{"689179":{"#nid":"689179","#data":{"type":"news","title":"The Science of Saving Memories","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAlmost everyone knows someone touched by Alzheimer\u0027s \u2014 a parent who no longer recognizes familiar faces, a grandparent whose stories have gone silent. It\u0027s a disease that doesn\u0027t just affect the person who has it; it takes something from everyone around them. At Georgia Tech, researchers in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering are working to change that \u2014 not with surgery or medication, but through light and sound.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/news.gatech.edu\/features\/2026\/03\/science-saving-memories?utm_source=newsletter\u0026amp;utm_medium=email\u0026amp;utm_content=The%20Science%20of%20Saving%20Memories\u0026amp;utm_campaign=Daily%20Digest%20-%20March%2025%2C%202026\u0022\u003ERead the full story \u0026gt;\u0026gt;\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAt Georgia Tech, we turn deep science into therapies that could give people back what matters most.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"At Georgia Tech, we turn deep science into therapies that could give people back what matters most."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2026-03-25 14:24:03","changed_gmt":"2026-03-25 15:04:49","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-03-25T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-03-25T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"679735":{"id":"679735","type":"image","title":"f3b01b6c1ecbc90bfd1de201.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EAnnabelle Singer, lead researcher on the project, standing in her lab smiling next to equipment.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1774448660","gmt_created":"2026-03-25 14:24:20","changed":"1774448660","gmt_changed":"2026-03-25 14:24:20","alt":"Annabelle Singer, lead researcher on the project, standing in her lab smiling next to equipment.","file":{"fid":"263930","name":"f3b01b6c1ecbc90bfd1de201.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/03\/25\/f3b01b6c1ecbc90bfd1de201.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/03\/25\/f3b01b6c1ecbc90bfd1de201.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":127052,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/03\/25\/f3b01b6c1ecbc90bfd1de201.jpg?itok=1gHDUJDp"}}},"media_ids":["679735"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/news.gatech.edu\/features\/2026\/03\/science-saving-memories?utm_source=newsletter\u0026utm_medium=email\u0026utm_content=The%20Science%20of%20Saving%20Memories\u0026utm_campaign=Daily%20Digest%20-%20March%2025%2C%202026","title":"Read the Full Story"}],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"688758":{"#nid":"688758","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Target the Tumor. Spare the Body.","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech researcher Nick Housley is developing a drug\u2011delivery system designed to send cancer treatments directly to tumors while minimizing damage to healthy tissue. His team\u2019s approach uses self\u2011assembling nanohydrogels (SANGs) that circulate through the body, remain inactive in healthy environments, and release their drug payload only when they encounter the unique chemical conditions created by tumors. This \u201ccancer\u2011agnostic\u201d strategy avoids the pitfalls of traditional targeted therapies, which can lose effectiveness as tumors evolve, and aims to reduce the harsh side effects patients often endure. Early preclinical results show that the nanohydrogels successfully concentrated drugs at tumor sites, and Housley\u2019s team is now preparing for broader testing to move the technology toward clinical trials.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/node\/45127\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERead more \u00bb\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"A Georgia Tech researcher is working to send cancer drugs to tumors \u2014 and avoid healthy tissue."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech researcher Nick Housley is developing a drug\u2011delivery system designed to send cancer treatments directly to tumors while minimizing damage to healthy tissue. Early preclinical results show that the nanohydrogels successfully concentrated drugs at tumor sites, and Housley\u2019s team is now preparing for broader testing to move the technology toward clinical trials.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Housley and his team are developing self\u2011assembling nanohydrogels that deliver cancer drugs only when they reach tumor\u2011specific conditions, aiming to reduce side effects and make treatment more precise across multiple cancer types."}],"uid":"27255","created_gmt":"2026-03-05 23:19:22","changed_gmt":"2026-03-20 13:02:20","author":"Josie Giles","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-03-06T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2026-03-06T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"679537":{"id":"679537","type":"image","title":"20260226-Cancer-Delivery-System-Story-6.jpg","body":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENick Housley\u2019s latest advancement is a drug\u2011delivery system called SANGs, short for \u201cself\u2011assembling nanohydrogels.\u201d As these nanohydrogels move through the body, they keep the cancer\u2011fighting drug contained, passing through healthy tissue without releasing medicine. When they encounter the unique conditions created by a tumor, they remain in that environment and release the drug precisely where it\u2019s needed.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","created":"1772752775","gmt_created":"2026-03-05 23:19:35","changed":"1772752775","gmt_changed":"2026-03-05 23:19:35","alt":"A person wearing a blue lab coat stands with arms crossed in a laboratory filled with shelves of scientific equipment, supplies, and a refrigerator unit in the background.","file":{"fid":"263710","name":"20260226-Cancer-Delivery-System-Story-6.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/03\/05\/20260226-Cancer-Delivery-System-Story-6.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/03\/05\/20260226-Cancer-Delivery-System-Story-6.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":14461101,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/03\/05\/20260226-Cancer-Delivery-System-Story-6.jpg?itok=hcwCBuaP"}}},"media_ids":["679537"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193658","name":"Commercialization"},{"id":"193652","name":"Matter and Systems"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"687820":{"#nid":"687820","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Confronting the Roadblocks in Medical Technology Innovation","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/matter-systems.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EInstitute for Matter and Systems\u003C\/a\u003E (IMS) hosted its second Boundaries and Breakthroughs panel on Jan. 27, bringing together leading clinicians, engineers, and data experts to examine why\u0026nbsp;promising medical technologies often fail to translate into clinical practice.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EModerated by IMS Executive Director \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/matter-systems.gatech.edu\/people\/eric-vogel\u0022\u003EEric Vogel\u003C\/a\u003E, the panel explored how innovation, regulation, economics and clinical realities intersect to shape the future of medical devices.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe panel featured \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/17689\u0022\u003EJon Duke\u003C\/a\u003E, physician and director of the Center for Health Analytics and Informatics at Georgia Tech Research Institute; \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/directory\/matthew-t-flavin\u0022\u003EMatthew Flavin\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering; \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/people\/hyunjoo-oh\u0022\u003EHyunJoo Oh\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor in the schools of Industrial Design and Interactive Computing; and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/med.emory.edu\/departments\/pediatrics\/divisions\/pulmonary\/profile\/?u=LGUGLAN\u0022\u003ELokesh Guglani\u003C\/a\u003E, pediatric pulmonologist and clinician-researcher at Children\u2019s Healthcare of Atlanta.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EVogel opened the event by highlighting the gap between technological novelty and real-world medical adoption.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAbout 75% of medical device start-ups never achieve commercial success or make it to market, and some industry estimates push this higher,\u201d Vogel said. \u201cEven those that reach the market often fail to gain meaningful adoption. This may be because technologists optimize for platforms five or 10 years out and are rewarded by novelty, whereas clinicians demand reliability, interpretability, and outcomes that hold up with real patients, real workflows, and real liability.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThroughout the discussion, panelists examined the balance between rapid innovation and clinical safety, noting that the level of invasiveness often determines how bold developers can be.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe must remember that in medicine\u2014and especially when we\u0027re dealing with human lives\u2014there\u0027s a significant asymmetry of the harm that could be done,\u201d said Guglani. \u201cEven a small change or an oversight at the design level of a medical device can have significant downstream repercussions for patients and create liability for institutions and providers.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFlavin and Duke added that excessive conservatism, particularly around non-invasive wearable, can also slow potentially life-changing advancements.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAll panelists agreed that breakthrough technology alone is not enough to ensure clinical adoption. Usability, workflow fit, and time efficiency often determine whether clinicians adopt a device. Tools that require lengthy calibration or add to a clinician\u2019s already tight schedule rarely succeed. Even when a technology integrates well, reimbursement barriers can prevent adoption.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u201cA lot of technologies come out, but then if the clinic is using them and is not being reimbursed for the time spent, that creates a bottleneck,\u201d said Guglani.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEconomic constraints also shape who benefits from innovation. Children with rare diseases, stroke survivors, and other small or heterogeneous patient groups often struggle to attract investors, even when their needs are urgent.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe panelists also discussed the dual role of regulatory and manufacturing standards. Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) requirements ensures consistent, safe production, but force teams to lock designs earlier than ideal, adding cost and slowing iteration. These requirements protect patients but also function as an economic filter for many early-stage technologies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe conversation then turned to data, AI, and the education of future innovators. Despite massive amounts of health data, many clinically important areas remain data\u2011scarce. Wearable devices, such as smart watches, may help close these gaps, but AI models remain limited by the quality of input data.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen asked about preparing the next generation of MedTech innovators, panelists emphasized the importance of \u201cinterface literacy\u201d or the ability to collaborate across disciplinary boundaries and understand how design decisions cascade into real clinical environments. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYou really do have to be able to be interdisciplinary,\u201d said Duke. \u201cNow of course what makes things go is not often the knowledge of the domain, but the person\u2019s role or connectivity into the system.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EVogel closed by emphasizing that successful medical technology development requires \u201congoing, honest collaboration\u201d across fields. The Boundaries and Breakthroughs series will continue that mission in February with a panel on the future of the electric grid.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EClinicians and researchers outlined why breakthrough devices often fall short in clinical settings and emphasized the need for interdisciplinary collaboration and practical workflow integration.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Clinicians and researchers outlined why breakthrough devices often fall short in clinical settings and emphasized the need for interdisciplinary collaboration and practical workflow integration."}],"uid":"35272","created_gmt":"2026-01-29 16:04:43","changed_gmt":"2026-02-16 15:15:01","author":"aneumeister3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-01-29T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2026-01-29T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"679124":{"id":"679124","type":"image","title":"Bioelectronics and MedTech panel","body":null,"created":"1769700549","gmt_created":"2026-01-29 15:29:09","changed":"1769700715","gmt_changed":"2026-01-29 15:31:55","alt":"A panel of five speakers sits on tall stools at the front of a classroom, participating in a moderated discussion. The moderator on the left holds papers while addressing the group. A large presentation slide behind the panel displays names and academic titles. Audience members are partially visible in the foreground, and tables, chairs, and a water bottle are arranged throughout the room.","file":{"fid":"263245","name":"bioelectronics_and_medTech_panel.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/01\/29\/bioelectronics_and_medTech_panel.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/01\/29\/bioelectronics_and_medTech_panel.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":668931,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/01\/29\/bioelectronics_and_medTech_panel.jpg?itok=C-PG3Fe5"}}},"media_ids":["679124"],"groups":[{"id":"660369","name":"Matter and Systems"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193652","name":"Matter and Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:amelia.neumeister@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAmelia Neumeister\u003C\/a\u003E | Communications Program Manager\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Institute for Matter and Systems\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["amelia.neumeister@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"687195":{"#nid":"687195","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Illness Is More Than Just Biological \u2013 Medical Sociology Shows How Social Factors Get Under the Skin and Cause\u00a0Disease","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv class=\u0022theconversation-article-body\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHealth and medicine is more than just biological \u2013 societal forces can \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1146\/annurev.publhealth.29.020907.090852\u0022\u003Eget under your skin and cause illness\u003C\/a\u003E. Medical sociologists \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?user=HQtYrggAAAAJ\u0026amp;hl=en\u0022\u003Elike me study these forces\u003C\/a\u003E by treating society itself as our laboratory. Health and illness are our experiments in uncovering meaning, power and inequality, and how it affects all parts of a person\u2019s life.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor example, why do low-income communities \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nationalacademies.org\/read\/19015\u0022\u003Econtinue to have higher death rates\u003C\/a\u003E, despite improved social and environmental conditions across society? Foundational research in medical sociology reveals that \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2307\/2626958\u0022\u003Eaccess to resources\u003C\/a\u003E like money, knowledge, power and social networks strongly affects a person\u2019s health. Medical sociologists have shown that \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0022146510383498\u0022\u003Esocial class is linked to numerous diseases and mortality\u003C\/a\u003E, including risk factors that influence health and longevity. These include \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\/secondhand-smoke-may-be-a-substantial-contributor-to-lead-levels-found-in-children-and-adolescents-new-study-finds-212256\u0022\u003Esmoking\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\/fixing-the-global-childhood-obesity-epidemic-begins-with-making-healthy-choices-the-easier-choices-and-that-requires-new-laws-and-policies-207975\u0022\u003Eoverweight\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\/hispanics-live-longer-than-most-americans-but-will-the-us-obesity-epidemic-change-things-146006\u0022\u003Eobesity\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\/black-mothers-trapped-in-unsafe-neighborhoods-signal-the-stressful-health-toll-of-gun-violence-in-the-u-s-203307\u0022\u003Estress\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\/loneliness-is-making-us-physically-sick-but-social-prescribing-can-treat-it-podcast-199939\u0022\u003Esocial isolation\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\/health-insurance-premiums-rose-nearly-3x-the-rate-of-worker-earnings-over-the-past-25-years-271450\u0022\u003Eaccess to health care\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\/kids-neighborhoods-can-affect-their-developing-brains-a-new-study-finds-184035\u0022\u003Eliving in disadvantaged neighborhoods\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMoreover, social class alone cannot explain such health inequalities. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/singh.hsoc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EMy own research\u003C\/a\u003E examines how inequalities related to social class, race and gender affect \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.ssmqr.2023.100234\u0022\u003Eaccess to autism services\u003C\/a\u003E, particularly among single Black mothers who rely on public insurance. This work helps explain \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1542\/peds.2019-3629\u0022\u003Edelays in autism diagnosis\u003C\/a\u003E among Black children, who often wait three years after initial parent concerns before they are formally diagnosed. White children with private insurance typically \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.18553\/jmcp.2023.29.4.378\u0022\u003Ewait from 9 to 22 months\u003C\/a\u003E depending on age of diagnosis. This is just one of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s40615-024-02280-x\u0022\u003Enumerous examples of inequalities\u003C\/a\u003E that are entrenched in and deepened by medical and educational systems.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMedical sociologists like me investigate how all of these \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.who.int\/publications\/i\/item\/WHO-IER-CSDH-08.1\u0022\u003Efactors interact to affect a person\u2019s health\u003C\/a\u003E. This \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4324\/9781003569824\u0022\u003Esocial model of illness\u003C\/a\u003E sees sickness as shaped by social, cultural, political and economic factors. We examine both \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0022146510383496\u0022\u003Eindividual experiences and societal influences\u003C\/a\u003E to help address the health issues affecting vulnerable populations through large-scale reforms.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy studying the way \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0022146510383496\u0022\u003Esocial forces shape health inequalities\u003C\/a\u003E, medical sociology helps address how health and illness extend beyond the body and into every aspect of people\u2019s lives.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cfigure class=\u0022align-center zoomable\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710832\/original\/file-20260105-62-evcc0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=45\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=1000\u0026amp;fit=clip\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\u0022Protesters standing in front of a federal building, holding signs in the shape of graves reading \u0026apos;16 MILLION LIVES\u0026apos; and \u0026apos;R.I.P. DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS,\u0026apos; wearing shirts that read \u0026apos;MEDICAID SAVES LIVES\u0026apos;\u0022 src=\u0022https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710832\/original\/file-20260105-62-evcc0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=45\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=754\u0026amp;fit=clip\u0022 srcset=\u0022https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710832\/original\/file-20260105-62-evcc0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=45\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=600\u0026amp;h=400\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710832\/original\/file-20260105-62-evcc0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=30\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=600\u0026amp;h=400\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710832\/original\/file-20260105-62-evcc0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=15\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=600\u0026amp;h=400\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710832\/original\/file-20260105-62-evcc0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=45\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=754\u0026amp;h=503\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710832\/original\/file-20260105-62-evcc0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=30\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=754\u0026amp;h=503\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710832\/original\/file-20260105-62-evcc0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=15\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=754\u0026amp;h=503\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=3 2262w\u0022 sizes=\u0022(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cfigcaption\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022caption\u0022\u003EAccess to health insurance is a political issue that directly affects patients. Here, care workers gathered in June 2025 to protest Medicaid cuts.\u003C\/span\u003E \u003Ca class=\u0022source\u0022 href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/news-photo\/care-workers-with-the-service-employees-international-union-news-photo\/2221731651\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022attribution\u0022\u003ETasos Katopodis\/Getty Images for SEIU\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EOrigins of Medical Sociology in the US\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMedical sociology \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/9781444314786.ch1\u0022\u003Eformally began in the U.S after World War II\u003C\/a\u003E, when the National Institutes of Health started investing in joint medical and sociological research projects. Hospitals began hiring sociologists to address questions like how to improve patient compliance, doctor-patient interactions and medical treatments.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHowever, the focus of this early work was on issues specific to medicine, such as quality improvement or barriers to medication adherence. The goal was to study problems that could be directly applied in medical settings rather than challenging medical authority or existing inequalities. During that period, sociologists viewed illness mostly as a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/socialsystem00pars\/page\/n3\/mode\/2up\u0022\u003Edeviation from normal functioning\u003C\/a\u003E leading to impairments that require treatment.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor example, the concept of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/socialsystem00pars\/page\/n3\/mode\/2up\u0022\u003Esick role\u003C\/a\u003E \u2013 developed by medical sociologist Talcott Parsons in the 1950s \u2013 saw illness as a form of deviance from social roles and expectations. Under this idea, patients were solely responsible for seeking out medical care in order to return to normal functioning in society.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the 1960s, sociologists began \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/stigmanotesonman0000goff\/page\/n5\/mode\/2up\u0022\u003Ecritiquing medical diagnoses and institutions\u003C\/a\u003E. Researchers criticized the idea of the sick role because it assumed illnesses were temporary and did not account for chronic conditions or disability, which can last for long periods of time and do not necessarily allow people to deviate from their life obligations. The sick role assumed that all people have access to medical care, and it did not take into account how social characteristics like race, class, gender and age can \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1467-9566.1991.tb00522.x\u0022\u003Einfluence a person\u2019s experience of illness\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cfigure class=\u0022align-center zoomable\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710831\/original\/file-20260105-62-pk5w60.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=45\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=1000\u0026amp;fit=clip\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\u0022Patient wearing surgical mask sitting in chair of exam room, talking to a doctor\u0022 src=\u0022https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710831\/original\/file-20260105-62-pk5w60.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=45\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=754\u0026amp;fit=clip\u0022 srcset=\u0022https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710831\/original\/file-20260105-62-pk5w60.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=45\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=600\u0026amp;h=338\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710831\/original\/file-20260105-62-pk5w60.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=30\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=600\u0026amp;h=338\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710831\/original\/file-20260105-62-pk5w60.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=15\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=600\u0026amp;h=338\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710831\/original\/file-20260105-62-pk5w60.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=45\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=754\u0026amp;h=424\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710831\/original\/file-20260105-62-pk5w60.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=30\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=754\u0026amp;h=424\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710831\/original\/file-20260105-62-pk5w60.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=15\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=754\u0026amp;h=424\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=3 2262w\u0022 sizes=\u0022(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cfigcaption\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022caption\u0022\u003EEarly models of illness in medical sociology discounted the experience of the patient.\u003C\/span\u003E \u003Ca class=\u0022source\u0022 href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/news-photo\/man-talks-with-dr-stela-kostova-at-families-together-of-news-photo\/1470350026\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022attribution\u0022\u003EPaul Bersebach\/MediaNews Group\/Orange County Register via Getty Images\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cp\u003EParsons\u2019 sick role concept also emphasized the expertise of the physician rather than the patient\u2019s experience of illness. For example, sociologist Erving Goffman showed that the way \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4324\/9781351327763\u0022\u003Ecare is structured in asylums shaped how patients are treated\u003C\/a\u003E. He also examined how the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/stigmanotesonman0000goff\/page\/n5\/mode\/2up\u0022\u003Eexperience of stigma\u003C\/a\u003E is an interactive process that develops in response to social norms. This work influenced how researchers understood chronic illness and disability and laid the groundwork for \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1467-9566.2009.01161.x\u0022\u003Elater debates on what counts as pathological or normal\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the 1970s, some researchers began to question the model of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1467-954X.1972.tb00220.x\u0022\u003Emedicine as an institution of social control\u003C\/a\u003E. They critiqued how medicine\u2019s jurisdiction expanded over many societal problems \u2013 such as old age and death \u2013 which were defined and treated as medical problems. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1146\/annurev.so.18.080192.001233\u0022\u003EResearchers were critical of the tendency to medicalize\u003C\/a\u003E and apply labels like \u201chealthy\u201d and \u201cill\u201d to increasing parts of human existence. This shift emphasized how a medical diagnosis can carry political weight and how medical authority can affect social inclusion or exclusion.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe critical perspective aligns with critiques from \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/09687599.2013.818773\u0022\u003Edisability studies\u003C\/a\u003E. Unlike medical sociology, which emerged through the medical model of disease, disability studies emerged from \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.bloomsbury.com\/us\/new-politics-of-disablement-9780333945674\/\u0022\u003Edisability rights activism and scholarship\u003C\/a\u003E. Rather than viewing disability as pathological, this field sees disability as a variation of the human condition rooted in social barriers and exclusionary environments. Instead of seeking cures, researchers focus on increasing accessibility, human rights and autonomy for disabled people.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA contemporary figure in this field was \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/disabilityvisibilityproject.com\/about\/\u0022\u003EAlice Wong\u003C\/a\u003E, a disability rights activist and medical sociologist who \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/obituaries\/2025\/11\/15\/disability-activist-alice-wong\/\u0022\u003Edied in November 2025\u003C\/a\u003E. Her work amplified disabled voices and helped shaped how the public understood disability justice and access to technology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EStructural Forces Shape Health and Illness\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy focusing on social and structural influences on health, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0022146510383496\u0022\u003Emedical sociology has contributed significantly\u003C\/a\u003E to programs addressing issues like segregation, discrimination, poverty, unemployment and underfunded schools.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor example, sociological research on racial health disparities invite \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0022146510383838\u0022\u003Eneighborhood interventions\u003C\/a\u003E that can help improve overall quality of life by increasing the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\/free-school-meals-for-all-may-reduce-childhood-obesity-while-easing-financial-and-logistical-burdens-for-families-and-schools-223270\u0022\u003Eavailability of affordable nutritious foods\u003C\/a\u003E \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\/what-is-food-insecurity-152746\u0022\u003Ein underserved neighborhoods\u003C\/a\u003E or initiatives that \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\/socioeconomic-status-explains-most-of-the-racial-and-ethnic-achievement-gaps-in-elementary-school-237931\u0022\u003Eprioritize equal access to education\u003C\/a\u003E. At the societal level, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0022146510383496\u0022\u003Elarge-scale social policies\u003C\/a\u003E such as guaranteed minimum incomes or universal health care can dramatically reduce health inequalities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cfigure class=\u0022align-center zoomable\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710822\/original\/file-20260105-70-3hpn4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=45\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=1000\u0026amp;fit=clip\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\u0022People carrying boxes of food under a tent\u0022 src=\u0022https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710822\/original\/file-20260105-70-3hpn4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=45\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=754\u0026amp;fit=clip\u0022 srcset=\u0022https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710822\/original\/file-20260105-70-3hpn4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=45\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=600\u0026amp;h=360\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710822\/original\/file-20260105-70-3hpn4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=30\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=600\u0026amp;h=360\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710822\/original\/file-20260105-70-3hpn4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=15\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=600\u0026amp;h=360\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710822\/original\/file-20260105-70-3hpn4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=45\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=754\u0026amp;h=452\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710822\/original\/file-20260105-70-3hpn4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=30\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=754\u0026amp;h=452\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/710822\/original\/file-20260105-70-3hpn4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=15\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=754\u0026amp;h=452\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=3 2262w\u0022 sizes=\u0022(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cfigcaption\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022caption\u0022\u003EAccess to nutritious food is critical to health.\u003C\/span\u003E \u003Ca class=\u0022source\u0022 href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/news-photo\/escondido-ca-juliana-ramos-of-interfaith-community-services-news-photo\/2243706444\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022attribution\u0022\u003EK.C. Alfred \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMedical sociology has also expanded the understanding of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0022146510383496\u0022\u003Ehow health care policies affect health\u003C\/a\u003E, helping ensure that policy changes take into account the broader social context. For example, a key area of medical sociological research is the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0022146510383504\u0022\u003Erising cost of and limited access to health care\u003C\/a\u003E. This body of work focuses on the complex social and organizational factors of delivering health services. It highlights the need for more state and federal regulatory control as well as investment in groups and communities that need care the most.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EModern medical sociology ultimately considers all societal issues to be health issues. Improving people\u2019s health and well-being requires improving education, employment, housing, transportation and other social, economic and political policies.\u003C!-- Below is The Conversation\u0027s page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --\u003E\u003Cimg style=\u0022border-color:!important;border-style:none;box-shadow:none !important;margin:0 !important;max-height:1px !important;max-width:1px !important;min-height:1px !important;min-width:1px !important;opacity:0 !important;outline:none !important;padding:0 !important;\u0022 src=\u0022https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/270258\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\u0022 alt=\u0022The Conversation\u0022 width=\u00221\u0022 height=\u00221\u0022 referrerpolicy=\u0022no-referrer-when-downgrade\u0022\u003E\u003C!-- End of code. If you don\u0027t see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/republishing-guidelines --\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis article is republished from \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe Conversation\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E under a Creative Commons license. Read the \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\/illness-is-more-than-just-biological-medical-sociology-shows-how-social-factors-get-under-the-skin-and-cause-disease-270258\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003Eoriginal article\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"full_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBy studying the way social forces shape health inequalities, medical sociology helps address how health and illness extend beyond the body and into every aspect of people\u2019s lives.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"By studying the way social forces shape health inequalities, medical sociology helps address how health and illness extend beyond the body and into every aspect of people\u2019s lives."}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2026-01-08 15:37:58","changed_gmt":"2026-01-29 14:40:14","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-01-08T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2026-01-08T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678961":{"id":"678961","type":"image","title":"Lack of access to safe and affordable housing is harmful to health. Robert Gauthier\/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images","body":"\u003Cp\u003ELack of access to safe and affordable housing is harmful to health. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/news-photo\/los-angeles-ca-tuesday-may-31-2022-dana-vanderford-news-photo\/1242004141\u0022\u003ERobert Gauthier\/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1768232345","gmt_created":"2026-01-12 15:39:05","changed":"1768232345","gmt_changed":"2026-01-12 15:39:05","alt":"Lack of access to safe and affordable housing is harmful to health. Robert Gauthier\/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images","file":{"fid":"263064","name":"file-20260105-70-1qzwti.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/01\/12\/file-20260105-70-1qzwti.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/01\/12\/file-20260105-70-1qzwti.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":239539,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/01\/12\/file-20260105-70-1qzwti.jpg?itok=J-V7i4lM"}}},"media_ids":["678961"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/illness-is-more-than-just-biological-medical-sociology-shows-how-social-factors-get-under-the-skin-and-cause-disease-270258","title":"Read This Article on The Conversation"}],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Ch5\u003EAuthor:\u003C\/h5\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/jennifer-singh-2531279\u0022\u003EJennifer Singh\u003C\/a\u003E, Associate Professor of Sociology, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/georgia-institute-of-technology-1310\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch5\u003EMedia Contact:\u003C\/h5\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShelley Wunder-Smith\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:shelley.wunder-smith@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Eshelley.wunder-smith@research.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"687795":{"#nid":"687795","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Better Brain-Machine Interfaces Could Allow the Paralyzed to Communicate Again","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELast summer, a team of researchers reported using a brain-computer interface to detect words people with paralysis imagined saying, even without them physically attempting to speak. They also found they could differentiate between the imagined words they wished to express and the person\u2019s private inner thoughts.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s a significant step toward helping people with diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, reconnect with language after they\u2019ve lost the ability to talk. And it\u2019s part of a long-running clinical trial on brain-computer interfaces involving biomedical engineers from Georgia Tech and Emory University alongside collaborators at Stanford University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brown University, and the University of California, Davis.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETogether, they\u2019re exploring how implanted devices can read brain signals and help patients use assistive devices to recover some of their lost abilities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESpeech has become one of the hottest areas for these interfaces as scientists leverage the power of artificial intelligence, according to \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bio\/chethan-pandarinath\u0022\u003EChethan Pandarinath\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E at Georgia Tech and Emory and one of the researchers involved in the trials.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe can place electrodes in parts of the brain that are related to speech,\u201d he said, \u201cand even if the person has lost the ability to talk, we can pick up the electrical activity as they try to speak and figure out what they\u2019re trying to say.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/magazine\/2025\/fall\/allowing-paralyzed-communicate-again\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERead the full story in Helluva Engineer magazine.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBiomedical engineer Chethan Pandarinath collaborates with neurosurgeons and scientists across the country in a massive project to help patients with ALS or stroke damage reconnect with the world.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Biomedical engineer Chethan Pandarinath collaborates with neurosurgeons and scientists across the country in a massive project to help patients with ALS or stroke damage reconnect with the world."}],"uid":"27446","created_gmt":"2026-01-28 20:16:09","changed_gmt":"2026-01-28 20:19:50","author":"Joshua Stewart","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-01-28T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2026-01-28T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"679122":{"id":"679122","type":"image","title":"Pandarinath-Brain-Interface_web.jpg","body":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDuring a research session, a participant imagines saying the text cue on the screen. The bottom text is the brain-computer interface\u2019s prediction of the imagined words. (Photo courtesy: Chethan Pandarinath)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","created":"1769631407","gmt_created":"2026-01-28 20:16:47","changed":"1769631407","gmt_changed":"2026-01-28 20:16:47","alt":"During a research session, a participant looks at a monitor and imagines saying the text cue displayed on screen. Text below the cue shows the brain-computer interface\u2019s prediction of her imagined words.","file":{"fid":"263243","name":"Pandarinath-Brain-Interface_web.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/01\/28\/Pandarinath-Brain-Interface_web.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/01\/28\/Pandarinath-Brain-Interface_web.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":738032,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/01\/28\/Pandarinath-Brain-Interface_web.jpg?itok=B3-ADFDu"}}},"media_ids":["679122"],"groups":[{"id":"1237","name":"College of Engineering"},{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jstewart@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJoshua Stewart\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ECollege of Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jstewart@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"687712":{"#nid":"687712","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Lights, Camera, Memory!","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ECan flickering light and sound help fight Alzheimer\u2019s disease?\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EOn this episode of \u003Cem\u003EHoly Shift!\u003C\/em\u003E, host Angela Gill Nelms chats with Dr. Annabelle Singer from Georgia Tech and Emory University, whose groundbreaking research explores how carefully timed lights and sounds may help \u201ctune\u201d the brain, boost memory, and change the course of Alzheimer\u2019s disease. \u0026nbsp;From building theater lights as a kid to decoding how brain waves shape memory, Dr. Singer is proving that sometimes the brightest ideas come from unexpected places.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/holyshiftresearch.transistor.fm\/5\u0022\u003ETune in to hear how groundbreaking science is lighting the way toward healthier brains and brighter futures.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ECan flickering light and sound help fight Alzheimer\u2019s disease?\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Can flickering light and sound help fight Alzheimer\u2019s disease?"}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2026-01-27 15:58:34","changed_gmt":"2026-01-27 16:00:16","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-11-19T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2025-11-19T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"679105":{"id":"679105","type":"image","title":"Annabelle-Singer-Holy-Shift-INNS.jpeg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EAnnabelle Singer\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1769529538","gmt_created":"2026-01-27 15:58:58","changed":"1769529538","gmt_changed":"2026-01-27 15:58:58","alt":"Annabelle Singer","file":{"fid":"263224","name":"Annabelle-Singer-Holy-Shift-INNS.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/01\/27\/Annabelle-Singer-Holy-Shift-INNS.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/01\/27\/Annabelle-Singer-Holy-Shift-INNS.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":109140,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/01\/27\/Annabelle-Singer-Holy-Shift-INNS.jpeg?itok=fQ30Icm-"}}},"media_ids":["679105"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/holyshiftresearch.transistor.fm\/5","title":"Listen to the full podcast"}],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kelly.petty@bme.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EKelly Petty\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["kelly.petty@bme.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"686983":{"#nid":"686983","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Gazing Into the Mind\u2019s Eye With Mice \u2013 How Neuroscientists Are Seeing Human Vision More\u00a0Clearly","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv class=\u0022theconversation-article-body\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDespite the nursery rhyme about three blind mice, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.7554\/eLife.31209\u0022\u003Emouse eyesight is surprisingly sensitive\u003C\/a\u003E. Studying how mice see has helped researchers discover unprecedented details about how individual brain cells communicate and work together to create a mental picture of the visual world.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?user=P5IKL5UAAAAJ\u0026amp;hl=en\u0022\u003EI am a neuroscientist\u003C\/a\u003E who studies how brain cells drive visual perception and how these processes can fail in conditions \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/cercor\/bhab025\u0022\u003Esuch as autism\u003C\/a\u003E. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/haider.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EMy lab\u003C\/a\u003E \u201clistens\u201d to the electrical activity of neurons in the outermost part of the brain called the cerebral cortex, a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.17-18-07079.1997\u0022\u003Elarge portion of which\u003C\/a\u003E \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.7551\/mitpress\/7131.003.0038\u0022\u003Eprocesses visual information\u003C\/a\u003E. Injuries to the visual cortex can lead to blindness and other visual deficits, even when the eyes themselves are unhurt.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUnderstanding the activity of individual neurons \u2013 and how they work together while the brain is actively using and processing information \u2013 is a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\/mapping-how-the-100-billion-cells-in-the-brain-all-fit-together-is-the-brave-new-world-of-neuroscience-170182\u0022\u003Elong-standing goal of neuroscience\u003C\/a\u003E. Researchers have moved much closer to achieving this goal thanks to new technologies aimed at the mouse visual system. And these findings will help scientists better see how the visual systems of people work.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EThe Mind in the Blink of an Eye\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearchers long thought that vision in mice appeared \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/s0042-6989(00)00081-x\u0022\u003Esluggish with low clarity\u003C\/a\u003E. But it turns out visual cortex neurons in mice \u2013 just like \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.pneurobio.2024.102656\u0022\u003Ethose in humans, monkeys, cats and ferrets\u003C\/a\u003E \u2013 require \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.0623-08.2008\u0022\u003Especific visual features to trigger activity\u003C\/a\u003E and are particularly \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/nature11665\u0022\u003Eselective in alert and awake conditions\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMy colleagues and I and others have found that \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41467-021-24311-5\u0022\u003Emice are especially sensitive to\u003C\/a\u003E \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41467-021-24311-5\u0022\u003Evisual stimuli directly in front of them\u003C\/a\u003E. This is surprising, because mouse eyes face outward rather than forward. Forward-facing eyes, like those of cats and primates, naturally have a larger area of focus straight ahead compared to outward-facing eyes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cfigure class=\u0022align-center zoomable\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/708514\/original\/file-20251212-56-z8h8ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;rect=0%2C0%2C2048%2C1787\u0026amp;q=45\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=1000\u0026amp;fit=clip\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\u0022Microscopy image of stacks of neurons\u0022 src=\u0022https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/708514\/original\/file-20251212-56-z8h8ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;rect=0%2C0%2C2048%2C1787\u0026amp;q=45\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=754\u0026amp;fit=clip\u0022 srcset=\u0022https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/708514\/original\/file-20251212-56-z8h8ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=45\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=600\u0026amp;h=524\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/708514\/original\/file-20251212-56-z8h8ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=30\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=600\u0026amp;h=524\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/708514\/original\/file-20251212-56-z8h8ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=15\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=600\u0026amp;h=524\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/708514\/original\/file-20251212-56-z8h8ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=45\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=754\u0026amp;h=658\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/708514\/original\/file-20251212-56-z8h8ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=30\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=754\u0026amp;h=658\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/708514\/original\/file-20251212-56-z8h8ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=15\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=754\u0026amp;h=658\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=3 2262w\u0022 sizes=\u0022(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cfigcaption\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022caption\u0022\u003EThis image shows neurons in the mouse retina: cone photoreceptors (red), bipolar neurons (magenta), and a subtype of bipolar neuron (green).\u003C\/span\u003E \u003Ca class=\u0022source\u0022 href=\u0022https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/nihgov\/35882593476\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022attribution\u0022\u003EBrian Liu and Melanie Samuel\/Baylor College of Medicine\/NIH via Flickr\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis finding suggests that the specialization of the visual system to highlight the frontal visual field appears to be \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/361719a0\u0022\u003Eshared between mice and humans\u003C\/a\u003E. For mice, a visual focus on what\u2019s straight ahead may help them be more \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.cub.2021.06.094\u0022\u003Eresponsive to shadows or edges\u003C\/a\u003E in front of them, helping them avoid looming predators or better \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.neuron.2021.03.010\u0022\u003Ehunt and capture insects for food\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EImportantly, the center of view is \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/jcm14155266\u0022\u003Emost affected in aging and many visual diseases\u003C\/a\u003E in people. Since mice also rely heavily on this part of the visual field, they may be particularly useful models to study and treat visual impairment.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EA Thousand Voices Drive Complicated Choices\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAdvances in technology have greatly accelerated scientific understanding of vision and the brain. Researchers can now routinely record the activity of thousands of neurons at the same time and pair this data with real-time video of a mouse\u2019s face, pupil and body movements. This method can \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1126\/science.aav7893\u0022\u003Eshow how behavior interacts with brain activity\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s like spending years listening to a grainy recording of a symphony with one featured soloist, but now you have a pristine recording where you can hear every single musician with a note-by-note readout of every single finger movement.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUsing these improved methods, researchers like me are studying how specific types of neurons work together during complex visual behaviors. This involves analyzing how factors such as movement, alertness and the environment influence visual activity in the brain.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor example, my lab and I found that the speed of visual signaling is \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.cub.2025.02.009\u0022\u003Ehighly sensitive to what actions are possible\u003C\/a\u003E in the physical environment. If a mouse rests on a disc that permits running, visual signals travel to the cortex faster than if the mouse views the same images while resting in a stationary tube \u2013 even when the mouse is totally still in both conditions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn order to connect electrical activity to visual perception, researchers also have to ask a mouse what it thinks it sees. How have we done this?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe last decade has seen researchers debunking long-standing \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fnsys.2014.00173\u0022\u003Emyths about mouse learning and behavior\u003C\/a\u003E. Like other rodents, mice are also \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\/im-a-neuroscientist-who-taught-rats-to-drive-their-joy-suggests-how-anticipating-fun-can-enrich-human-life-239029\u0022\u003Esurprisingly clever\u003C\/a\u003E and can learn how to \u201ctell\u201d researchers about the visual events they perceive through their behavior.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor example, mice can \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1523\/jneurosci.3560-13.2013\u0022\u003Elearn to release a lever\u003C\/a\u003E to indicate they have detected that a pattern has brightened or tilted. They can \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.celrep.2017.08.047\u0022\u003Erotate a Lego wheel left or right\u003C\/a\u003E to move a visual stimulus to the center of a screen like a video game, and they can \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.7554\/eLife.50340\u0022\u003Estop running on a wheel\u003C\/a\u003E \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fnbeh.2020.00104\u0022\u003Eand lick a water spout\u003C\/a\u003E when they detect the visual scene has suddenly changed.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cfigure class=\u0022align-center zoomable\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/708526\/original\/file-20251212-56-ccqnav.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=45\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=1000\u0026amp;fit=clip\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\u0022Mouse drinking from a metal water spout\u0022 src=\u0022https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/708526\/original\/file-20251212-56-ccqnav.