Peter van Kan

Peter van Kan is an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of Education, with appointments in the Department of Kinesiology. His research investigates neural mechanisms underlying limb movement control, with particular focus on cerebellar contributions to motor signal formulation.

His laboratory studies how cerebellar circuits transform voluntary movement plans into muscle commands through connections with descending motor pathways. This work has implications for understanding both normal motor control and movement pathologies. Recent research has examined brain-computer interface applications for stroke rehabilitation.

Dr. van Kan received his PhD in Physiology from UC Davis and completed postdoctoral training in Neuroscience at Northwestern University. He is a recipient of the Fulbright Hays Fellowship and has published extensively on motor control mechanisms in primates and humans.

His research employs neurophysiological techniques to study reach-to-grasp movements, cerebellar function, and motor coordination, with applications in neurorehabilitation technologies.