for the Annals of Biomedical Engineering, Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, Investigative Ophthalmology, Journal of Biomechanics, and Vision Research.

Pinzur M, Sherman R, Dimonte-Levine P, Kett N, Trimble J. Adult-onset hemiplegia: Gait changes after muscle-balancing procedures to correct the equinas deformity. J Bone Joint Surg 1986; 68A(8):1249–1257.

Pinzur MS, Dimonte-Levine P, Trimble J, Haag K, Sherman R. Temporal gait monitoring, a new device. Arch Phys Med Rehab 1986; 67:344–345.

Koller W, Trimble J. The gait abnormality of Huntington’s disease. Neurology 1985; 35:1450-1454.

Trimble J, Kampschoer C. Micro-based system speaks for cerebral palsy/stroke victims. Design News 1985; 128–129, April 22.

Trimble JL, Haa K. Ultrasonic transceivers analyze gait at its source. Design News 1983; 100-101, July 18.

Trimble JL, Kampschoer C. Voice-operated controller helps quadriplegic operate appliances. Design News 1983; 70–71, August 8.

Bunch W, Scarf T, Trimble J. Current concepts review of spinal cord monitoring. J Bone Joint Surg 1983; 65-A:707–710.

Hislop D, Zuber B, Trimble J. Characteristics of reading rate and manual scanning patterns of blind Optacon readers. Human Factors 1983; 25:379–389.

Hislop DW, Zuber BL, Trimble JL. Skill-acquisition: The blind reading Inkbraille. Fed Proc 1983; 42:754.

De La Torre JC, Trimble JL, Surgeon J, Brown FD. Somatosensory evoked potentials for prognosis of coma in humans. Exper Neurol 1978; 60:304–317.

Trimble JL, Phillips G. Nonlinear analysis of the human visual evoked response. Biol Cybernetics 1978; 30:55–61.

Crockard HA, Brown FD, Trimble JL, Mullan JF. Somatosensory evoked potentials, cerebral blood flow and metabolism following cerebral missile trauma in monkeys. Surg Neurol 1977; 7(5):281–287.

Trimble JL, Ernest JT, Newell FW. Electro-oculography in infants. Investigative Ophthalmol 1977; 16(7):669–670.

Ernest JT, Stern W, Trimble JL. The effect of mannitol infusion on retinal function and oxygen tension. Investigative Ophthalmol 1977; 16(7):670–672.

Pokorny J, Smith VC, Trimble JL. A new technique for proper illumination of color vision tests. Am J Ophthalmol 1977; 84(3):429.

Ernest JT, Trimble JL. Infusion-aspiration control. Trans Am Acad Ophthal Otolaryngol 1976; 81(5):915–916.

Trimble JL, Potts AM. Ongoing occipital rhythms and the VER: Stimulation at peaks of the alpha rhythm. Investigative Ophthalmol 1975; 14(7):536–546.

Trimble JL. Control theory and behavior: A guide for the novice. Contemp Psychol 1974; 19(6):447–450.

Trimble JL, Zuber BL, Trimble SN. Enhancement of single motor unit activity in the human extraocular electromyogram. Vision Res 1974; 14:1327–1332.

Presentations and Published Abstracts

Trimble JL. Invited speaker. Quarterly Insurance Updates, State Farm Insurance, 1995–1997.

Karvelis A, Trimble JL. A contextual analysis of backup alarms. Proceedings, 7th Annual System Safety Conference, Human Factors Society, Albuquerque, NM, 1996.

Trimble JL. Guest speaker. 4th Annual Stroke Conference, Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital and Care Network, Chicago, IL, 1995.

Trimble JL. Invited panelist. A/E/C Systems Fall Conference, Chicago, IL, 1995.

Trimble JL. Panelist. Interior Design Federation of America, Rocky Mountain Chapter, Denver, CO, 1995.

Trimble JL. Guest speaker. Beyond Multimedia Mania: Electronic Marketing at Retail, Institute for International Research, New York, NY, 1994.

Trimble JL. Keynote speaker, ChangeMasters, Canadian Rehabilitation Council for the Disabled, New Brunswick, 1994.

Trimble JL. Panelist. WestWeek ‘94 Interior Design Conference, Los Angeles, CA, 1994.

Trimble JL. Session chair. Virtual Reality ‘94, San Jose, CA, 1994.