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=45\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=754\u0026amp;fit=clip\u0022 srcset=\u0022https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/708526\/original\/file-20251212-56-ccqnav.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=45\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=600\u0026amp;h=400\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/708526\/original\/file-20251212-56-ccqnav.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=30\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=600\u0026amp;h=400\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/708526\/original\/file-20251212-56-ccqnav.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=15\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=600\u0026amp;h=400\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/708526\/original\/file-20251212-56-ccqnav.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=45\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=754\u0026amp;h=503\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/708526\/original\/file-20251212-56-ccqnav.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=30\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=754\u0026amp;h=503\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/708526\/original\/file-20251212-56-ccqnav.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0\u0026amp;q=15\u0026amp;auto=format\u0026amp;w=754\u0026amp;h=503\u0026amp;fit=crop\u0026amp;dpr=3 2262w\u0022 sizes=\u0022(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cfigcaption\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022caption\u0022\u003EMice can be trained to drink water as a way to \u2018tell\u2019 researchers they see something.\u003C\/span\u003E \u003Ca class=\u0022source\u0022 href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/photo\/mouse-drinking-from-a-spout-royalty-free-image\/178825439\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022attribution\u0022\u003Efelixmizioznikov\/iStock via Getty Images Plus\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMice can also use visual cues to \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.cub.2018.01.038\u0022\u003Efocus their visual processing\u003C\/a\u003E to specific parts of the visual field. As a result, they can more quickly and accurately respond to visual stimuli that appear in those regions. For example, my team and I found that a faint visual image in the peripheral visual field is difficult for mice to detect. But once they do notice it \u2013 and tell us by licking a water spout \u2013 their subsequent responses are \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41467-020-14355-4\u0022\u003Efaster and more accurate\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThese improvements come at a cost: If the image unexpectedly appears in a different location, the mice are slower and less likely to respond to it. These findings resemble those found in studies on \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/00335558008248231\u0022\u003Espatial attention in people\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMy lab has also found that \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41593-025-01888-4\u0022\u003Eparticular types of inhibitory neurons\u003C\/a\u003E \u2013 brain cells that prevent activity from spreading \u2013 strongly control the strength of visual signals. When we activated certain inhibitory neurons in the visual cortex of mice, we could effectively \u201cerase\u201d their perception of an image.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThese kinds of experiments are also revealing that the boundaries between perception and action in the brain are \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41593-025-02114-x\u0022\u003Emuch less separate than once thought\u003C\/a\u003E. This means that visual neurons will respond differently to the same image in ways that depend on behavioral circumstances \u2013 for example, visual responses differ if the image will be \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41586-019-1787-x\u0022\u003Esuccessfully detected\u003C\/a\u003E, if it appears \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.neuron.2025.06.001\u0022\u003Ewhile the mouse is moving\u003C\/a\u003E, or if it appears \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1126\/science.aav3932\u0022\u003Ewhen the mouse is thirsty or hydrated\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUnderstanding how different factors shape how cortical neurons rapidly respond to visual images will require advances in computational tools that can separate the contribution of these behavioral signals from the visual ones. Researchers also need technologies that can isolate how specific types of brain cells carry and communicate these signals.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EData Clouds Encircling the Globe\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis surge of research on the mouse visual system has led to a significant increase in the amount of data that scientists can not only gather in a single experiment but also publicly share among each other.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMajor national and international research centers focused on \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/brain-map.org\/\u0022\u003Eunraveling the circuitry of the mouse visual system\u003C\/a\u003E have been leading the charge in ushering in new optical, electrical and biological \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.internationalbrainlab.com\/\u0022\u003Etools to measure large numbers of visual neurons\u003C\/a\u003E in action. Moreover, they make \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/brain-map.org\/atlases#mouse\u0022\u003Eall the data publicly available\u003C\/a\u003E, inspiring \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/mouse.digital-brain.cn\/projectome\/pfc\u0022\u003Esimilar efforts around the globe\u003C\/a\u003E. This collaboration accelerates the ability of researchers to analyze data, replicate findings and make new discoveries.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETechnological advances in data collection and sharing can make the culture of scientific discovery more efficient and transparent \u2013 a major \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fninf.2023.1276407\u0022\u003Edata informatics goal\u003C\/a\u003E of neuroscience in the years ahead.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIf the past 10 years are anything to go by, I believe such discoveries are just the tip of the iceberg, and the mighty and not-so-blind mouse will play a leading role in the continuing quest to understand the mysteries of the human brain.\u003C!-- Below is The Conversation\u0027s page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --\u003E\u003Cimg style=\u0022border-color:!important;border-style:none;box-shadow:none !important;margin:0 !important;max-height:1px !important;max-width:1px !important;min-height:1px !important;min-width:1px !important;opacity:0 !important;outline:none !important;padding:0 !important;\u0022 src=\u0022https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/268334\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\u0022 alt=\u0022The Conversation\u0022 width=\u00221\u0022 height=\u00221\u0022 referrerpolicy=\u0022no-referrer-when-downgrade\u0022\u003E\u003C!-- End of code. If you don\u0027t see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/republishing-guidelines --\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis article is republished from \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe Conversation\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E under a Creative Commons license. Read the \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\/gazing-into-the-minds-eye-with-mice-how-neuroscientists-are-seeing-human-vision-more-clearly-268334\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003Eoriginal article\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"full_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EStudying how mice see has helped researchers discover unprecedented details about how individual brain cells communicate and work together to create a mental picture of the visual world.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Studying how mice see has helped researchers discover unprecedented details about how individual brain cells communicate and work together to create a mental picture of the visual world."}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2025-12-16 13:42:12","changed_gmt":"2026-01-21 19:21:40","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-12-16T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2025-12-16T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678887":{"id":"678887","type":"image","title":" Mice have complex visual systems that can clarify how vision works in people. Westend61\/Getty Images","body":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMice have complex visual systems that can clarify how vision works in people. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/photo\/germany-research-laboratory-mouse-climbing-out-of-royalty-free-image\/544546223\u0022\u003EWestend61\/Getty Images\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","created":"1766065654","gmt_created":"2025-12-18 13:47:34","changed":"1766065654","gmt_changed":"2025-12-18 13:47:34","alt":" Mice have complex visual systems that can clarify how vision works in people. Westend61\/Getty Images","file":{"fid":"262977","name":"file-20251213-56-fdaib6.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/12\/18\/file-20251213-56-fdaib6.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/12\/18\/file-20251213-56-fdaib6.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":80137,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/12\/18\/file-20251213-56-fdaib6.jpg?itok=21uzzcB5"}}},"media_ids":["678887"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/gazing-into-the-minds-eye-with-mice-how-neuroscientists-are-seeing-human-vision-more-clearly-268334","title":"Read This Article on The Conversation"}],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Ch5\u003EAuthor:\u003C\/h5\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/bilal-haider-2512267\u0022\u003EBilal Haider\u003C\/a\u003E, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/georgia-institute-of-technology-1310\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch5\u003EMedia Contact:\u003C\/h5\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShelley Wunder-Smith\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:shelley.wunder-smith@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Eshelley.wunder-smith@research.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"684811":{"#nid":"684811","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Cybersecurity for the Physical World","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERobotic systems are currently deployed in sectors ranging from industrial manufacturing to healthcare to agriculture, adding benefits in production times, patient outcomes, and yields. This trend towards greater automation and human robot collaborative work environments, while providing great opportunities, also highlights a critical gap in cybersecurity research. These systems rely on network communication to coordinate movement, meaning that security breaches could result in the robot acting in ways that may endanger people and property.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECurrent cybersecurity approaches have been shown to be insufficient in blocking sophisticated attacks aimed at networked robotic motion-control systems.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo address this gap, Jun Ueda, Professor and ASME Fellow in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech, has been awarded approximately $700,000 by the National Science Foundation to establish methods to enhance cybersecurity for networked motion-control system. The research will focus on the unique geometric vulnerabilities in networked robotic systems and stealthy false data injection attacks that exploit geometric coordinate transformations to maintain mathematical consistency in robotic dynamics while altering physical world behavior.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUsing an interdisciplinary approach that will combine research methodology from system dynamics, control, communication, differential geometry and cybersecurity engineering, Ueda hopes to establish new mathematical tools for analyzing robotic security and develop safer networked robotic systems that successfully repel system intrusion, manipulation attacks, and attacks that mislead operators.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EChrista M. Ernst\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003EResearch Communications Program Manager\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003EKlaus Advance Computing Building 1120E | 266 Ferst Drive | Atlanta GA | 30332\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETopic Expertise: Robotics | Data Sciences | Semiconductor Design \u0026amp; Fab\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003Echrista.ernst@research.gatech.edu\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis article refers to NSF Program\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/funding\/opportunities\/frr-foundational-research-robotics\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 title=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/funding\/opportunities\/frr-foundational-research-robotics\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFoundational Research in Robotics (FRR)\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E Award # 2112793\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003EA Geometric Approach for Generalized Encrypted Control of Networked Dynamical Systems\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Jun Ueda receives NSF grant to research a critical gap in networked robotic systems "}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJun Ueda, Professor and ASME Fellow in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech, has been awarded approximately $700,000 by the National Science Foundation to establish methods to enhance cybersecurity for networked motion-control system.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Jun Ueda receives NSF grant to research a critical gap in networked robotic systems "}],"uid":"27863","created_gmt":"2025-09-12 16:04:52","changed_gmt":"2026-01-14 15:00:12","author":"Christa Ernst","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-09-12T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-09-12T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677988":{"id":"677988","type":"image","title":"Jun Ueda for NSF News","body":"\u003Cp\u003EProfessor Jun Ueda with a student in his lab\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1757689096","gmt_created":"2025-09-12 14:58:16","changed":"1757689231","gmt_changed":"2025-09-12 15:00:31","alt":"Professor Jun Ueda with a student in his lab","file":{"fid":"261957","name":"Ueda-for-SF.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/09\/12\/Ueda-for-SF.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/09\/12\/Ueda-for-SF.png","mime":"image\/png","size":807487,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/09\/12\/Ueda-for-SF.png?itok=ogoquvFR"}}},"media_ids":["677988"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"194606","name":"Artificial Intelligence"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"194685","name":"Manufacturing"},{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"188087","name":"go-irim"},{"id":"187582","name":"go-ibb"},{"id":"186857","name":"go-gtmi"},{"id":"11392","name":"Georgia W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering"},{"id":"176822","name":"secure networks"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"145171","name":"Cybersecurity"},{"id":"39461","name":"Manufacturing, Trade, and Logistics"},{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EChrista M. Ernst\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003EResearch Communications Program Manager\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003EKlaus Advance Computing Building 1120E | 266 Ferst Drive | Atlanta GA | 30332\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETopic Expertise: Robotics | Data Sciences | Semiconductor Design \u0026amp; Fab\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003Echrista.ernst@research.gatech.edu\u003C\/div\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["christa.ernst@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"686409":{"#nid":"686409","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Uses Computing and Engineering Methods to Shift Neuroscience Paradigms ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA neuron is more than just a neuron. These cells, found throughout the nervous system and the brain, work together in circuits that perform the complex calculations needed for our perception, memory, behavior, and cognition. This means that breakthroughs in neuroscience don\u0027t just rely on biology or medical knowledge, but also on the quantitative skills needed to understand and model these circuits. Faculty at Georgia Tech use their expertise in engineering, math, and computer science to apply common principles of these disciplines to neuroscience research. Within the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EInstitute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society (INNS)\u003C\/a\u003E, neuroscientists use these quantitative methods to understand how humans think, treat disorders such as Parkinson\u2019s and Alzheimer\u2019s, and better understand psychiatric disorders.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/feature\/neuro-computation\u0022\u003ERead the full story here\u0026gt;\u0026gt;\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Meet Georgia Tech\u2019s computation and cognition experts."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFaculty at Georgia Tech use their expertise in engineering, math, and computer science to apply common principles of these disciplines to neuroscience research. Within the Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society (INNS),neuroscientists use these quantitative methods to understand how humans think, treat disorders such as Parkinson\u2019s and Alzheimer\u2019s, and better understand psychiatric disorders.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Faculty at Georgia Tech use their expertise in engineering, math, and computer science to apply common principles of these disciplines to neuroscience research."}],"uid":"27255","created_gmt":"2025-11-13 16:38:38","changed_gmt":"2026-01-13 21:32:42","author":"Josie Giles","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-11-13T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2025-11-13T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678614":{"id":"678614","type":"image","title":"Doby.jpg","body":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDobromir Rahnev\u2019s research in the Computations of Subjective Perception Lab focuses on metacognition. [Photo by Rob Felt]\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","created":"1763051943","gmt_created":"2025-11-13 16:39:03","changed":"1763051943","gmt_changed":"2025-11-13 16:39:03","alt":"Researcher adjusting a device on another person\u2019s head in a lab, with a computer displaying brain imaging data and a mounted camera in the background.","file":{"fid":"262669","name":"Doby.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/11\/13\/Doby.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/11\/13\/Doby.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":5712564,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/11\/13\/Doby.jpg?itok=jDhnEE_s"}}},"media_ids":["678614"],"groups":[{"id":"1279","name":"School of Mathematics"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"686935":{"#nid":"686935","#data":{"type":"news","title":"AI Shouldn\u2019t Try to Be Your Friend, According to New Georgia Tech Research","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWould you follow a chatbot\u2019s advice more if it sounded friendly?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat question matters as artificial intelligence (AI) spreads into everything from customer service to self-driving cars. These autonomous agents often have human names \u2014 Alexa or Claude, for example \u2014 and speak conversationally, but too much familiarity can backfire.\u0026nbsp;Earlier this year, OpenAI scaled down its \u201c\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/openai.com\/index\/sycophancy-in-gpt-4o\/\u0022 title=\u0022https:\/\/openai.com\/index\/sycophancy-in-gpt-4o\/\u0022\u003Esycophantic\u003C\/a\u003E\u201d ChatGPT model, which could cause problems for users with mental health issues.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENew research from Georgia Tech suggests that users may like more personable AI, but they are more likely to obey AI that sounds robotic. While following orders from Siri may not be critical, many AI systems, such as robotic guide dogs, require human compliance for safety reasons.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThese surprising findings are from research by Sidney Scott-Sharoni, who recently received her Ph.D. from the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Psychology\u003C\/a\u003E. Despite years of previous research suggesting people would be socially influenced by AI they liked, Scott-Sharoni\u2019s research showed the opposite.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cEven though people rated humanistic agents better, that didn\u0027t line up with their behavior,\u201d she said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELikability vs. Reliability\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003EScott-Sharoni ran four experiments. In the first, participants answered trivia questions, saw the AI\u2019s response, and decided whether to change their answer. She expected people to listen to agents they liked.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhat I found was that the more humanlike people rated the agent, the less they would change their answer, so, effectively, the less they would conform to what the agent said,\u201d she noted.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESurprised, Scott-Sharoni studied moral judgments with an AI voice agent next. For example, participants decided how to handle being undercharged on a restaurant bill.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOnce again, participants liked the humanlike agent better but listened to the robotic agent more.\u0026nbsp;The unexpected pattern led Scott-Sharoni to explore why people behave this way.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBias Breakthrough\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhy the gap? Scott-Sharoni\u2019s findings point to automation bias \u2014 the tendency to see machines as more objective than humans.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EScott-Sharoni continued to test this with a third experiment focused on the prisoner\u2019s dilemma, where participants cooperate with or retaliate against authority. In her task, participants played a game against an AI agent.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI hypothesized that people would retaliate against the humanlike agent if it didn\u2019t cooperate,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I found: Participants interacting with the humanlike agent became less likely to cooperate over time, while those with the robotic agent stayed steady.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe final study, a self-driving car simulation, was the most realistic and troubling for safety concerns. Participants didn\u2019t consistently obey either agent type, but across all experiments, humanlike AI proved less effective at influencing behavior.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDesigning the Right AI\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe implications are pivotal for AI engineers. As AI grows, designers may cater to user preferences \u2014 but what people want isn\u2019t always best.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMany people develop a trusting relationship with an AI agent,\u201d said\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/people\/bruce-n-walker\u0022\u003EBruce Walker\u003C\/a\u003E, a professor of psychology and interactive computing and Scott-Sharoni\u2019s Ph.D. advisor. \u201cSo, it\u2019s important that developers understand what role AI plays in the social fabric and design technical systems that ultimately make humans better. Sidney\u0027s work makes a critical contribution to that ultimate goal.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen safety and compliance are the point, robotic beats relatable.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA Ph.D. graduate\u2019s research shows that the more humanlike an AI agent is, the less likely a user is to follow it.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A Ph.D. graduate\u2019s research shows that the more humanlike an AI agent is, the less likely a user is to follow it."}],"uid":"34541","created_gmt":"2025-12-17 18:40:12","changed_gmt":"2026-01-09 13:34:32","author":"Tess Malone","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-12-17T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2025-12-17T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678917":{"id":"678917","type":"image","title":"Sidney Scott-Sharoni","body":null,"created":"1767628889","gmt_created":"2026-01-05 16:01:29","changed":"1767628889","gmt_changed":"2026-01-05 16:01:29","alt":"Sidney Scott-Sharoni","file":{"fid":"263014","name":"Sidney-Scott-Sharoni.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/01\/05\/Sidney-Scott-Sharoni.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/01\/05\/Sidney-Scott-Sharoni.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":947371,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/01\/05\/Sidney-Scott-Sharoni.jpg?itok=dYOo9RWi"}},"678870":{"id":"678870","type":"image","title":"50414610_00201_0273_Large.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003ESidney Scott-Sharoni at Ph.D. commencement December 2025\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1765996863","gmt_created":"2025-12-17 18:41:03","changed":"1765996863","gmt_changed":"2025-12-17 18:41:03","alt":"Sidney Scott-Sharoni","file":{"fid":"262960","name":"50414610_00201_0273_Large.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/12\/17\/50414610_00201_0273_Large.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/12\/17\/50414610_00201_0273_Large.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":713143,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/12\/17\/50414610_00201_0273_Large.jpg?itok=1aEFLR_7"}}},"media_ids":["678917","678870"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETess Malone, Senior Research Writer\/Editor\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003Etess.malone@gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"679305":{"#nid":"679305","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Finalists Chosen in Georgia Tech\u2019s Executive Vice President for Research Search","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u2019s Executive Vice President for Research search committee has selected three finalists. Each candidate will visit campus and present a seminar sharing their broad vision for the Institute\u0027s research enterprise. The seminars are open to all faculty, students, and staff across the campus community. Interested individuals can attend in person or register to participate via Zoom (pre-registration is required).\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/finalists-chosen-georgia-techs-executive-vice-president-research-search\u0022\u003ERead more \u00bb\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u2019s Executive Vice President for Research search committee has selected three finalists. Each candidate will visit campus and present a seminar sharing their broad vision for the Institute\u0027s research enterprise.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech\u2019s Executive Vice President for Research search committee has selected three finalists."}],"uid":"27255","created_gmt":"2025-01-08 16:27:57","changed_gmt":"2026-01-01 18:36:45","author":"Josie Giles","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-01-07T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2025-01-07T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"675965":{"id":"675965","type":"image","title":"19C10400-P19-001-Web Use - 1,000px Wide.jpg","body":null,"created":"1736299056","gmt_created":"2025-01-08 01:17:36","changed":"1736299056","gmt_changed":"2025-01-08 01:17:36","alt":"Historical sign depicting information about Tech Tower","file":{"fid":"259654","name":"19C10400-P19-001-Web Use - 1,000px Wide.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/01\/07\/19C10400-P19-001-Web%20Use%20-%201%2C000px%20Wide.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/01\/07\/19C10400-P19-001-Web%20Use%20-%201%2C000px%20Wide.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":396225,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/01\/07\/19C10400-P19-001-Web%20Use%20-%201%2C000px%20Wide.jpg?itok=xSqO86Zk"}}},"media_ids":["675965"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"367481","name":"SEI Energy"},{"id":"1280","name":"Strategic Energy Institute"}],"categories":[{"id":"144","name":"Energy"}],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"186858","name":"go-sei"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39531","name":"Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure"},{"id":"193652","name":"Matter and Systems"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"682962":{"#nid":"682962","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Launches Two New Interdisciplinary Research Institutes","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech has launched two new Interdisciplinary Research Institutes (IRIs): The Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society (INNS) and the Space Research Institute (SRI).\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe new institutes focus on expanding breakthroughs in neuroscience and space, two areas where research and federal funding are anticipated to remain strong. Both fields are poised to influence research in everything from healthcare and ethics to exploration and innovation. This expansion of Georgia Tech\u2019s research enterprise represents the Institute\u2019s commitment to research that will shape the future.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAt Georgia Tech, innovation flourishes where disciplines converge. With the launch of the Space Research Institute and the Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society, we\u2019re uniting experts across fields to take on some of humanity\u2019s most profound questions. Even as we are tightening our belts in anticipation of potential federal R\u0026amp;D budget actions, we also are investing in areas where non-federal funding sources will grow and where big impacts are possible,\u201d said Executive Vice President for Research Tim Lieuwen. \u0022These institutes are about advancing knowledge \u2014 and using it to improve lives, inspire future generations, and help shape a better future for us all.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBoth INNS and SRI grew out of faculty-led initiatives shaped by a strategic planning process and campus-wide collaboration. Their evolution into formal institutes underscores the strength and momentum of Georgia Tech\u2019s interdisciplinary research enterprise.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u2019s 11 IRIs support collaboration between researchers and students across the Institute\u2019s seven colleges, the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), national laboratories, and corporate entities to tackle critical topics of strategic significance for the Institute as well as for local, state, national, and international communities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022IRIs bring together Georgia Tech researchers making them more competitive and successful in solving research challenges, especially across disciplinary boundaries,\u201d said Julia Kubanek, vice president of interdisciplinary research. \u201cWe\u0027re making these new investments in neuro- and space-related fields to publicly showcase impactful discoveries and developments led by Georgia Tech faculty, attract new partners and collaborators, and pursue alternative funding strategies at a time of federal funding uncertainty.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Space Research Institute\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/space.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESpace Research Institute\u003C\/a\u003E will connect faculty, students, and staff who share a passion for space exploration and discovery. They will investigate a wide variety of space-related topics, exploring how space influences and intersects with the human experience. The SRI fosters a collaborative community including scientific, engineering, cultural, and commercial research that pursues broadly integrated, innovative projects.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESRI is the hub for all things space-related at Georgia Tech. It connects the Institute\u2019s schools, colleges, research institutes, and labs to lead conversations about space in the state of Georgia and the world. Working in partnership with academics, business partners, philanthropists, students, and governments, Georgia Tech is committed to staying at the forefront of space-related innovation.\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe SRI will build upon the collaborative work of the Space Research Initiative, the first step in formalizing Georgia Tech\u2019s broad interdisciplinary space research community. The Initiative brought together researchers from across campus and was guided by input from Georgia Tech stakeholders and external partners. It was led by an executive committee including\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/4313\u0022\u003EGlenn Lightsey\u003C\/a\u003E, John W. Young Chair Professor in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering;\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/21316\u0022\u003EMariel Borowitz\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs; and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/2804\u0022\u003EJennifer Glass\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. Beginning July 1, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/s1.space.research.gatech.edu\/w-jud-ready\u0022\u003EW. Jud Ready\u003C\/a\u003E, a principal research engineer in GTRI\u2019s Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory, will serve as the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/ready-named-inaugural-executive-director-georgia-tech-space-research-institute\u0022\u003Einaugural executive director of the Space Research Institute\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo receive the latest updates on space research and innovation at Georgia Tech,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/app.e2ma.net\/app2\/audience\/signup\/2015041\/1983075\/\u0022\u003Ejoin the SRI mailing list\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EInstitute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society\u003C\/a\u003E (INNS) is dedicated to advancing neuroscience and neurotechnology to improve society through discovery, innovation, and engagement. INNS brings together researchers from neuroscience, engineering, computing, ethics, public policy, and the humanities to explore the brain and nervous system while addressing the societal and ethical dimensions of neuro-related research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EINNS builds on a foundation established over a decade ago, which first led to the GT-Neuro Initiative and later evolved into the Neuro Next Initiative. Over the past two years, this effort has culminated in the development of a comprehensive plan for an IRI, guided by an executive committee composed of faculty and staff from across Georgia Tech. The committee included \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/3736\u0022\u003ESimon Sponberg,\u003C\/a\u003E Dunn Family Associate Professor in the School of Physics and the School of Biological Sciences; \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/3728\u0022\u003EChristopher Rozell,\u003C\/a\u003E Julian T. Hightower Chaired Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering; \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/11576\u0022\u003EJennifer Singh\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor in the School of History and Sociology; and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/directory\/sarah-peterson\u0022\u003ESarah Peterson\u003C\/a\u003E, Neuro Next Initiative program manager. Their leadership shaped the vision for a research community both scientifically ambitious and socially responsive.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EINNS will serve as a dynamic hub for interdisciplinary collaboration across the full spectrum of brain-related research \u2014 from biological foundations to behavior and cognition, and from fundamental research to medical innovations that advance human flourishing. Research areas will encompass the foundations of human intelligence and movement, bio-inspired design and neurotechnology development, and the ethical dimensions of a neuro-connected future.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy integrating technical innovation with human-centered inquiry, INNS is committed to ensuring that advances in neuroscience and neurotechnology are developed and applied ethically and responsibly. Through fostering innovation, cultivating interdisciplinary expertise, and engaging with the public, the institute seeks to shape a future where advancements in neuroscience and neurotechnology serve the greater good. INNS also aims to deepen Georgia Tech\u2019s collaborations with clinical, academic, and industry partners, creating new pathways for translational research and real-world impact.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAn internal search for INNS\u2019s inaugural executive director is in the final stages, with an announcement expected soon.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/eepurl.com\/iX8jss\u0022\u003EJoin our mailing list\u003C\/a\u003E to receive the latest updates on everything neuro at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBy uniting experts across disciplines, Georgia Tech is positioning itself at the forefront of neuroscience and space research.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"By uniting experts across disciplines, Georgia Tech is positioning itself at the forefront of neuroscience and space research."}],"uid":"34760","created_gmt":"2025-07-01 11:53:04","changed_gmt":"2025-12-31 16:58:27","author":"Laurie Haigh","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-07-01T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-07-01T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677315":{"id":"677315","type":"image","title":"Tech Tower","body":null,"created":"1751369747","gmt_created":"2025-07-01 11:35:47","changed":"1751369782","gmt_changed":"2025-07-01 11:36:22","alt":"Tech Tower","file":{"fid":"261201","name":"tech-tower.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/07\/01\/tech-tower.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/07\/01\/tech-tower.png","mime":"image\/png","size":3688196,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/07\/01\/tech-tower.png?itok=k1paARgU"}}},"media_ids":["677315"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"367481","name":"SEI Energy"},{"id":"1280","name":"Strategic Energy Institute"}],"categories":[{"id":"136","name":"Aerospace"},{"id":"144","name":"Energy"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"188087","name":"go-irim"},{"id":"187582","name":"go-ibb"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"186858","name":"go-sei"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193658","name":"Commercialization"},{"id":"39531","name":"Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure"},{"id":"193653","name":"Georgia Tech Research Institute"},{"id":"193652","name":"Matter and Systems"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"},{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"},{"id":"193657","name":"Space Research Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto: laurie.haigh@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ELaurie Haigh\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EResearch Communications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"684959":{"#nid":"684959","#data":{"type":"news","title":"New Links in Air Pollution and Dementia","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EScientists at Georgia Tech have teamed up with researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and Columbia University to better understand how certain types of air pollution increase the risk of developing dementia.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ETheir findings, published this month in the journal\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/science.adu4132\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EScience\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, help explain how small particle pollution \u2014 think industrial emissions and car exhaust, wildfires and burning wood for heat and cooking \u2014 can lead to Lewy body dementia, a devastating disease that causes toxic clumps of protein to destroy nerve cells in the brain.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u0022Epidemiological studies have suggested a strong link between air pollution and dementia, but what sets this study apart is that we also provide a convincing biological mechanism,\u201d says\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/people\/liu-pengfei-0\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPengfei Liu\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E and one of the study\u2019s co-authors. \u201cThis collaborative work shows that fine particulate matter from different geographic regions consistently triggers a specific stain of misfolded protein that drives Lewy body dementia.\u0022\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe work has \u201cprofound implications\u201d for helping scientists and policy makers better understand measures to prevent this type of dementia, which is among the most common forms of the disease and affects millions of people around the world.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EAlong with Liu, the research team from Georgia Tech includes\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/rweber.eas.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERodney Weber\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences;\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EMinhan Park\u003C\/strong\u003E, a postdoctoral research fellow co-advised by Liu and Weber;\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EBin Bai\u003C\/strong\u003E, a graduate student in Liu\u2019s lab; and\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EMa Cristine Faye Denna\u003C\/strong\u003E, a graduate student in Weber\u2019s lab.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cFiguring out how exposure to atmospheric aerosols might be linked to dementia, and what mechanisms are involved, is a complex and challenging problem \u2014\u0026nbsp;and as this study shows, it takes a large team with many different areas of expertise,\u201d Weber adds.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELearn more:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/science.adu4132\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EScience\u003C\/em\u003E: Lewy body dementia promotion by air pollutants\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.hopkinsmedicine.org\/news\/newsroom\/news-releases\/2025\/09\/researchers-reveal-potential-molecular-link-between-air-pollutants-and-increased-risk-of-lewy-body-dementia\u0022\u003EJohns Hopkins Medicine newsroom\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.publichealth.columbia.edu\/news\/potential-molecular-link-between-air-pollutants-increased-risk-lewy-body-dementia-revealed\u0022\u003EColumbia University newsroom\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2025\/sep\/04\/fine-particulate-air-pollution-trigger-forms-dementia-study-lewy-body\u0022\u003EPress: \u003Cem\u003EThe Guardian\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EScientists at Georgia Tech have teamed up with researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and Columbia University to better understand how certain types of air pollution increase the risk of developing dementia.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Scientists team up to better understand how certain types of air pollution increase the risk of developing dementia.\u00a0"}],"uid":"34528","created_gmt":"2025-09-16 21:26:52","changed_gmt":"2025-12-30 19:50:28","author":"jhunt7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-09-16T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-09-16T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678035":{"id":"678035","type":"image","title":"Car exhaust (Adobe: elcovalana)","body":null,"created":"1758058019","gmt_created":"2025-09-16 21:26:59","changed":"1758058019","gmt_changed":"2025-09-16 21:26:59","alt":"Car exhaust (Adobe: elcovalana)","file":{"fid":"262013","name":"Car-exhaust---elcovalana.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/09\/16\/Car-exhaust---elcovalana.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/09\/16\/Car-exhaust---elcovalana.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":952683,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/09\/16\/Car-exhaust---elcovalana.jpeg?itok=UiPeGoBL"}}},"media_ids":["678035"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"367481","name":"SEI Energy"},{"id":"1280","name":"Strategic Energy Institute"}],"categories":[{"id":"144","name":"Energy"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"61541","name":"Earth and Atmospheric Sciences"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"184361","name":"brain health"},{"id":"5076","name":"dementia"},{"id":"186858","name":"go-sei"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39531","name":"Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71911","name":"Earth and Environment"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jess@cos.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJess Hunt-Ralston\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EDirector of Communications\u003Cbr\u003ECollege of Sciences at Georgia Tech\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jess@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"686905":{"#nid":"686905","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Researchers Make Waves at the World\u2019s Largest Neuroscience Conference","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EImagine stepping into a space the size of multiple football fields \u2014 only instead of turf and goalposts, it\u2019s filled with science. Every inch is alive with posters, equipment demos, and researchers sharing the latest breakthroughs.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWelcome to the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) Conference, one of the largest scientific gatherings in the world, drawing more than 30,000 attendees to San Diego in November. According to \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/user\/1105\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EAnnabelle Singer\u003C\/a\u003E, it is \u003Cem\u003Ethe\u003C\/em\u003E place to be for neuroscientists. \u201cIf you want to know what is going on now in neuroscience, it is being talked about at SfN.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESinger is a McCamish Foundation Early Career Professor in the Wallace H. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ECoulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E (BME) at Georgia Tech and Emory University. A frequent SfN attendee, she describes the meeting as \u201cDragon Con for neuroscience, with thousands of talks and posters going on simultaneously.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis year, Georgia Tech didn\u2019t just show up \u2014 it made a statement with more than \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/public.tableau.com\/views\/Neuroscience2025\/main?:showVizHome=no\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E60 presentations\u003C\/a\u003E, a major outreach award, and a spotlight press conference.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cSeeing Georgia Tech and INNS represented so strongly at SfN is exciting,\u201d says \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/directory\/christopher-john-rozell\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EChris Rozell\u003C\/a\u003E, executive director of Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EInstitute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society\u003C\/a\u003E (INNS). \u201cIt reflects the incredible breadth of neuroscience and neurotechnology research happening across our campus and how our work is shaping conversations at the highest level.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EInside \u2018Neuroscience Dragon Con\u2019\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMany conferences center around structured lectures, but at SfN, posters are the heart. You might find a senior researcher presenting groundbreaking findings right next to a first-time attendee sharing early results. This diversity is what makes the experience so valuable, says Singer. \u201cTrainees get to talk directly with the scientist doing the work to get their questions answered, from wondering about future implications to clarifying technical details.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe scale of SfN can feel overwhelming, but for many, that\u2019s part of the excitement. \u201cThere are so many different posters from so many different fields. It\u2019s a lot to absorb, but it\u2019s all very interesting,\u201d said Benjamin Magondu, a biomedical engineering Ph.D. student presenting for the first time. \u201cI\u2019ve definitely learned at least 47 things by just walking 10 feet.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor students like Magondu, the experience is critical, says \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EBiological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E Assistant Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/farzaneh-najafi\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EFarzaneh Najafi\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cSfN has such a big scope, all the way from molecular to cognitive and computational systems. Especially for those deciding which direction of neuroscience they want to go into, it\u2019s invaluable.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat breadth also fosters connections across disciplines. \u201cConferences are usually pretty niche,\u201d noted Tina Franklin, a research scientist in BME. \u201cYou have your own field that you\u2019re really good at, but it\u2019s difficult to venture out and find new people who can help you figure out what comes next. This conference brings people from all different fields together with the common interest of neuroscience and brain research.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELeading the Charge\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u2019s impact went beyond the conference floor. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/ming-fai-fong\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EMing-fai Fong\u003C\/a\u003E, an assistant professor in BME, received the prestigious Next Generation Award, one of SfN\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.sfn.org\/publications\/latest-news\/2025\/11\/03\/society-for-neuroscience-2025-education-and-outreach-awards\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Eeducation and outreach awards\u003C\/a\u003E. The honor recognizes members who make outstanding contributions to public communication and education about neuroscience.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u2019m certainly very grateful to the Society for Neuroscience for recognizing these types of contributions,\u201d says Fong, who was recognized for her work supporting blind and visually impaired youth in Atlanta. \u201cRewarding outreach efforts reinforces my core belief that scientists and engineers can make an immediate impact on communities we care about through outreach. It\u2019s a great parallel avenue to making a positive impact through research.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBuilding on this recognition, Georgia Tech was in the spotlight during one of SfN\u2019s selective press conferences \u2014 a session on \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.the-scientist.com\/ai-tools-unravel-thoughts-actions-and-neuronal-makeup-73779\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Eartificial intelligence in neuroscience\u003C\/a\u003E moderated by Rozell, who is also the Julian T. Hightower Chair in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDuring the SfN press event, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/med.emory.edu\/directory\/profile\/?u=TKESAR\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ETrisha Kesar,\u003C\/a\u003E an associate professor in BME and adjunct faculty in the School of Biological Sciences, presented her research using AI to improve gait rehabilitation. Her work was among just 40 abstracts selected from more than 10,000 submissions for this honor, and one of five abstracts selected for the AI in neuroscience press conference. The project is a collaboration with \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bio\/hyeokhyen-kwon\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EHyeok Kwon\u003C\/a\u003E, a Georgia Tech computer science alumnus and an assistant professor in BME.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s exciting to see Georgia Tech and Atlanta emerging as hubs for neuroscience innovation,\u201d said Kesar. \u201cBeing part of a press conference on AI in neuroscience shows how much our community is contributing to the future of brain research, and how collaboration across institutions can accelerate progress.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWith more than 60 presentations and recognition for neuroscience outreach and AI research, Georgia Tech demonstrated its growing impact at the 2025 Society for Neuroscience\u2019s annual meeting.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"With more than 60 presentations and recognition for neuroscience outreach and AI research, Georgia Tech demonstrated its growing impact at the 2025 Society for Neuroscience\u2019s annual meeting."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2025-12-16 16:25:18","changed_gmt":"2025-12-16 20:34:06","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-12-16T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2025-12-16T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678854":{"id":"678854","type":"image","title":"1763342998142_viaSfN.jpeg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EAffectionally called \u0022DragonCon for neuroscience,\u0022 the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting is one of the largest academic conferences in the world.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1765903757","gmt_created":"2025-12-16 16:49:17","changed":"1765903757","gmt_changed":"2025-12-16 16:49:17","alt":"Affectionally called \u0022DragonCon for neuroscience,\u0022 the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting is one of the largest academic conferences in the world.","file":{"fid":"262944","name":"1763342998142_viaSfN.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/12\/16\/1763342998142_viaSfN.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/12\/16\/1763342998142_viaSfN.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":161836,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/12\/16\/1763342998142_viaSfN.jpeg?itok=0fC9aJqn"}},"678856":{"id":"678856","type":"image","title":"IMG_6535-2.png","body":"\u003Cp\u003EBenjamin Magondu, a graduate student in biomedical engineering, presented at SfN for the first time this year.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1765903975","gmt_created":"2025-12-16 16:52:55","changed":"1765903975","gmt_changed":"2025-12-16 16:52:55","alt":"Benjamin Magondu, a graduate student in biomedical engineering, presented at SfN for the first time this year.","file":{"fid":"262946","name":"IMG_6535-2.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/12\/16\/IMG_6535-2.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/12\/16\/IMG_6535-2.png","mime":"image\/png","size":16053615,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/12\/16\/IMG_6535-2.png?itok=RqMzz6kC"}},"678855":{"id":"678855","type":"image","title":"IMG_6838.png","body":"\u003Cp\u003EWith hundreds of presentations happening simultaneously, the poster floor can be overwhelming at SfN \u2014 but for many, that\u0027s part of the draw.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1765903880","gmt_created":"2025-12-16 16:51:20","changed":"1765903880","gmt_changed":"2025-12-16 16:51:20","alt":"With hundreds of presentations happening simultaneously, the poster floor can be overwhelming at SfN \u2014 but for many, that\u0027s part of the draw.","file":{"fid":"262945","name":"IMG_6838.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/12\/16\/IMG_6838.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/12\/16\/IMG_6838.png","mime":"image\/png","size":10484632,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/12\/16\/IMG_6838.png?itok=5jvPd7_3"}},"678857":{"id":"678857","type":"image","title":"IMG_6748-2.png","body":"\u003Cp\u003ETrisha Kesar answers a question during the SfN press conference on AI in neuroscience, moderated by Chris Rozell.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1765904071","gmt_created":"2025-12-16 16:54:31","changed":"1765904071","gmt_changed":"2025-12-16 16:54:31","alt":"Trisha Kesar answers a question during the SfN press conference on AI in neuroscience, moderated by Chris Rozell.","file":{"fid":"262947","name":"IMG_6748-2.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/12\/16\/IMG_6748-2.