Nicholas Stergiou

Academic Appointments

Dr. Stergiou began his academic career in his home country, Greece. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1989. He then moved to the United States and earned a Master of Science from UNO. During this time, he was a graduate assistant focusing on the design of running shoes. After his master’s, he moved to Eugene, Oregon to complete his Doctorate at the University of Oregon. He studied biomechanics, motor control and mathematics. After earning his PhD in Biomechanics, he moved back to Greece to serve his country as a Sergeant in the Army Infantry.

In 1996, he moved back to Omaha and became an Assistant Professor in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation at UNO. He taught several classes each semester ranging from Basic Anatomy and Physiology to Advanced Biomechanics. Even though he was working in a primarily teaching institution, he spent every spare second of the day performing research writing grants and papers produced from a small 900 square foot laboratory where he mentored undergraduates, master’s students, and doctoral students. He became an Associate Professor in 2001 and Full Professor in 2005 increasing the size of his laboratory to its current status, the Biomechanics Research Building.

Dr. Stergiou has created the UNO Department of Biomechanics and the UNO Center for Research in Human Movement Variability. Both units are the first of their kind in the world. He has been the only UNO faculty to serve on the University of Nebraska Medical Center Graduate Council and serve as a Chair of a Graduate Program at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He has a paid faculty appointment at the College of Public Health for many years and he has held adjunct faculty appointments at various Departments at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the University of Nebraska Omaha, and the University of Nebraska Lincoln. He has developed PhD programs at the College of Public Health of the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the College of Engineering of the University of Nebraska Lincoln. He graduated the first doctoral student from the University of Nebraska Lincoln Biomedical Engineering PhD program. He has also led the approval of the doctoral program in Exercise Science at UNO in 2012, which is the only approved standalone doctoral program at this University in more than ten years. He also organized the entire program and developed the entire curriculum as the first Chair of the Doctoral Program Committee. Recently, he has led the development of a BS program in Biomechanics which is just the third such program in the nation.

Dr. Stergiou was also the Chief Scientific Consultant for the Orthopedic and Sports Center of Ioannina in Ioannina, Greece, from 2000 to 2011.

Professional Accomplishments

Dr. Nicholas Stergiou is known for being a passionate proponent of biomechanics research In addition, he is the first UNO faculty to ever obtain enough private funding to construct an entirely new building for his discipline and one of the few in the world. He was able to transform his 900 square foot laboratory into a 23,000 square foot building by securing a six million dollar private donation. The Biomechanics Research Building now employs over 70 faculty, staff and students, houses the UNO Department of Biomechanics which is the first research focused department of this university. The UNO's Biomechanics Research Building, is the only research building on this campus, and one of the world's first buildings dedicated to biomechanics research and solely to the study of how the human body moves.

Dr. Stergiou has mentored hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students, doctoral candidates, and post-doctoral fellows in fields related to human movement variability. He is the only UNO faculty member that had four post-doctoral researchers every year for more than five years. He is responsible for fourteen inventions in biomechanics, including the development of a concussion development platform in 2016. He is the author of Innovative Analyses of Human Movement and Nonlinear Analysis for Human Movement Variability, and has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles.

As an international authority of Nonlinear Dynamics in Biomechanics, Stergiou has spoken all over the world. His reputation has also attracted an international array of physicians and clinicians to attend the Nonlinear Analysis Workshop in Omaha, and the Biomechanics Research Building staff has hosted visiting scholars from Norway, Japan, Greece, France, and many more.

Dr. Stergiou has been highlighted several times by the University of Nebraska Foundation and the University President, to our alumni and donors as an exemplary faculty with speeches at Palm Springs, California, Scottsdale, Arizona and Lincoln, Nebraska. He was the first inductee from Nebraska to the National Academy of Kinesiology. Stergiou is the only UNO faculty that received the Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award, the Outstanding Researcher of the Year Award, the Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award, and as the Director of Nebraska Biomechanics Core Facility, the Chancellor’s Academic Excellence Award. He has participated in grant reviewing for the National Science Foundation, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) study sections as well as for many countries around the globe. He has received more than 30 million dollars in grants from NIH, NASA, NSF, the NIDRR/US Department of Education, and many other agencies and foundations.

Dr. Stergiou has also been rewarded with numerous awards and honors. He is the only UNO faculty with a named professorship designed specifically for him; the Distinguished Community Chair in Biomechanics. If he leaves from UNO, this Chair position will be called the Stergiou Chair in Biomechanics. Most recently, he earned a Fulbright Scholarship to spend time in Portugal. Stergiou’s funding is a list of sources ranging from the Nebraska Research Initiative to the NSF and the NIH. His most notable award is a P20 grant for $10 million from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the NIH. This is the largest grant in UNO history to date.

Dr. Stergiou’s latest accomplishment has been honoring his mother as he grew up without a father; his mother raised him and his brother who became a successful cardiologist in his hometown. Dr. Stergiou created the Vaya Stergiou scholarship through the University of Nebraska Foundation. This scholarship provides monies to one student majoring in biomechanics each year.

Personal life

Dr. Stergiou has always had a sincere love for reading and continues that today. When not working, he can often be found with a book. He especially loves reading history, theology, and English Classics. He is also an excellent signer of songs that have been popularized by Sinatra, Martin, Como, and Elvis, performing many times in front of audiences.