Morris T, Trimble J, Crandall, B. Barrier-free design. Proceedings, 7th Annual Conference Tech. and Persons with Disabilities, Los Angeles, CA, 1993.

Trimble JL. Guest speaker. Midwest Computer Conference, Chicago, IL, 1993.

Trimble JL. Panelist. NEOCON ‘93, Chicago, IL, 1993.

Trimble JL. Session chair. VR and Persons with Disabilities, San Francisco, CA, 1993.

Trimble JL. Session chair. Virtual Reality ‘93, New York, NY, 1993; San Jose, CA, 1993.

Trimble JL. Session chair. Technology and Persons with Disabilities, Los Angeles, CA, 1993.

Trimble JL. Invited speaker. National Communications Forum, Chicago, IL, 1992.

Trimble JL. Panelist. Meckler Virtual Reality Conference, New York, NY, 1992.

Trimble JL. Session chair. Meckler Virtual Reality Conference, San Jose, CA, 1992.

Trimble JL. Session chair. VR & Persons with Disabilities, 1992.

Trimble JL, Morris T. How many bits of data are needed to understand lifting dynamics? Proceedings, 2nd Annual North American Congress on Biomechanics, Abstract, p. 531, 1992.

Morris T, Trimble J. Identification of a low-dimensional invariant function of lifting. Proceedings, 16th Annual Conference Rehabilitation Society of North America, June 1991.

Morris T, Trimble J, Touras N. An interactive tool for visualizing the biodynamics of human movement. Proceedings, 16th Annual Conference Rehabilitation Society of North America, June 1991.

Trimble J, Putnam A, Colletti S. A comparison of the biodynamics of isoinertial and isokinetic trunk flexion-extension machines. Proceedings,, World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Kyoto, Japan, 1991.

Trimble JL. Invited speaker. Worker’s Compensation Board of Canada, Vancouver, BC, 1991.

Trimble JL. Guest speaker. Midwest Science Day, IIT West, 1991.

Trimble JL. Chair, Steering Committee. IEEE VRAIS Virtual Reality Conference, 1991.

Trimble JL. Guest speaker. Minnesota Project Innovation, Minneapolis, MN, 1991.

Trimble JL. Guest speaker. National Rehabilitation Hospital, Washington, DC, 1991.

Sandow S. Trimble J. Models for rehabilitation technology transfer. Proceedings, 15th Annual Conference Rehabilitation Society of North America, June 1990.

Putnam A, Coletti S, Trimble J, Zindrick M, Cram R, Lorenz M. Torque and muscle activity profiles in isokinetic and isoinertial trunk flexion and extension. Proceedings, 5th Annual Conference North American Spine Society, August 1990.

Strauss MG, Moinzadeh MH, Schneller M, Trimble J. The development of an instrumented wheel to determine the handrim forces during wheelchair propulsion. Proceedings, Winter Annual ASME Conference, pp. 53–54, 1989.

Trimble JL. Panelist. MIT Enterprise Forum, 1989.

Amirouche FML, Ider SK, Trimble J. A general analytical method for the analysis and simulation of human locomotion. Proceedings, 1988 Annual Winter Conf. ASME (Bioengineering), pp. 57–60, 1988.

Trimble J. The use of Talking TracksTM bar code in teaching Braille. Proceedings, 2nd Annual Conference on Voice Input/Output Applications 1988; 1(2), 273–274.

Dimonte-Levine P, Pinzur M, Sherman R, Trimble J. A simple gait analysis system providing multiple gait parameters. Proceedings, 10th Annual Conference Amer. Physical Therapy Assoc 1987; 67(5).

Trimble J, Hollyfield R, Zuber BL, Abrams-Baroff S. Physical correlates of tactual and visual perception. Proceedings, IEEE Conf. on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, 1:396–400, 1987.

Sherman R, Pinzur M, Dimonte-Levine P, Trimble J. Change in adult acquired hemiplegic gait patterns following surgical correction of equinas. Proceedings, 32nd Annual Conference of the Orthopedic Research Society 1986; 11:496.

Sherman R, Pinzur M, Dimonte-Levine P, Trimble J. Correction of ankle equinas in adult acquired hemiplegic gait. Proceedings, Annual Meeting of the Society for Neurovascular Surgery, Chicago, IL, 1986.

Elster S, Zuber B, Trimble J. A research prototype of an Inkbraille reading aid. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, BME-32 1985; 8:633–635.