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/12\/16\/IMG_6748-2.png","mime":"image\/png","size":10935175,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/12\/16\/IMG_6748-2.png?itok=dFEAz4Je"}}},"media_ids":["678854","678856","678855","678857"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/georgia-tech-uses-computing-and-engineering-methods-shift-neuroscience-paradigms","title":"Georgia Tech Uses Computing and Engineering Methods to Shift Neuroscience Paradigms"},{"url":"https:\/\/www.the-scientist.com\/ai-tools-unravel-thoughts-actions-and-neuronal-makeup-73779","title":"Inside the SfN Press Conference: AI Tools Unravel Thoughts, Actions, and Neuronal Makeup"},{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/head-toe-georgia-tech-researchers-treat-entire-human-body-through-neuroscience-research","title":"Head to Toe: Georgia Tech Researchers Treat the Entire Human Body Through Neuroscience Research"},{"url":"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/202927865@N06\/albums\/72177720330951882\/","title":"Georgia Tech at SfN in Photos"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[{"id":"194606","name":"Artificial Intelligence"},{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter and media contact:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAudra Davidson\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EResearch Communications Manager\u003Cbr\u003EInstitute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society (INNS)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPresenter Dashboard:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ECreated by \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jpreston7@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJoshua Preston\u003C\/a\u003E, Communications Manager, College of Computing\u003Cbr\u003EData collection by Audra Davidson, Hunter Ashcraft\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"686378":{"#nid":"686378","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Biomedical Breakthroughs Shaping Tomorrow: Small Proteins, Big Hope with Felipe Quiroz","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EInspired by geneticists working to sequence the human genome, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/user\/1280\u0022\u003EFelipe Quiroz\u003C\/a\u003E found his path in bioengineering as a bridge to genetic engineering. Now an assistant professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E (BME) at Georgia Tech and Emory University, he studies a family of molecules called intrinsically disordered proteins, which play critical roles in Alzheimer\u2019s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn his lab, Quiroz engineers the invisible through proteins, cells, and genes to understand what is fundamentally happening inside the cell. The five-year-old lab, soon to celebrate its first cohort of graduates, brings together bioengineers, neuroscientists, chemists, and biologists working at the intersection of disciplines. His work is about impact today and for generations to come, driven by a motivation to build bridges between fields, ideas, and people. Guided by a high-risk, high-reward mentality, Quiroz\u2019s research opens countless potential paths, advancing his field, defining new ones, and inspiring the next generation to develop the technologies of tomorrow.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EQuiroz was recently featured on \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/news-media\/bme-podcasts\u0022\u003EBME\u0027s Holy Shift! Podcast\u003C\/a\u003E, where he revealed how his lab engineers the invisible \u2014 proteins, cells, and genes \u2014 to understand and treat diseases like Alzheimer\u2019s.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HxPt03rdq2c\u0026amp;list=PLMTX0UQNGP1eczLJWP0uWZY3ImFr1rwHS\u0026amp;index=1\u0026amp;t=2s\u0022\u003EListen to the full episode here \u0026gt;\u0026gt;\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EQuiroz reveals how his lab engineers the invisible \u2014 proteins, cells, and genes \u2014 to understand and treat diseases like Alzheimer\u2019s.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Quiroz reveals how his lab engineers the invisible \u2014 proteins, cells, and genes \u2014 to understand and treat diseases like Alzheimer\u2019s. "}],"uid":"36781","created_gmt":"2025-11-12 04:20:39","changed_gmt":"2025-11-13 19:38:28","author":"hashcraft6","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-11-11T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2025-11-11T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678594":{"id":"678594","type":"image","title":"Holy Shift! Biomedical Breakthroughs Shaping Tomorrow Ep. 4: SMALL PROTEINS, BIG HOPE |Felipe Quiroz","body":null,"created":"1762921510","gmt_created":"2025-11-12 04:25:10","changed":"1762921510","gmt_changed":"2025-11-12 04:25:10","alt":"Small Proteins: Big Hope | Felipe Quiroz","file":{"fid":"262649","name":"Screenshot-2025-11-11-232504.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/11\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-11-232504.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/11\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-11-232504.png","mime":"image\/png","size":253558,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/11\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-11-232504.png?itok=vQryBWWh"}}},"media_ids":["678594"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HxPt03rdq2c\u0026list=PLMTX0UQNGP1eczLJWP0uWZY3ImFr1rwHS","title":"Watch Here"}],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESummary by:\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003EHunter Ashcraft\u003Cbr\u003ECommunications Student Assistant, Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society (INNS)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENews and media contact:\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kelly.petty@bme.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EKelly Petty\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ECommunications Manager, BME\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["kelly.petty@bme.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"686268":{"#nid":"686268","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Undergraduate Neuroscience Research Program Gives Georgia Tech Students an Advantage","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen Maia Barrow was in sixth grade, a close relative was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). Seeing their cognitive decline sparked her interest in neuroscience. She chose to study at Georgia Tech so she could not only take classes in neuroscience but also do research in it.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI realized from the International Baccalaureate program in high school that I really liked research and writing about my findings, so I wanted to hit the ground running,\u201d Barrow said. \u201cA couple of the other schools I considered didn\u2019t have as fully developed a program as Georgia Tech.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESince her first year at the Institute, Barrow has worked in\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Psychology\u003C\/a\u003E Professor\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/people\/eric-schumacher\u0022\u003EEric Schumacher\u2019s\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/control.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Ecognitive neuroscience lab\u003C\/a\u003E, where she is now the lab manager. Her experience enabled her to work in three other labs over three summers. These research opportunities prepared Barrow, now in her final semester, to apply for neuroscience Ph.D. programs. She hopes to study computational psychiatry, which applies basic neuroscience concepts to computational modeling, enabling better predictions and diagnoses of neurodegenerative disorders, like MS, and clinical disorders.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBarrow is one of more than 100 Georgia Tech undergraduates who conduct neuroscience research every year. They lend their perspective to nearly 70 labs across campus, which are often led by faculty in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EInstitute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society\u003C\/a\u003E (INNS).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EConnecting Across Campus\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStudents work in labs in almost all seven of the Institute\u2019s Colleges, but they can also conduct research at places like Emory University or the Shepherd Center.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHaving the chance to engage in hands-on scientific discovery in a research laboratory is often a richer, deeper experience than a classroom,\u201d said Schumacher, who also\u0026nbsp;directs the undergraduate neuroscience program. \u201cMaking those discoveries is why scientists are interested in science, so giving undergraduates an opportunity to do that is critical for a successful program.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFinding the right lab is paramount in this process. As director of undergraduate research in neuroscience,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/people\/katharine-mccann\u0022\u003EKatharine McCann\u003C\/a\u003E helps connect students to the right research opportunities, whether by emailing labs to see if there are openings or coordinating a networking night for students to meet researchers in labs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOne of the reasons undergraduate neuroscience research is so robust at Georgia Tech is that there\u0027s neuroscience research happening in nearly every College on campus,\u201d said McCann. \u201cMost of our students are placed in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECollege of Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E or the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECollege of Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E, but we have students who are in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECollege of Computing\u003C\/a\u003E and the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/a\u003E, too.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe undergraduate presence is just as much of a benefit to the lab, according to Schumacher. Often, these students bring a new outlook, as well as solid basic science skills that reinvigorate a lab\u2019s energy.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEmbedding Research in Everything\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENeuroscience is one of the most interdisciplinary majors on campus. Students take courses ranging from biology to computation, and because they gain both broad knowledge and deep research experience, neuroscience has become one of Georgia Tech\u2019s fastest-growing majors. This combination prepares them for careers in science, technology, and even fields such as medicine and dentistry.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cFor neuroscience, we require students to take chemistry, physics, math, and biology, so they\u2019re well-rounded critical thinkers,\u201d said\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/timothy-cope\u0022\u003ETim Cope\u003C\/a\u003E, a professor in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E andthe \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E. Cope previously ran the neuroscience undergraduate program and now directs the neuroscience and neurotechnology Ph.D. program. \u201cNeuroscience is one of the most pressing societal topics right now. Not a day goes by in our lives that there\u0027s not something in the news about addiction, depression, or Parkinson\u2019s, and these neuroscience students could be at the forefront of improving people\u2019s lives.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBuilding the Future of Neuroscience\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFourth-year neuroscience student Lynn Kim joined biological sciences Professor\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/young-hui-chang\u0022 title=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/young-hui-chang\u0022\u003EYoung-Hui Chang\u2019s\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cnl.biosci.gatech.edu\/\u0022 title=\u0022https:\/\/www.cnl.biosci.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EComparative Neuromechanics Lab\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;in her first year. She studied how the nervous system adapts to a novel gravity environment through a reduced gravity simulator that mirrors the body weight support system. For her thesis, she explored the role of vision in coordinating sense and motor function, analyzing changes in movements, muscle activity, and cognitive perception of gravity.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI believe my projects will provide valuable insights to both\u0026nbsp;neuroscience\u0026nbsp;research and applied rehabilitation science, while preparing me to pursue a career dedicated to improving patient outcomes through research,\u201d Kim said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech leads in neuroscience research at every level. From students who are performing their first experiments to interdisciplinary institutes like INNS, Georgia Tech is building a neuroscience pipeline that starts early and runs deep.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEach year, more than 100 undergraduates conduct neuroscience research in labs across campus.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Each year, more than 100 undergraduates conduct neuroscience research in labs across campus."}],"uid":"34541","created_gmt":"2025-11-06 19:11:48","changed_gmt":"2025-11-12 16:41:45","author":"Tess Malone","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-11-06T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2025-11-06T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678566":{"id":"678566","type":"image","title":"Maia-Barrow-003.JPG","body":"\u003Cp\u003EUndergraduate researcher Maia Barrow in the cognitive neuroscience lab.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E[Photo by Allison Carter]\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1762456349","gmt_created":"2025-11-06 19:12:29","changed":"1762456349","gmt_changed":"2025-11-06 19:12:29","alt":"Maia Barrow","file":{"fid":"262618","name":"Maia-Barrow-003.JPG","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/11\/06\/Maia-Barrow-003.JPG","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/11\/06\/Maia-Barrow-003.JPG","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1298419,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/11\/06\/Maia-Barrow-003.JPG?itok=8MRf1qyO"}},"678567":{"id":"678567","type":"image","title":"Maia-Barrow-008.JPG","body":"\u003Cp\u003E[Photo by Allison Carter]\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1762457431","gmt_created":"2025-11-06 19:30:31","changed":"1762457431","gmt_changed":"2025-11-06 19:30:31","alt":"Maia Barrow in lab","file":{"fid":"262619","name":"Maia-Barrow-008.JPG","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/11\/06\/Maia-Barrow-008.JPG","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/11\/06\/Maia-Barrow-008.JPG","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1317349,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/11\/06\/Maia-Barrow-008.JPG?itok=tmALLK34"}}},"media_ids":["678566","678567"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETess Malone, Senior Research Writer\/Editor\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003Etess.malone@gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"686009":{"#nid":"686009","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech\u2019s Soft Robotics Flips the Script on \u2018The Terminator\u2019","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPop culture has often depicted robots as cold, metallic, and menacing, built for domination, not compassion. But at Georgia Tech, the future of robotics is softer, smarter, and designed to help.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhen people think of robots, they usually imagine something like\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EThe Terminator\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;or\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003ERoboCop\u003C\/em\u003E: big, rigid, and made of metal,\u201d said\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/w-hong-yeo\u0022\u003EHong Yeo\u003C\/a\u003E, the G.P. \u201cBud\u201d Peterson and Valerie H. Peterson Professor in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorge W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cBut what we\u2019re developing is the opposite. These artificial muscles are soft, flexible, and responsive \u2014 more like human tissue than machine.\u201d\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EYeo\u2019s latest study, published in\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/pubs.rsc.org\/en\/content\/articlelanding\/2025\/mh\/d5mh00236b\u0022 title=\u0022https:\/\/pubs.rsc.org\/en\/content\/articlelanding\/2025\/mh\/d5mh00236b\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EMaterials Horizons\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, explores AI-powered muscles made from lifelike materials paired with intelligent control systems. The technology learns from the body and adapts in real time, creating motion that feels natural, responsive, and safe enough to support recovery.\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMuscles That Think, Materials That Feel\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETraditional robotics relies on steel, wires, and motors, but rarely captures the nuances of human motion. Yeo\u2019s research takes a different approach. He uses\u0026nbsp;hierarchically structured fibers, which are flexible materials built in layers, much like muscle and tendon. They can sense, adapt, and even \u201cremember\u201d how they\u2019ve moved before.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EYeo trains machine learning algorithms to adjust those pliable materials in real time with the right amount of force or flexibility for each task.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u201cThese muscles don\u2019t only respond to commands,\u201d Yeo said. \u201cThey learn from experience. They can adapt and self-correct, which makes motion smoother and more natural.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe result of that research is deeply human. For someone recovering from a stroke or limb loss, each deliberate movement rebuilds not just strength \u2014 it rebuilds confidence, independence, and a sense of self.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA Glove That Gives Freedom Back\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne of the first real-world applications is a\u0026nbsp;prosthetic glove powered by artificial muscles\u003Cstrong\u003E (\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/doi\/10.1021\/acsnano.4c15530\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003Epublished in \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EACS Nano\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E, 2025\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E)\u003C\/strong\u003E, a device that behaves more like a helping hand than a mechanical tool. Traditional prosthetics rely on rigid motors and preset motions, but Yeo\u2019s design mirrors the natural give-and-take of real muscle.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInside the glove, thin layers of stretchable fibers and sensors contract, twist, and flex in sync with the wearer\u2019s intent. The glove can fine-tune grip strength, reduce tremors, and respond instantly to the user\u2019s movements, bringing dexterity back to everyday life.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat kind of precision matters most in the smallest tasks: fastening a button, lifting a glass, holding a child\u2019s hand.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u201cThese aren\u2019t just movements,\u201d Yeo said. \u201cThey\u2019re freedoms.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor Yeo, the idea of restoring freedom through movement has driven his research from the very beginning.\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA Mission Rooted in Loss\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/news.gatech.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/14\/family-loss-brings-about-medical-breakthrough\u0022\u003EYeo\u0027s work is deeply personal.\u003C\/a\u003E His path to biomedical engineering began with loss \u2014 the sudden death of his father while Yeo was still in college. That moment reshaped his sense of purpose, redirecting his focus from machines that move to technologies that heal.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cInitially, I was thinking about designing cars,\u201d he said. \u201cBut after my father\u2019s death, I kind of woke up. Maybe I could do something that helps save someone\u2019s life.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat purpose continues to guide\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.yeolabgatech.com\/\u0022\u003Ehis lab\u2019s work today\u003C\/a\u003E, building technologies that help people recover what they\u2019ve lost.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAchieving that vision, however, means tackling some of engineering\u2019s toughest challenges.\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESoft Machines, Hard Problems\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECreating lifelike muscles isn\u2019t easy. They need to be soft but strong, responsive but safe. And they must avoid triggering the body\u2019s immune system. That means building materials that can survive inside the body \u2014 and learn to belong there.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe always think about not only function, but adaptability,\u201d Yeo said. \u201cIf it\u2019s going to be part of someone\u2019s body, it has to work with them, not against them.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHis team calibrates these synthetic fibers like precision instruments \u2014 tested, adjusted, and re-tuned until they operate in sync with the body\u2019s natural movements. Over time, they develop a kind of \u201cmuscle memory,\u201d adapting fluidly to changing conditions. That dynamic adaptability, Yeo explained, is what separates a machine from a prosthetic that truly feels alive.\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFrom Collaboration to Innovation\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESolving problems this complex requires more than one discipline. It takes an entire ecosystem of collaboration. Yeo\u2019s lab brings together experts in mechanical engineering, materials science, medicine, and computer science to design smarter, safer devices.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u201cYou can\u2019t solve this kind of problem in isolation,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need all of it \u2014 polymers, artificial intelligence, biomechanics \u2014 working together.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat collaborative model is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nih.gov\/\u0022\u003ENational Institutes of Health\u003C\/a\u003E, and Georgia Tech\u2019s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/matter-systems.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EInstitute for Matter and Systems.\u003C\/a\u003E In 2023, Yeo received a\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/news.gatech.edu\/news\/2024\/08\/30\/3-million-nsf-grant-will-support-training-sustainable-medical-devices\u0022\u003E$3 million NSF grant\u003C\/a\u003E to train the next generation of engineers building smart medical technology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHis team now works closely with healthcare providers and industry partners to bring these devices out of the lab and into patients\u2019 lives.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Future You Can Feel\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EThe future of robotics, according to Yeo, won\u2019t be defined by power or complexity but by feel.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u201cIf it feels foreign, people won\u2019t use it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if it feels like part of you, that\u2019s when it can truly change lives.\u201d\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EIt\u2019s the opposite of \u003Cem\u003EThe Terminator\u003C\/em\u003E, where machines replace us. Yeo is designing these machines to help us reclaim ourselves.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech researchers are redefining what robotics can feel like \u2014 developing AI-powered artificial muscles made from life-like materials that move and adapt like human tissue.\u003Cbr\u003ELed by mechanical engineering professor \u003Cstrong\u003EHong Yeo\u003C\/strong\u003E, the team\u2019s work flips the Hollywood image of cold, metal machines into one of soft, intelligent systems built for healing and human connection.\u003Cbr\u003ETheir latest study in \u003Cem\u003EMaterials Horizons\u003C\/em\u003E could transform prosthetics and rehabilitation, helping people regain motion, strength, and confidence.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"AI-powered artificial muscles made from pliable materials are reshaping recovery, from stroke rehabilitation to prosthetic design. These machines help people regain motion, strength, and confidence."}],"uid":"36410","created_gmt":"2025-10-27 14:24:17","changed_gmt":"2025-11-06 17:00:25","author":"mazriel3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-10-27T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-10-27T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678452":{"id":"678452","type":"image","title":"Artificial Muscle Sensors","body":"\u003Cp\u003EA mock-up of an AI-powered glove with muscles made from lifelike materials paired with intelligent control systems. The technology learns from the body and adapts in real time, creating motion that feels natural, responsive, and safe enough to support recovery.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1761575490","gmt_created":"2025-10-27 14:31:30","changed":"1761576142","gmt_changed":"2025-10-27 14:42:22","alt":"A mock-up of an AI-powered glove","file":{"fid":"262476","name":"artificial-muscle-sensors.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/10\/27\/artificial-muscle-sensors.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/10\/27\/artificial-muscle-sensors.png","mime":"image\/png","size":767022,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/10\/27\/artificial-muscle-sensors.png?itok=Txaxw9b0"}}},"media_ids":["678452"],"groups":[{"id":"660369","name":"Matter and Systems"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"194606","name":"Artificial Intelligence"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187812","name":"artificial intelligence (AI)"},{"id":"190245","name":"Robotics and Artificial Intelligence"},{"id":"182705","name":"artificial limbs"},{"id":"12939","name":"Controlling Prosthetic Limbs"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"},{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193652","name":"Matter and Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMichelle Azriel Writer\/Editor, Research Communications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["mazriel3@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"685972":{"#nid":"685972","#data":{"type":"news","title":"The Perfect Fit: Crafting a Career at the Intersection of Making, Helping, and Human Mobility","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGrowing up in rural southwest Georgia, Kinsey Herrin loved \u201cmaking stuff.\u201d She loved it so much that she regularly dug up muddy clay from her family\u2019s property and the surrounding area to make ceramics. As a prosthetist\/orthotist, she creates and tests devices that help patients improve or regain mobility \u2014 from prosthetic limbs to braces of all kinds. But Herrin\u2019s role at the Institute is even more expansive. She\u2019s at the epicenter of a research community where medical devices, studies, data, patients, clinicians, and students collide.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/node\/44165\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERead more \u00bb\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"At Georgia Tech, Kinsey Herrin combines engineering, clinical insight, and purpose to create wearable devices that help people move \u2014 and live \u2014 more freely."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGrowing up in rural southwest Georgia, Kinsey Herrin loved \u201cmaking stuff.\u201d She loved it so much that she regularly dug up muddy clay from her family\u2019s property and the surrounding area to make ceramics. As a prosthetist\/orthotist, she creates and tests devices that help patients improve or regain mobility \u2014 from prosthetic limbs to braces of all kinds. But Herrin\u2019s role at the Institute is even more expansive. She\u2019s at the epicenter of a research community where medical devices, studies, data, patients, clinicians, and students collide.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Kinsey Herrin\u2019s lifelong passion for working with her hands guided her career path, ultimately leading her to become a prosthetist\/orthotist and principal researcher at Georgia Tech."}],"uid":"27255","created_gmt":"2025-10-23 20:31:10","changed_gmt":"2025-10-24 14:45:38","author":"Josie Giles","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-10-23T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-10-23T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678443":{"id":"678443","type":"image","title":"kinsey-thumb.jpg","body":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKinsey Herrin is a principal research scientist in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","created":"1761251487","gmt_created":"2025-10-23 20:31:27","changed":"1761251487","gmt_changed":"2025-10-23 20:31:27","alt":"Woman in a workshop environment with industrial equipment and tools in the background, wearing a floral-patterned blouse and light knit cardigan, representing a modern manufacturing or maker space setting.","file":{"fid":"262466","name":"kinsey-thumb.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/10\/23\/kinsey-thumb.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/10\/23\/kinsey-thumb.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":711102,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/10\/23\/kinsey-thumb.jpg?itok=vHLWUSyd"}}},"media_ids":["678443"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"},{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"685293":{"#nid":"685293","#data":{"type":"news","title":"From Lab to Life: Inside the Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe brain is the most intricate system known to science \u2014 billions of cells forming dynamic networks that allow us to think, feel, move, and adapt. Yet despite decades of research, much about how the brain works remains a mystery. At the same time, neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions are on the rise, affecting more than one-third of the global population and costing trillions in healthcare and lost productivity.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUnderstanding the brain is key to unlocking human health and flourishing. The need has never been more urgent, but this challenge is too vast for any single discipline to solve alone.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat\u2019s why Georgia Tech \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/georgia-tech-launches-two-new-interdisciplinary-research-institutes\u0022\u003Erecently launched\u003C\/a\u003E the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EInstitute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society\u003C\/a\u003E (INNS). A step toward a more connected, collaborative future, INNS brings together experts from across Georgia Tech\u2019s seven colleges and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gtri.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech Research Institute\u003C\/a\u003E (GTRI) to study the brain in ways that connect scientific discovery with technological innovation and real-world societal needs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EINNS supports research that crosses traditional academic boundaries. As an\u0026nbsp;Interdisciplinary Research Institute (IRI), it builds community, fosters collaboration, and fills critical gaps in education, professional development, and research infrastructure.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cGeorgia Tech has a long-standing culture of interdisciplinary collaboration \u2014 it\u2019s in our DNA,\u201d says INNS Executive Director \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/user\/1109\u0022\u003EChris Rozell\u003C\/a\u003E. Rozell also serves as Julian T. Hightower Chaired Professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cINNS builds on that strength to create a space where breakthroughs in neuroscience and neurotechnology can move from lab to life, impacting real people in real ways.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA Community Built to Collaborate\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EINNS is home to a growing network of faculty, students, and research centers spanning the full spectrum of Georgia Tech\u2019s research expertise.\u0026nbsp;This diversity is not just a feature, it\u2019s the foundation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat foundation was laid over decades of growth, vision, and grassroots momentum. Georgia Tech welcomed its first neuroscience-focused faculty member in\u0026nbsp;1990, sparking a steady expansion of brain-related research across campus. As more faculty joined and new focus areas emerged, a vibrant, cross-disciplinary community began to take shape.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn\u0026nbsp;2014, that community organized under the name GT Neuro, a grassroots initiative that united researchers who shared a passion for understanding the brain. This collective energy led to new educational programs, including the launch of Georgia Tech\u2019s undergraduate neuroscience major in the College of Sciences.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur undergraduate students absolutely love teaching others about Neuroscience,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/christina-ragan\u0022\u003EChristina Ragan\u003C\/a\u003E, director of Outreach for the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuroscience.cos.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EUndergraduate Neuroscience Program\u003C\/a\u003E and senior academic professional in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cI\u0027m really excited to explore ways for INNS to connect our neuroscience community at Tech with the public.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy 2023, the Neuro Next Initiative launched to bring together leaders from across campus and chart a strategic path forward \u2014 the result of nearly two years of community-driven planning to formalize and expand Georgia Tech\u2019s neuroscience ecosystem.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe launch of INNS has built on the momentum of the Neuro Next Initiative, which ignited crucial conversations and fostered new collaborations between researchers at GTRI and Georgia Tech faculty,\u201d says \u003Cstrong\u003ETabitha Rosenbalm\u003C\/strong\u003E, GTRI senior research engineer. \u201cThe remarkable demonstration at \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/interfaceneuro-highlights-atlantas-growing-role-neurotech-revolution\u0022\u003EInterface Neuro\u003C\/a\u003E \u2014 witnessing a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/unveiling-human-stories-behind-brain-implants\u0022\u003Equadriplegic man walk and communicate\u003C\/a\u003E thanks to innovative research \u2014 underscores the transformative breakthroughs possible when academic and applied researchers unite. INNS is uniquely positioned to serve as a catalyst, propelling Atlanta, Georgia Tech, and GTRI as national leaders in neurotechnology, driving advancements in both human health and engineering innovation.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EINNS is also helping shape the future of education. A new\u0026nbsp;interdisciplinary \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/training-page\/graduate-academic-programs\/phd\u0022\u003EPh.D. program\u0026nbsp;in neuroscience and neurotechnology\u003C\/a\u003E welcomed its first cohort this fall, and INNS is poised to support it with professional development, research opportunities, and community engagement.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBreaking Boundaries to Advance Brain Science\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhether it\u2019s developing neurotechnologies, designing therapeutic environments, or exploring the ethical implications of brain research, INNS is here to support work that spans fields and impacts lives.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTo responsibly address the societal and human impacts of advances in neuroscience and neurotechnology, we first need to understand them,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/margaret-e-kosal\u0022\u003EMargaret Kosal\u003C\/a\u003E, professor and director of Graduate Students in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cThat requires real and substantive collaboration beyond traditional engineering or biology labs.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne example of INNS in action is the\u0026nbsp;Smart Transitional Home Lab, a project funded by the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/georgia-tech-shepherd-center-award-inaugural-seed-grants\u0022\u003Einaugural INNS\/Shepherd Center Seed Grant\u003C\/a\u003E. This initiative brings together experts in architecture, inclusive design, neuroengineering, and rehabilitation to prototype environments that actively support stroke recovery, blending rigorous research with human-centered design.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe establishment of INNS creates a powerful platform where diverse minds, from neuroscience to architecture to rehabilitation, can converge around a shared mission to advance human health,\u201d says \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/arch.gatech.edu\/people\/hui-cai\u0022\u003EHui Cai\u003C\/a\u003E, professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/arch.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Architecture\u003C\/a\u003E, executive director of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/simtigrate.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESimTigrate Design Center\u003C\/a\u003E, and co-leader of the project. \u201cIt enables interdisciplinary work with the potential to transform lives and redefine how we design for healing and recovery.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cFrom whole brain recordings, to mapping the connectome, to the incredible advances in artificial intelligence, it\u0027s never been a more exciting time to study the mind and brain,\u201d says \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/people\/robert-wilson\u0022\u003EBob Wilson\u003C\/a\u003E, director of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coco.psych.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECenter of Excellence for Computation and Cognition\u003C\/a\u003E and associate professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Psychology\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cI\u0027m extremely excited for INNS to act as a central hub, building the neuroscience community at Georgia Tech and beyond.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJoin Us\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EINNS is more than an institute, it\u2019s a growing, vibrant community of researchers, educators, students, and partners. Together, we\u2019re working to understand the brain, develop technologies that improve lives, and ensure those innovations serve society responsibly.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhether you\u0027re a student, researcher, policymaker, or simply curious about the brain,\u0026nbsp;INNS is your gateway to interdisciplinary neuroscience at Georgia Tech. Get involved at \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/email-list-subscriptions\u0022\u003Eneuro.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENeuroscience at Georgia Tech is entering a new era \u2014 one defined by interdisciplinary research, educational innovation, and real-world impact.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Neuroscience at Georgia Tech is entering a new era \u2014 one defined by interdisciplinary research, educational innovation, and real-world impact."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2025-09-25 19:32:18","changed_gmt":"2025-10-08 17:17:15","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-09-25T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-09-25T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678148":{"id":"678148","type":"image","title":"Brain-pop-art3.png","body":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearchers across Georgia Tech are joining forces to explore the brain \u2014 advancing science, technology, and society through interdisciplinary collaboration.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1758828752","gmt_created":"2025-09-25 19:32:32","changed":"1758828752","gmt_changed":"2025-09-25 19:32:32","alt":"Researchers across Georgia Tech are joining forces to explore the brain \u2014 advancing science, technology, and society through interdisciplinary collaboration.","file":{"fid":"262135","name":"Brain-pop-art3.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/09\/25\/Brain-pop-art3.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/09\/25\/Brain-pop-art3.png","mime":"image\/png","size":6940748,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/09\/25\/Brain-pop-art3.png?itok=Imvl-fen"}},"678149":{"id":"678149","type":"video","title":" Inside the Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society","body":"\u003Cp\u003EFrom lab to life, INNS is building a collaborative future for brain science.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1758829774","gmt_created":"2025-09-25 19:49:34","changed":"1758829774","gmt_changed":"2025-09-25 19:49:34","video":{"youtube_id":"rtiZfZzdMLQ","video_url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rtiZfZzdMLQ"}}},"media_ids":["678148","678149"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/georgia-tech-shepherd-center-award-inaugural-seed-grants","title":"Georgia Tech, Shepherd Center Award Inaugural Seed Grants"},{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/rozell-named-inaugural-executive-director-new-neuroscience-institute","title":"Rozell Named Inaugural Executive Director of New Neuroscience Institute"},{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/georgia-tech-launches-two-new-interdisciplinary-research-institutes","title":"Georgia Tech Launches Two New Interdisciplinary Research Institutes"}],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"42901","name":"Community"},{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAudra Davidson\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EResearch Communications Program Manager\u003Cbr\u003EInstitute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society\u003Cbr\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"685482":{"#nid":"685482","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech\u2019s First Neuroscience and Neurotechnology Ph.D. Cohort Arrives on Campus","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe inaugural cohort of Georgia Tech\u2019s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/training-page\/graduate-academic-programs\/phd\u0022\u003EPh.D. program in Neuroscience and Neurotechnology\u003C\/a\u003E has arrived on campus for the Fall 2025 semester. The group includes both transfers from other Georgia Tech graduate programs and students new to the Institute.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EA joint initiative of the Colleges of\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESciences\u003C\/a\u003E,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EComputing\u003C\/a\u003E, and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EEngineering\u003C\/a\u003E, the program aims to educate students and advance the field of neuroscience through an interdisciplinary approach. It integrates neuroscience research with technological development to explore all levels of nervous system function.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cOur first Ph.D. students represent a wide range of professional and research interests in neuroscience and neurotechnology,\u201d says\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/timothy-cope\u0022\u003ETim Cope\u003C\/a\u003E, program director and professor in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/\u0022\u003EWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cThe student-centered program is built on the strength of our exceptional researchers and educators. I am watching with excitement as our faculty and new students create a dynamic community of learning and collaboration that is dedicated to neuroscience discovery.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPh.D. program pioneers\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EYvonne Milligan\u003C\/strong\u003E, a Kennesaw, Georgia native, is one of the program\u2019s first students. Her research focuses on the nervous system and how it interacts with ovarian cancer.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EFor Milligan, choosing the program was an easy decision.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cGeorgia Tech encourages forward-thinking,\u201d she says. \u201cAs someone interested in various industry roles, I liked the support available for all career paths, not just academia.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbigail Holberton\u003C\/strong\u003E, a Georgia Tech alumna (BME 2022) from Dacula, Georgia, is also a member of the inaugural cohort. She studies in vitro and in vivo mild traumatic brain injury, examining the role of intracellular signals between cells. She joined the program to deepen her expertise in cellular and molecular neuroscience.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cBeing part of the first class is a great honor as I hope to help pave the way for future scientists and engineers to explore neuroscience and neurotechnology,\u201d she says. \u201cI am very excited to learn about some of the most cutting-edge techniques in neuroscience from pioneers in the field.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech and neuroscience\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe Ph.D. program complements Georgia Tech\u2019s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuroscience.cos.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EB.S. in Neuroscience degree\u003C\/a\u003E, one of the fastest-growing undergraduate majors at the Institute, as well as the recently launched\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EInstitute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cTogether, the new doctoral degree program, the undergraduate neuroscience program\u0026nbsp;\u2014\u0026nbsp;now in its\u0026nbsp;eighth year\u0026nbsp;\u2014\u0026nbsp;and the Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society will strengthen Georgia Tech\u2019s core commitment to developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition,\u201d says\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\/people\/david-m-collard\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDavid M. Collard\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, senior associate dean in the College of Sciences and professor in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Chemistry and Biochemistry\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cStrengthened by the launch of our new Ph.D. program, Georgia Tech takes another big step forward as a top-tier destination for neuroscience,\u201d Cope adds. \u201cThe program fosters an exciting environment for research and training \u2014 built on the strength of our faculty\u2019s leading-edge work and their genuine enthusiasm for mentoring the next generation of neuroscientists.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe inaugural cohort of Georgia Tech\u2019s\u0026nbsp;Ph.D. program in Neuroscience and Neurotechnology includes both transfers from other Georgia Tech graduate programs and students new to the Institute.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The inaugural cohort of Georgia Tech\u2019s\u00a0Ph.D. program in Neuroscience and Neurotechnology includes both transfers from other Georgia Tech graduate programs and students new to the Institute. "}],"uid":"36583","created_gmt":"2025-10-03 12:47:29","changed_gmt":"2025-10-07 16:51:38","author":"lvidal7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-10-06T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-10-06T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678250":{"id":"678250","type":"image","title":"The first cohort of the Neuroscience and Neurotechnology Ph.D. Program were welcomed to campus during a launch event in August 2025. ","body":null,"created":"1759496534","gmt_created":"2025-10-03 13:02:14","changed":"1759496534","gmt_changed":"2025-10-03 13:02:14","alt":"The first cohort of the Neuroscience and Neurotechnology Ph.D. Program were welcomed to campus during a launch event in August 2025. ","file":{"fid":"262250","name":"Neuro-Ph.D.-Students---Welcome-Event.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/10\/03\/Neuro-Ph.D.-Students---Welcome-Event.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/10\/03\/Neuro-Ph.D.-Students---Welcome-Event.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":13693911,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/10\/03\/Neuro-Ph.D.-Students---Welcome-Event.jpg?itok=i6xNLSx-"}},"678251":{"id":"678251","type":"image","title":"Ph.D. student Abigail Holberton","body":null,"created":"1759496534","gmt_created":"2025-10-03 13:02:14","changed":"1759859088","gmt_changed":"2025-10-07 17:44:48","alt":"Ph.D. student Abigail Holberton","file":{"fid":"262303","name":"Neuro-PhD-Abigail-Holberton.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/10\/07\/Neuro-PhD-Abigail-Holberton.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/10\/07\/Neuro-PhD-Abigail-Holberton.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":7150787,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/10\/07\/Neuro-PhD-Abigail-Holberton.jpg?itok=-5Y1wIgK"}},"678252":{"id":"678252","type":"image","title":"Ph.D. student Yvonne Milligan","body":null,"created":"1759496534","gmt_created":"2025-10-03 13:02:14","changed":"1759859073","gmt_changed":"2025-10-07 17:44:33","alt":"Ph.D. student Yvonne Milligan","file":{"fid":"262304","name":"Neuro-PhD-student-Yvonne-Milligan.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/10\/07\/Neuro-PhD-student-Yvonne-Milligan.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/10\/07\/Neuro-PhD-student-Yvonne-Milligan.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2152463,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/10\/07\/Neuro-PhD-student-Yvonne-Milligan.jpg?itok=HNhDdFgp"}}},"media_ids":["678250","678251","678252"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/training-page\/graduate-academic-programs\/phd","title":"Neuroscience and Neurotechnology Ph.D. Program "},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/tim-cope-direct-new-phd-program-neuroscience-and-neurotechnology","title":"Tim Cope to Direct New Ph.D. Program in Neuroscience and Neurotechnology"},{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu","title":"Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1304","name":"neuroscience"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"192253","name":"cos-neuro"},{"id":"180321","name":"neurotechnology"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWriter: Lindsay C. Vidal\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"685070":{"#nid":"685070","#data":{"type":"news","title":"The Robotic Breakthrough That Could Help Stroke Survivors Reclaim Their Stride","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ECrossing a room shouldn\u2019t feel like a marathon. But for many stroke survivors, even the smallest number of steps carries enormous weight. Each movement becomes a reminder of lost coordination, muscle weakness, and physical vulnerability.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA team of Georgia Tech researchers wanted to ease that struggle, and robotic exoskeletons offered a promising path. Their findings point to a simple but powerful shift: exoskeletons that adapt to people, rather than forcing people to adapt to the machine. Using artificial intelligence (AI) to learn the rhythm of patients\u2019 strides in real time, the team showed how these devices can reduce strain and increase efficiency. They also demonstrated how the technology can help restore confidence for stroke survivors.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Robot Finds the Rhythm\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA robotic exoskeleton is a wearable device that helps people move with mechanical support. Traditional exoskeletons require endless manual adjustments \u2014 turning knobs, calibrating settings, and tweaking controls.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt can be frustrating, even nearly impossible, to get it right for each person,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/faculty\/young\u0022\u003EAaron Young\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorge W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.\u003C\/a\u003E \u201cWith AI, the exoskeleton figures out the mapping itself. It learns the timing of someone\u2019s gait through a neural network, without an engineer needing to hand-tune everything.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe software monitors each step, instantly updates, and fine-tunes the support it provides. Over time, the exoskeleton aligns its movements with the unique gait of the person wearing it. In this study, the research team used a hip exoskeleton, which provides torque at the hip joint \u2014 in other words, adding power to help stroke survivors walk or move their legs more easily.\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETaking Smarter Steps\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWalking after a stroke can be tough and unpredictable. A patient\u2019s stride can change from one day to the next, and even from one step to the next. Most exoskeletons aren\u2019t built for that kind of variation. They are designed around the steady, even gait of healthy young adults, which can leave stroke survivors feeling more unsteady than supported.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EYoung\u2019s breakthrough, detailed in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ieeexplore.ieee.org\/abstract\/document\/11112638\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EIEEE Transactions on Robotics\u003C\/em\u003E,\u003C\/a\u003E is a neural network \u2014 a type of AI that learns patterns much like the human brain does. Sensors at the hip pick up how someone is moving, and the network translates those signals into just the right boost of power to support each step. It quickly figures out a person\u2019s unique walking pattern. But lead clinician Kinsey Herrin said the AI\u2019s learning doesn\u2019t stop there. It keeps adjusting as the patient walks, so the exoskeleton can stay in sync even during stride shifts.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe speed really surprised us,\u201d Young said. \u201cIn just one to two minutes of walking, the system had already learned a person\u2019s gait pattern with high accuracy. That\u2019s a big deal, to adapt that quickly and then keep adapting as they move.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETests showed the system was far more accurate than the standard exoskeleton. It reduced errors in tracking stroke patients\u2019 walking patterns by 70%.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EYoung emphasized that this research is about more than metrics. \u201cWhen you see someone able to walk farther without becoming exhausted, that\u2019s when you realize this isn\u2019t just about robotics \u2014 it\u2019s about giving people back a measure of independence,\u201d he said.\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdapting Anywhere\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEvery exoskeleton comes with its own set of sensors, so the data they collect can look completely different from one device to the next. A neural network trained on one machine often stumbles when it\u2019s moved to another. To get around that, Young\u2019s team designed software that works like a universal adapter plug \u2014 no matter what device it\u2019s connected to, it converts the signals into a form the AI can use. After just 10 strides of calibration, the system cut error rates by more than 75%.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe goal is that someone could strap on a device, and, within a minute, it feels like it was built just for them,\u201d Young said.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA Step Toward the Future\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile the study centered on stroke survivors, the implications are far broader. The same adaptive approach could support older adults coping with age-related muscle weakness, people with conditions like Parkinson\u2019s or osteoarthritis, or even children with neurological disabilities.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003EYoung and his team are now running clinical trials to measure how well the AI-powered exoskeleton supports people in a wide range of everyday activities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere\u2019s no such thing as an \u2018average\u2019 user,\u201d Young said. \u201cThe real challenge is designing technology that can adapt to the full spectrum of human mobility.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIf Georgia Tech\u2019s exoskeleton can rise to that challenge, the promise goes well beyond the lab. It could mean a world where technology doesn\u2019t just help people walk \u2014 it learns to walk with them.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInseung Kang, who holds a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from Georgia Tech, is the paper\u2019s lead author and now an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. He explained that the real promise is in what comes next.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u201cWe\u2019ve developed a system that can adjust to a person\u2019s walking style in just minutes. But the potential is even greater. Imagine an exoskeleton that keeps learning with you over your lifetime, adjusting as your body and mobility change. Think of it as a robot companion that understands how you walk and gives you the right assistance every step of the way.\u201d\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EAaron Young is affiliated with Georgia Tech\u2019s\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/robotics\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EInstitute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis research was primarily funded by a grant (DP2HD111709-01)\u0026nbsp;from the National Institutes of Health New Innovator Award Program. \u003C\/em\u003EGeorgia Tech researchers have created the first lung-on-a-chip with a functioning immune system, allowing it to respond to infections much like a real human lung. The breakthrough, published in \u003Cem\u003ENature Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/em\u003E, provides a more accurate way to study diseases, test therapies, and reduce reliance on animal models. With potential applications in conditions from influenza to cancer, the technology opens the door to personalized medicine that predicts how individual patients will respond to treatment.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech researchers have developed an AI-powered hip exoskeleton that adapts in real time to a stroke survivor\u2019s changing gait, reducing errors by 70% and helping patients walk with greater ease and confidence. Unlike traditional devices that require constant manual tuning, the system learns each person\u2019s unique stride within minutes and continues adjusting as they move. The breakthrough could extend beyond stroke recovery, offering personalized mobility support for people of all ages and conditions.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech\u0027s AI-fueled exoskeleton adapts to every step, helping patients relearn to walk with less effort and more confidence."}],"uid":"36410","created_gmt":"2025-09-18 15:26:54","changed_gmt":"2025-09-24 15:08:59","author":"mazriel3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-09-18T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-09-18T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678071":{"id":"678071","type":"video","title":"The Robotic Breakthrough That Could Help Stroke Survivors Reclaim Their Stride","body":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u0027s AI-fueled exoskeleton adapts to every step, helping patients relearn to walk with less effort and more confidence.\r\n\r\nTraditional robotic exoskeleton models require extensive manual calibration, but Aaron Young, associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, and his team developed AI-driven software that automatically adapts to each user\u2019s gait. By using a neural network, the system continuously monitors and adjusts support with each step, gradually syncing with the wearer\u2019s unique movement. In this study, the team used a hip exoskeleton that delivers torque at the hip joint to help stroke survivors walk more easily.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1758208325","gmt_created":"2025-09-18 15:12:05","changed":"1758208325","gmt_changed":"2025-09-18 15:12:05","video":{"youtube_id":"RPHz2mU9sBA","video_url":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/RPHz2mU9sBA"}}},"media_ids":["678071"],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"194701","name":"go-resarchnews"},{"id":"13169","name":"autonomous robots"},{"id":"98751","name":"College of Engineering; George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMichelle Azriel Sr. Writer - Editor\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["mazriel3@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"685099":{"#nid":"685099","#data":{"type":"news","title":"A Step Forward: New Smart Shoe Insert Could Improve Mobility for People With Walking Problems","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMaintaining balance while walking may seem automatic \u2014 until suddenly it isn\u2019t. Gait impairment, or difficulty with walking, is a major liability for stroke and Parkinson\u2019s patients. \u0026nbsp;Not only do gait issues slow a person down, but they are also one of the top causes of falls. And solutions are often limited to time-intensive and costly physical therapy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA new wearable electronic device that can be inserted inside any shoe may be able to address this challenge.\u0026nbsp;The\u0026nbsp;device, developed by Georgia Tech researchers,\u0026nbsp;is made of more than 170 thin, flexible sensors that measure foot pressure \u2014 a key metric for determining whether someone is off-balance. The sensor collects pressure data, which the researchers could eventually use to predict which changes lead to falls.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers presented their work in the paper, \u201c\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/doi\/10.1021\/acsami.5c08296\u0022\u003EFlexible Smart Insole and Plantar Pressure Monitoring Using Screen-Printed Nanomaterials and Piezoresistive Sensors\u003C\/a\u003E.\u201d It was the cover paper in the August edition of \u003Cem\u003EACSApplied Materials \u0026amp; Interfaces\u003C\/em\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPressure Points\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESmart footwear isn\u2019t new \u2014 but making it both functional and affordable has been nearly impossible. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/faculty\/yeo\u0022\u003EW. Hong Yeo\u2019s\u003C\/a\u003E lab has made its reputation on creating malleable\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/feature\/pacifier\u0022\u003Emedical\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/feature\/tbi\u0022\u003Edevices\u003C\/a\u003E. The researchers rely on the common commercial practice of screen-printing electronics to screen-print sensors. They realized they could apply this printing technique to address walking difficulties.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cScreen-printing is advantageous for developing medical devices because it\u0027s low-cost and scalable,\u201d said Yeo, the Peterson Professor and Harris Saunders Jr. Professor in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorge W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cSo, when it comes to thinking about commercialization and mass production, screen-printing is a really good platform because it\u0027s already been used in the electronics industry.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMaking the device accessible to the everyday user was paramount for Yeo\u2019s team. A key innovation was making sure the wearable is thin enough to be comfortable for the wearer and easy to integrate with other assistive technologies. The device uses Bluetooth, enabling a smartphone to collect data and offer the future possibility of integrating with existing health monitoring applications.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPossibilities for real-world adaptation are promising, thanks to these innovations. Lightweight and small, the wearable could be paired with robotics devices to help stroke and Parkinson\u2019s patients and the elderly walk. The high number of sensors could make it easier for researchers to apply a machine learning algorithm that could predict falls. The device could even enable professional athletes to analyze their performance.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERegardless of how the device is used, Yeo intends to keep its cost under $100. So far, with funding from the National Science Foundation, the researchers have tested the device on healthy subjects. They hope to expand the study to people with gait impairments and, eventually, make the device commercially available.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u0027m trying to bridge the gap between the lack of available devices in hospitals or medical practices and the lab-scale devices,\u201d Yeo said. \u201cWe want these devices to be ready now \u2014 not in 10 years.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith its low-cost, wireless design and potential for real-time feedback, this smart insole could transform how we monitor and manage walking difficulties \u2014 not just in clinical settings, but in everyday life.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe affordable wearable measures foot pressure and could improve stroke and Parkinson\u2019s therapy.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The affordable wearable measures foot pressure and could improve stroke and Parkinson\u2019s therapy."}],"uid":"34541","created_gmt":"2025-09-18 22:31:18","changed_gmt":"2025-09-23 15:49:45","author":"Tess Malone","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-09-18T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-09-18T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678076":{"id":"678076","type":"image","title":"DSC_0589.jpeg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EHong Yeo holds the wearable electronic device made of more than 170 thin, flexible sensors that measure foot pressure \u2014 a key metric for determining whether someone is off-balance. [Photos by Joya Chapman]\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1758235084","gmt_created":"2025-09-18 22:38:04","changed":"1758237470","gmt_changed":"2025-09-18 23:17:50","alt":"Hong Yeo holds shoe insert.","file":{"fid":"262057","name":"DSC_0589.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/09\/18\/DSC_0589.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/09\/18\/DSC_0589.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3115147,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/09\/18\/DSC_0589.jpeg?itok=x4J_Ca3H"}},"678077":{"id":"678077","type":"image","title":"DSC_0658.jpeg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EThe\u0026nbsp;wearable electronic device, developed by Georgia Tech researchers,\u0026nbsp;is made of more than 170 thin, flexible sensors that measure foot pressure \u2014 a key metric for determining whether someone is off-balance.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1758235121","gmt_created":"2025-09-18 22:38:41","changed":"1758235121","gmt_changed":"2025-09-18 22:38:41","alt":"Shoe insert","file":{"fid":"262058","name":"DSC_0658.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/09\/18\/DSC_0658.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/09\/18\/DSC_0658.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1245444,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/09\/18\/DSC_0658.jpeg?itok=MxJTqd2q"}}},"media_ids":["678076","678077"],"groups":[{"id":"660369","name":"Matter and Systems"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"188084","name":"go-ipat"},{"id":"188087","name":"go-irim"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193658","name":"Commercialization"},{"id":"39451","name":"Electronics and Nanotechnology"},{"id":"193652","name":"Matter and Systems"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"},{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"},{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETess Malone, Senior Research Writer\/Editor\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003Etess.malone@gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"684962":{"#nid":"684962","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Faculty Awarded $3.2 Million NIH Grant to Advance Research on Aging and Walking ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAs people age, walking often becomes slower and less efficient, limiting mobility and independence.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo address these challenges, three Georgia Tech researchers have received a $3.2 million Research Project Grant (R01) from the National Institutes of Health\u0027s (NIH)\u0026nbsp;National Institute on Aging (NIA).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELeading the study is\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/faculty\/sawicki\u0022\u003EGregory Sawicki\u003C\/a\u003E, Joseph Anderer Faculty Fellow and professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorge W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E. He is joined by Woodruff School colleagues \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/faculty\/young\u0022\u003EAaron Young\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor, and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/faculty\/herrin\u0022\u003EKinsey Herrin\u003C\/a\u003E, principal research scientist, along with partners at the Institute for Human \u0026amp; Machine Cognition (IHMC) and Northeastern University. Together, they will study how aging impacts lower-limb joint mechanics, muscle function, and the energy cost of walking.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/news\/woodruff-school-faculty-awarded-32-million-nih-grant-advance-research-aging-and-walking\u0022\u003ERead the full story on the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering website\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAs people age, walking often becomes slower and less efficient, limiting mobility and independence. To address these challenges, three Georgia Tech researchers have received a $3.2 million Research Project Grant (R01) from the National Institutes of Health\u0027s (NIH)\u0026nbsp;National Institute on Aging (NIA).\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Three Georgia Tech researchers have received a $3.2 million Research Project Grant (R01) from the National Institutes of Health\u0027s (NIH) National Institute on Aging (NIA)."}],"uid":"35851","created_gmt":"2025-09-16 23:39:47","changed_gmt":"2025-09-19 21:13:05","author":"aritchie6","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-09-16T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-09-16T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678036":{"id":"678036","type":"image","title":"NIH-Grant.jpg","body":null,"created":"1758066005","gmt_created":"2025-09-16 23:40:05","changed":"1758066005","gmt_changed":"2025-09-16 23:40:05","alt":"Woodruff School Faculty Awarded $3.2 Million NIH Grant to Advance Research on Aging and Walking","file":{"fid":"262014","name":"NIH-Grant.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/09\/16\/NIH-Grant.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/09\/16\/NIH-Grant.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1524935,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/09\/16\/NIH-Grant.jpg?itok=BsosMJU0"}}},"media_ids":["678036"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:mikey.fuller@me.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EMikey Fuller\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EGeorge W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"685103":{"#nid":"685103","#data":{"type":"news","title":"New Course Gives Students a Hands-On Role in Designing for Dignity","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis fall, a new course in the College of Design offers Georgia Tech students an extraordinary opportunity to use design methods not just as tools for innovation \u2014 but as a means of human connection. Led by Associate Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/id.gatech.edu\/people\/leandro-tonetto\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELeandro Miletto Tonetto\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E in the School of Industrial Design, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/catalog.gatech.edu\/coursesaz\/id\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EID 4843\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E: Applied Design Methods for Community Well-being invites undergraduate students to step beyond the classroom and into the lives of older adults experiencing cognitive decline, where design meets care and empathy fuels creativity.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESupported by a 2025\u20132026 \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ctl.gatech.edu\/transformative-teaching-and-learning-faculty-initiatives\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETransformative Teaching and Learning Innovation Incubator Grant\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E from Georgia Tech\u2019s Center for Teaching and Learning, this course takes experiential learning to the next level. It\u2019s rooted in a partnership with A.G. Rhodes, one of Georgia\u2019s oldest nonprofit senior care organizations, and the newly renamed \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/simtigrate.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESimTigrate Design Center\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E (formerly SimTigrate Design Lab), where interdisciplinary collaboration drives design for health and wellness. The SimTigrate Design Center is also an affiliated center of Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EInstitute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society,\u003C\/a\u003E further strengthening its commitment to advancing human-centered design in complex healthcare environments.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cStudents will get a full hands-on experience designing products and environments that support horticultural therapy,\u201d said Tonetto. \u201cEveryone knows that this kind of therapy is effective. But what could make it even better? That\u2019s the open-ended design problem we\u2019re tackling.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorticultural therapy \u2014 using plant-based and plant-based activity as a therapeutic intervention \u2014 is at the heart of this first iteration. At \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.agrhodes.org\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA.G. Rhodes\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, residents participate in music and plant-based activities that stimulate cognitive function and foster joy. For students, the experience will push their design thinking beyond the studio.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cDesign methods are mostly about understanding people\u2019s needs,\u201d Tonetto said. \u201cIn this course, students will be observing residents during therapy, conducting advanced interviews, and learning how to gather insights in more complex, real-world situations. We\u2019re going way beyond the basics.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Ch3\u003ECross-School Collaboration, Real-World Impact\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe course is also a collaborative effort across schools. Faculty from Architecture (Professor Hui Cai) and Building Construction (Professor Eunhwa Yang) are supporting parallel research projects at A.G. Rhodes, while Ph.D. student Ibrahim Bilau and MID student Yiran Wang contribute to the project from the School of Building Construction and the School of Industrial Design, respectively.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s a perfect example of how design, architecture, and construction can work together for social good,\u201d Tonetto noted.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat multidisciplinary approach is at the heart of the College of Design\u2019s mission \u2014 and why this course stands out as a signature learning experience. Tonetto is keeping the inaugural section intentionally small (fewer than 20 students) to provide close mentorship and ensure thoughtful, supported interactions with residents.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThese students will leave with real-world design experience, yes\u2014but also a much deeper understanding of ethical design,\u201d Tonetto said. \u201cThey\u2019ll learn that good design isn\u2019t just about solving a problem. It\u2019s about dignity, dialogue, and shared meaning.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EWhy It Matters\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt a time when students are seeking purpose-driven education, this course offers something rare: the chance to make a tangible difference in someone\u2019s life while still in school.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe want students to see that their skills can do more than land a job,\u201d Tonetto said. \u201cThey can change lives.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EAbout A.G. Rhodes\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA nonprofit senior care organization with three locations in metro Atlanta, A.G. Rhodes is known for its progressive approach to long-term care, including memory care, rehabilitation, and therapeutic programs like horticultural and music therapy. Learn more at \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.agrhodes.org\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003Eagrhodes.org\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EAbout Leandro Miletto Tonetto\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETonetto is an Associate Professor in the School of Industrial Design with a background in psychology and 20 years of global experience in human-centered design. He leads research at the intersection of design, health, and well-being, and serves as convenor of the Design Research Society\u2019s SIG on Well-being, Happiness, and Health.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EApplied Design Methods for Community Well-Being invites students to step into the lives of older adults experiencing cognitive decline, where design meets care.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Applied Design Methods for Community Well-Being invites students to step into the lives of older adults experiencing cognitive decline, where design meets care."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2025-09-19 13:50:26","changed_gmt":"2025-09-19 13:57:33","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-08-20T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-08-20T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678079":{"id":"678079","type":"image","title":"dreamstime_m_340209791.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EA new Georgia Tech course pairs students with older adults to design therapeutic tools that promote dignity, empathy, and real-world impact.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1758289848","gmt_created":"2025-09-19 13:50:48","changed":"1758289848","gmt_changed":"2025-09-19 13:50:48","alt":"A new Georgia Tech course pairs students with older adults to design therapeutic tools that promote dignity, empathy, and real-world impact.","file":{"fid":"262060","name":"dreamstime_m_340209791.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/09\/19\/dreamstime_m_340209791.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/09\/19\/dreamstime_m_340209791.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2356906,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/09\/19\/dreamstime_m_340209791.jpg?itok=kDbhgn5c"}}},"media_ids":["678079"],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[{"id":"137","name":"Architecture"},{"id":"42941","name":"Art Research"},{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"179355","name":"Building Construction"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:melissa.alonso@design.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EMelissa Alonso\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EAssistant Director of Communications\u003Cbr\u003ECollege of Design\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["melissa.alonso@design.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"684821":{"#nid":"684821","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Crawling Faster, Clambering Higher","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ELegged robots capable of traversing difficult terrain and uncertain environments could be revolutionary in applications from defense to mining to disaster search and rescue. Research into the development of motion controls for bipedal and quadrupedal robots has recently made great strides.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETests in highly controlled environments for bipedal robots and varied terrain in quadrupeds show promise, but the costs and complexity required to equip these robots with the sensors needed to navigate create a huge barrier to deployment at scale. In contrast, low-profile multilegged robots with redundant contacts eliminate the need for costly visual and LIDAR systems and are poised to be deployed commercially in the agricultural sector.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThese multilegged locomoting systems, though less complex and costly, come with their own technological challenges that impact speed and vertical maneuverability due to the robotic design\u2019s high degree degrees of freedom and visual sensing limitations due to height in relation to environment. To address these challenges, Juntao He, a Ph.D. student in the group of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/daniel-goldman\u0022\u003EDaniel Goldman\u003C\/a\u003E, Professor in the School of Physics at Georgia Tech, led a pair of research papers that paves the way to make these bots able to move faster and climb higher in challenging environments. The work is in collaboration with Baxi Chong, now \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sites.gatech.edu\/baxichong\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003Eassistant professor at The Pennsylvania State University\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, as well as others in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/crablab.gatech.edu\/index.html\u0022\u003EGoldman\u2019s lab\u003C\/a\u003E, in a multidisciplinary collaboration to improve these cost-effective little bots.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo enhance speed on varied terrain, the researchers used a multilegged segmented robot equipped with three motors for pitch and yaw and leg tip mounted force sensors onboard each segment. Inspired by the movement of centipedes, the team added vertical body undulation coordinated with horizontal undulation and leg stepping. The additional vertical movement mitigates the environmental elements that impact forward motion, allowing the robot to move across multiple surfaces without a loss of speed.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;The many-legged robot demonstrates impressive 2.5D mobility in unstructured environments with minimal sensing. What\u2019s next? Our goal is to integrate greater intelligence into the robot, enabling it to make decisions and navigate effectively\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003Ein the open world. - Juntao He\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo enable greater vertical obstacle navigation, Goldman\u2019s team used the same robotic setup with the addition of tactile antenna to investigate impediments and a control system that integrates data from the antenna and the force sensors on the legs. This integrated data prompts the robot to adjust head placement and optimize the vertical undulation waves to climb the probed object. Using this efficient sensor system, the team\u2019s robot reliably scaled obstacles five times its height in a controlled laboratory setting and performed equally well in outdoor testing. The team is working with Georgia Tech Commercialization and Goldman\u2019s startup, Ground Control Robotics, Inc.*\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E-Christa M. Ernst\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EResearch Communications Program Manager\u003Cbr\u003EKlaus Advance Computing Building 1120E | 266 Ferst Drive | Atlanta GA | 30332\u003Cbr\u003ETopic Expertise: Robotics | Data Sciences | Semiconductor Design \u0026amp; Fab\u003Cbr\u003Echrista.ernst@research.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPublications Referenced\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ieeexplore.ieee.org\/document\/11098164?source=authoralert\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 title=\u0022https:\/\/ieeexplore.ieee.org\/document\/11098164?source=authoralert\u0022\u003EProbabilistic Approach to Feedback Control Enhances Multilegged Locomotion on Rugged Landscapes\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/arxiv.org\/pdf\/2504.08615\u0022\u003ETactile sensing enables vertical obstacle negotiation for elongate many-legged robots\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E*Disclaimer: Daniel Goldman has an equity interest in Ground Control Robotics, Inc. (GCR).\u0026nbsp;GCR develops robots for locomotion in complex environments.\u0026nbsp; GCR may potentially benefit financially from the research findings on locomoting systems presented here.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Dual publications highlight advances in multilegged robot motion"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJuntao He, a Ph.D. student in the group of Daniel Goldman, Professor in the School of Physics at Georgia Tech led a pair of research papers that paves the way to make these bots able to move faster and climb higher in challenging environments. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Dual publications highlight advances in multilegged robot motion"}],"uid":"27863","created_gmt":"2025-09-12 19:02:09","changed_gmt":"2025-09-17 16:59:17","author":"Christa Ernst","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-09-12T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-09-12T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677990":{"id":"677990","type":"image","title":"Crawling Faster Goldman Juntao Publication","body":"\u003Cp\u003EA centipede based multi-legged robot exhibiting locomotion on rugged landscapes\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1757703073","gmt_created":"2025-09-12 18:51:13","changed":"1757703215","gmt_changed":"2025-09-12 18:53:35","alt":"A centipede based multi-legged robot exhibiting locomotion on rugged landscapes","file":{"fid":"261959","name":"Fig1.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/09\/12\/Fig1.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/09\/12\/Fig1.png","mime":"image\/png","size":1459688,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/09\/12\/Fig1.png?itok=rQbN3wIu"}}},"media_ids":["677990"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"188087","name":"go-irim"},{"id":"187582","name":"go-ibb"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EChrista M. Ernst\u003Cbr\u003EResearch Communications Program Manager\u003Cbr\u003EKlaus Advance Computing Building 1120E | 266 Ferst Drive | Atlanta GA | 30332\u003Cbr\u003ETopic Expertise: Robotics | Data Sciences | Semiconductor Design \u0026amp; Fab\u003Cbr\u003Echrista.ernst@research.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["christa.ernst@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"684700":{"#nid":"684700","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Team Designing Robot Guide Dog to Assist the Visually Impaired","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPeople who are visually impaired and cannot afford or care for service animals might have a practical alternative in a robotic guide dog being developed at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBefore launching its prototype, a research team within Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Interactive Computing, led by Professor \u003Cstrong\u003EBruce Walker\u003C\/strong\u003E and Assistant Professor \u003Cstrong\u003ESehoon Ha\u003C\/strong\u003E, is working to improve its methods and designs based on research within blind and visually impaired (BVI) communities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere\u2019s been research on the technical aspects and functionality of robotic guide dogs, but not a lot of emphasis on the aesthetics or form factors,\u201d said \u003Cstrong\u003EAvery\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003EGong\u003C\/strong\u003E, a recent master\u2019s graduate who worked in Walker\u2019s lab. \u201cWe wanted to fill this gap.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETraining a guide dog can cost up to $50,000, and while there are nonprofit organizations that can cover these costs for potential owners, there is still a gap between the amount of available guide dogs and BVI individuals who need them. Not all BVI individuals are able to care for a dog and feed it. The dog also has fewer than 10 working years before it needs replacement.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGong co-authored a paper on the design implications of the robotic guide dog that was presented at the 2025 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Atlanta in May.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe consensus among the study\u2019s participants indicates they prefer a robotic guide dog that:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003Eresembles a real dog and appears approachable\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003Ehas a clear identifier of being a guide dog, such as a vest\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003Ehas built-in GPS and Bluetooth connectivity\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003Ehas control options such as voice command\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003Ehas soft textures without feeling furry\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003Ehas long battery life and self-charging capability\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cA lot of people said they didn\u2019t want the dog to look too cute or appealing because it would draw too much attention,\u201d said \u003Cstrong\u003EAviv Cohav\u003C\/strong\u003E, another lead author of the paper and recent master\u2019s graduate.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMany people have issues with taking their guide dog to places, whether it\u2019s little kids wanting to play with the dog or people not liking dogs or people being scared of them, and that reflects on the owners themselves. We wanted to look at what would be a good balance between having a functional robot that wouldn\u2019t scare people away or be a distraction.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers also had to consider the perspectives of sighted individuals and how society at large might view a robotic guide dog.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAn example of this is the amount of noise the dog makes while walking. The owner needs to hear the dog is active, but the clanky sound many off-the-shelf robots make could create disturbances in indoor spaces that amplify sounds. To offset the noise, the team developed algorithms that allow the robot to move more quietly.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWalker and his lab have examined similar scenarios that must take public perception into account.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe like to think of Georgia Tech as going the extra mile,\u201d Walker said. \u201cLet\u2019s not just make a robot, but a robot that\u2019s going to fit into society.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTo have impact, the technologies we produce must be produced with society in mind. This is a holistic design that considers the users and all the people with whom the users interact.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETaery Kim\u003C\/strong\u003E, a computer science Ph.D. student, began working on the concept of a robotic guide dog when she came to Georgia Tech in 2022. She and Ha, her advisor, have authored papers on building the robot\u2019s navigation and safety components.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhen I started, I thought it would be as simple as giving the guide dog a command to take me to Starbucks or the grocery store, and it would just take me,\u201d Kim said. \u201cBut the user must give waypoint directions \u2014 \u2018go left here,\u2019 \u2018turn right,\u2019 \u2018go forward,\u2019 \u2018stop.\u2019 Detailed commands must be delivered to the dog.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile a real dog has naturally enhanced senses of hearing and smell that can\u2019t be replicated, technology can provide interconnected safety features during an emergency. The researchers envision a camera system equipped with a 360-degree field of view, computer vision algorithms that detect obstacles or hazards, and voice recognition that recognizes calls for help. An SOS function could automatically call 911 at the owner\u2019s request or if the owner is unresponsive.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKim said the robot should also have explainability features to enhance communication with the owner. For example, if the robot suddenly stops or ignores an owner\u2019s commands, it should tell the owner that it\u2019s detecting a hazard in their path.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EManufacturing a robot at scale would initially be expensive, but the researchers believe the cost would eventually be offset because of its longevity. BVI individuals may only need to purchase one during their lifetime.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo introduce a prototype, the multidisciplinary research team recognizes that it needs to enlist experts from other fields to adequately address the various implications and research gaps inherent in the project.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWalker said the teams welcome additional partners who are keen to tackle challenges ranging from design and engineering to battery life to human-robot interaction.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETeam member \u003Cstrong\u003EJ. Taery Kim\u003C\/strong\u003E was supported by the National Science Foundation\u0027s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) under Grant No. DGE-2039655.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech researchers from the School of Interactive Computing are using survey information from individuals who are blind or visually impaired (BVI) to develop a robotic service dog.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Researchers rely on feedback from blind and visually impaired (BVI) communities to create service animal prototype."}],"uid":"32045","created_gmt":"2025-09-10 12:57:59","changed_gmt":"2025-09-17 16:44:07","author":"Ben Snedeker","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-09-10T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-09-10T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677956":{"id":"677956","type":"image","title":"Georgia Tech researchers test their prototype of a robotic guide dog. Photo by Terence Rushin\/College of Computing.","body":null,"created":"1757509562","gmt_created":"2025-09-10 13:06:02","changed":"1757509562","gmt_changed":"2025-09-10 13:06:02","alt":"Georgia Tech researchers test their prototype of a robotic guide dog. Photo by Terence Rushin\/College of Computing.","file":{"fid":"261920","name":"Robotic-Seeing-Eye-Dog_86A0019-Enhanced-NR.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/09\/10\/Robotic-Seeing-Eye-Dog_86A0019-Enhanced-NR.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/09\/10\/Robotic-Seeing-Eye-Dog_86A0019-Enhanced-NR.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":221759,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/09\/10\/Robotic-Seeing-Eye-Dog_86A0019-Enhanced-NR.jpg?itok=WEOIHeFO"}},"677957":{"id":"677957","type":"image","title":"A graphic depicts design considerations for the prototype.","body":null,"created":"1757509677","gmt_created":"2025-09-10 13:07:57","changed":"1757509677","gmt_changed":"2025-09-10 13:07:57","alt":"A graphic depicts design considerations for the prototype.","file":{"fid":"261921","name":"Robotic-Dog-Story-01-20-.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/09\/10\/Robotic-Dog-Story-01-20-.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/09\/10\/Robotic-Dog-Story-01-20-.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":109946,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/09\/10\/Robotic-Dog-Story-01-20-.jpg?itok=VSx4JbmF"}}},"media_ids":["677956","677957"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/4CzDPxaVWkI?feature=shared","title":"VIDEO: Robotic guide dogs could reshape the future for the blind and visually impaired"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"10199","name":"Daily Digest"},{"id":"181991","name":"Georgia Tech News Center"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"188087","name":"go-irim"},{"id":"667","name":"robotics"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"},{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENathan Deen, Communications Officer\u003Cbr\u003ESchool of Interactive Computing\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003Enathan.deen@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"684036":{"#nid":"684036","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech, Shepherd Center Award Inaugural Seed Grants","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech and Shepherd Center recently awarded four seed grants totaling nearly $200,000 to researchers focusing on projects that will advance discoveries in neurorehabilitation, including acquired brain injury, spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, and other neurological conditions.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Tech-Shepherd Center Seed Grant Program is part of an ongoing partnership between the two institutions that \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/news.shepherd.org\/georgia-tech-partners-with-shepherd-center-to-advance-rehabilitative-patient-care-and-research\/\u0022\u003Estarted in 2023\u003C\/a\u003E with the goal of advancing rehabilitative patient care and research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe seed grant program is intended to stimulate new interdisciplinary research collaborations by providing seed funding to obtain preliminary data or prototypes necessary for the submission of an external grant or industry opportunities,\u201d says \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/shepherd.org\/staff-directory\/deborah-backus\/\u0022\u003EDeborah Backus\u003C\/a\u003E, vice president of Research and Innovation\u0026nbsp;at Shepherd Center. \u201cAs two leading research institutions, we know the potential for advancing rehabilitation therapies is even greater when we work together. We look forward to the solutions, treatments, and therapies that emerge from these initial seed grants.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EExperts from both institutions evaluated and scored seed grant applications based on the research\u2019s innovation, approach, and potential for training opportunities, as well as its anticipated impact, prospects for commercial translation, and strategy for securing continued funding.\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003EThis year, each awardee team received close to $50,000.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe are very excited to launch this new seed grant program, which will spur ideas and propel research forward,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/michelle-laplaca\u0022\u003EMichelle LaPlaca\u003C\/a\u003E, professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/\u0022\u003ECoulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E and the Georgia Tech lead of the Collaborative. \u201cThe complementary expertise of Georgia Tech and Shepherd Center researchers, combined with the motivation to find solutions for individuals with neurological injury and disability, is a winning formula for innovation.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Offering new hope for neurorehabilitation patients requires bringing together interdisciplinary researchers to explore new and creative ideas,\u201d adds \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/3728\u0022\u003EChris Rozell\u003C\/a\u003E, Julian T. Hightower Chaired professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E and the inaugural executive director of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EInstitute of Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society\u003C\/a\u003E (INNS) at Georgia Tech. \u201cI\u0027m excited to see the talent at these world class institutions coming together to develop new solutions for these complex problems.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis year\u2019s seed grants were awarded to the following projects:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EProof of Concept Development of the Recovery Cushion\u003C\/strong\u003E \u2013 Stephen Sprigle,\u0026nbsp;professor, School of Industrial Design and School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Tech; Jennifer Cowhig, research physical therapist, Shepherd Center.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPaving a Smooth Path from Hospital to Home: A Feasibility Study of an Integrated Smart Transitional Home Lab to Support Stroke Rehabilitation Patients\u2019 Transition to Home\u003C\/strong\u003E \u2013 John Morris, senior clinical research scientist, Shepherd Center; Hui Cai, professor in the School of Architecture, executive director of the SimTigrate Design Center, Georgia Tech.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA Comparative Analysis of Lower-Limb Exoskeleton Technology for Non-Ambulatory Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury \u003C\/strong\u003E\u2013\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003EMaegan Tucker, assistant professor, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Tech; Nicholas Evans (AP 2023), clinical research scientist, Shepherd Center.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EImproving Accessibility and Precision in Neurorehabilitation at the Point of Care with AI-Driven Remote Therapeutic Monitoring Solutions \u003C\/strong\u003E\u2013\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003EBrad Willingham, clinical research scientist, director of Multiple Sclerosis Research, Shepherd Center; May Dongmei Wang, professor,\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003EWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Tech.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGrants include projects on improving seating surfaces for wheelchair users, easing the transition home after stroke rehabilitation, evaluating lower limb exoskeletons, and using AI in remote rehabilitation.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Grants include projects on improving seating surfaces for wheelchair users, easing the transition home after stroke rehabilitation, evaluating lower limb exoskeletons, and using AI in remote rehabilitation."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2025-08-21 13:14:54","changed_gmt":"2025-08-26 20:14:39","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-08-21T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-08-21T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677761":{"id":"677761","type":"image","title":"Shepherd-Center-Beyond-Therapy-Main-Image-jpg.jpeg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EThe seed grants will fund projects focused on enhancing wheelchair seating surfaces, supporting stroke patients as they transition home from rehabilitation, assessing lower limb exoskeleton technologies, and exploring the use of AI in remote rehab settings. \u003Cem\u003EPhoto: Shepherd Center.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1755784271","gmt_created":"2025-08-21 13:51:11","changed":"1755784271","gmt_changed":"2025-08-21 13:51:11","alt":"The seed grants will fund projects focused on enhancing wheelchair seating surfaces, supporting stroke patients as they transition home from rehabilitation, assessing lower limb exoskeleton technologies, and exploring the use of AI in remote rehab settings. Photo: Shepherd Center.","file":{"fid":"261696","name":"Shepherd-Center-Beyond-Therapy-Main-Image-jpg.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/08\/21\/Shepherd-Center-Beyond-Therapy-Main-Image-jpg.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/08\/21\/Shepherd-Center-Beyond-Therapy-Main-Image-jpg.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":378411,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/08\/21\/Shepherd-Center-Beyond-Therapy-Main-Image-jpg.jpeg?itok=NxoGoFal"}}},"media_ids":["677761"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/news.shepherd.org\/georgia-tech-partners-with-shepherd-center-to-advance-rehabilitative-patient-care-and-research\/","title":"Georgia Tech Partners with Shepherd Center to Advance Rehabilitative Patient Care and Research"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"194606","name":"Artificial Intelligence"},{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"179356","name":"Industrial Design"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"188084","name":"go-ipat"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kerry.ludlam@shepherd.org\u0022\u003EKerry Ludlam\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EDirector of Communications\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003EShepherd Center\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAudra Davidson\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EResearch Communications Program Manager\u003Cbr\u003EInstitute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["kerry.ludlam@shepherd.org"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"683841":{"#nid":"683841","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Inaugural Cohort of Georgia Tech\u2019s Research Leadership Academy Announced","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe inaugural cohort of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/research-leadership-academy\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech\u2019s Research Leadership Academy (RLA)\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, a distinguished group of researchers selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants across campus, has been announced.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThese outstanding faculty members were chosen for their\u0026nbsp;exceptional research accomplishments, demonstrated leadership, and ability to drive high-impact, interdisciplinary initiatives. Representing a wide range of academic disciplines, they embody the depth, innovation, and collaborative spirit that define Georgia Tech\u2019s research community.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOver the next year, this inaugural cohort will engage in a dynamic, immersive program designed to cultivate strategic research leadership through mentorship, experiential learning, and cross-campus dialogue. Their work through the RLA will not only strengthen Georgia Tech\u2019s research enterprise but also help shape its trajectory for years to come.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPlease join us in celebrating\u0026nbsp;and congratulating\u0026nbsp;these remarkable scholars as they embark on this exciting journey.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESteve Diggle\u003C\/strong\u003E \u2013 Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience; School of Biological Sciences\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMarta Hatzell \u003C\/strong\u003E\u2013 Institute for Matter and Systems; Renewable Bioproducts Institute; Strategic Energy Institute; George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAda Gavrilovska\u003C\/strong\u003E - Institute for Data Engineering and Science; School of Computer Science\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMargaret Kosal\u003C\/strong\u003E \u2013 Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience; Strategic Energy Institute; Institute for Matter and Systems; Sam Nunn School of International Affairs\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESheng Dai\u003C\/strong\u003E \u2013 Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience; Strategic Energy Institute; School of Civil and Environmental Engineering\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EYuguo Tao\u003C\/strong\u003E \u2013 George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering; Nuclear and Radiological Engineering; and Medical Physics\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EChris Wiese\u003C\/strong\u003E \u2013 Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience; Institute for Data Engineering and Science; Institute for People and Technology; School of Psychology\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMathieu Dahan\u003C\/strong\u003E \u2013 Institute for People and Technology, H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThackery Brown\u003C\/strong\u003E \u2013 School of Psychology\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECharlotte Alexander\u003C\/strong\u003E \u2013 Tech AI, Scheller College of Business; Law and Ethics\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJeff Young\u003C\/strong\u003E \u2013 Institute for Data Engineering and Science; Partnership for Advanced Computing Environments; Office of Information Technology\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMeltem Alemdar\u003C\/strong\u003E \u2013 Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EKamran Paynabar\u003C\/strong\u003E \u2013 Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute; Institute for Data Engineering and Science; Renewable Bioproducts Institute; H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJohn A. Christian\u003C\/strong\u003E \u2013 Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFarzaneh Najafi\u003C\/strong\u003E \u2013 Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience; School of Biological Sciences\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDave Flaherty\u003C\/strong\u003E \u2013 Strategic Energy Institute; School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEunhwa Yang\u003C\/strong\u003E - Institute for Matter and Systems; Strategic Energy Institute; School of Building Construction\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJames Tsai\u003C\/strong\u003E \u2013 Strategic Energy Institute; School of Civil and Environmental Engineering\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJennifer Hirsch\u003C\/strong\u003E \u2013 Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems; Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education; Strategic Energy Institute\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EInaugural Cohort of Georgia Tech\u2019s Research Leadership Academy\u0026nbsp;Announced\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Inaugural Cohort of Georgia Tech\u2019s Research Leadership Academy Announced"}],"uid":"27561","created_gmt":"2025-08-15 14:52:25","changed_gmt":"2025-08-22 18:36:53","author":"Angela Ayers","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-08-15T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-08-15T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677702":{"id":"677702","type":"image","title":"RLAkickoffcohort2025.jpg","body":null,"created":"1755269712","gmt_created":"2025-08-15 14:55:12","changed":"1755269712","gmt_changed":"2025-08-15 14:55:12","alt":"Inaugural cohort of Georgia Tech\u0027s Research Leadership Academy","file":{"fid":"261635","name":"RLAkickoffcohort2025.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/08\/15\/RLAkickoffcohort2025_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/08\/15\/RLAkickoffcohort2025_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1123659,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/08\/15\/RLAkickoffcohort2025_0.jpg?itok=rZVbuvBs"}}},"media_ids":["677702"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/research-leadership-academy","title":"Research Leadership Academy"}],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"186858","name":"go-sei"},{"id":"188360","name":"go-bbiss"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193652","name":"Matter and Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"683114":{"#nid":"683114","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Rozell Named Inaugural Executive Director of New Neuroscience Institute","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/3728\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EChristopher Rozell\u003C\/a\u003E, Julian T. Hightower Chaired Professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E, will serve as the inaugural executive director of Georgia Tech\u2019s new \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EInstitute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society\u003C\/a\u003E (INNS).\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EINNS is one of two new Interdisciplinary Research Institutes (IRIs) \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/georgia-tech-launches-two-new-interdisciplinary-research-institutes\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Elaunched at Georgia Tech\u003C\/a\u003E on July 1. Dedicated to advancing neuroscience and neurotechnology, the institute aims to drive societal progress through discovery, innovation, and public engagement. By bridging disciplines across the sciences, engineering, computing, ethics, policy, and the humanities, INNS will serve as a collaborative hub for exploring the brain in all its complexity \u2014 from molecular mechanisms to behavior and cognition, and from foundational research to clinical and technological applications.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur neuro-related research community has built such a strong transdisciplinary vision for an IRI that I remain fully committed to its growth, even as we face a period of extreme uncertainty about federal research funding,\u201d said Vice President for Interdisciplinary Research \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/3763\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EJulia Kubanek\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cIn fact, under Chris\u2019s leadership I expect INNS to make our faculty more competitive and successful, bringing Georgia Tech closer to patient communities living with neurological conditions so that our research increasingly impacts people\u2019s lives. INNS will also connect artists, social scientists, neuroscientists and engineers with entrepreneurial opportunities and non-traditional funding pipelines.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe launch of INNS builds on more than a decade of groundwork laid by Georgia Tech\u2019s neuroscience community. Rozell has played a key role in shaping the vision for INNS as a member of the Neuro Next Initiative\u2019s executive committee, and before that, as a steering committee member as the initiative was developed. The executive committee included \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/3736\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESimon Sponberg,\u003C\/a\u003E Dunn Family Associate Professor in the School of Physics and the School of Biological Sciences; \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/11576\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EJennifer Singh\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor in the School of History and Sociology; and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/directory\/sarah-peterson\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESarah Peterson\u003C\/a\u003E, Neuro Next Initiative program manager.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u0027m excited to serve the INNS community in this next phase to build on the momentum generated across campus over many years,\u201d said Rozell. \u201cThe brain is one of the great remaining frontiers, where discovery and innovation can unlock the future of human health and flourishing. INNS is uniquely positioned to lead in the modern interdisciplinary research necessary to address this grand challenge.