Trimble J, Lambert Jr. RW. Perspectives on computers and disabled persons. Proceedings, 38th Annual Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, 27: 311, 1985.

Sherman R, Pinzur MS, Dimonte-Levine P. Trimble J. Gait analysis in adult acquired hemiplegia. Proceedings, 31st Annual Meeting of the Orthopedic Research Society, 10:362, 1985.

Trimble JL. Session chair. 37th Annual Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Los Angeles, CA, 1984.

Hislop DW, Zuber BL, Trimble JL. Does motor performance limit blind tactile reading rate? Proceedings, 37th Annual Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, 26:58, 1984.

Hislop DW, Zuber BL, Trimble JL. Reading Inkbraille with the Optacon. Proceedings, 2nd International Conference on Rehabilitation Engineering, 4:598, 1984.

Hislop DW, Zuber BL, Trimble JL. Text scanning parameters in blind readers. Proceedings, 36th Annual Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, 25:138, 1983.

Trimble JL. Guest speaker. The President’s Committee on Employment of the Handicapped, Washington, DC, 1982.

Patwardhan A, Kynast L, Vanderby R, Dimonte P, Robinson C, Trimble JL. A novel device for head-neck tremors in a patient with cerebellar dysfunction. Proceedings, 5th Annual Conference on Rehabilitation Engineering, 49, 1982.

Hislop DW, Zuber BL, Trimble JL. Characteristics of blind reading and manual scanning with an electronic reading aid. Proceedings, 5th Annual Conference on Rehabilitation Engineering, 115, 1982.

Trimble JL. Chairman. Scientific Sessions, 4th International Conference on Rehabilitation Engineering, 1981.

Hollyfield RL, Trimble JL. Measuring performance by blind travelers. Proceedings,, 4th Annual Conference on Rehabilitation Engineering, pp. 285–286, 1981.

Phillips, G., Trimble JL. VER nonlinearities with equal luminance chromatic stimuli. Proceedings, Society for Neuroscience, 3:131, 1978.

Trimble JL, Dallmann D. Frequency response characteristics of the somatosensory evoked response system. Proceedings, Society for Neuroscience, 5:202, 1978.

Trimble JL. Nonlinear identification and synthesis of human visual evoked response. Proceedings, 9th International Conference on EEG Clin, Neurophysiol., Amsterdam, September 1977.

Ernest JT, Trimble JL. Measurement of choroidal blood flow by indocyanine green clearance. Assoc. for Res. in Vision and Ophthal., Sarasota, FL, April 1976.

Trimble JL. White-noise analysis of the human visual evoked response. Proceedings, Society for Neuroscience, 2:241, 1976.

Trimble JL. Interaction between occipital rhythms and the VER. Assoc. for Res. in Vision and Ophthal., Sarasota, FL, April 1974.

Trimble JL, Zuber BL, Trimble SN. A spectral analysis of single motor unit potentials from human extraocular muscle. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, BME-20 1973; 2:148–151.

Book Chapters

Trimble J, Morris T. A low-cost virtual reality system for assessing barrier-free design. In: Virtual Realities: An Anthology of Industry and Culture. Loeffler C (ed), Gijutsu Hyoron Sha, Toyko, 1993.

Investigated injury-related accidents, and provided industrial consulting and research and development in biomechanics, human factors/ergonomics, and medical technology.

Created interactive, 3-dimensional, computer-generated environments for space planning/ utilization, job task analysis, and ergonomic/accessibility evaluation of work environments.

Conducted research and development on human visual perception, visual-evoked responses, and spontaneous brain activity.

Performed research and development activities on nonlinear dynamics, sensory psychophysics, human factors engineering, optical and digital image processing, holographic nondestructive testing, medical instrumentation, microprocessor controllers, and digital signal processing.

Designed and developed diagnostic electrophysiological tests for visual and somatosensory function. Developed analog/digital signal processors, telemetry, voice-recognition and voice-synthesis products, ultrasonic and videographic measurement systems, and biological amplifiers.

Conduced research and development activities on technologies and therapeutic techniques for physical medicine and rehabilitation, orthopedic surgery, neurology, ophthalmology, and urology.

• American Society for Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing; Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (President Elect, Chicago Metropolitan Chapter; Chair, Host Committee, 1998 National Conference)
• Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (Senior Member; Program Chair, Chicago Regional Chapter, Engineering in Medicine and Biology Group)
• American Men and Women of Science