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERozell brings a unique blend of technical expertise, interdisciplinary leadership, and public engagement to his role as the inaugural executive director of INNS. His work spans neuroscience, data and computer science, neuroengineering, and cognitive science, with a particular focus on developing \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/news\/2023\/09\/researchers-identify-crucial-biomarker-tracks-recovery-treatment-resistant-depression\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Escalable brain stimulation therapies\u003C\/a\u003E for treatment-resistant depression. Rozell also serves on advisory boards for organizations at the forefront of neuroethics and scientific rigor, reflecting his commitment to responsible innovation.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInterdisciplinary from the outset, Rozell\u2019s training in neuroscience has been shaped by a unique educational path that bridges engineering, the arts, machine learning, neuroscience and translational research. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music alongside his engineering degrees and has developed multiple initiatives that incorporate the arts into neuroscience research and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/ai-and-neuroscience-become-dance-partners-georgia-tech-arts-event\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Epublic engagement\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERozell\u2019s research has been widely recognized, with over 130 peer-reviewed publications, multiple patents, and invitations to speak at high-profile venues, including a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/neurotech-moonshot-georgia-tech-researcher-shares-impact-brain-initiative-congressional-briefing\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EU.S. Congressional briefing\u003C\/a\u003E celebrating the NIH BRAIN Initiative. A first-generation scholar, Rozell co-founded \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuromatch.io\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ENeuromatch\u003C\/a\u003E, a nonprofit dedicated to building an inclusive global neuroscience community. His contributions have earned him numerous honors, including the James S. McDonnell Foundation \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/news\/2023\/12\/rozell-chosen-mcdonnell-foundation-award\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E21st Century Science Initiative Scholar Award\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/rozell-inducted-american-institute-medical-and-biological-engineering-college-fellows\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Eelected Fellow\u003C\/a\u003E of American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and Georgia Tech\u2019s top teaching accolades, underscoring his impact both in and beyond the lab.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EChristopher Rozell to lead Georgia Tech\u2019s new Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society, uniting disciplines to tackle the brain\u2019s greatest challenges.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Christopher Rozell to lead Georgia Tech\u2019s new Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society, uniting disciplines to tackle the brain\u2019s greatest challenges."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2025-07-14 14:26:51","changed_gmt":"2025-07-14 14:29:03","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-07-14T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-07-14T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677404":{"id":"677404","type":"image","title":"Rozell_2023.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EChristopher Rozell, a first-generation scholar and interdisciplinary researcher, serves as the inaugural executive director of Georgia Tech\u2019s Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society (INNS).\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1752503219","gmt_created":"2025-07-14 14:26:59","changed":"1752503219","gmt_changed":"2025-07-14 14:26:59","alt":"Christopher Rozell, a first-generation scholar and interdisciplinary researcher, serves as the inaugural executive director of Georgia Tech\u2019s Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society (INNS).","file":{"fid":"261299","name":"Rozell_2023.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/07\/14\/Rozell_2023.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/07\/14\/Rozell_2023.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":41148,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/07\/14\/Rozell_2023.jpg?itok=1eNKaz8m"}}},"media_ids":["677404"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/georgia-tech-launches-two-new-interdisciplinary-research-institutes","title":"Georgia Tech Launches Two New Interdisciplinary Research Institutes"}],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"42901","name":"Community"},{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAudra Davidson\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EResearch Communications Program Manager\u003Cbr\u003EInstitute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"683001":{"#nid":"683001","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Next-Gen Brain Implants Offer New Hope for Depression","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAI-powered brain monitoring is helping psychiatry shift from reactive care to proactive intervention.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EAs featured in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/spectrum.ieee.org\/deep-brain-stimulation-depression\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIEEE Spectrum\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/directory\/christopher-john-rozell\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EChristopher Rozell\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0027s AI model identifies signs of depression relapse five weeks before symptoms appear. The system has uncovered a neural biomarker linked to both relapse and sleep quality, giving clinicians a valuable early warning signal.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EThis is one of many exciting developments in deep brain stimulation for treatment-resistant depression that are helping turn research into real-world tools for mental health care.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/spectrum.ieee.org\/deep-brain-stimulation-depression\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EREAD THE ARTICLE\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EProfessor Chris Rozell\u2019s AI model, featured in IEEE Spectrum, predicts depression relapse weeks in advance and signals a broader shift as deep brain stimulation tools move from lab to clinic.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Professor Chris Rozell\u2019s AI model, featured in IEEE Spectrum, predicts depression relapse weeks in advance and signals a broader shift as deep brain stimulation tools move from lab to clinic."}],"uid":"36172","created_gmt":"2025-07-03 13:14:47","changed_gmt":"2025-07-07 14:07:01","author":"dwatson71","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-07-03T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-07-03T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"194606","name":"Artificial Intelligence"},{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EDan Watson\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["dwatson@ece.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"682603":{"#nid":"682603","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Can You Upload a Human Mind Into a Computer? A Neuroscientist Ponders What\u2019s\u00a0Possible","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv class=\u0022theconversation-article-body\u0022\u003E\u003Chr\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIs it possible to upload the consciousness of your mind into a computer? \u2013 Amreen, age 15, New Delhi, India\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Chr\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe concept, cool yet maybe a little creepy, is known as mind uploading. Think of it as a way to create a copy of your brain, a transmission of your mind and consciousness into a computer. There you would live digitally, perhaps forever. You\u2019d have an awareness of yourself, you\u2019d retain your memories and still feel like you. But you wouldn\u2019t have a body.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWithin that simulated environment, you could do anything you do in real life \u2013 eating, driving a car, playing sports. You could also do things impossible in the real world, like walking through walls, flying like a bird or traveling to other planets. The only limit is what science can realistically simulate.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDoable? Theoretically, mind uploading \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/consciousness-and-beyond\/202402\/can-we-upload-our-minds-to-a-computer#:%7E\u0022\u003Eshould be possible\u003C\/a\u003E. Still, you may wonder how it could happen. After all, researchers have \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/alleninstitute.org\/news\/why-is-the-human-brain-so-difficult-to-understand-we-asked-4-neuroscientists\/\u0022\u003Ebarely begun to understand the brain\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EYet science has a track record of turning theoretical possibilities into reality. Just because a concept seems terribly, unimaginably difficult doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s impossible. Consider that science took humankind to the Moon, sequenced the human genome and eradicated smallpox. Those things too were once considered unlikely.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?user=tAaE5jIAAAAJ\u0026amp;hl=en\u0022\u003EAs a brain scientist who studies perception\u003C\/a\u003E, I fully expect mind uploading to one day be a reality. But as of today, we\u2019re nowhere close.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003ELiving in a Laptop\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe brain is often regarded as the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\/the-brain-is-the-most-complicated-object-in-the-universe-this-is-the-story-of-scientists-quest-to-decode-it-and-read-peoples-minds-222458#:%7E\u0022\u003Emost complex object in the known universe\u003C\/a\u003E. Replicating all that complexity will be extraordinarily difficult.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne requirement: The uploaded brain needs the same inputs it always had. In other words, the external world must be available to it. Even cloistered inside a computer, you would still need a simulation of your senses, a reproduction of the ability to see, hear, smell, touch, feel \u2013 as well as move, blink, detect your heart rate, set your circadian rhythm and do thousands of other things.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut why is that? Couldn\u2019t you just exist in a pure mental bubble, inside the computer without sensory input?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDepriving people of their senses, like putting them in total darkness, or in a room without sound, is known as \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.iflscience.com\/what-happens-to-your-brain-under-sensory-deprivation-71759\u0022\u003Esensory deprivation\u003C\/a\u003E, and it\u2019s regarded as \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/encyclopedia.uia.org\/problem\/torture-through-sensory-deprivation\u0022\u003Ea form of torture\u003C\/a\u003E. People who have trouble sensing their bodily signals \u2013 thirst, hunger, pain, an itch \u2013 \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/magazine.hms.harvard.edu\/articles\/making-sense-interoception\u0022\u003Eoften have mental health challenges\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat\u2019s why for mind uploading to work, the simulation of your senses and the digital environment you\u2019re in must be exceptionally accurate. Even minor distortions could have serious mental consequences.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor now, researchers don\u2019t have the computing power, much less the scientific knowledge, to perform such simulations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cfigure\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ciframe width=\u0022440\u0022 height=\u0022260\u0022 src=\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2DWnvx1NYUA?wmode=transparent\u0026amp;start=0\u0022 frameborder=\u00220\u0022 allowfullscreen=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cfigcaption\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022caption\u0022\u003ENew and updated scanning technology is a necessity.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EScanning billions of pinheads\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe first task for a successful mind upload: Scanning, then mapping the complete 3D structure of the human brain. This requires the equivalent of an \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/magazine.columbia.edu\/article\/machine-can-read-your-mind\u0022\u003Eextraordinarily sophisticated MRI machine\u003C\/a\u003E that could detail the brain in an advanced way. At the moment, scientists are only at the very early stages of brain mapping \u2013 which includes the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c0lw0nxw71po\u0022\u003Eentire brain of a fly\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/brain-map-neurons-alzheimers-autism-1a4e9db0a86c082e10da9c154546c592\u0022\u003Etiny portions of a mouse brain\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn a few decades, a complete map of the human brain \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/2018\/03\/13\/144721\/a-startup-is-pitching-a-mind-uploading-service-that-is-100-percent-fatal\/\u0022\u003Emay be possible\u003C\/a\u003E. Yet even capturing the identities of all \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/scitable\/blog\/brain-metrics\/are_there_really_as_many\/\u0022\u003E86 billion neurons\u003C\/a\u003E, all smaller than a pinhead, plus their \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hms.harvard.edu\/news\/new-field-neuroscience-aims-map-connections-brain\u0022\u003Etrillions of connections\u003C\/a\u003E, still isn\u2019t enough. Uploading this information by itself into a computer won\u2019t accomplish much. That\u2019s because each neuron \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.verywellmind.com\/what-is-brain-plasticity-2794886\u0022\u003Econstantly adjusts its functioning\u003C\/a\u003E, and that has to be modeled, too.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s hard to know how many levels down researchers must go to make the simulated brain work. Is it enough to stop at the molecular level? Right now, no one knows.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cfigure\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ciframe width=\u0022440\u0022 height=\u0022260\u0022 src=\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XmQOW9udaQ0?wmode=transparent\u0026amp;start=0\u0022 frameborder=\u00220\u0022 allowfullscreen=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cfigcaption\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022caption\u0022\u003ETechnological immortality comes with significant ethical concerns.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\u003C\/figure\u003E\u003Ch2\u003E2045? 2145? Or Later?\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKnowing \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/magazine.columbia.edu\/article\/your-beautiful-brain\u0022\u003Ehow the brain computes things\u003C\/a\u003E might provide a shortcut. That would let researchers simulate only the essential parts of the brain, and not all biological idiosyncrasies. It\u2019s easier to manufacture a new car knowing how a car works, compared to attempting to scan and replicate an existing car without any knowledge of its inner workings.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHowever, this approach requires that scientists figure out how the brain creates thoughts \u2013 how collections of thousands to millions of neurons come together to perform the computations that make the human mind come alive. It\u2019s hard to express how very far we are from this.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHere\u2019s another way: Replace the 86 billion real neurons with artificial ones, one at a time. That approach would make mind uploading much easier. Right now, though, scientists can\u2019t replace even a single real neuron with an artificial one.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut keep in mind the pace of technology \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/singularityhub.com\/2016\/03\/22\/technology-feels-like-its-accelerating-because-it-actually-is\/\u0022\u003Eis accelerating exponentially\u003C\/a\u003E. It\u2019s reasonable to expect spectacular improvements in computing power and artificial intelligence in the coming decades.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne other thing is certain: Mind uploading will certainly have no problem finding funding. Many billionaires appear \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/story\/upload-your-mind-or-alter-genetics-powerful-billionaires-are-pouring-money-into-life-extending-technology-and-they-just-might-succeed-6e1042f4\u0022\u003Eglad to part with lots of their money\u003C\/a\u003E for a shot at living forever.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlthough the challenges are enormous and the path forward uncertain, I believe that one day, mind uploading will be a reality. The most optimistic forecasts pinpoint \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bigthink.com\/the-well\/will-humanity-become-digitally-immortal\/\u0022\u003Ethe year 2045\u003C\/a\u003E, only 20 years from now. Others say the end of this century.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut in my mind, both of these predictions are probably too optimistic. I would be shocked if mind uploading works in the next 100 years. But it might happen in 200 \u2013 which means the first person to live forever could be born in your lifetime.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis article is republished from \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe Conversation\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E under a Creative Commons license. Read the \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\/can-you-upload-a-human-mind-into-a-computer-a-neuroscientist-ponders-whats-possible-250764\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003Eoriginal article\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C!-- Below is The Conversation\u0027s page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --\u003E\u003Cimg style=\u0022border-color:!important;border-style:none;box-shadow:none !important;margin:0 !important;max-height:1px !important;max-width:1px !important;min-height:1px !important;min-width:1px !important;opacity:0 !important;outline:none !important;padding:0 !important;\u0022 src=\u0022https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/250764\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\u0022 alt=\u0022The Conversation\u0022 width=\u00221\u0022 height=\u00221\u0022 referrerpolicy=\u0022no-referrer-when-downgrade\u0022\u003E\u003C!-- End of code. If you don\u0027t see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/republishing-guidelines --\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"full_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe concept, cool yet maybe a little creepy, is known as mind uploading.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The concept, cool yet maybe a little creepy, is known as mind uploading. "}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2025-05-30 15:17:56","changed_gmt":"2025-06-30 20:58:45","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-05-23T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-05-23T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677159":{"id":"677159","type":"image","title":"The human brain has 86 billion neurons that make trillions of connections. Grafissimo\/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images","body":"\u003Cp\u003EThe human brain has 86 billion neurons that make trillions of connections. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/illustration\/deep-learning-infographic-of-artificial-royalty-free-illustration\/1491734573\u0022\u003EGrafissimo\/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1748618344","gmt_created":"2025-05-30 15:19:04","changed":"1748618344","gmt_changed":"2025-05-30 15:19:04","alt":"The human brain has 86 billion neurons that make trillions of connections. Grafissimo\/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images","file":{"fid":"261028","name":"file-20250401-56-xtg5s5.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/05\/30\/file-20250401-56-xtg5s5.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/05\/30\/file-20250401-56-xtg5s5.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":354915,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/05\/30\/file-20250401-56-xtg5s5.jpg?itok=PnvRjnbD"}}},"media_ids":["677159"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/can-you-upload-a-human-mind-into-a-computer-a-neuroscientist-ponders-whats-possible-250764","title":"Read This Article on The Conversation"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Ch5\u003EAuthor:\u003C\/h5\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/dobromir-rahnev-2332781\u0022\u003EDobromir Rahnev\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch5\u003EMedia Contact:\u003C\/h5\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShelley Wunder-Smith\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:shelley.wunder-smith@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Eshelley.wunder-smith@research.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"682905":{"#nid":"682905","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Brain-Inspired AI Breakthrough Spotlighted at Global Conference","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EResearchers at Georgia Tech have taken a critical step forward in creating efficient, useful and brain-like artificial intelligence (AI). The key? A new algorithm that results in neural networks with internal structure more like the human brain.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe study, \u201c\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/openreview.net\/forum?id=THqWPzL00e\u0022\u003ETopoNets: High-Performing Vision and Language Models With Brain-Like Topography\u003C\/a\u003E,\u201d was awarded a spotlight at this year\u2019s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iclr.cc\/\u0022\u003EInternational Conference on Learning Representations\u003C\/a\u003E (ICLR), a distinction given to only 2 percent of papers. The research was led by graduate student\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.murtylab.com\/group\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMayukh Deb\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E alongside\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Psychology\u003C\/a\u003E Assistant Professor\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.murtylab.com\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EApurva Ratan Murty\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sites.gatech.edu\/research\/iclr-2025\/\u0022\u003EThirty-two of Tech\u2019s computing, engineering, and science faculty represented the Institute at ICLR 2025\u003C\/a\u003E, which is globally renowned for sharing cutting-edge research.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cWe started with this idea because we saw that AI models are unstructured, while brains are exquisitely organized,\u201d says first-author Deb. \u201cOur models with internal structure showed more than a 20 percent boost in efficiency with almost no performance losses. And this is out-of-the-box \u2014 it\u2019s broadly applicable to other models with no extra fine-tuning needed.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EFor Murty, the research also underscores the importance of a rapidly growing field of research at the intersection of neuroscience and AI. \u201cThere\u0027s a major explosion in understanding intelligence right now,\u201d he says. \u201cThe neuro-AI approach is exciting because it helps emulate human intelligence in machines, making AI more interpretable.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cIn addition to advancing AI, this type of research also benefits neuroscience because it informs a fundamental question: Why is our brain organized the way it is?,\u201d Deb adds. \u201cMaking AI more interpretable helps everyone.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBrain-inspired blueprints\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EIn the brain, neurons form topographic maps: neurons used for comparable tasks are closer together. The researchers applied this concept to AI by organizing how internal components (like artificial neurons) connect and process information.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThis type of organization has been tried in the past but has been challenging, Murty says. \u201cHistorically, rules constraining how the AI could structure itself often resulted in lower-performing models. We realized that for this type of biophysical constraint, you simply can\u2019t map everything \u2014 you need an algorithmic solution.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cOur key insight was an algorithmic trick that gives the same structure as brains without enforcing things that models don\u0027t respond well to,\u201d he adds. \u201cThat breakthrough was what Mayukh (Deb) worked on.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe algorithm, called\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/github.com\/murtylab\/topoloss\u0022\u003ETopoLoss\u003C\/a\u003E, uses a loss function to encourage brain-like organization in artificial neural networks, and it is compatible with many AI systems capable of understanding language and images.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cThe resulting training method, TopoNets, is very flexible and broadly applicable,\u201d Murty says. \u201cYou can apply it to contemporary models very easily, which is a critical advancement when compared to previous methods.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENeuro-AI innovations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EMurty and Deb plan to continue refining and designing brain-inspired AI systems. \u201cAll parts of the brain have some organization \u2014 we want to expand into other domains,\u201d Deb says. \u201cOn the neuroscience side of things, we want to discover new kinds of organization in brains using these topographic systems.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EDeb also cites possibilities in robotics, especially in situations like space exploration where resources are limited. \u201cImagine running a model inside a robot with limited power,\u201d he says. \u201cStructured models can help us achieve 80 percent of performance with just 20 percent of energy consumption, saving valuable energy and space. This is still experimental, but it\u0027s the direction we are interested in exploring.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cThis success highlights the potential of a new approach, designing systems that benefit both neuroscience and AI \u2014 and beyond,\u201d Murty adds. \u201cWe can learn so much from the human brain, and this project shows that brain-inspired systems can help current AI be better. We hope our work stimulates this conversation.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EResearchers at Georgia Tech have developed an algorithm that helps AI models develop internal organization just like the human brain \u2014 boosting efficiency by 20 percent.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Researchers at Georgia Tech have developed an algorithm that helps AI models develop internal organization just like the human brain \u2014 boosting efficiency by 20 percent."}],"uid":"35599","created_gmt":"2025-06-26 16:33:50","changed_gmt":"2025-06-26 16:46:30","author":"sperrin6","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-06-26T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-06-26T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677290":{"id":"677290","type":"image","title":"Neurons growing in a culture dish (NASA)","body":"\u003Cp\u003ENeurons growing in a culture dish (NASA)\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1750955780","gmt_created":"2025-06-26 16:36:20","changed":"1750955780","gmt_changed":"2025-06-26 16:36:20","alt":"Neurons growing in a culture dish (NASA)","file":{"fid":"261174","name":"Neurons-in-a-culture-dish.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/06\/26\/Neurons-in-a-culture-dish.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/06\/26\/Neurons-in-a-culture-dish.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":130235,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/06\/26\/Neurons-in-a-culture-dish.jpg?itok=LjpPFJsT"}},"677291":{"id":"677291","type":"image","title":"School of Psychology Assistant Professor\u00a0Apurva Ratan Murty","body":"\u003Cp\u003ESchool of Psychology Assistant Professor\u0026nbsp;Apurva Ratan Murty\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1750955976","gmt_created":"2025-06-26 16:39:36","changed":"1750955976","gmt_changed":"2025-06-26 16:39:36","alt":"School of Psychology Assistant Professor\u00a0Apurva Ratan Murty","file":{"fid":"261175","name":"Ratan.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/06\/26\/Ratan.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/06\/26\/Ratan.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":162869,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/06\/26\/Ratan.jpg?itok=1DIDvH7C"}},"677292":{"id":"677292","type":"image","title":"Graduate Student Mayukh Deb","body":"\u003Cp\u003EGraduate Student Mayukh Deb\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1750956091","gmt_created":"2025-06-26 16:41:31","changed":"1750956091","gmt_changed":"2025-06-26 16:41:31","alt":"Graduate Student Mayukh Deb","file":{"fid":"261176","name":"Deb.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/06\/26\/Deb.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/06\/26\/Deb.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":143409,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/06\/26\/Deb.jpg?itok=LxkXF9or"}}},"media_ids":["677290","677291","677292"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[{"id":"194606","name":"Artificial Intelligence"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"193158","name":"Student Competition Winners (academic, innovation, and research)"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"192253","name":"cos-neuro"},{"id":"192863","name":"go-ai"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"},{"id":"193653","name":"Georgia Tech Research Institute"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWritten by Selena Langner\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EContact: \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto: jess.hunt@cos.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJess Hunt-Ralston\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"682871":{"#nid":"682871","#data":{"type":"news","title":"How New Information Triggers the Brain to Navigate Changing Environments","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EStephanie Prince explains her research with a scenario many Atlantans can relate to.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EImagine you\u2019re driving to the Atlanta airport to pick up a friend. They call to say they\u2019re in the terminal \u2014\u0026nbsp;but they\u2019re not sure which one. North, maybe? You head that direction through the maze of roads around the airport.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThen they call back. They\u2019re actually in the South Terminal. So you make a quick mental adjustment and switch your route to arrive at the correct side of the airport.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EYou had a plan. You received new information. You quickly changed your destination.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003EThe question Prince has studied is this: How does that process happen in the brain?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41467-025-60122-8\u0022\u003EA new research paper in \u003Cem\u003ENature Communications\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E is offering insights into that decision-making. And it could help scientists as they work to better understand when brain disorders such as Parkinson\u2019s and Alzheimer\u2019s impair those processes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/news\/2025\/06\/how-new-information-triggers-brain-navigate-changing-environments\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERead the full story on the College of Engineering website.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBiomedical engineers show how two brain regions quickly adapt to shift focus from one planned destination to another.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Biomedical engineers show how two brain regions quickly adapt to shift focus from one planned destination to another."}],"uid":"27446","created_gmt":"2025-06-24 15:50:04","changed_gmt":"2025-06-24 15:53:32","author":"Joshua Stewart","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-06-24T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-06-24T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677270":{"id":"677270","type":"image","title":"Detour-Sign-AdobeStock-179640336-t.jpg","body":null,"created":"1750780223","gmt_created":"2025-06-24 15:50:23","changed":"1750780223","gmt_changed":"2025-06-24 15:50:23","alt":"A detour sign on a street","file":{"fid":"261153","name":"Detour-Sign-AdobeStock-179640336-t.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/06\/24\/Detour-Sign-AdobeStock-179640336-t.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/06\/24\/Detour-Sign-AdobeStock-179640336-t.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":808320,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/06\/24\/Detour-Sign-AdobeStock-179640336-t.jpg?itok=RmvuQme6"}}},"media_ids":["677270"],"groups":[{"id":"1237","name":"College of Engineering"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"181421","name":"Annabelle Singer"},{"id":"249","name":"Biomedical Engineering"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jstewart@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJoshua Stewart\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ECollege of Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jstewart@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"682766":{"#nid":"682766","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Unveiling the Human Stories Behind Brain Implants","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EElecting to have invasive brain surgery isn\u2019t something most people have done. Ian Burkhart isn\u2019t most people.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhen I finished rehabilitation, my doctors and therapist and, most importantly, the insurance company said, \u2018For someone with your condition, we feel like you\u0027ve made all the improvement that you will, have a nice life,\u2019\u201d said Burkhart, who was left with limited feeling and mobility below the neck after a 2010 diving accident injured his spinal cord. \u201cThat didn\u0027t sit well with me.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHoping even a fraction of hand mobility would increase his independence, Burkhart turned to a clinical research trial on a brain-computer interface (BCI) designed to detect movement signals in the brain and send them to a computer to stimulate the arm muscles, bypassing the spinal cord in the hopes of restoring movement.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI had had four and a half years of never thinking my hand was going to move again,\u201d he recalled. When testing to see if he qualified for the study, researchers stimulated his hand muscles. \u201cI saw my hand move, and that was all I needed to know \u2014 I was ready to risk it all for something that may or may not work.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBurkhart\u2019s story is one of many that reveal the deeply personal side of neurotechnology research. Centering lived experiences like his is central to the mission of the Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society (INNS), a new Interdisciplinary Research Institute launching this July at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIf we want to build neurotechnology that truly serves people, their voices should be part of the scientific process from the very beginning,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/3728\u0022\u003EChris Rozell\u003C\/a\u003E, a professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E and one of the many researchers at Georgia Tech working to understand and advance BCIs. \u201cHearing from individuals who live with these devices helps guide more ethical, inclusive, and effective research. The entire field benefits from inclusive conversations like these.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELife With a Brain Implant\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBurkhart and three others recently shared their stories live on the Ferst Center stage at \u201c\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/wired-lives-personal-stories-brain-implants\u0022\u003EWired Lives: Personal Stories of Brain-Computer Interfaces\u003C\/a\u003E, an event organized by Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ENeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E. Their stories gave over 200 attendees a rare, honest glimpse into the realities of neurological conditions and the path to brain-computer interface research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI was at a crossroads in my life at 47 years old,\u201d said Brandan Mehaffie, who told his story of living with early-onset Parkinson\u2019s disease. \u201cI was trying to figure out, do I continue with the status quo and watch my career dwindle into nothing? Watch my life with my family, my kids, not being able to go on hikes or family vacations?\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMehaffie eventually qualified for deep brain stimulation (DBS) treatment, a procedure where a pacemaker-like device is implanted into the brain to provide electrical stimulation. \u201cIt changed my life for the better in ways that I can\u0027t even tell you.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen former U.S. Air Force Sgt. Jennifer Walden\u2019s doctor told her about a clinical trial testing DBS as an epilepsy treatment, she jumped at the chance. \u201cThe 48 hours after those seizures are 48 hours where you don\u0027t want to live anymore.\u201d Walden explained that her response to medication had dwindled after years of traditional treatment, increasing the frequency and severity of her seizures. \u201cI feared suicide. It\u0027s something I didn\u0027t want to do, but if something happened in those 48 hours to end my life, I didn\u0027t care,\u201d she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI am now probably 99% seizure-free,\u201d she beamed as she recalled her response to DBS on stage. \u201cI don\u0027t know how I got so lucky in life, but I don\u0027t take it for granted.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECommon themes in their stories were resilience, hope, and a deep desire to give back.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhen I joined the study, it had no physical benefit to me, but that\u0027s not why I joined it,\u201d said Scott Imbrie, who experienced a major spinal cord injury and participates in a clinical BCI study at the University of Chicago. \u201cI decided to have invasive brain surgery and have electrodes implanted on my brain to help other people.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA New Approach to Interdisciplinary Research\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETimed alongside the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/interfaceneuro-highlights-atlantas-growing-role-neurotech-revolution\u0022\u003EInterfaceNeuro conference at Georgia Tech\u003C\/a\u003E, the gathering offered a rare opportunity for scientists, engineers, and clinicians to engage directly with the lived experiences of individuals using brain-computer interfaces \u2014 a perspective often missing from traditional research settings.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt makes you think about how we ethically conduct research and how we recruit and interface with patients,\u201d said Eric Cole, a postdoctoral researcher at Emory University, who was reminded that many patients participating in BCI research have been on a long, difficult journey before interacting with researchers. \u201cWe should remember to take their experiences seriously and respect them. They\u0027re giving up something for research \u2014 that part we should always remember.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWired Lives\u201d was one in a series of events highlighting the lived experience of individuals with neurological conditions organized by the Neuro Next Initiative, which has served as the precursor to INNS.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cA core mission of INNS is to consider how neuroscience and neurotechnology impact people\u2019s lives,\u201d\u0026nbsp;said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/11576\u0022\u003EJennifer Singh\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hsoc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of History and Sociology\u003C\/a\u003E, a member of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/about-us\/leadership\u0022\u003ENNI\u2019s executive committee\u003C\/a\u003E, and a co-organizer of the event. \u201cTheir stories matter when it comes to the types of science and technology we pursue and how they benefit the human condition. Many scientists and engineers may never encounter people living with neurological conditions outside of events like this. That will be a priority for INNS \u2014 to bring the expertise of lived experiences to the research process.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIan Burkhart\u2019s lived experience reminded the audience that not every clinical trial has a happy ending. His BCI was ultimately removed after seven years as research funding ran short, taking his newly improved hand mobility with it. Despite this, Burkhart remained positive.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u0027m so glad I was able to take that risk and have that voluntary brain surgery and participate in this type of research because it\u0027s defined my life.\u201d Burkhart went on to found the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bcipioneers.org\/\u0022\u003EBCI Pioneers Coalition\u003C\/a\u003E and his own \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ianburkhartfoundation.org\/\u0022\u003Enonprofit\u003C\/a\u003E because of his research participation. \u201cIt gave me a lot of hope for the future, and a lot of hope that these types of devices are going to be able to help people and improve their quality of life.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThis event was produced in partnership with\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.storycollider.org\/atlanta\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Story Collider\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E and made possible through support from\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/blackrockneurotech.com\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBlackrock Neurotech\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.medtronic.com\/en-us\/index.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedtronic\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFour people who have experienced brain implants shared their personal journeys, offering rare insight into the human side of neurotechnology.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Four people who have experienced brain implants shared their personal journeys, offering rare insight into the human side of neurotechnology."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2025-06-11 16:31:48","changed_gmt":"2025-06-11 16:41:18","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-06-11T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-06-11T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677215":{"id":"677215","type":"image","title":"Wired-Lives_050725-41_0.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EFrom clinical trial participant to BCI advocate, Ian Burkhart shares his story at \u201cWired Lives,\u201d organized by Georgia Tech\u2019s Neuro Next Initiative. Photo: Chris McKenney\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1749658538","gmt_created":"2025-06-11 16:15:38","changed":"1749660241","gmt_changed":"2025-06-11 16:44:01","alt":"From clinical trial participant to BCI advocate, Ian Burkhart shares his story at \u201cWired Lives,\u201d organized by Georgia Tech\u2019s Neuro Next Initiative. 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Photo: Chris McKenney","file":{"fid":"261098","name":"Wired-Lives_050725-12.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/06\/11\/Wired-Lives_050725-12.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/06\/11\/Wired-Lives_050725-12.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1089856,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/06\/11\/Wired-Lives_050725-12.jpg?itok=uKZdrxF8"}},"677219":{"id":"677219","type":"image","title":"Wired-Lives_050725-01_0.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EStorytellers, event organizers, and sponsor representatives at \u0022Wired Lives.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1749659164","gmt_created":"2025-06-11 16:26:04","changed":"1749660353","gmt_changed":"2025-06-11 16:45:53","alt":"Storytellers, event organizers, and sponsor representatives at \u0022Wired Lives.\u0022","file":{"fid":"261099","name":"Wired-Lives_050725-01_0.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/06\/11\/Wired-Lives_050725-01_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/06\/11\/Wired-Lives_050725-01_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1623011,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/06\/11\/Wired-Lives_050725-01_0.jpg?itok=7JLEXHFw"}},"677220":{"id":"677220","type":"image","title":"Wired-Lives_050725-34_0.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EResearchers, students, and community members came together to explore the lived experiences behind cutting-edge neurotechnology. Photo: Chris McKenney\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1749659211","gmt_created":"2025-06-11 16:26:51","changed":"1749660376","gmt_changed":"2025-06-11 16:46:16","alt":"Researchers, students, and community members came together to explore the lived experiences behind cutting-edge neurotechnology. Photo: Chris McKenney","file":{"fid":"261100","name":"Wired-Lives_050725-34_0.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/06\/11\/Wired-Lives_050725-34_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/06\/11\/Wired-Lives_050725-34_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1842020,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/06\/11\/Wired-Lives_050725-34_0.jpg?itok=OtVK7dM3"}}},"media_ids":["677215","677216","677217","677218","677219","677220"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/interfaceneuro-highlights-atlantas-growing-role-neurotech-revolution","title":"InterfaceNeuro Highlights Atlanta\u2019s Growing Role in the Neurotech Revolution"},{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/new-wearable-brain-computer-interface","title":"New Wearable Brain-Computer Interface"},{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/tragedy-transformation","title":"From Tragedy to Transformation"}],"groups":[{"id":"69599","name":"IPaT"},{"id":"142761","name":"IRIM"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"42901","name":"Community"},{"id":"42911","name":"Education"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"42891","name":"Georgia Tech Arts"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"42931","name":"Performances"},{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"133","name":"Special Events and Guest Speakers"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"188084","name":"go-ipat"},{"id":"188087","name":"go-irim"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAudra Davidson\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EResearch Communications Program Manager\u003Cbr\u003ENeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"682643":{"#nid":"682643","#data":{"type":"news","title":"InterfaceNeuro Highlights Atlanta\u2019s Growing Role in the Neurotech Revolution","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIntegrating the human nervous system with machines once only existed in science fiction. Today, brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are being explored to treat conditions like Parkinson\u2019s disease, spinal cord injury, epilepsy, and depression.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech recently convened over 200 stakeholders from every corner of the neurotechnology landscape to explore the future of this rapidly evolving field at \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/interfaceneuro.org\/\u0022\u003EInterfaceNeuro\u003C\/a\u003E. Held May 7-8, the conference brought together a dynamic community of neuroscientists, neuroengineers, clinicians, industry leaders, and individuals with lived experiences to align cutting-edge research with clinical needs and societal impact.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOne of our primary goals was to create a space where people from different backgrounds could come together, share their perspectives, and learn from one another,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/3728\u0022\u003EChris Rozell\u003C\/a\u003E, professor in Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E and one of the conference\u2019s organizers. \u201cThat kind of exchange is essential for advancing the field.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOriginally founded by \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuroengineering.rice.edu\/\u0022\u003ERice University\u2019s Neuroengineering Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E in 2023, InterfaceNeuro made its Atlanta debut with the theme\u0026nbsp;\u201cIntegrating Brain, Body, and Machine for Next-Gen Intelligent Interfaces.\u201d The conference featured a curated program of keynote talks, panel discussions, research posters, and informal networking sessions designed to foster knowledge exchange and catalyze new partnerships.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESpeakers and attendees alike represented the full spectrum of neuroscience and neurotechnology experts, from bench scientists and device engineers to caregivers and patients. According to conference attendee \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/stanley.gatech.edu\/people-2\/\u0022\u003ESimone Russo\u003C\/a\u003E, it was that breadth and diversity of the conference that made the conference worthwhile.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt was like talking to everybody at different levels, bridging the clinical side to the caregiving side, to the very basic research,\u201d said Russo, a postdoctoral researcher in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/\u0022\u003EWalter H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E (BME). \u201cThat\u2019s something that doesn\u0027t usually happen.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThemed sessions were sponsored by several centers across Georgia Tech and Emory University, including the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/parkinsons.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EMcCamish Parkinson\u2019s Disease Innovation Program\u003C\/a\u003E, the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/nec.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ENeural Engineering Center\u003C\/a\u003E, the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/nsfbrain.org\/\u0022\u003EBuilding Reliable Advances and Innovations in Neurotechnology (BRAIN) Center\u003C\/a\u003E, and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/camber.emory.edu\/\u0022\u003ECenter for Advanced Motor Bioengineering and Research\u003C\/a\u003E. Organized by Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ENeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E, the meeting was a testament to Atlanta\u2019s expanding leadership in neuroscience and neurotechnology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis conference reflected the kind of community we\u2019re building at Georgia Tech \u2014 one that\u2019s deeply interdisciplinary, inclusive, and focused on real-world impact,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/5406\u0022\u003EGarrett Stanley\u003C\/a\u003E, BME professor, director of the McCamish Parkinson\u0027s Disease Innovation Program, and one of the conference\u2019s co-organizers. \u201cWith the launch of the Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society this July, we\u2019re creating a lasting home for this momentum to grow.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe conference brought together voices from across the neurotechnology spectrum to explore advancing brain-computer interface research and patient-centered innovation.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The conference brought together voices from across the neurotechnology spectrum to explore advancing brain-computer interface research and patient-centered innovation."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2025-06-03 19:37:52","changed_gmt":"2025-06-03 19:43:42","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-06-03T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-06-03T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677174":{"id":"677174","type":"image","title":"Interface-poster-logo-2.png","body":"\u003Cp\u003EThe conference was a community-led effort, with sessions were sponsored by several centers across Georgia Tech and Emory University.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1748979557","gmt_created":"2025-06-03 19:39:17","changed":"1748979557","gmt_changed":"2025-06-03 19:39:17","alt":"The conference was a community-led effort, with sessions were sponsored by several centers across Georgia Tech and Emory University.","file":{"fid":"261045","name":"Interface-poster-logo-2.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/06\/03\/Interface-poster-logo-2.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/06\/03\/Interface-poster-logo-2.png","mime":"image\/png","size":11775545,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/06\/03\/Interface-poster-logo-2.png?itok=Xc6VWxqT"}},"677175":{"id":"677175","type":"image","title":"Interface-audience-smiling.png","body":"\u003Cp\u003EThe meeting drew over 200 attendees from across the nation.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1748979640","gmt_created":"2025-06-03 19:40:40","changed":"1748979640","gmt_changed":"2025-06-03 19:40:40","alt":"The meeting drew over 200 attendees from across the nation.","file":{"fid":"261046","name":"Interface-audience-smiling.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/06\/03\/Interface-audience-smiling.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/06\/03\/Interface-audience-smiling.png","mime":"image\/png","size":10405601,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/06\/03\/Interface-audience-smiling.png?itok=3BCn3SCO"}},"677176":{"id":"677176","type":"image","title":"Interface-Organizers.png","body":"\u003Cp\u003EInterfaceNeuro was hosted by Georgia Tech\u0027s Neuro Next Initiative, the precursor to the forthcoming Interdisciplinary Research Institute, the Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society. Some members of the organizing committee include (from left to right) Chris Rozell, Michelle LaPlaca, Sarah Peterson, Punya Mardhanan, Jeffrey Markowitz, and Garrett Stanley.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1748979696","gmt_created":"2025-06-03 19:41:36","changed":"1748979696","gmt_changed":"2025-06-03 19:41:36","alt":"InterfaceNeuro was hosted by Georgia Tech\u0027s Neuro Next Initiative, the precursor to the forthcoming Interdisciplinary Research Institute, the Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society. Some members of the organizing committee include (from left to right) Chris Rozell, Michelle LaPlaca, Sarah Peterson, Punya Mardhanan, Jeffrey Markowitz, and Garrett Stanley.","file":{"fid":"261047","name":"Interface-Organizers.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/06\/03\/Interface-Organizers.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/06\/03\/Interface-Organizers.png","mime":"image\/png","size":20520824,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/06\/03\/Interface-Organizers.png?itok=NinmqnLz"}}},"media_ids":["677174","677175","677176"],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"},{"id":"133","name":"Special Events and Guest Speakers"}],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAudra Davidson\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EResearch Communications Program Manager\u003Cbr\u003ENeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"681737":{"#nid":"681737","#data":{"type":"news","title":"From Tragedy to Transformation","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAs Nuri Jeong lay on the pavement of Northside Drive, pinned down by the weight of a Chevy Suburban, a thought shouted from her subconscious, \u201cI\u2019ve got to save my brain!\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt was April 2022, one year before her PhD defense. She\u2019d been crossing the street near her apartment when the young driver turned right while looking left.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHe never saw me,\u201d says Jeong, at the time a member of Annabelle Singer\u2019s lab in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. \u201cThe next thing I know, I\u2019m on the ground looking up at the sky. I was fully conscious the whole time.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWorried about brain damage, she lifted her arm up just to see if she could do it. Her arm was fine. So was her brain. But there was 6,000 pounds of SUV on her leg. She had tire marks on her body. The driver\u2019s little brother leapt out from the passenger side to check on Jeong and she remembered that he was crying.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI realized this was just as traumatic for them as it was for me,\u201d says Jeong, who remained calm throughout the ordeal partly because the boy\u2019s tears had triggered something deep within her. Jeong conjured empathetic superpowers she\u2019d acquired in a compassion-based meditation program at Emory. That kept her tranquil through the pain.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe accident left her with broken bones in her shattered leg, requiring surgery and months of physical therapy. Today she can climb flights of stairs with no problem. Nonetheless, the accident left its mark, inspiring a career path that she never really expected.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/news\/tragedy-transformation?utm_source=newsletter\u0026amp;utm_medium=email\u0026amp;utm_content=Full%20Story\u0026amp;utm_campaign=Daily%20Digest%20-%20April%2011%2C%202025\u0022\u003ERead the full story here \u0026gt;\u0026gt;\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENeuroscientist and former BME grad student Nuri Jeong is helping to reshape lives and careers.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Neuroscientist and former BME grad student Nuri Jeong is helping to reshape lives and careers."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2025-04-11 14:47:59","changed_gmt":"2025-05-20 19:24:03","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-04-08T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-04-08T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"676816":{"id":"676816","type":"image","title":"Nuri.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003ENuri Jeong turned a terrible car accident into a life changing opportunity to refocus her career aspirations and personal goals.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1744382890","gmt_created":"2025-04-11 14:48:10","changed":"1744382890","gmt_changed":"2025-04-11 14:48:10","alt":"Nuri Jeong turned a terrible car accident into a life changing opportunity to refocus her career aspirations and personal goals.","file":{"fid":"260660","name":"Nuri.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/11\/Nuri.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/11\/Nuri.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":76645,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/04\/11\/Nuri.jpg?itok=VyU_4YHb"}}},"media_ids":["676816"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/news\/when-less-more-how-inhibition-shapes-learning","title":"When Less is More: How Inhibition Shapes Learning"}],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter: \u003C\/strong\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia contact:\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kelly.petty@bme.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EKelly Petty\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003ECommunications\u003Cbr\u003EWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["kelly.petty@bme.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"681759":{"#nid":"681759","#data":{"type":"news","title":"New Wearable Device Monitors Skin Health in Real Time","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFrom sun damage and pollution to cuts and infections, our skin protects us from a lot. But it isn\u2019t impenetrable.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe tend to think of our skin as being this impermeable barrier that\u2019s just enclosing our body,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/matthew-t-flavin\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EMatthew Flavin\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cOur skin is constantly in flux with the gases that are in our environment and our atmosphere.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELed by the Georgia Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST),\u0026nbsp;researchers have developed a novel wearable device that can monitor the flux of vapors through the skin, offering new insights into skin health and wound healing. This technology, detailed in a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-025-08825-2\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Erecent \u003Cem\u003ENature\u003C\/em\u003E publication\u003C\/a\u003E, represents a significant advancement in the field of wearable bioelectronics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cYou could think of this being used where a Band-Aid is being used,\u201d said Flavin, one of the lead authors of the study. The compact, wireless device is the first wearable technology able to continuously and precisely measure water vapor, volatile organic compounds, and carbon dioxide fluxes in the skin in real time. Because increases in these factors are associated with infection and delayed healing, Flavin notes that this kind of wireless monitoring \u201ccould give clinicians a new tool to understand the properties of the skin.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Measurement Barrier\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOur skin is our first line of defense against environmental hazards. Measuring how effectively it protects us from harmful pollutants or infections has been a significant challenge, especially over extended periods.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe vapors coming from your skin are in very, very low concentration,\u201d explained Flavin. \u201cIf we just put a sensor next to your skin, it would be almost impossible to control that measurement.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe new device features a small chamber that condenses and measures vapors from the skin using specialized sensors hovering above the skin. A low-energy, bi-stable mechanism periodically refreshes the air in the chamber, allowing for continuous measurements communicated to a smartphone or tablet through Bluetooth.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere are other devices that can measure certain parts of what we\u0027re talking about here,\u201d said Flavin, \u201cbut they are not feasible for a wearable device, can\u0027t do this continuously, and are not able to get all the information that our device can get.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EScratching the Surface\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy tracking the skin\u0027s water vapor flux, also known as transepidermal water loss, the device can assess skin barrier function and wound healing. This capability is particularly valuable for tracking the healing process in diabetic patients, who often have sensory issues that complicate wound monitoring. \u201cWhat you see in diabetes is that even after the wound looks like it\u0027s healed, there\u0027s still a persistent impairment of that barrier,\u201d said Flavin. This new non-invasive device tracks those properties.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere are many areas where people don\u0027t have great access to healthcare, and there aren\u2019t doctors monitoring wound healing processes,\u201d Flavin added. \u201cSomething that can be used to monitor that remotely could make care more accessible to people with these conditions.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe device\u2019s wearable nature also makes it ideal for studying the long-term effects of exposure to environmental hazards like wildfires or chemical fumes on skin function and overall health.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThough the applications in health are numerous, the research team is continuing to explore different ways to use the device. \u201cThis measurement modality is very new and we\u0027re still learning what we can do with it,\u201d saidJaeho Shin, a senior researcher at KIST and a co-leader of the study.\u0026nbsp;\u201cIt\u0027s a new way of measuring what\u0027s inside the body.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis is a great example of the kind of technology that can emerge from research at the interface between engineering science and medical practice,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.mccormick.northwestern.edu\/research-faculty\/directory\/profiles\/rogers-john.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EJohn Rogers\u003C\/a\u003E, a materials science professor at Northwestern and another co-leader of the study. \u201cThe capabilities provided by this device will not only improve patient care, but they will also lead to improved understanding of the skin, the skin microbiome, the processes of wound healing, and many others.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs a new faculty member and a member of Georgia Tech\u2019s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ENeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E, a burgeoning interdisciplinary research hub for neuroscience, neurotechnology, and society, Flavin attributes the success of this research to its interdisciplinary nature.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cA broad challenge we have in these fields of research is that they integrate a lot of different areas. One of the reasons I came to Georgia Tech is because it\u0027s a place where you have access to all those different areas of expertise.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDOI:\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41586-025-08825-2\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003Ehttps:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41586-025-08825-2\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFunding: Querrey-Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics and the Center for Advanced Regenerative Engineering\u003C\/strong\u003E (CARE), Northwestern University; \u003Cstrong\u003ENational Research Foundation of Korea\u003C\/strong\u003E; \u003Cstrong\u003ENational Institutes of Health\u003C\/strong\u003E (NIH), National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe device is the first of its kind to continuously monitor how the skin exchanges gases with the environment, helping to monitor skin health and wound healing.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The device is the first of its kind to continuously monitor how the skin exchanges gases with the environment, helping to monitor skin health and wound healing."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2025-04-11 21:16:43","changed_gmt":"2025-05-14 13:39:44","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-04-14T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-04-14T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"676823":{"id":"676823","type":"image","title":"skin-breathing1940__FitMaxWzk3MCw2NTBd.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EThe wireless device measures only two centimeters in length and one-and-a-half centimeters in width, and is the first of its kind to continuously monitor the skin\u0027s exchange of vapors with the environment.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1744406209","gmt_created":"2025-04-11 21:16:49","changed":"1744406209","gmt_changed":"2025-04-11 21:16:49","alt":"The wireless device measures only two centimeters in length and one-and-a-half centimeters in width, and is the first of its kind to continuously monitor the skin\u0027s exchange of vapors with the environment.","file":{"fid":"260667","name":"skin-breathing1940__FitMaxWzk3MCw2NTBd.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/11\/skin-breathing1940__FitMaxWzk3MCw2NTBd.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/11\/skin-breathing1940__FitMaxWzk3MCw2NTBd.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":73723,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/04\/11\/skin-breathing1940__FitMaxWzk3MCw2NTBd.jpg?itok=elYw3seN"}}},"media_ids":["676823"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/new-wearable-brain-computer-interface","title":"New Wearable Brain-Computer Interface"}],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"188084","name":"go-ipat"},{"id":"187582","name":"go-ibb"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter:\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAudra Davidson\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EResearch Communications Program Manager\u003Cbr\u003ENeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia contact\u003C\/strong\u003E: \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:aprendiville@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAngela Barajas Prendiville\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EDirector\u003Cbr\u003EInstitute Media Relations\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"677732":{"#nid":"677732","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Psychology Pioneers AI-Generated Podcast","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ESubscribe to the D2B2 Podcast on \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/deep-dive-into-brain-and-behavior-d2b2\/id1794840032\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EApple\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E and \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/4ihPjRpAiugXtLIVDao7kS?si=69fe8c2c05274abd\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ESpotify\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Psychology\u003C\/a\u003E, led by Professor and Chair\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/tansu-celikel\u0022\u003ETansu Celikel\u003C\/a\u003E, has launched a new podcast series titled \u201c\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDeep Dive into Brain and Behavior\u201d \u2014 or D2B2\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E. This cutting-edge podcast is created almost entirely by artificial intelligence (AI), and will spotlight the approximately 150 research publications authored by the School\u2019s experts each year.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EEach episode of\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003ED2B2\u003C\/em\u003E will guide listeners through a recently published paper, distilling complex scientific findings into clear, engaging, easy-to-understand content. The goal is to make the latest in psychology and neuroscience more accessible to students, researchers, and anyone else who is simply curious about how the brain works. Celikel believes this is key to bridging the gap between science and the public. \u201cScientific papers are full of jargon and can be difficult to understand,\u201d he says. \u201cWe want to use this podcast to reach a wider audience.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EWhat makes\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003ED2B2\u003C\/em\u003E particularly innovative is its use of AI to generate nearly all of its content. The episodes are structured with minimal human input using a generative AI developed by Google called\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENotebookLM\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E. It is a relatively new tool that simplifies research papers and creates a dialogue between an AI-generated host and reporter. However, before episodes air, the original research authors carefully review the content to ensure accuracy.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe podcast is produced at virtually no cost and is available to the public for free. \u201cImagine a future where every scientific publication is freely accessible, not behind a paywall,\u201d Celikel says. \u201cAnd, imagine it is presented in a way that appeals to all levels of expertise \u2014 from novices to experts \u2014 from teenagers to seasoned practitioners.\u201d He also hopes it will improve the education system by making scientific information more readily available to anyone who wants to learn.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ECelikel believes the podcast will enhance the School\u2019s visibility and provide a platform for showcasing its researchers and research opportunities. He also views it as a valuable tool for keeping alumni connected with the School.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDeep Dive into Brain and Behavior\u003C\/em\u003E is available on the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLGXV7uT60N1ZXdbA5Y3Qk2Vc8Cmc6FJhb\u0022\u003ESchool\u2019s YouTube channel,\u003C\/a\u003E with new episodes released every two weeks. The podcast will also soon be available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cDon\u2019t miss out \u2014 subscribe now to stay updated on the latest discoveries!\u201d Celikel says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Podcast simplifies research on psychology and neuroscience, making science accessible to all. "}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe School of Psychology, led by Chair Tansu Celikel, has launched \u003Cem\u003EDeep Dive into Brain and Behavior\u003C\/em\u003E (D2B2), an AI-generated podcast that distills the School\u0027s latest research in psychology and neuroscience into engaging, easy-to-understand episodes. Using Google\u0027s NotebookLM, the podcast aims to make complex scientific findings accessible to a wide audience, from students to experts, while maintaining accuracy through author reviews.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The School of Psychology, led by Chair Tansu Celikel, has launched Deep Dive into Brain and Behavior (D2B2), an AI-generated podcast that simplifies and shares cutting-edge psychology and neuroscience research, making it accessible to a broader audience."}],"uid":"36609","created_gmt":"2024-10-18 16:27:57","changed_gmt":"2025-05-07 18:02:52","author":"acook304","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-10-24T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-10-24T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"675375":{"id":"675375","type":"image","title":"D2B2 was created almost entirely by artificial intelligence.","body":null,"created":"1729528198","gmt_created":"2024-10-21 16:29:58","changed":"1729528198","gmt_changed":"2024-10-21 16:29:58","alt":"D2B2 was created almost entirely by artificial intelligence.","file":{"fid":"258989","name":"PodCast Edited YouTube.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/21\/PodCast%20Edited%20YouTube.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/21\/PodCast%20Edited%20YouTube.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1431066,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/10\/21\/PodCast%20Edited%20YouTube.jpg?itok=_HgdRIKJ"}},"675359":{"id":"675359","type":"image","title":"The podcast can be found on the School\u0027s YouTube channel and Apple Podcasts.","body":null,"created":"1729268916","gmt_created":"2024-10-18 16:28:36","changed":"1729268916","gmt_changed":"2024-10-18 16:28:36","alt":"The podcast can be found on the School\u0027s YouTube channel and Apple Podcasts.","file":{"fid":"258972","name":"podcast AI brain.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/18\/podcast%20AI%20brain.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/18\/podcast%20AI%20brain.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2276434,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/10\/18\/podcast%20AI%20brain.jpg?itok=Vickoqi0"}},"675360":{"id":"675360","type":"image","title":"New episodes will be released every two weeks.","body":null,"created":"1729269025","gmt_created":"2024-10-18 16:30:25","changed":"1729695975","gmt_changed":"2024-10-23 15:06:15","alt":"New episodes will be released every two weeks","file":{"fid":"258973","name":"Podcast listening on phone.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/18\/Podcast%20listening%20on%20phone.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/18\/Podcast%20listening%20on%20phone.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2262315,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/10\/18\/Podcast%20listening%20on%20phone.jpg?itok=IrmN80bi"}}},"media_ids":["675375","675359","675360"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[{"id":"42901","name":"Community"},{"id":"42911","name":"Education"},{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"167710","name":"School of Psychology"},{"id":"188662","name":"Tansu Celikel"},{"id":"88601","name":"podcast"},{"id":"2556","name":"artificial intelligence"},{"id":"192249","name":"cos-community"},{"id":"192253","name":"cos-neuro"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWritten by: Amanda Cook\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEdited by: Lindsay Vidal\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EContact: \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jess@cos.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJess Hunt-Ralston\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["acook304@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"682018":{"#nid":"682018","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Richard Nichols Receives 2025 Bernstein Prize","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EProfessor Emeritus\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/richard-nichols\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERichard Nichols\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E of the School of Biological Sciences has been awarded the 2025 Bernstein Prize by the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/i-s-m-c.org\/\u0022\u003EInternational Society of Motor Control\u003C\/a\u003E (ISMC). This prize, the highest honor bestowed by the ISMC, recognizes significant contributions to the field of motor control and learning in the spirit of the Russian neurophysiology pioneer Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bernstein.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cThis is a meaningful prize that honors the longstanding impact of two Russian scientists, Anatol Feldman and Mark Latash. They founded the ISMC and were influential in building a community of scientists in the United States and Canada focused on motor systems research following in the tradition of Bernstein,\u201d says Nichols, who retired from the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E in 2023. \u201cReceiving this prize is thrilling. It\u2019s a cap on my career.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ENichols will receive the award during ISMC\u2019s biennial meeting this summer.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFrom basic research to potential treatments\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ENichols began his decades-long career researching the spinal cord, a key component of the central nervous system that relays information between the brain and periphery (muscles, joints, skin, etc.). He notes that the spinal cord is more than a simple communications highway; it contains neural networks that can exert some control.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cWhen we walk across the room, the spinal cord\u0026nbsp;\u2014 not the brain\u0026nbsp;\u2014 generates and sends detailed messages to our muscles. The brain simply says, \u2018It\u2019s time to walk across a room and avoid this or that obstacle.\u2019 The spinal cord contains the machinery to do so,\u201d explains Nichols.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ENichols\u0027 research initially centered on understanding how sensory information from the periphery is used by the spinal cord and brain to control movement. More recently, his focus shifted to possible real-world applications of his findings.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EFor example, Nichols collaborated with\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/louisville.edu\/bucksforbrains\/faculty\/dena-r-howland.html\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDena Howland\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E of the University of Louisville on research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that are centered on understanding spinal cord injury.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cHad it not been for my collaboration with Dena over the past 11 years, my work would have remained limited to the fundamental science of how the spinal cord and brain function. Our translational project has broadened the scope and impact of my research,\u201d he adds.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EAccording to Nichols, the NIH and VA grants were synergistic: the NIH grant focused on spinal cord function, while the VA grant centered on rehabilitation strategies following spinal cord injury. Through this complementary research, the team uncovered insights about the spinal cord\u0026nbsp;\u2014 potentially revealing new treatment pathways to aid motor control recovery after spinal cord injury.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ENichols retired from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2023 after 16 years of service. Before joining the Institute in 2007 as chair of the School of Applied Physiology (now the School of Biological Sciences), he chaired the Department of Physiology at Emory University. Nichols received a B.S. in Biology from Brown University and a Ph.D. in Physiology from Harvard University.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EProfessor Emeritus\u0026nbsp;Richard Nichols of the School of Biological Sciences has been recognized for his significant contributions to the field of motor control and learning.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Professor Emeritus\u00a0Richard Nichols of the School of Biological Sciences has been recognized for his significant contributions to the field of motor control and learning. "}],"uid":"36583","created_gmt":"2025-04-25 12:51:21","changed_gmt":"2025-05-02 15:26:13","author":"lvidal7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-04-25T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-04-25T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"593197":{"id":"593197","type":"image","title":"Richard Nichols","body":null,"created":"1498854592","gmt_created":"2017-06-30 20:29:52","changed":"1745585799","gmt_changed":"2025-04-25 12:56:39","alt":"Richard Nichols","file":{"fid":"226114","name":"T RICHARD NICHOLS DSC_9125.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/T%20RICHARD%20NICHOLS%20DSC_9125_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/T%20RICHARD%20NICHOLS%20DSC_9125_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":194757,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/T%20RICHARD%20NICHOLS%20DSC_9125_0.jpg?itok=I6UGmsvx"}}},"media_ids":["593197"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"192249","name":"cos-community"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWriter: Lindsay C. Vidal\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"682010":{"#nid":"682010","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Computing Framework Could Reveal Signs of Neural Disorders Hidden within Brain Data","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPh.D. candidate\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/a-rahaman.github.io\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMd Abdur Rahaman\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u2019s dissertation studies brain data to understand how changes in brain activity shape behavior.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EComputational tools Rahaman developed for his dissertation look for informative patterns between the brain and behavior. Successful tests of his algorithms show promise to help doctors diagnose mental health disorders and design individualized treatment plans for patients.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUnsurprisingly, Rahaman successfully defended his dissertation and is on his way to graduate in a few weeks.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u0027ve always been fascinated by the human brain and how it defines who we are,\u201d Rahaman said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe fact that so many people silently suffer from neuropsychiatric disorders, while our understanding of the brain remains limited, inspired me to develop tools that bring greater clarity to this complexity and offer hope through more compassionate, data-driven care.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERahaman\u2019s dissertation introduces a whole framework focusing on granular factoring. This computing technique stratifies brain data into smaller, localized subgroups. This makes it easier for computers and researchers to study data and find meaningful patterns.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGranular factoring overcomes the challenge of size and heterogeneity in neurological data science. Brain data is sourced from different modes, like neuroimaging, genomics, and behavioral datasets. Each of these sources are very large to study on their own, let alone analyzed at the same time to find hidden inferences.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERahaman\u2019s research allows researchers and physicians to move past one-size-fits-all approaches. Instead of manually reviewing tests and scans, algorithms look for patterns and biomarkers in the subgroups that otherwise go undetected, especially ones that indicate neuropsychiatric disorders.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMy dissertation advances the frontiers of computational neuroscience by introducing scalable and interpretable models that navigate brain heterogeneity to reveal how neural dynamics shape behavior,\u201d Rahaman said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBy uncovering subgroup-specific patterns, this work opens new directions for understanding brain function and enables more precise, personalized approaches to mental health care.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERahaman defended his dissertation on April 14, the final test in completing his Ph.D. in computational science and engineering. He will graduate on May 1 at Georgia Tech\u2019s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/commencement.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPh.D. Commencement\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAfter walking across the stage at McCamish Pavillion, Rahaman\u2019s next step in his career is to Amazon where he will work in the generative artificial intelligence (AI) field.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGraduating from Georgia Tech is the peak of an educational summit spanning over a decade. Rahaman hails from Bangladesh where he graduated from Chittong University of Engineering and Technology in 2013. He attained his master\u2019s from the University of New Mexico in 2019 before starting at Georgia Tech.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMunna is an amazingly creative researcher,\u201d said\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/vince-calhoun\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EVince Calhoun\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, Rahman\u2019s advisor and Distinguished University Professor. Calhoun is the founding director of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/trendscenter.org\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETranslational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science Center (TReNDS)\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETReNDS is a tri-institutional center spanning Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, and Emory University that develops analytic approaches and neuroinformatic tools. The center aims to translate the approaches into biomarkers that address areas of brain health and disease. \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHis work is moving the needle in our ability to leverage multiple sources of complex biological data to improve understanding of neuropsychiatric disorders that have a huge impact on an individual\u2019s livelihood.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA Georgia Tech doctoral student\u2019s dissertation could help physicians diagnose neuropsychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, autism, and Alzheimer\u2019s disease.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A Georgia Tech doctoral student\u2019s dissertation could help physicians diagnose neuropsychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, autism, and Alzheimer\u2019s disease. "}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2025-04-24 18:25:42","changed_gmt":"2025-04-24 18:30:11","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-04-24T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-04-24T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"676932":{"id":"676932","type":"image","title":"Computational-Brain.jpeg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EInstead of relying on traditional methods like cognitive tests and image scans, this new approach leverages data science and algorithms.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1745519173","gmt_created":"2025-04-24 18:26:13","changed":"1745519173","gmt_changed":"2025-04-24 18:26:13","alt":"Instead of relying on traditional methods like cognitive tests and image scans, this new approach leverages data science and algorithms.","file":{"fid":"260783","name":"Computational-Brain.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/24\/Computational-Brain.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/24\/Computational-Brain.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3553157,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/04\/24\/Computational-Brain.jpeg?itok=TXN2msvN"}},"676933":{"id":"676933","type":"image","title":"pic_me.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EPh.D. candidate\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/a-rahaman.github.io\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMd Abdur Rahaman\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u2019s dissertation studies brain data to understand how changes in brain activity shape behavior.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1745519217","gmt_created":"2025-04-24 18:26:57","changed":"1745519217","gmt_changed":"2025-04-24 18:26:57","alt":"Ph.D. candidate Md Abdur Rahaman\u2019s dissertation studies brain data to understand how changes in brain activity shape behavior. ","file":{"fid":"260784","name":"pic_me.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/24\/pic_me.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/24\/pic_me.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":352796,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/04\/24\/pic_me.jpg?itok=cN2myp7c"}}},"media_ids":["676932","676933"],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:bwine3@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EBryant Wine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr\u003ECollege of Computing\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["bwine3@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"681160":{"#nid":"681160","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Atlanta Science Festival Launches With Celebrate STEAM at Georgia Tech","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EOver 5,000 people attended Georgia Tech\u0027s Celebrate STEAM event on March 8, which showcased more than 60 demonstrations in science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/node\/42742\/\u0022\u003ERead more \u00bb\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EOver 5,000 people attended Georgia Tech\u0027s Celebrate STEAM event on March 8, which showcased more than 60 demonstrations in science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Over 5,000 people attended Georgia Tech\u0027s Celebrate STEAM event on March 8, which showcased more than 60 demonstrations in science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics."}],"uid":"27255","created_gmt":"2025-03-14 15:03:18","changed_gmt":"2025-04-24 12:55:26","author":"Josie Giles","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-03-14T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-03-14T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"676552":{"id":"676552","type":"image","title":"Celebrate-STEAM-photo-booth.jpeg","body":null,"created":"1741964722","gmt_created":"2025-03-14 15:05:22","changed":"1741964722","gmt_changed":"2025-03-14 15:05:22","alt":"A family poses for a special moment in the Celebrate STEAM photo booth during Georgia Tech\u0027s Celebrate STEAM event on March 8.","file":{"fid":"260356","name":"Celebrate-STEAM-photo-booth.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/03\/14\/Celebrate-STEAM-photo-booth.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/03\/14\/Celebrate-STEAM-photo-booth.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":6821079,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/03\/14\/Celebrate-STEAM-photo-booth.jpeg?itok=-WKojaXA"}}},"media_ids":["676552"],"groups":[{"id":"1279","name":"School of Mathematics"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"186857","name":"go-gtmi"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"188020","name":"go-rbi"},{"id":"187582","name":"go-ibb"},{"id":"188084","name":"go-ipat"},{"id":"188087","name":"go-irim"},{"id":"187082","name":"go-ideas"},{"id":"188360","name":"go-bbiss"},{"id":"186858","name":"go-sei"},{"id":"173647","name":"_for_math_site_"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193652","name":"Matter and Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"681986":{"#nid":"681986","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Newly Named Children\u2019s PTC at Georgia Tech Peterson Professorship Recipients Work to Improve the Lives of Kids in Georgia and Beyond","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech professors \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/5337\u0022\u003EMichelle LaPlaca\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/2943\u0022\u003EW. Hong Yeo\u003C\/a\u003E have been selected as recipients of Peterson Professorships with the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ptc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EChildren\u2019s Healthcare of Atlanta Pediatric Technology Center\u003C\/a\u003E (PTC) at Georgia Tech. The professorships, supported by the G.P. \u201cBud\u201d Peterson and Valerie H. Peterson Faculty Endowment Fund, are meant to further energize the Georgia Tech and Children\u2019s partnership by engaging and empowering researchers involved in pediatrics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn a joint statement, PTC co-directors \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/winshipcancer.emory.edu\/profiles\/lam-wilbur.php\u0022\u003EWilbur Lam\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/3731\u0022\u003EStanislav Emelianov\u003C\/a\u003E said, \u201cThe appointment of Dr. LaPlaca and Dr. Yeo as Peterson Professors exemplifies the vision of Bud and Valerie Peterson \u2014 advancing innovation and collaboration through the Pediatric Technology Center to bring breakthrough ideas from the lab to the bedside, improving the lives of children and transforming healthcare.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELaPlaca is a professor and associate chair for Faculty Development in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/\u0022\u003EDepartment of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E, a joint department between Georgia Tech and Emory University. Her research is focused on traumatic brain injury and concussion, concentrating on sources of heterogeneity and clinical translation. Specifically, she is working on biomarker discovery, the role of the glymphatic system, and novel virtual reality neurological assessments. \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI am thrilled to be chosen as one of the Peterson Professors and appreciate Bud and Valerie Peterson\u2019s dedication to pediatric research,\u201d she said. \u201cThe professorship will allow me to broaden research in pediatric concussion assessment and college student concussion awareness, as well as to identify biomarkers in experimental models of brain injury.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to the research lab, LaPlaca will work with an undergraduate research class called Concussion Connect, which is part of the Vertically Integrated Projects program at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThrough the PTC, Georgia Tech and Children\u2019s will positively impact brain health in Georgia\u2019s pediatric population,\u201d said LaPlaca.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EYeo is the Harris Saunders, Jr. Professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorge W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E and the director of the Wearable Intelligent Systems and Healthcare Center at Georgia Tech. His research focuses on nanomanufacturing and membrane electronics to develop soft biomedical devices aimed at improving disease diagnostics, therapeutics, and rehabilitation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI am truly honored to be awarded the Peterson Professorship from the Children\u2019s PTC at Georgia Tech,\u201d he said. \u201cThis recognition will greatly enhance my research efforts in developing soft bioelectronics aimed at advancing pediatric healthcare, as well as expand education opportunities for the next generation of undergraduate and graduate students interested in creating innovative medical devices that align seamlessly with the recent NSF Research Traineeship grant I received. I am eager to contribute to the dynamic partnership between Georgia Tech and Children\u2019s Healthcare of Atlanta and to empower innovative solutions that will improve the lives of children.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Peterson Professorships honor the former Georgia Tech President and First Lady, whose vision for the importance of research in improving pediatric healthcare has had an enormous positive impact on the care of pediatric patients in our state and region.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Children\u2019s PTC at Georgia Tech brings clinical experts from Children\u2019s together with Georgia Tech scientists and engineers to develop technological solutions to problems in the health and care of children. Children\u2019s PTC provides extraordinary opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration in pediatrics, creating breakthrough discoveries that often can only be found at the intersection of multiple disciplines. These collaborations also allow us to bring discoveries to the clinic and the bedside, thereby enhancing the lives of children and young adults. The mission of the PTC is to establish the world\u2019s leading program in the development of technological solutions for children\u2019s health, focused on three strategic areas that will have a lasting impact on Georgia\u2019s kids and beyond.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EProfessors Michelle LaPlaca and W. Hong Yeo are recognized for their innovative contributions to pediatric healthcare research.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Professors Michelle LaPlaca and W. Hong Yeo are recognized for their innovative contributions to pediatric healthcare research."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2025-04-23 15:09:52","changed_gmt":"2025-04-23 15:20:49","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-04-18T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-04-18T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"676910":{"id":"676910","type":"image","title":"LaPlaca-Yeo.png","body":"\u003Cp\u003EMichelle LaPlaca (left), associate chair for Faculty Development and professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering; W. Hong Yeo, Harris Saunders, Jr. Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1745421013","gmt_created":"2025-04-23 15:10:13","changed":"1745421013","gmt_changed":"2025-04-23 15:10:13","alt":"Michelle LaPlaca (left), associate chair for Faculty Development and professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering; W. Hong Yeo, Harris Saunders, Jr. Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.","file":{"fid":"260759","name":"LaPlaca-Yeo.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/23\/LaPlaca-Yeo.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/23\/LaPlaca-Yeo.png","mime":"image\/png","size":136318,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/04\/23\/LaPlaca-Yeo.png?itok=Y4tpGaSP"}}},"media_ids":["676910"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/feature\/tbi","title":"This Small Sensor Could Make Huge Impacts on Brain Injury Treatment"},{"url":"https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/feature\/pacifier","title":"This Pacifier Could Monitor Babies\u2019 Vitals in the NICU"},{"url":"https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/georgia-tech-partners-uh-brain-center","title":"Georgia Tech Partners With UH BRAIN Center"}],"groups":[{"id":"660369","name":"Matter and Systems"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"149","name":"Nanotechnology and Nanoscience"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187582","name":"go-ibb"},{"id":"188084","name":"go-ipat"},{"id":"188087","name":"go-irim"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39451","name":"Electronics and Nanotechnology"},{"id":"193652","name":"Matter and Systems"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"},{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"681779":{"#nid":"681779","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Lewis Wheaton Elected President of the American Society of Neurorehabilitation","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EBiology Professor\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/Lewis-Wheaton\u0022\u003ELewis Wheaton\u003C\/a\u003E has been named president of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.asnr.com\/\u0022\u003EAmerican Society of Neurorehabilitation\u003C\/a\u003E (ASNR). Established in 1990, the organization is dedicated to advancing the science of neurorehabilitation and helping patients with chronic neurological disabilities by advancing clinical care and research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cASNR is a great society because of the range and breadth of its work, spanning cellular neuroscientists all the way to people that do massive multicenter phase three clinical drug trials,\u201d says Wheaton, who has been involved in the organization for nearly two decades. \u201cI am excited to serve as its president.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EWheaton\u2019s research interests initially drew him to ASNR\u0026nbsp;\u2014 his research examines changes in the brain following a stroke or upper limb loss in order to inform the design of therapies that promote better limb function and prosthetics; his belief in the organization\u2019s mission led him to join its leadership team.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cI got involved in the executive board because I appreciated the vision of the society and the opportunities it provides for engaging more people in neurorehabilitation-based research and training the next generation of neurorehabilitation researchers,\u201d he says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EWheaton was elected ASNR vice president in 2022 and worked during the subsequent three years to develop the organization\u2019s strategic plan. When he assumes the role of ASNR president this April, he will implement that plan.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re focusing on how to broaden and improve the sense of community within the society,\u201d he shares. \u201cTwo of our goals are centered on enhancing our multidisciplinary focus and expanding engagement. We want to bring in not only people from other disciplines\u0026nbsp;\u2014 as other disciplines are connected to the goals of neurorehabilitation\u0026nbsp;\u2014 but also develop a culture that supports diverse groups of people entering the field.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EWheaton recognizes the parallels between his work at ASNR and the College of Sciences: \u201cIt is very consistent with many of the things that I\u0027ve always enjoyed at the College: creating a community that brings people together, that people want to be a part of, and that they see a home for themselves in,\u201d he explains, referencing his efforts as director of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cpies.cos.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECenter for Programs to Increase Engagement in the Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E (C-PIES) and mentoring students in\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/thecmclab.com\/\u0022\u003Ehis research lab\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout Lewis Wheaton\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EWheaton joined the Institute as an assistant professor in the School of Applied Physiology (now the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E) in 2008. He is currently a professor in Biological Sciences at Georgia Tech, an adjunct professor in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/med.emory.edu\/departments\/rehabilitation-medicine\/index.html\u0022\u003EDepartment of Rehabilitation at the Emory School of Medicine\u003C\/a\u003E, and a member of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/pedsresearch.org\/centers\/ccnr\u0022\u003EChildren\u2019s Center for Neurosciences Research at the Emory Children\u2019s Pediatric Research Center\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EWheaton received a B.S. in biology from Radford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience and cognitive science from the University of Maryland, College Park. He studied neural function and recovery of motor control after stroke as a fellow at the Medical Neurology Branch of the National Institutes of Health and performed neuroscience research in aging and stroke motor control as a postdoctoral fellow at the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Maryland.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout the American Society of Neurorehabilitation\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.asnr.com\/i4a\/pages\/index.cfm?pageid=1\u0022\u003EAmerican Society of Neurorehabilitation (ASNR)\u003C\/a\u003E was created in 1990 to advance clinical care and the science of neurorehabilitation and neural repair. The 2025 edition of the ASNR annual meeting will take place in Atlanta in late April.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EProfessor Wheaton has been involved in the American Society of Neurorehabilitation (ASNR) for nearly two decades. His research interests initially drew him to ASNR; his belief in the organization\u2019s mission led him to join its leadership team.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Professor Wheaton has been involved in the American Society of Neurorehabilitation (ASNR) for nearly two decades. His research interests initially drew him to ASNR; his belief in the organization\u2019s mission led him to join its leadership team."}],"uid":"36583","created_gmt":"2025-04-14 19:14:27","changed_gmt":"2025-04-16 18:49:37","author":"lvidal7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-04-15T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-04-15T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"660552":{"id":"660552","type":"image","title":"Lewis Wheaton (Photo: Jess Hunt-Ralston)","body":null,"created":"1661458762","gmt_created":"2022-08-25 20:19:22","changed":"1680031849","gmt_changed":"2023-03-28 19:30:49","alt":"","file":{"fid":"250299","name":"Lewis Wheaton web.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Lewis%20Wheaton%20web.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Lewis%20Wheaton%20web.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2855249,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Lewis%20Wheaton%20web.jpg?itok=eQ6bCbjC"}}},"media_ids":["660552"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/thecmclab.com","title":"Cognitive Motor Control Lab"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"42901","name":"Community"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"189888","name":"Neurorehabilitation"},{"id":"192249","name":"cos-community"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWriter: Lindsay C. Vidal\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"681760":{"#nid":"681760","#data":{"type":"news","title":"When Less is More: How Inhibition Shapes Learning","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENuri Jeong remembers the feeling of surprise she felt during a trip back to South Korea, while visiting her grandmother, who\u2019d been grappling with Alzheimer\u2019s disease.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI hadn\u2019t seen her in six years, but she recognized me,\u201d said Jeong, a former graduate researcher in the lab of Annabelle Singer in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI didn\u2019t expect that. Even though my grandmother struggled to remember other family members that she saw all the time, she somehow remembered me,\u201d Jeong added. \u201cIt made me wonder how the brain distinguishes between familiar and new experiences.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat experience inspired Jeong to embark on a deep-dive exploration of spatial learning and memory, which has resulted in a new study published this month in the journal Nature.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn their article, Jeong, Singer, and a team of Georgia Tech researchers explain how the brain rapidly learns and remembers important locations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe brain relies on spatial learning to navigate the world, whether it\u2019s finding a shortcut through a new neighborhood or remembering where you parked your car,\u201d said Jeong, the paper\u2019s lead author.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/news\/when-less-more-how-inhibition-shapes-learning\u0022\u003ERead the full story here \u0026gt;\u0026gt;\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech researchers reveal the dynamic role of inhibitory neurons in spatial memory and learning.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech researchers reveal the dynamic role of inhibitory neurons in spatial memory and learning."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2025-04-11 21:36:05","changed_gmt":"2025-04-11 21:38:53","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-04-09T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-04-09T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"676824":{"id":"676824","type":"image","title":"Nature_Myriam-Wares-illustration-v3--1-_0.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EThis illustration titled, \u0022Gateway to Memory,\u0022 illustrates Dr. Singer\u0027s and Jeong\u0027s research and how\u0026nbsp;interneurons act as gatekeepers that open specifically on paths to important locations to enable learning for those places. This art imaginatively represents this inhibitory gating as a monolithic gate opening and spilling light onto the crucial path, guiding the seeker toward their goal. Art by Myriam Wares\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1744407375","gmt_created":"2025-04-11 21:36:15","changed":"1744407375","gmt_changed":"2025-04-11 21:36:15","alt":"This illustration titled, \u0022Gateway to Memory,\u0022 illustrates Dr. Singer\u0027s and Jeong\u0027s research and how interneurons act as gatekeepers that open specifically on paths to important locations to enable learning for those places. This art imaginatively represents this inhibitory gating as a monolithic gate opening and spilling light onto the crucial path, guiding the seeker toward their goal. Art by Myriam Wares","file":{"fid":"260668","name":"Nature_Myriam-Wares-illustration-v3--1-_0.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/11\/Nature_Myriam-Wares-illustration-v3--1-_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/11\/Nature_Myriam-Wares-illustration-v3--1-_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":187805,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/04\/11\/Nature_Myriam-Wares-illustration-v3--1-_0.jpg?itok=2UyXrF6d"}}},"media_ids":["676824"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/tragedy-transformation","title":"From Tragedy to Transformation"}],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187582","name":"go-ibb"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kelly.petty@bme.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EKelly Petty\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003ECommunications\u003Cbr\u003EWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["kelly.petty@bme.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"681620":{"#nid":"681620","#data":{"type":"news","title":"2025 Frontiers in Science: Intelligence","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EMore than 150 researchers, students, faculty, and alumni gathered last week at the Historic Academy of Medicine at Georgia Tech for the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/frontiers-intelligence\u0022\u003E2025 Frontiers in Science Conference and Symposium\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThis year, the College of Sciences\u2019 signature research event centered on the intersection of neuroscience, cognition, and artificial intelligence.\u0026nbsp;Specifically, the event highlighted how AI is transforming our understanding of the brain and how neuroscience and psychology are informing new developments in AI\u0026nbsp;\u2014 sparking a wave of innovation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EDean Susan Lozier, who also serves as Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Chair and as a professor in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E, emphasized the interdisciplinary nature of the event\u2019s panels\u0026nbsp;\u2014 which included faculty from several schools across campus, as well as external keynote speakers.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cThis is an exciting time at the College of Sciences and Georgia Tech. We are working at the forefront of so many questions about intelligence\u0026nbsp;\u2014 human, artificial, and where the two converge,\u201d says Lozier. \u201cI hope our community found the concepts and ideas raised during Frontiers in Science as inspiring and thought-provoking as I did.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIntelligence: From AI to the Brain\u0026nbsp;\u2014 and Back\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EDuring the\u0026nbsp;full day of talks,\u0026nbsp;a dozen faculty members and researchers from the Colleges of Science, Computing, and Engineering shared some of the latest developments in our understanding of biological and artificial intelligence. Morning sessions explored how AI is driving innovations in cognitive science and neuroscience research, unearthing new insights into cognitive function. Afternoon presentations focused on what the brain can tell us about AI and how such information might direct AI advances.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EPresentations led by\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EIda Momennejad\u003C\/strong\u003E of Microsoft and\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EHal Greenwald\u003C\/strong\u003E of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research provided industry and government insights\u0026nbsp;\u2014 particularly as related to research trends and challenges.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe midday poster session, which featured 90-second presentations by nine students and post-doctoral researchers, gave attendees the opportunity to learn more about the research conducted in Georgia Tech labs.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003ENikolas McNeal\u003C\/strong\u003E, a Ph.D. scholar in machine learning, and\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EAishawarya Balwani\u003C\/strong\u003E, a Ph.D. scholar in electrical and computer engineering, were recognized for best posters.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EFrontiers in Science concluded with a session dedicated to audience questions, which encouraged reflections on AI\u2019s future in our society and the range of environmental, safety, and philosophical questions raised by transformative technology.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECognition and intelligence at Tech\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe 2025 edition of Frontiers in Science comes at a pivotal moment at Georgia Tech, as the Institute continues to expand its research and teaching leadership in biological and artificial intelligence.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech\u0026nbsp;Executive Vice President for Research\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/timothy-charles-lieuwen\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETim Lieuwen\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, who also serves as Regents\u2019 Professor and David S. Lewis, Jr. Chair in the Daniel Guggenheim\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ae.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Aerospace Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E, noted that the Institute is leading the way in AI innovation. He spotlighted some of Georgia Tech\u2019s newest initiatives and programs, including\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ai.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ETech AI\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u2014 an interdisciplinary hub connecting\u0026nbsp;cutting-edge AI research taking place on campus with AI-driven applications and solutions for our world.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EOther recent developments include the creation of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coco.psych.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECenter of Excellence in Computation Cognition\u003C\/a\u003E and the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/institute-neuroscience-neurotechnology-and-society-executive-director-search\u0022\u003EInstitute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society\u003C\/a\u003E, which\u0026nbsp;builds upon the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ENeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E. A\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/catalog.gatech.edu\/programs\/minor-computation-cognition\/\u0022\u003Eminor in computation and cognition\u003C\/a\u003E and a\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/training-page\/graduate-academic-programs\/phd\u0022\u003EPh.D. in\u0026nbsp;neuroscience and neurotechnology\u003C\/a\u003E are two of the latest additions to Georgia Tech\u2019s academic offerings. The latter builds on the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuroscience.cos.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EB.S. in neuroscience program\u003C\/a\u003E, currently the fastest-growing undergraduate major at the Institute.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EExperience the event in pictures through the\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/gtsciences\/albums\/72177720324845687\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ECollege of Sciences\u2019 Flickr account\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E, and discover the highlights via the day\u2019s live publications on\u0026nbsp;Georgia Tech Neuro Next Initiative\u2019s accounts on\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/web-cdn.bsky.app\/profile\/gt-neuro.bsky.social\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EBlueSky\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E and\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/x.com\/gt_neuro\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EX\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe College of Sciences\u2019 signature research event featured thought-provoking discussions at the intersection of neuroscience, cognition, and artificial intelligence.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The College of Sciences\u2019 signature research event featured thought-provoking discussions at the intersection of neuroscience, cognition, and artificial intelligence."}],"uid":"36583","created_gmt":"2025-04-07 15:03:58","changed_gmt":"2025-04-07 21:27:39","author":"lvidal7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-04-07T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-04-07T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"676765":{"id":"676765","type":"image","title":"From left: Susan Lozier, Robert Wilson, Farzaneh Najafi, Hannah Choi, Dobromir Rahnev, and Jennifer Leavey.","body":null,"created":"1744037283","gmt_created":"2025-04-07 14:48:03","changed":"1744037283","gmt_changed":"2025-04-07 14:48:03","alt":"From left: Susan Lozier, Robert Wilson, Farzaneh Najafi, Hannah Choi, Dobromir Rahnev, and Jennifer Leavey.","file":{"fid":"260596","name":"54428667211_1146a96dd0_o.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/07\/54428667211_1146a96dd0_o_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/07\/54428667211_1146a96dd0_o_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":13879512,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/04\/07\/54428667211_1146a96dd0_o_0.jpg?itok=36Lnui3L"}},"676768":{"id":"676768","type":"image","title":"Ida Momennejad responds to a question during a Frontiers in Science panel session.","body":null,"created":"1744038877","gmt_created":"2025-04-07 15:14:37","changed":"1744038877","gmt_changed":"2025-04-07 15:14:37","alt":"Ida Momennejad responds to a question during a Frontiers in Science panel 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Science.","file":{"fid":"260597","name":"54436281356_055e2fd2ea_o.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/07\/54436281356_055e2fd2ea_o.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/07\/54436281356_055e2fd2ea_o.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":4331522,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/04\/07\/54436281356_055e2fd2ea_o.jpg?itok=F5BcPAhn"}},"676769":{"id":"676769","type":"image","title":"A member of the audience asks a question during Frontiers in Science.","body":null,"created":"1744039042","gmt_created":"2025-04-07 15:17:22","changed":"1744039798","gmt_changed":"2025-04-07 15:29:58","alt":"A member of the audience asks a question during Frontiers in Science.","file":{"fid":"260601","name":"54436523558_ff5559f75c_o.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/07\/54436523558_ff5559f75c_o.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/07\/54436523558_ff5559f75c_o.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2843515,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/04\/07\/54436523558_ff5559f75c_o.jpg?itok=NPCxxEr2"}},"676770":{"id":"676770","type":"image","title":"Ratan Murty, Assistant Professor in the School of Psychology","body":null,"created":"1744040012","gmt_created":"2025-04-07 15:33:32","changed":"1744040012","gmt_changed":"2025-04-07 15:33:32","alt":"Ratan Murty, Assistant Professor in the School of Psychology","file":{"fid":"260602","name":"54435417882_c7f015a454_o.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/07\/54435417882_c7f015a454_o.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/07\/54435417882_c7f015a454_o.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":4145761,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/04\/07\/54435417882_c7f015a454_o.jpg?itok=OsD0Vw-J"}},"676767":{"id":"676767","type":"image","title":"Aishawarya Balwani (on left), a Ph.D. scholar in electrical and computer engineering, answers questions about her research during the Frontiers in Science poster session.","body":null,"created":"1744037532","gmt_created":"2025-04-07 14:52:12","changed":"1744037532","gmt_changed":"2025-04-07 14:52:12","alt":"Aishawarya Balwani (on left), a Ph.D. scholar in electrical and computer engineering, answers questions about her research during the Frontiers in Science poster session.","file":{"fid":"260598","name":"54428752689_a6dc941cb3_o.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/07\/54428752689_a6dc941cb3_o.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/04\/07\/54428752689_a6dc941cb3_o.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":11108776,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/04\/07\/54428752689_a6dc941cb3_o.jpg?itok=bO7q30CT"}}},"media_ids":["676765","676768","676766","676769","676770","676767"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/frontiers-intelligence","title":"2025 Frontiers in Science: Intelligence - Program"},{"url":"https:\/\/ai.gatech.edu","title":"Tech AI"},{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/","title":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"1279","name":"School of Mathematics"},{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"60121","name":"frontiers in science"},{"id":"192863","name":"go-ai"},{"id":"192258","name":"cos-data"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWriter: Lindsay C. Vidal\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"681377":{"#nid":"681377","#data":{"type":"news","title":"School of Physics Professor Dan Goldman Named AAAS Fellow","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.physics.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Physics\u003C\/a\u003E Professor\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.physics.gatech.edu\/user\/daniel-goldman\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDaniel Goldman\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E has been named a 2024\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.aaas.org\/fellows\u0022\u003EAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science\u003C\/a\u003E (AAAS) Fellow for his groundbreaking research at the interface of biomechanics, robotics, and physics. He\u0026nbsp;joins the ranks of the nation\u2019s most distinguished leaders in science, engineering, and innovation, and is among the seven Georgia Tech faculty named for 2024.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cThis year\u0027s Fellows are the embodiment of scientific excellence and service to our communities...their work demonstrates the value of sustained investment in science and engineering,\u201d says\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003ESudip S. Parikh,\u003C\/strong\u003E AAAS chief executive officer and executive publisher of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.science.org\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EScience\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E family of journals.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EA self-professed physicist by training and temperament, Goldman\u2019s research investigates how organisms such as centipedes, snakes, worms, and even plant roots navigate the complexities of the natural world. What makes his research unique is that rather than studying organisms in simple environments, he studies them in environments that more closely mimic their natural habitats such as sandy, loose terrain.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe former Dunn Family Professor in the School of Physics, Goldman has also earned the NSF CAREER Award, DARPA Young Investigator Award, an American Physical Society Fellowship, and the Georgia Power Professor of Excellence Award.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cBecoming an AAAS Fellow is an incredible honor,\u201d says Goldman. \u201cHowever, in many ways I feel I\u2019m just the person representing the results of more than 20 years of effort from my students and post-docs, as well as my mentors who helped me find this incredibly interesting field of study.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPioneering robophysical modeling\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ENearly 20 years ago, Goldman became fascinated with\u0026nbsp;studying the physics of how a small lizard wriggled through sand. Today, he has carved a unique niche in biological physics, including advancing a robophysical modeling approach incorporating the animal\u2019s motion pattern to supplement understanding of principles related to organism movement. The approach has led to his recent development of limbless and multi-legged robots for use in agricultural efforts and search and rescue.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ENow, Goldman directs the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/crablab.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECRAB (Complex Rheology and Biomechanics) Lab\u003C\/a\u003E, which focuses on developing robots beyond traditional bio-inspired robots through a strong physics-based perspective to biological questions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cAs a physicist, I try to find the underlying principle governing certain phenomena,\u201d says Goldman. \u201cWe\u2019ve been successful in discovering common patterns of movement and applying a beautiful theoretical framework called \u2018gauge kinematics\u2019 where we describe tiny nematode worms, sand swimming lizards, and multi-legged centipedes with the same language.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe practical applications of Goldman\u2019s research are already paving the way for innovations in robotics ranging from space research to agriculture. Goldman\u2019s startup,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/groundcontrolrobotics.com\/\u0022\u003EGround Control Robotics\u003C\/a\u003E, has started building robots that can navigate the difficult terrain of crop fields, identify weeds and other pests, and address challenges like herbicide resistance, labor shortages, and plant disease.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cThe journey from studying that small lizard swimming in sand to developing robots for agriculture exemplifies the often-unforeseen pathways of scientific research,\u201d says Goldman. \u201cThe principles unlocked by observing these seemingly insignificant creatures have proven crucial in understanding how various organisms and subsequently, robots can effectively move through complex environments.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EI can\u2019t wait to see where the efforts of my incredible group members take us next!\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EDaniel Goldman has been honored as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world\u2019s largest multidisciplinary scientific society.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Daniel Goldman has been honored as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world\u2019s largest multidisciplinary scientific society."}],"uid":"36607","created_gmt":"2025-03-26 16:07:34","changed_gmt":"2025-03-27 15:55:59","author":"ls67","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-03-26T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-03-26T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"676674":{"id":"676674","type":"image","title":"The College of Sciences is excited to congratulate 2024 AAAS Fellow Daniel Goldman.","body":"\u003Cp\u003EThe College of Sciences is excited to congratulate 2024 AAAS Fellow Daniel Goldman.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1743005719","gmt_created":"2025-03-26 16:15:19","changed":"1743016409","gmt_changed":"2025-03-26 19:13:29","alt":"Man in a blue shirt posing behind a robot.","file":{"fid":"260500","name":"dangoldman_0.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/03\/26\/dangoldman_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/03\/26\/dangoldman_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":5190003,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/03\/26\/dangoldman_0.jpg?itok=otD6cDkW"}}},"media_ids":["676674"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/aaas-honors-seven-georgia-tech-researchers-lifetime-fellows","title":"AAAS Honors Seven Georgia Tech Researchers as Lifetime Fellows"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"}],"categories":[{"id":"42911","name":"Education"},{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"192249","name":"cos-community"},{"id":"26011","name":"faculty honors"},{"id":"192253","name":"cos-neuro"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"1356","name":"robot"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWriter: Laura S. Smith\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECollege of Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003Elaura.smith@cos.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["laura.smith@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"680942":{"#nid":"680942","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Sharper Images: How the Brain Filters Out the Noise ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA multidisciplinary team of researchers at Georgia Tech has discovered how lateral inhibition helps our brains process visual information, and it could expand our knowledge of sensory perception, leading to applications in neuro-medicine and artificial intelligence.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELateral inhibition is when certain neurons suppress the activity of their neighboring neurons. Imagine an artist drawing, darkening the lines around the contours, highlighting the boundaries between objects and space, or objects and other objects. Comparably, in the visual system, lateral inhibition sharpens the contrast between different visual stimuli.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis research is really getting at how our visual system not only highlights important things, but also actively suppresses irrelevant information in the background,\u201d said lead researcher \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Bilal-Haider\u0022\u003EBilal Haider\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering. \u201cThat ability to filter out distractions is crucial.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUnderstanding how these inhibitory mechanisms work could provide insights into why people have trouble filtering out distractions or focusing on what\u2019s important, in conditions like autism or ADHD.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur findings may also influence how we design artificial intelligence and neural networks,\u201d said Haider, whose team published its work this month in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41593-025-01888-4\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ENature Neuroscience\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cCurrent AI systems treat all the computing units the same, but the brain has figured out how to assign specialized computing roles.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/joseph-del-rosario-989b2460\/\u0022\u003EJoseph Del Rosario\u003C\/a\u003E, a former graduate student in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/haider.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EHaider lab\u003C\/a\u003E, was the lead author. Another key contributor was \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/hannah-choi\u0022\u003EHannah Choi\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor in the School of Mathematics, and her \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hannahchoi.math.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EResearch Group in Mathematical Neuroscience\u003C\/a\u003E. Their team built computational models to test the biological findings.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cCollaborating with mathematicians to really understand the computational principles underlying these inhibitory processes is a great example of how neuroscience can inform fields like AI,\u201d Haider said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/news\/sharper-images-how-brain-filters-out-noise\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERead more in the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering newsroom.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA multidisciplinary team has discovered how lateral inhibition helps our brains process visual information, and it could expand our knowledge of sensory perception, leading to applications in neuro-medicine and artificial intelligence.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Researchers uncover the role of lateral inhibition in enhancing contrast and filtering distractions, with implications for neuroscience and AI."}],"uid":"34528","created_gmt":"2025-03-05 19:38:43","changed_gmt":"2025-03-24 15:05:05","author":"jhunt7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-03-05T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2025-03-05T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"676473":{"id":"676473","type":"image","title":"Brain illustration (iStock)","body":null,"created":"1741203723","gmt_created":"2025-03-05 19:42:03","changed":"1741203723","gmt_changed":"2025-03-05 19:42:03","alt":"Brain illustration (iStock)","file":{"fid":"260269","name":"brain-istock.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/03\/05\/brain-istock.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/03\/05\/brain-istock.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":80750,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/03\/05\/brain-istock.jpg?itok=6rOtE8_M"}}},"media_ids":["676473"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"173647","name":"_for_math_site_"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"193733","name":"_for_math_site_manual_feed_"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"187582","name":"go-ibb"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"680359":{"#nid":"680359","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Tim Cope to Direct New Ph.D. Program in Neuroscience and Neurotechnology","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe College of Sciences is pleased to announce the appointment of\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sites.gatech.edu\/cope-lab\/lab-team\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETim Cope\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E as the inaugural director of the new\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/training-page\/graduate-academic-programs\/phd\u0022\u003EPh.D. Program in Neuroscience and Neurotechnology\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cIn the next step toward establishing Tech\u2019s preeminence in neuroscience, I am excited and privileged to guide this new Ph.D. program,\u201d says Cope, a professor in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/\u0022\u003ECoulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EA joint effort across the Colleges of\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EComputing\u003C\/a\u003E,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EEngineering\u003C\/a\u003E, and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESciences\u003C\/a\u003E, the program will educate students and advance the field of neuroscience through an interdisciplinary approach \u2014 ultimately integrating neuroscience research and technological development to study all levels of nervous system function. The program expects to enroll its first graduate students in Fall 2025.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cThis student-centered program, built on the strength of our exceptional researchers and educators, will bring about a major shift,\u201d Cope adds. \u201cStudents will gain expertise in neuroscience, backed by Georgia Tech\u2019s commitment to tackling grand challenges through a mix of experimental, engineering, and computational approaches.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EBuilding on the recently launched\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ENeuro Next Initiative in Research\u003C\/a\u003E, the established\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/undergraduate-studies-neuroscience\u0022\u003EUndergraduate Program in Neuroscience\u003C\/a\u003E, and the interdisciplinary\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuroscience.cos.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EB.S. in Neuroscience degree\u003C\/a\u003E in the College of Sciences (currently the fastest growing undergraduate major at Georgia Tech), Cope emphasizes that the program will be a win-win for faculty and students.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cOur neuroscience faculty will help students succeed in their careers while also boosting their own research productivity through mentorship and training,\u201d he explains. \u201cPlus, the program will foster stronger connections within our neuroscience community \u2014 nothing builds faculty collaboration and integration like a cohort of graduate students.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cWith the addition of the graduate program, we\u2019re completing the three foundational pillars that will elevate Georgia Tech among top neuroscience institutions.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe search for the Executive Director of the forthcoming Institute of Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society is ongoing.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA joint effort across the Colleges of\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EComputing\u003C\/a\u003E,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EEngineering\u003C\/a\u003E, and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESciences\u003C\/a\u003E, the program will educate students and advance the field of neuroscience through an interdisciplinary approach \u2014 ultimately integrating neuroscience research and technological development to study all levels of nervous system function.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A joint effort across the Colleges of\u00a0Computing,\u00a0Engineering, and Sciences, the program will educate students and advance the field of neuroscience through an interdisciplinary approach."}],"uid":"35599","created_gmt":"2025-02-10 21:32:38","changed_gmt":"2025-02-10 21:53:43","author":"sperrin6","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-02-10T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2025-02-10T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"676258":{"id":"676258","type":"image","title":"Tim Cope is a professor in the School of Biological Sciences and Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, where his research focuses on how movement is controlled by neuron signaling to the spinal cord in mammals.","body":"\u003Cp\u003ETim Cope is a professor in the School of Biological Sciences and Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, where his research focuses on how movement is controlled by neuron signaling to the spinal cord in mammals.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1739224315","gmt_created":"2025-02-10 21:51:55","changed":"1739224315","gmt_changed":"2025-02-10 21:51:55","alt":"Tim Cope is a professor in the School of Biological Sciences and Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, where his research focuses on how movement is controlled by neuron signaling to the spinal cord in mammals.","file":{"fid":"260006","name":"Tim Cope.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/02\/10\/Tim%20Cope.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/02\/10\/Tim%20Cope.png","mime":"image\/png","size":416024,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/02\/10\/Tim%20Cope.png?itok=3aQ_xnuh"}}},"media_ids":["676258"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"192249","name":"cos-community"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"192253","name":"cos-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EContact: \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto: jess.hunt@cos.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJess Hunt-Ralston\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"674493":{"#nid":"674493","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech to Offer Ph.D. in Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, New Minor","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe University System of Georgia Board of Regents has approved a new \u003Cstrong\u003ENeuroscience and Neurotechnology\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003EPh.D. Program \u003C\/strong\u003Eat Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe interdisciplinary degree is a joint effort across the Colleges of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESciences\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EComputing\u003C\/a\u003E, and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EEngineering\u003C\/a\u003E. The program expects to enroll its first graduate students in Fall 2025, pending approval by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Institute Curriculum Committee has also approved a new \u003Cstrong\u003EMinor in Neuroscience\u003C\/strong\u003E, set to become available in the Georgia Tech 2024-2025 \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/catalog.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECatalog\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EB.S. in Neuroscience\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Ph.D. and Minor offerings build on the recently launched \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/news\/2023\/09\/18\/georgia-tech-launch-interdisciplinary-neurosciences-research-program\u0022\u003ENeuro Next Initiative in Research\u003C\/a\u003E, and the established \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuroscience.cos.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EUndergraduate Program in Neuroscience\u003C\/a\u003E, respectively.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EApproved by the Board of Regents in 2017, the interdisciplinary \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/undergraduate-studies-neuroscience\u0022\u003EB.S. in Neuroscience\u003C\/a\u003E degree in the College of Sciences enrolled more than 400 undergraduate students in 2022, and has been\u0026nbsp; the fastest growing undergraduate major at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe B.S. in Neuroscience is also key to a strong ecosystem of undergraduate neuroscience education across the state, which includes peer programs at Mercer University, Augusta University, Georgia State University, Agnes Scott College, and Emory University.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPh.D. in Neuroscience and Neurotechnology\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe new doctoral degree will provide a path for the rapidly growing pipeline of in-state neuroscience undergraduate students and young alumni \u2014 while also welcoming a wider slate of graduate researchers to campus.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Ph.D. Program\u2019s mission is focused on educating students to advance the field of neuroscience through an interdisciplinary approach, with scientists and engineers of different backgrounds \u2014 ultimately integrating neuroscience research and technological development to study all levels of nervous system function.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBiological Sciences Professor \u003Cstrong\u003ELewis A. Wheaton\u003C\/strong\u003E, who chaired the Ph.D. Program Planning Committee, shares that a cohort model will fuse \u201cexperimental and quantitative skill development, creating opportunities for students to work in science and engineering labs to promote collaborations, while also fostering a program and community that\u2019s unique to the state and against national peer offerings.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EExpanding innovation \u2014 and impact\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWheaton explains that the new Ph.D. aims to equip graduates for a wide range of employment opportunities and growing specializations, including computational neuroscience, neurorehabilitation, cultural and social neuroscience, neuroimaging, cognitive and behavioral neuroscience, developmental neuroscience, and neurolinguistics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe new degree will also help meet the country\u2019s growing demand for a neuro-centric workforce. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, job growth for medical scientists (including neuroscientists) tracked around 13% between 2012 and 2022, faster than the average for all tracked occupations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWheaton adds that the program will equip neuroscientists to conduct research that can significantly improve lives.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESeeking students\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Planning Committee anticipates a tentative February 1, 2025 application deadline for Fall 2025 enrollments \u2014 and encourages students with the following interests to learn more and apply in the coming school year:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EDeveloping deeper quantitative, computing and\/or engineering skills to make scientific discoveries that support innovations in neuroscience\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EA clear, comprehensive understanding of the nervous system at all scales from molecular to systems\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EUnderstanding how to use and innovate new tools and approaches to investigate the nervous system at all levels\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EBecoming uniquely qualified to translate knowledge across neuroscience and related disciplines to create new knowledge in their professional pursuits\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDirector search\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe participating Colleges will soon conduct a search for a \u003Cstrong\u003Eprogram director\u003C\/strong\u003E, engaging a tenured member of the Georgia Tech faculty to serve as the new program\u2019s administrator. A \u003Cstrong\u003Egraduate program committee\u003C\/strong\u003E composed of five faculty members and mentors across the Colleges of Sciences, Computing, and Engineering, will also be created.\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDuring their April 2024 meeting,\u003C\/strong\u003E Regents also announced \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/news.gatech.edu\/news\/2024\/04\/17\/board-regents-approves-funding-and-tuition-increases-fiscal-year-2025\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003Ebudget approvals and tuition changes\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E for Georgia\u0027s 26 member institutions.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Ph.D. Program Planning Committee\u003C\/strong\u003E included the following faculty:\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cem\u003ELewis Wheaton (Committee Chair, Biological Sciences)\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cem\u003EConstantine Dovrolis (Computer Science)\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cem\u003EChristopher Rozell (Electrical and Computer Engineering)\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cem\u003EEric Schumacher (Psychology)\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cem\u003EGarrett Stanley (Biomedical Engineering)\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDavid Collard (College of Sciences Office of the Dean)\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"The new interdisciplinary Ph.D. is expected to enroll its first graduate students in Fall 2025. Sciences will also offer a new Minor in Neuroscience, beginning Fall 2024. "}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe new Ph.D. in Neuroscience and Neurotechnology is expected to enroll its first graduate students in Fall 2025. The interdisciplinary degree is a joint effort with the Colleges of Sciences, Computing, and Engineering. Sciences will also offer a new Minor in Neuroscience, beginning Fall 2024.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The new interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Neuroscience and Neurotechnology is expected to enroll its first graduate students in Fall 2025. Sciences will also offer a new Minor in Neuroscience, beginning Fall 2024. "}],"uid":"34528","created_gmt":"2024-05-02 19:41:10","changed_gmt":"2025-01-27 19:58:53","author":"jhunt7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-05-02T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-05-02T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"673931":{"id":"673931","type":"image","title":"Georgia Tech (Allison Carter)","body":null,"created":"1714680532","gmt_created":"2024-05-02 20:08:52","changed":"1714680532","gmt_changed":"2024-05-02 20:08:52","alt":"Georgia Tech (Allison Carter)","file":{"fid":"257388","name":"Georgia Tech.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/02\/Georgia%20Tech.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/02\/Georgia%20Tech.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2458522,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/05\/02\/Georgia%20Tech.jpg?itok=qlj9ANYs"}}},"media_ids":["673931"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/news\/2023\/09\/18\/georgia-tech-launch-interdisciplinary-neurosciences-research-program","title":"Georgia Tech to Launch Interdisciplinary Neurosciences Research Program"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/new-minor-science-mental-health-and-well-being-launches-school-psychology","title":"New Minor in the Science of Mental Health and Well-Being Launches"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/new-georgia-tech-environmental-science-degree-launches","title":"New Georgia Tech Environmental Science Degree Launches "}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"42911","name":"Education"},{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"193266","name":"cos-research"},{"id":"192249","name":"cos-community"},{"id":"192253","name":"cos-neuro"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39431","name":"Data Engineering and Science"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPrograms:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPh.D. in Neuroscience and Neurotechnology\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cem\u003EContact Professor \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/lewis-wheaton\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ELewis Wheaton\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E, Planning Committee Chair\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/academics\/degrees\/bachelors\/neuroscience-bs\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EUndergraduate Program in Neuroscience\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/academics\/degrees\/bachelors\/neuroscience-bs\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMinor in Neuroscience\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech Neuro and Neuro Next\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPress Contact:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jess@cos.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJess Hunt-Ralston\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EDirector of Communications\u003Cbr\u003ECollege of Sciences at Georgia Tech\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENeuro Next Initiative:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:sarahpeterson@gatech.edu \u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESarah Peterson\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EProgram Manager\u003Cbr\u003EGT Neuro\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAudra Davidson\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EResearch Communications Program Manager\u003Cbr\u003ENeuro Next Initiative at Georgia Tech\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jess@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"679342":{"#nid":"679342","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society Begins Search for Executive Director","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society (INNS) at Georgia Tech has initiated an internal search for its inaugural executive director. This new Interdisciplinary Research Institute (IRI) will build upon the foundation laid by the\u202f\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, fostering cutting-edge research and innovation at the intersection of neuroscience, neurotechnology, and societal impact.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt the newly established IRI, the executive director will profoundly shape a unifying vision for neuroscience research and innovation at Georgia Tech, integrating various disciplines and fostering collaboration across campus. They will translate research into practical applications, engage students, and connect them to industry networks. The ideal candidate will have a visionary, innovative, and entrepreneurial leadership style, with experience in leading large-scale, interdisciplinary research initiatives, securing external funding, and promoting large-scale initiatives both internally and externally.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EINNS aims to advance our understanding of the brain and nervous system, develop transformative technologies, and address critical societal challenges through interdisciplinary collaboration and engagement.\u202fINNS is dedicated to advancing innovative research and educational programs in neuroscience, neurotechnology, and society; fostering a broad and engaged community; and empowering society through public engagement and responsible technology deployment.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/institute-neuroscience-neurotechnology-and-society-executive-director-search#job-description\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EClick here\u003C\/a\u003E to learn more about this position and how to apply.\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe internal search will identify an inaugural executive director for the new Interdisciplinary Research Institute, fostering cutting-edge research and innovation at the intersection of neuroscience, neurotechnology, and societal impact.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The internal search will identify an inaugural executive director for the new Interdisciplinary Research Institute, fostering cutting-edge research and innovation at the intersection of neuroscience, neurotechnology, and societal impact."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2025-01-09 19:27:42","changed_gmt":"2025-01-24 21:27:58","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-01-09T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2025-01-09T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"675986":{"id":"675986","type":"image","title":"INNS-brain.png","body":"\u003Cp\u003EInstitute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society (INNS) is set to launch July 1, 2025.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1736451017","gmt_created":"2025-01-09 19:30:17","changed":"1736451017","gmt_changed":"2025-01-09 19:30:17","alt":"Institute for Neuroscience, Neurotechnology, and Society (INNS) is set to launch July 1, 2025.","file":{"fid":"259676","name":"INNS-brain.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/01\/09\/INNS-brain.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/01\/09\/INNS-brain.png","mime":"image\/png","size":5381537,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/01\/09\/INNS-brain.png?itok=xYKEtbHH"}}},"media_ids":["675986"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/institute-neuroscience-neurotechnology-and-society-executive-director-search","title":"Learn more about the INNS executive director search"},{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/","title":"About the Neuro Next Initiative"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"132","name":"Institute Leadership"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"186857","name":"go-gtmi"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"187582","name":"go-ibb"},{"id":"188087","name":"go-irim"},{"id":"188084","name":"go-ipat"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:pmardhanan3@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EPunya Mardhanan\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["pmardhanan3@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"679941":{"#nid":"679941","#data":{"type":"news","title":"From Molecules to Mind: Farzaneh Najafi Receives Multiple Awards for Cognitive Research","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn psychology and neuroscience research, a host of behaviors fall under the cognitive umbrella: learning, perceiving the environment, storing memories, and making decisions are just a few. Much like binary code underpins complex computational processes, researchers have long been searching for the molecular mechanisms that enable cognition.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/17976\u0022\u003EFarzaneh Najafi\u003C\/a\u003E, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E(SBS) , recently received multiple awards that will enable her to dig deeper into the molecular origins of cognitive processes, with the help of interdisciplinary teams.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIf we want to understand cognition, we really have to start small: at the level of molecules, genes, and the genome, and then work our way up to systems, behavior, and cognition,\u201d says Najafi. \u201cImpactful discoveries happen when people from different disciplines come together and collaborate. That\u2019s how we make real breakthroughs.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETwo of her recent awards stem from the third and final year of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/rescorp.org\/scialog\/molecular-basis-of-cognition\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EScialog: Molecular Basis of Cognition\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;initiative. Funded by the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/rescorp.org\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch Corporation for Science Advancement\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E (RCSA), the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/rctech.com\/about-us\/foundation\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFrederick Gardner Cottrell Foundation\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, and the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.walderfoundation.org\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWalder Foundation\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, this initiative \u003Ca\u003Ehas provided 48 multidisciplinary teams with more than $2.4 million to advance this area of research.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s exciting that Farzaneh has won not just one, but two team-based Scialog awards,\u201d said SBS School Chair \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/3756\u0022\u003EJeffrey (Todd) Streelman\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cSolving big problems in neuroscience often requires teams, and Farzaneh is well-placed to apply this in her research program.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith additional funding from the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=t\u0026amp;source=web\u0026amp;rct=j\u0026amp;opi=89978449\u0026amp;url=https:\/\/www.whitehall.org\/\u0026amp;ved=2ahUKEwjlo5H_9fWKAxXRJNAFHSGqFU4QFnoECAwQAQ\u0026amp;usg=AOvVaw0l-R98tbK3o5VtJkvBd96R\u0022\u003EWhitehall Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chanzuckerberg.com\/\u0022\u003EChan Zuckerberg Initiative,\u003C\/a\u003E Najafi is set to lead several interdisciplinary projects to uncover the role of the cerebellum and neocortex (the brain\u2019s outer layer) across distinct cognitive processes.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAt the end of the day, the goal is to develop effective therapeutics,\u201d says Najafi, whose work has long aimed to better understand and treat psychiatric and neurological disorders. \u201cTo develop targeted treatments, we have to\u0026nbsp;identify the molecules that are at the core of these cognitive processes.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDeeper than thought\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThroughout her career, Najafi has focused on how the brain makes and uses predictions to influence learning and behavior, with a particular focus on an area in the back of the brain called the cerebellum.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWithout those predictions, our perceptions and actions would be significantly delayed, which could impact our survival,\u201d explains Najafi. \u201cLearning happens when we update those predictions to better align with the world around us.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENajafi will bring that cerebellar expertise to two collaborative teams with the Scialog initiative.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWorking with researchers from Stanford University and Case Western Reserve University, one of Najafi\u2019s Scialog projects will focus on how sleep deprivation alters the 3D structure of genetic material in different species\u2019 cerebellum\u2014 and investigate potential mechanisms to reverse those changes.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHer second project, in collaboration with researchers from University of California San Francisco and Duke University, explores how the brain chemical norepinephrine affects cerebellar activity across species. This research aims to understand the cerebellum\u0027s role in behavioral flexibility and adaptation, revealing how these chemical signals influence various brain functions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWorking across disciplines\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFormed at the October 2024 Scialog meeting, Najafi\u2019s two collaborative teams are part of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/rescorp.org\/scialog\u0022\u003Ean RCSA initiative\u003C\/a\u003Ethat unites early career scientists in advancing basic science and developing high-risk, high-reward research projects. The Scialog: Molecular Basis of Cognition initiative, begun in 2022, annually gathered around 50 early career researchers to create collaborative proposals.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe best part of the Scialog meeting was connecting with people from all kinds of disciplines. They worked with different species, used a variety of experimental and computational tools, and some attendees came from non-neuroscience backgrounds,\u201d says Najafi. \u201cI had no idea that these were the topics I was going to write about \u2014 they only came about because of the inspiring conversations I had at the meeting. I really loved the experience.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBoth Scialog teams are highly interdisciplinary, with researchers bringing expertise in different techniques and species to the team. Even within her own lab, Najafi attributes impactful research to interdisciplinary teams.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe only way to solve big questions in neuroscience is through an interdisciplinary approach,\u201d says Najafi, who is affiliated with two Interdisciplinary Research Institutes (IRI) at Georgia Tech: the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/bio\u0022\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/a\u003E and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ENeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E, a nascent IRI in neuroscience and society. \u201cWhat\u2019s great about Georgia Tech is its strong emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration. With these research institutes, the infrastructure is already in place, and they\u0027re actively working to expand it.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe School of Biological Sciences assistant professor has received several awards that will enable interdisciplinary research on the neural mechanisms of cognition.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The School of Biological Sciences assistant professor has received several awards that will enable interdisciplinary research on the neural mechanisms of cognition."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2025-01-24 17:35:18","changed_gmt":"2025-01-24 17:39:44","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-01-24T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2025-01-24T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"676126":{"id":"676126","type":"image","title":"Farzaneh_Najafi-lab_pic.jpeg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EFarzaneh Najafi, assistant professor in the School of Biological Sciences at Georgia Tech, conducting research in her lab.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1737740258","gmt_created":"2025-01-24 17:37:38","changed":"1737740258","gmt_changed":"2025-01-24 17:37:38","alt":"Farzaneh Najafi, assistant professor in the School of Biological Sciences at Georgia Tech, conducting research in her lab.","file":{"fid":"259849","name":"Farzaneh_Najafi-lab_pic.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/01\/24\/Farzaneh_Najafi-lab_pic.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/01\/24\/Farzaneh_Najafi-lab_pic.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3427449,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/01\/24\/Farzaneh_Najafi-lab_pic.jpeg?itok=vBC5WB2s"}},"676127":{"id":"676127","type":"image","title":"Farzaneh-Najafi-research-group.jpeg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EFarzaneh Najafi, who is affiliated with the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience and the Neuro Next Initiative, with her research group.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1737740301","gmt_created":"2025-01-24 17:38:21","changed":"1737740301","gmt_changed":"2025-01-24 17:38:21","alt":"Farzaneh Najafi, who is affiliated with the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience and the Neuro Next Initiative, with her research group.","file":{"fid":"259850","name":"Farzaneh-Najafi-research-group.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/01\/24\/Farzaneh-Najafi-research-group.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/01\/24\/Farzaneh-Najafi-research-group.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3544425,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/01\/24\/Farzaneh-Najafi-research-group.jpeg?itok=ZR-ksUCs"}}},"media_ids":["676126","676127"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/brain-ai-and-back-georgia-tech-hosts-inaugural-computational-cognition-conference","title":"From Brain to AI and Back: Georgia Tech Hosts Inaugural Computational Cognition Conference"},{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/georgia-tech-neuroscientists-explore-intersection-music-and-memory","title":"Georgia Tech Neuroscientists Explore the Intersection of Music and Memory"},{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/neuroscience-study-taps-brain-network-patterns-understand-deep-focus-attention","title":"Neuroscience Study Taps Into Brain Network Patterns to Understand Deep Focus, Attention"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187582","name":"go-ibb"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"192253","name":"cos-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAudra Davidson\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EResearch Communications Program Manager\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ENeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"679169":{"#nid":"679169","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Gregory Sawicki to Serve as Interim Director of the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EEffective January 1st, Gregory Sawicki will serve as interim executive director of the Georgia Tech Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines (IRIM). Sawicki is a professor and the Joseph Anderer Faculty Fellow in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering with a joint appointment in the School of Biological Sciences.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cProfessor Greg Sawicki will make a great interim executive director of IRIM. He brings experience with robotics and collaborative research to this role,\u201d said Julia Kubanek, professor and vice president for interdisciplinary research at Georgia Tech. \u201cHe\u0027ll be a strong partner to faculty, students, and the EVPR team as we explore the future of IRIM and robotics over the next several months.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESawicki succeeds Seth Hutchinson who will be taking a new position at Northeastern University in Boston.\u0026nbsp;Hutchinson, professor and KUKA Chair for Robotics in Georgia Tech\u2019s College of Computing, has served as executive director of IRIM for six years. During Hutchinson\u2019s tenure as executive director, IRIM expanded its industry outreach activities, developed more consistent communications, and grew its faculty pool at Georgia Tech to include a diverse cohort from across the Colleges of Engineering and Computing and the Georgia Tech Research Institute.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I am extremely excited to step into this leadership role for IRIM, maintain our research excellence in the foundational areas of robotics, and proactively leverage opportunities to grow across campus and beyond in novel, creative interdisciplinary directions,\u201d said Sawicki. \u201cThis will involve new initiatives to incentivize connections with GTRI and other IRI\u0027s on campus, to build new industry partnerships, and continue to strengthen the M.S.\/Ph.D. program in Robotics by engaging with Schools beyond those with a traditional footprint in robotics education and research.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESawicki directs the Human Physiology of Wearable Robotics (PoWeR) Lab where he and his group seek to discover physiological principles underpinning locomotion performance and apply them to develop lower-limb robotic devices capable of improving both healthy and impaired\u0026nbsp;human locomotion. By focusing on the human side of the human-machine interface, his team has begun to create a roadmap for the design of lower-limb robotic exoskeletons that are truly symbiotic \u2013 that is, wearable devices that work seamlessly in concert with the underlying physiological systems to facilitate the emergence of augmented human locomotion performance.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESawicki earned a B.S. in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Cornell University in 1999, an M.S. in mechanical and aeronautical engineering from the University of California - Davis in 2001, and a Ph.D. in neuromechanics at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor in 2007. Sawicki completed his postdoctoral studies\u0026nbsp;in integrative biology at Brown University in 2009.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESawicki has been recognized for his interdisciplinary research and teaching, recently receiving a $2.6 million Research Project Grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study optimization and artificial intelligence to personalize exoskeleton assistance for individuals with symptoms resulting from stroke. * Sawicki was also selected as a 2021 George W. Woodruff School Academic Leadership Fellow, and the 2022 College of Sciences Student Recognition of Excellence in Teaching and the 2023 American Society of Biomechanics Founders\u2019 Award for excellence in research and mentoring. Sawicki has also been featured as an expert voice on exoskeletons and human neuromechanics in numerous print and television news releases.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E--Christa M. Ernst\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/news\/woodruff-school-faculty-awarded-26-million-nih-research-project-grant\u0022\u003E*Joint Award with Aaron Young, Assistant Professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Sawicki is a professor and the Joseph Anderer Faculty Fellow in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering with a joint appointment in the School of Biological Sciences."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EEffective January 1st, Gregory Sawicki will serve as interim executive director of the Georgia Tech Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines (IRIM). Sawicki is a professor and the Joseph Anderer Faculty Fellow in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering with a joint appointment in the School of Biological Sciences.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Effective January 1st, Gregory Sawicki will serve as interim executive director of the Georgia Tech Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines (IRIM). "}],"uid":"27863","created_gmt":"2025-01-06 13:59:58","changed_gmt":"2025-01-07 15:16:41","author":"Christa Ernst","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-01-06T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2025-01-06T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"675931":{"id":"675931","type":"image","title":"sawicki_brownhat2_23web_0.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGregory Sawicki to Serve as Interim Director of the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1736172072","gmt_created":"2025-01-06 14:01:12","changed":"1736172072","gmt_changed":"2025-01-06 14:01:12","alt":"Gregory Sawicki","file":{"fid":"259611","name":"sawicki_brownhat2_23web_0.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/01\/06\/sawicki_brownhat2_23web_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/01\/06\/sawicki_brownhat2_23web_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":644647,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/01\/06\/sawicki_brownhat2_23web_0.jpg?itok=FfQB2K-2"}}},"media_ids":["675931"],"groups":[{"id":"197261","name":"Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology"},{"id":"142761","name":"IRIM"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"132","name":"Institute Leadership"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"188087","name":"go-irim"},{"id":"187582","name":"go-ibb"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"654","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"98751","name":"College of Engineering; George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"},{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"},{"id":"39541","name":"Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003EChrista M. Ernst [christa.ernst@research.gatech.edu],\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch Communications Program Manager,\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003ETopic Expertise: Robotics | Data Sciences| Semiconductor Design \u0026amp; Fab\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["christa.ernst@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"678984":{"#nid":"678984","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Moving Assistive Mobility Forward with AI","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAs we go through our daily routines of work, chores, errands and leisure pursuits, most of us take our mobility for granted. Conversely, many people suffer from permanent or temporary mobility issues due to neurological disorders, stroke, injury, and age-related causes.\u0026nbsp; Research in the field of robotic exoskeletons has shown significant potential to provide assistive support for patients with permanent mobility constraints, as well as an effective additional tool for rehabilitation and recovery after injury.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThough the field has made great progress in the hardware and devices for these assistive technologies, there are limitations in ease of use and in the ability to move from walking to running, from flat ground to slopes and stairs, and across different terrains.\u0026nbsp; Recent developments to create exoskeleton controllers that are more responsive to the user\u2019s environment via user-based variables such as gait and slope calculations provide rapid yet imprecise outputs. More recent inquiry into data-driven improvements such as vision-based labeling and classification are extremely promising additions in the goal to develop a true synchronous user and device interface. A major hindrance to this data-driven approach is the need for burdensome mounted cameras and on-board computing to allow for real-time in use adjustments to the environmental terrain encountered.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn order to address these barriers,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.epic.gatech.edu\/dr-aaron-young\/\u0022\u003EAaron Young, Associate Professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Exoskeleton and Prosthetic Intelligent Controls (EPIC) Lab\u003C\/a\u003E, and Dawit Lee, Postdoctoral Scholar at Stanford, have created an artificial intelligence (AI)-based universal exoskeleton controller that uses information from onboard mechanical sensors without the added weight and complexity of mounted vision based systems. The new work, published in Science Advances (Link to Be Added), presents a controller that holistically captures the major variations encountered during community walking in real-time. The team combined data from the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) building guidelines that characterize ambulatory terrains in slope level degrees with a gait phase estimator to achieve dynamic switching of assistance types between multiple terrains and slopes and delivery to the user with little to no delay.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn this work, we have created a new, open-source knee exoskeleton design that is intended to support community mobility. Knee assist devices have tremendous value in activities such as sit-to-stand, stairs, and ramps where we use our biological knees substantially to accomplish these tasks. The neat accomplishment in this work is that by leveraging AI, we avoid the need to classify these different modes discretely but rather have a single continuous variable (in this case rise over run of the surface) to enable continuous and unified control over common ambulatory tasks such as walking, stairs, and ramps. We demonstrate that on novel users of the device, we can track both the environment and the user\u2019s gait state with very high accuracy out of the lab in community settings. It is an exciting time in the field as we see more studies, such as this one, showing promise in tackling real-world mobility challenges\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; - \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.epic.gatech.edu\/dr-aaron-young\/\u0022\u003EAaron Young, Associate Professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Exoskeleton and Prosthetic Intelligent Controls (EPIC) Lab\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe assistance approach using our intelligent controller, presented in this work, provides users with support at the right timing and with a magnitude that closely matches the varying biomechanical effort they produce as they move through the community. Our assistance approach was preferred for community navigation and was more effective in reducing the user\u2019s energy consumption compared to conventional methods. We also open-sourced the design of the robotic knee exoskeleton hardware and the dataset used to train the models with this publication which allows other researchers to build upon our developments and further advance the field. This work demonstrates an exciting example of AI integration into a wearable robotic system, showcasing its successful outcomes and significant potential.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; - Dawit Lee; Postdoctoral Scholar, Stanford\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUsing this combination of a universal slope estimator and a gait phase estimator, the team achieved results in the dynamic modulation of exoskeleton assistance that have never been achieved by previous approaches and moves the field closer to creating an adaptive and effective assistive technology that seamlessly integrates into the daily lives of individuals, promoting enhanced mobility and overall well-being. This work also has the potential to enable a mode-specific assistance approach tailored to the user\u2019s specific biomechanical needs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;- Christa M. Ernst; \u0026nbsp;Research Communications Program Manager\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOriginal Publication\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EDawit Lee, Sanghyub Lee, and Aaron J. Young, \u201cAI-Driven Universal Lower-Limb Exoskeleton System for Community Ambulation,\u201d Science Advances\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPrior Related Work\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ED. Lee, I. Kang, D. D. Molinaro, A. Yu, A. J. Young, Real-time user-independent slope prediction using deep learning for modulation of robotic knee exoskeleton assistance. IEEE Robot. Autom. Lett. 6, 3995\u20134000 (2021).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFunding Provided by\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ENIH Director\u2019s New Innovator Award DP2-HD111709\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERecent developments to create exoskeleton controllers that are more responsive to the user\u2019s environment via user-based variables such as gait and slope calculations provide rapid yet imprecise outputs. More recent inquiry into data-driven improvements such as vision-based labeling and classification are extremely promising additions in the goal to develop a true synchronous user and device interface. A major hindrance to this data-driven approach is the need for burdensome mounted cameras and on-board computing to allow for real-time in use adjustments to the environmental terrain encountered.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Data-driven controller enables real-time assistance modulation by accurately estimating both the user and the environment states."}],"uid":"27863","created_gmt":"2024-12-18 18:16:34","changed_gmt":"2024-12-18 18:20:19","author":"Christa Ernst","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2024-12-18T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2024-12-18T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"675893":{"id":"675893","type":"image","title":"IMG_0075.JPG","body":"\u003Cp\u003EExoskeleton Testing On Campus Stairs\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1734545240","gmt_created":"2024-12-18 18:07:20","changed":"1734545461","gmt_changed":"2024-12-18 18:11:01","alt":"Exoskeleton Testing On Campus Stairs","file":{"fid":"259568","name":"IMG_0075.JPG","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/12\/18\/IMG_0075.JPG","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/12\/18\/IMG_0075.JPG","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":4387037,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/12\/18\/IMG_0075.JPG?itok=LRFhU6-e"}}},"media_ids":["675893"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.epic.gatech.edu\/","title":"The Exoskeleton and Prosthetic Intelligent Controls (EPIC) Lab"}],"groups":[{"id":"142761","name":"IRIM"}],"categories":[{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"188087","name":"go-irim"},{"id":"187582","name":"go-ibb"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"179350","name":"biomedical egnineering"},{"id":"5525","name":"assistive technologies"},{"id":"192863","name":"go-ai"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["christa.ernst@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"678800":{"#nid":"678800","#data":{"type":"news","title":"From Brain to AI and Back: Georgia Tech Hosts Inaugural Computational Cognition Conference","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe human brain is often seen as the world\u0027s most complex computer, processing vast amounts of information, learning from experiences, and making complex decisions. Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coco.psych.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ECenter of Excellence in Computational Cognition (CoCo)\u003C\/a\u003E was established in 2023 to better understand this \u201cbiological computer\u201d using the principles of computation and mathematics.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cResearch on computational cognition leads to a deep, mechanistic understanding of the human mind. It also teaches us how to build more robust and generalizable AI,\u201d says \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.research.gatech.edu\/node\/21227\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EDoby Rahnev\u003C\/a\u003E, a professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESchool of Psychology\u003C\/a\u003E and the Center\u2019s founding director. \u201cCoCo aims to bring together researchers from Georgia Tech, Atlanta, the Southeast, and beyond to advance this field.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Center recently hosted its first annual \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coco.psych.gatech.edu\/coco-conference-2024\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EComputational Cognition Conference\u003C\/a\u003E, gathering over 100 Atlanta-area researchers to explore cutting-edge work in computation, perception, decision-making, and more. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA Growing Field\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EComputational cognition as a field merges psychology, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to understand how our brains work. By creating sophisticated models and simulations, researchers are not only uncovering the secrets of cognition but also paving the way for advancements in AI and technology.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIf you go back just five years, there were only three faculty in the School of Psychology working in computational cognition,\u201d said Rahnev. Now, with over a dozen faculty working in the area, a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/college-sciences-announces-new-minors-phd-program-and-curriculum-additions\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Enew minor in Computation and Cognition\u003C\/a\u003E, and the establishment of CoCo, \u201cComputational cognition has gone from something that barely existed in the School to something that is a recognized strength.\u201d \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECoCo was created as a Center of Excellence in the School of Psychology. Since its founding, it has been supported by the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ECollege of Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ENeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E, the precursor to Georgia Tech\u2019s burgeoning Interdisciplinary Research Institute on neuroscience, neurotechnology, and society.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHeld on Nov. 15, the Center\u2019s inaugural conference connected students and faculty from across Atlanta, featuring over 25 lightning talks by faculty from Georgia Tech and Emory University on a wide range of topics.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis was a special moment for me and everyone else involved,\u201d said Rahnev, who worked with psychology Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/people\/sashank-varma\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESashank Varma\u003C\/a\u003E and inaugural CoCo graduate fellow Alish Dipani to organize the event. \u201cThis conference felt like a coming-of-age event and made it clear that there is a very large community of people working on this topic right here in Atlanta.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThough Rahnev recently stepped down as the Center\u2019s director after his appointment as the School of Psychology\u2019s associate chair for Research, he says, \u201cThe future is bright for CoCo.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cExciting things are happening at Georgia Tech,\u201d said newly appointed CoCo Director \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/people\/robert-wilson\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EBob Wilson\u003C\/a\u003E, an associate professor in psychology. \u201cIn the last few years, there\u0027s been a hiring spree bringing in experts in computation and cognition across psychology, biology, BME, interactive computing, and beyond. Combined with Georgia Tech\u2019s already established excellence in computation and tech, this offers a unique environment where computational approaches are encouraged, and synergies and collaborations between people can grow.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EHosted by the School of Psychology\u2019s Center of Excellence in Computational Cognition, the event gathered over 100 researchers in the Atlanta area to explore cutting-edge work in computation, perception, decision-making, and more.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Hosted by the School of Psychology\u2019s Center of Excellence in Computational Cognition, the event gathered over 100 researchers in the Atlanta area to explore cutting-edge work in computation, perception, decision-making, and more."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2024-12-10 16:31:25","changed_gmt":"2024-12-10 16:40:29","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2024-12-10T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2024-12-10T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"675801":{"id":"675801","type":"image","title":"IMG_0821.jpeg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EFrom left to right: Alish Dipani, inaugural graduate fellow for the Center of Excellence in Computational Cognition (CoCo); Doby Rahnev, psychology professor and founding director of CoCo; Bob Wilson, associate professor in psychology and newly appointed CoCo director; Sashank Varma, psychology professor and conference co-organizer.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1733848605","gmt_created":"2024-12-10 16:36:45","changed":"1733848605","gmt_changed":"2024-12-10 16:36:45","alt":"From left to right: Alish Dipani, inaugural graduate fellow for the Center of Excellence in Computational Cognition (CoCo); Doby Rahnev, psychology professor and founding director of CoCo; Bob Wilson, associate professor in psychology and newly appointed CoCo director; Sashank Varma, psychology professor and conference co-organizer.","file":{"fid":"259467","name":"IMG_0821.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/12\/10\/IMG_0821.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/12\/10\/IMG_0821.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3875101,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/12\/10\/IMG_0821.jpeg?itok=1x8xnpQh"}},"675802":{"id":"675802","type":"image","title":"IMG_0755.jpeg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EOver 100 Atlanta-area researchers attended the inaugural CoCo conference.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1733848777","gmt_created":"2024-12-10 16:39:37","changed":"1733848777","gmt_changed":"2024-12-10 16:39:37","alt":"Over 100 Atlanta-area researchers attended the inaugural CoCo conference.","file":{"fid":"259468","name":"IMG_0755.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/12\/10\/IMG_0755.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/12\/10\/IMG_0755.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":4662063,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/12\/10\/IMG_0755.jpeg?itok=-SzzMJeX"}}},"media_ids":["675801","675802"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/coco.psych.gatech.edu","title":"About CoCo"},{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/georgia-tech-offer-phd-neuroscience-and-neurotechnology-new-minor","title":"Georgia Tech to Offer Ph.D. in Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, New Minor"},{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/psychology-pioneers-ai-generated-podcast","title":"Psychology Pioneers AI-Generated Podcast"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"133","name":"Special Events and Guest Speakers"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"192253","name":"cos-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAudra Davidson\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EResearch Communications Program Manager\u003Cbr\u003ENeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"672133":{"#nid":"672133","#data":{"type":"news","title":"First Cohort Announced for Ascend Faculty Professional Development Program","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAscend, a new career development program for mid-career faculty, launched its cohort for Spring 2024. Supported by the Office of Faculty Professional Development, Ascend cohort members include academic professionals and lecturers from across campus.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp lang=\u0022EN-US\u0022\u003EThe cohort will build on current strengths and successes and explore ways to thrive mid-career and in the future. Using a faculty learning community model and the Appreciative Inquiry framework, participants will explore their interests, values, and goals, and create an actionable, individual strategic plan while developing skills for career growth and leadership.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMembers of the first cohort include:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EWhitney Buser -\u0026nbsp;Director of Master\u2019s Programs and Associate Director of Academic Programs, School of Economics\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EMelissa Foulger - Artistic Director for DramaTech, School of Literature, Media, and Communication\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003ELaura Sams Haynes - Director of Outreach, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EMary Holder - Director of Neuroscience Program, Undergraduate Studies, School of Psychology\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EChristopher Jankowski - Director of Graduate Advising and Assessment, Director of Postdoctoral Teaching Effectiveness, School of Mathematics\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EAshley McKeen\u202f- EXCEL Senior Lecturer, CEISMC\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003ENicoly Myles - Director of the Center for Academics, Success, \u0026amp; Equity (CASE), School of Industrial and Systems Engineering\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EAmanda Nolen - Faculty Teaching and Learning Specialist, Center for Teaching and Learning\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EMatt Nusnbaum -\u0026nbsp;Senior Academic Professional, Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EDaniela Staiculescu - Senior Academic Professional, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003ECassie Thomas - Associate Director of Undergraduate Transition Seminars, Office of Undergraduate Education\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003ERuthie Yow - Associate Director, Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Development.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003EParticipants in this program will\u202flearn to use the Appreciative Inquiry model to develop a personal development plan that includes a vision and mission; goals for personal learning, professional development, and career momentum; and an action plan. The program is designed to support faculty as they practice skills essential for collegiality and leadership in a cohort environment\u202fand explore opportunities for growth and career vitality at Georgia Tech. Participants will also take advantage of four professional coaching sessions during the calendar year with International Coaching Federation-accredited Director of the Office of Faculty Professional Development Rebecca Pope-Ruark.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/faculty.gatech.edu\/ascend-mid-career-development-program-apl-faculty\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ELearn more about the Ascend program.\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAscend, a new career development program for mid-career faculty, launched its cohort for Spring 2024. Supported by the Office of Faculty Professional Development, Ascend cohort members include academic professionals and lecturers from across campus.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Ascend, a new career development program for mid-career faculty, launched its cohort for Spring 2024."}],"uid":"27998","created_gmt":"2024-01-16 20:22:44","changed_gmt":"2024-12-04 20:58:40","author":"Brittany Aiello","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-01-16T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2024-01-16T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"672760":{"id":"672760","type":"image","title":"French Building.jpg","body":null,"created":"1705436592","gmt_created":"2024-01-16 20:23:12","changed":"1705436592","gmt_changed":"2024-01-16 20:23:12","alt":"An image of the A. French building on Georgia Tech\u0027s campus, which is home to the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty.","file":{"fid":"256059","name":"French Building.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/01\/16\/French%20Building.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/01\/16\/French%20Building.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":592816,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/01\/16\/French%20Building.jpg?itok=BATFXzXB"}}},"media_ids":["672760"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/faculty.gatech.edu\/ascend-mid-career-development-program-apl-faculty","title":"Ascend Mid-Career Development Program for APL Faculty"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"1279","name":"School of Mathematics"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"193422","name":"Ascend"},{"id":"4435","name":"faculty career"},{"id":"193400","name":"Faculty Professional Development"},{"id":"193423","name":"Office of Faculty Professional Development"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"192249","name":"cos-community"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39511","name":"Public Service, Leadership, and Policy"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERebecca Pope-Ruark\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDirector of the Office of Faculty Professional Development\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["rpoperuark3@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"677935":{"#nid":"677935","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Graduate Students Chosen for ARCS Scholar Awards","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EFour Ph.D. candidates from the College of Sciences have been selected as new recipients of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.arcsfoundation.org\/about-arcs-scholars\u0022\u003EAchievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation Scholar Award\u003C\/a\u003E. The award recognizes doctoral students who show exceptional promise in making a significant contribution to the worldwide advancement of science and technology. The new recipients join three returning scholars from the College of Sciences. To view all of the current Georgia Tech ARCS Scholars, visit:\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/atlanta.arcsfoundation.org\/current-scholars-2024-25\u0022\u003E2024-25 ARCS Atlanta Scholars\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMeet the 2024-25 ARCS Scholars\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAlivia Eng\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EEng is a Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) Fellow. Her research compares rover and orbital datasets of Mars to increase the spatial resolution of quantitative geologic mapping.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cI am excited to receive this award as it validates the importance of my research and my abilities as a scientist,\u201d says Eng.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ENominated by her advisor, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Assistant Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/people\/rivera-hernandez-dr-frances\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFrances Rivera-Hern\u00e1ndez\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, Eng is also a part of Georgia Tech\u0027s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute and Center for Lunar Environment and Volatile Exploration Research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cAlivia is an exceptional graduate student and planetary scientist,\u201d says Rivera-Hern\u00e1ndez. \u201cHer curiosity, passion, and question-driven approach have sparked multiple new projects at Georgia Tech and led my research group in exciting new directions. Beyond her research, Alivia is deeply committed to community engagement, aiming to inspire future generations to pursue careers in planetary geology. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with her.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMarrissa Izykowicz, \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Chemistry and Biochemistry\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EIzykowicz\u2019s research focuses on synthesizing nanoparticles designed to target and retain anti-cancer drugs in both primary and metastatic tumors of various cancers. Her research tackles the challenge of treating metastatic lesions, which are difficult to target due to their small size and abundance.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cI am deeply passionate about my work because it addresses an issue that has plagued humanity for centuries,\u201d says Izykowicz. \u201cMy research investigates the\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003Ecomplexities of metastatic cancer, building on the knowledge of those who came before me to pave the way toward a potential cure.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EShe was nominated for the award by \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\/people\/mg-finn\u0022\u003EM.G. Finn\u003C\/a\u003E, who serves as a professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the James A. Carlos Family Chair for Pediatric Technology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cMarrissa is a wonderful student and colleague\u0026nbsp;\u2014\u0026nbsp;always willing to do whatever is needed to advance her studies,\u201d says Finn. \u201cHer research is tremendously exciting, working with collaborator\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EStephen Housley\u003C\/strong\u003E on nanoparticles that can deliver medications directly to cancerous tumors. The project involves chemistry, cell biology, immunology, and analytical biochemistry, and Marrissa does it all with great dedication and expertise.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EZach Mobille, \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/math.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Mathematics\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EMobille is pursuing a Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences, specializing in computational neuroscience.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cI am passionate about my research because it sheds light on how the brain\u2019s structure and abilities are related quantitatively,\u201d says Mobille. \u201cIt targets a deeper understanding of how information is processed in networks of neurons, which may influence how computational devices are designed in the future.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EMobille serves as chair of the community impact committee of the Georgia Tech\/Emory Computational Neural-engineering Training Program (CNTP) and is a past recipient of Georgia Tech\u2019s\u0026nbsp;InQuBATE Training grant.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ESchool of Mathematics Assistant Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/hannah-choi\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHannah Choi\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, who advises Mobille, states: \u201cZach is driven by curiosity and determined to solve complex research problems. He has consistently impressed me with his creativity and motivation in computational neuroscience. Zach proposes innovative ideas, is never afraid of learning new techniques, and takes initiative in his research. I am thrilled that the ARCS fellowship has recognized his qualities as an independent and creative researcher.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJohn Pederson\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Chemistry and Biochemistry\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EPederson uses computer simulations to study chemistry at solid\/liquid interfaces at the molecular scale.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cComputational modeling across length- and time-scales is a powerful technique for gaining insight into chemical and physical processes,\u201d says Pederson. \u201cWith my research, I hope to promote wider adoption of these multi-scale computational techniques to enable the design of cleaner and safer chemical processes.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EIn addition to his research work, Pederson helped organize and run ComSciCon-ATL 2024, an interdisciplinary science communications conference for Southeast STEM graduate students.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cJohn is an outstanding researcher and problem-solver,\u201d says\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\/people\/jesse-mcdaniel\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJessie McDaniel\u003C\/strong\u003E,\u003C\/a\u003E associate professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry who nominated Pederson. \u201dHe has contributed substantially to software and method development efforts that form the core of our group\u2019s work on studying chemical reaction mechanisms in complex environments related to electrochemistry and surface chemistry. John exemplifies excellence in all facets of research, scholarship, and service.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EHighlighting their potential to make significant contributions to science and technology, four College of Sciences Ph.D. candidates have earned the prestigious Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation Scholar Award. The new scholars join three returning College of Sciences ARCS recipients.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Highlighting their potential to make significant contributions to science and technology, four College of Sciences Ph.D. candidates have earned the prestigious Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation Scholar Award."}],"uid":"36607","created_gmt":"2024-10-28 13:48:45","changed_gmt":"2024-12-04 20:55:20","author":"ls67","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-10-28T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-10-28T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"675442":{"id":"675442","type":"image","title":"New College of Sciences ARCS Scholars (from left to right): Alivia Eng, Marrissa Izykowicz, Zach Mobille, and John Pederson.","body":"\u003Cp\u003ENew College of Sciences ARCS Scholars (from left to right): Alivia Eng, Marrissa Izykowicz, Zach Mobille, and John Pederson.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1730123358","gmt_created":"2024-10-28 13:49:18","changed":"1730123358","gmt_changed":"2024-10-28 13:49:18","alt":"Four headshots","file":{"fid":"259066","name":"ARCS Scholars.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/28\/ARCS%20Scholars.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/28\/ARCS%20Scholars.png","mime":"image\/png","size":6025244,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/10\/28\/ARCS%20Scholars.png?itok=cyUjwaWY"}}},"media_ids":["675442"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"85951","name":"School of Chemistry and Biochemistry"},{"id":"364801","name":"School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS)"},{"id":"1279","name":"School of Mathematics"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"140","name":"Cancer Research"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"193157","name":"Student Honors and Achievements"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"192259","name":"cos-students"},{"id":"18691","name":"graduate student awards"},{"id":"192252","name":"cos-planetary"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"192249","name":"cos-community"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWriter: Laura Smith, College of Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["laura.smith@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"677194":{"#nid":"677194","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Research Duo Awarded the Fulkerson Prize","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EComputing the volume of a convex body is an ancient problem that mathematicians have been working on for centuries. School of Computer Science (SCS) Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/faculty.cc.gatech.edu\/~vempala\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESantosh Vempala\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E and Ph.D. alumnus \u003Cstrong\u003EBen Cousins\u003C\/strong\u003E were recently awarded for their solution.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers received the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ams.org\/news?news_id=7345\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFulkerson Prize\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, which awards outstanding papers in discrete mathematics. The Mathematical Optimization Society and the American Mathematical Society jointly award the prize every three years. This year\u2019s prize was presented at the International Symposium on Mathematical Programming (ISMP 2024) in July in Montreal.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMany solutions have been proposed to estimate the volume of a convex body, but these have all been time-consuming and highly impractical. In 2018, Vempala and Cousins found a method that is faster in theory and practical in thousands of dimensions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETheir \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/epubs.siam.org\/doi\/abs\/10.1137\/15M1054250\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003Enew method\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E makes it faster to estimate the volume by working with a sequence of Gaussian distributions- or high-dimensional bell curves- inside the convex body of interest.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo achieve these improvements, the method involves a faster and more efficient way of picking random points inside the shape. It also chains together these samples to obtain an accurate estimate of the volume. Sampling and volume computation have diverse applications in fields such as Bayesian inference, differential privacy, systems biology, and others.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022The algorithmic perspective in high dimension has been very rewarding; I am grateful to have been introduced to it early in my research life and eager to see what lies ahead,\u201d said Vempala.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERenowned computer science researcher Ravi Kannan offered his congratulations to Vempala. In 1991, Kannan received the Fulkerson Prize for his work with Martin Dyer and Alan Frieze on the first theoretically efficient approximation of the volume of a convex body.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022He has been a leader in high dimensional geometric algorithms derived with the help of his deep insights into the mathematical structure and richly deserves the prize,\u0022 Kannan said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlong with his role in SCS, Vempala serves as the Frederick Storey II Chair of Computing and as an adjunct professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/math.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Mathematics\u003C\/a\u003E and the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. He is also the director of Georgia Tech\u2019s Ph.D. program in Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization, which includes faculty from multiple Georgia Tech schools.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ESchool of Mathematics Adjunct Professor Santosh Vempala and Georgia Tech alumnus Ben Cousins (Ph.D. ACO 2017) were honored for their method of estimating the volume of a convex body.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"School of Mathematics Adjunct Professor Santosh Vempala and Georgia Tech alumnus Ben Cousins (Ph.D. ACO 2017) were honored for their method of estimating the volume of a convex body."}],"uid":"36583","created_gmt":"2024-09-30 15:34:19","changed_gmt":"2024-12-04 20:54:36","author":"lvidal7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-09-23T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-09-23T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"675156":{"id":"675156","type":"image","title":"Santosh Vempala","body":null,"created":"1727710500","gmt_created":"2024-09-30 15:35:00","changed":"1727710991","gmt_changed":"2024-09-30 15:43:11","alt":"Photo of Santosh Vempala ","file":{"fid":"258758","name":"Santosh S. Vempala.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/09\/30\/Santosh%20S.%20Vempala.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/09\/30\/Santosh%20S.%20Vempala.png","mime":"image\/png","size":133465,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/09\/30\/Santosh%20S.%20Vempala.png?itok=4L-hUxQ7"}}},"media_ids":["675156"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1279","name":"School of Mathematics"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"168854","name":"School of Mathematics"},{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"106","name":"Fulkerson Prize"},{"id":"173647","name":"_for_math_site_"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"193733","name":"_for_math_site_manual_feed_"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMorgan Usry\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ECommunications Officer\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003ESchool of Computer Science\u003Cbr\u003ECollege of Computing\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["morgan.usry@cc.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"677688":{"#nid":"677688","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Brain Change: Ming-fai Fong using CAREER Award to enhance lives through community-driven research","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Ming-fai-Fong\u0022\u003EMing-fai Fong\u003C\/a\u003E has always been interested in what she thinks of as the existential struggle embedded in her research; this notion of focusing simultaneously on the science and the people it can impact.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt turns out, the struggle is more like a loop, with the research impacting the people, and the people impacting the direction of the research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u2019m interested in how things work, in the science, in exploring and researching. But I always ask myself, \u2018what or who am I doing this for?\u2019 So, I try my best to stay connected with the community, with the people whose health and wellbeing we\u2019re ultimately working to improve,\u201d said Fong, assistant professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/\u0022\u003EWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E at Georgia Tech and Emory University.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFong\u2019s desire to stay connected to communities through her work manifested while she was an undergraduate mechanical engineering student at M.I.T. She wanted to make assistive devices for individuals with disabilities. So, she moved to northwestern Mexico for a fellowship designing wheelchairs for people who had been impacted by drug violence in the region.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat experience indirectly led her to the Coulter Department, where \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/fong-lab.github.io\/\u0022\u003Ethe Fong lab\u003C\/a\u003E studies how activity and experience shape brain circuits, with the goal of developing treatments for neurological disorders. Currently, her team is investigating the central visual pathway and visual impairments.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd when they aren\u2019t working on research, Fong and the students in her lab volunteer with the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cviga.org\/\u0022\u003ECenter for the Visually Impaired\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gablindsports.org\/\u0022\u003EGeorgia Blind Sports Association\u003C\/a\u003E. And whether they are repairing specialized typewriters called Braillers or working with athletes and coaches at a goalball match, those activities are helping to guide the research. It\u2019s all part of the existential loop.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur latest research proposal really grew out of our interactions with the blind and visually impaired community in Atlanta,\u201d said Fong, who recently won a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and will use the funding to support her lab\u2019s study of plasticity \u2014 the ability to adapt and learn \u2014 in the adult brain.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe were inspired by the residual sensory abilities of many people we\u2019ve interacted with,\u201d Fong added. \u201cFor example, some visually impaired people may develop a heightened sense of hearing. Motivated by a lack of accommodations and infrastructure for this community, we want to study how these enhanced sensory capacities emerge in people with irreversible visual impairment.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPlasticity City\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile Fong is referring to a lack of real-world infrastructure suitable for blind and visually impaired people, the concept is an appropriate metaphor when explaining the brain and plasticity.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThink of the brain as a growing city when we\u2019re young, constantly under construction, new infrastructure rapidly emerging everywhere. This is known as the \u201ccritical period.\u201d When we\u2019re children, that\u2019s a period time when the brain is very adaptable and capable of easily learning new things. As our brains age (or the city grows), development slows down \u2014 because neuroplasticity decreases as we get older.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen you experience vision loss, it\u2019s kind of like what happens when a major road closes and the city has to work quickly to find other routes to keep traffic moving. When vision is lost, the flexible brain reconfigures itself to adapt, finding new ways to process information through other senses, like hearing.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut it\u2019s a matter of timing, a window of opportunity that Fong and her team want to keep open, if possible.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe want to understand the critical period, and how this reconfiguration process works,\u201d said Fong. \u201cUltimately, we think that by depriving the brain of one sense, like vision, we can reopen the critical period, making the brain more adaptable again, even in adulthood.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo test their ideas, Fong\u2019s team will observe how the brains of mice change when vision is impaired, paying close attention to areas of the brain responsible for hearing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHopefully, we can reveal new ways to help people with sensory impairments by making their brains more adaptable, like they were in childhood,\u201d said Fong, who is quick to point out a common misconception: losing your vision does not automatically improve your audition, or sense of hearing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EYes, there are people with vision loss who learn to expertly use echolocation \u2014 making sounds and listening to the echoes \u2014 to navigate their surroundings. But that may be the exception, particularly when thinking of people who lose their vision as adults.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cFor every one of those stories, there are 100 others in which someone can\u2019t tell you what direction a sound is coming from,\u201d said Fong.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to studying ways to identify and leverage the critical period of plasticity, Fong will use the CAREER Award to help support her lab\u2019s education initiatives targeting blind and visually impaired youth. With hands-on Brailler repair workshops and multi-sensory teaching tools, the program seeks to create inclusive learning environments for all non-visual learners, while promoting broader diversity in STEM fields.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBeyond the lab and the research, Fong is considering her initial motivation for the work, \u201cthe lack of inclusive infrastructure for individuals with disabilities. One long term goal we have is to provide a neuro-scientific basis for advocating for improved accommodations,\u201d she said. \u201cIf our work can help make it possible for this remarkable community to participate in and contribute to society more broadly, that would be huge.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMing-fai Fong, assistant professor at Georgia Tech and Emory, researches brain plasticity and its role in adapting to vision loss. Her work, informed by community outreach with the visually impaired, aims to develop treatments for neurological disorders and advocate for inclusive infrastructure.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Ming-fai Fong, assistant professor at Georgia Tech and Emory, researches brain plasticity and its role in adapting to vision loss."}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2024-10-17 14:22:33","changed_gmt":"2024-10-29 15:40:25","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-10-17T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-10-17T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"675340":{"id":"675340","type":"image","title":"Ming-fai Fong in lab","body":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen we lose one sense, like vision, do our other senses get stronger? Ming-fai Fong is using her NSF CAREER Award to find out. \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; Photo by Jerry Grillo\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1729174508","gmt_created":"2024-10-17 14:15:08","changed":"1729174620","gmt_changed":"2024-10-17 14:17:00","alt":"Ming-fai Fong, BME researcher","file":{"fid":"258951","name":"Ming in lab.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/17\/Ming%20in%20lab.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/17\/Ming%20in%20lab.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2617818,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/10\/17\/Ming%20in%20lab.jpg?itok=NIx3zm2O"}}},"media_ids":["675340"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"194034","name":"brain plasticity"},{"id":"173478","name":"neural plasticity"},{"id":"194035","name":"visual impairment"},{"id":"194036","name":"blindness"},{"id":"1912","name":"brain"},{"id":"187320","name":"brain activity"},{"id":"11322","name":"brain adaptation"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"677366":{"#nid":"677366","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Unlocking the Brain: Using Microbubbles and Ultrasound for Drug Delivery","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe brain is a stronghold, the central command center for the body, protected by the blood-brain barrier (BBB). This network of blood vessels and tissues acts as a biological gatekeeper, a selective filter that prevents harmful substances in the bloodstream from entering the brain\u2019s complex ecosystem.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s protection that comes at a cost. While the BBB lets some things in \u2014 like water, oxygen, general anesthetics made of very small molecules \u2014 it also prevents many vital therapeutics from reaching the brain, limiting the treatment options for neurological problems.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut a multinational team of researchers led by Georgia Tech biomedical engineer\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/costas-arvanitis\u0022\u003ECostas Arvanitis\u003C\/a\u003E is tackling the challenge with a technique that combines microbubbles \u2014 tiny gas-filled spheres \u2014 and ultrasound technology. Their innovative approach aims to temporarily open the BBB, allowing drugs or immune cells in to take on the fight against disease, offering therapeutic hope for patients battling conditions like brain cancer or Alzheimer\u2019s disease.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe found that microbubble-enhanced ultrasound, an emerging technology that offers a noninvasive way to temporarily open the blood-brain barrier, allows blood-borne therapeutics to reach the brain,\u201d said Arvanitis, associate professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/\u0022\u003EWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorge W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe technique can potentially be fine-tuned to establish windows of opportunity to target brain diseases, he added. Costas and his collaborators\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-024-52329-y\u0022\u003Edescribe their work in a recent edition of \u003Cem\u003ENature Communications\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBouncing Bubbles\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMicrobubbles, smaller than the diameter of human hair, have shells made of a lipid or protein. In healthcare, they\u2019re often used to help enhance visibility in ultrasound, acting as contrast agents, illuminating details inside the body.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUltrasound uses high-frequency sound waves to create images. When microbubbles are exposed to focused ultrasound waves, they rapidly expand and contract. This gentle mechanical force shakes the protective barrier surrounding the brain, creating small openings for aid to pass through.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cDespite their simple structure, microbubbles have complex behaviors,\u201d Arvanitis said. \u201cThey can resonate at specific frequencies, allowing us to manipulate their oscillations to enhance permeability at the blood-brain barrier. And their behavior also depends on their size and shell composition.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor instance, microbubbles with elastic shells are more effective in increasing the permeability of the BBB. In their research, Arvanitis and his collaborators noted a 12-fold increase in drug delivery effectiveness using elastic-shelled (lipid-based) microbubbles.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMath Before Mice\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers conducted studies using mice but began with a mathematical model to simulate microbubble dynamics in brain vessels. They identified a resonant frequency that enhances microbubble movement and explored the correlation between frequency, bubble dynamics, and inflammatory responses in the brain.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETheir model and later experiments showed that specific ultrasound frequencies can enhance immune cell movement and increase drug accumulation in brain tumors. They also found that higher ultrasound frequencies, while effective in opening the BBB, were also accompanied by increased expression of inflammatory markers on the endothelia cells of the BBB \u2014 an important finding, as excessive inflammation can lead to further complications in patients with neurological disorders.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022By understanding and controlling the frequency dynamics of microbubbles, we can create a system that maximizes drug delivery efficacy,\u201d Arvanitis said. \u201cOur findings suggest that using lower frequencies may be beneficial for delivering therapeutics while reducing inflammation, which can be crucial for treating neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer\u0027s and Parkinson\u0027s.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe research has implications that could extend beyond drug delivery, paving the way for new diagnostic techniques. Using ultrasound to open the BBB could allow clinicians to gather important information directly from the brain, improving diagnostic techniques, like ultrasound-enhanced biopsies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe scientific principles established by our work not only enhance our ability to develop safer and more effective treatments for brain diseases, but also lays the groundwork for innovative diagnostic and therapeutic strategies within and beyond the brain,\u201d said Arvanitis, whose team included graduate students from his lab as well as researchers from the University of California (San Francisco), Stanford, and the University of Edinburgh.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe added, \u201cThe dynamics of microbubbles interacting with blood vessels could have important implications in other areas of medicine that we haven\u2019t yet explored.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECITATION:\u003C\/strong\u003E Yutong Guo, Hohyun Lee, Chulyong Kim, Christian Park, Akane Yamamichi, Pavlina Chuntova, Marco Gallus, Miguel Bernabeu, Hideho Okada, Hanjoong Jo, Costas Arvanitis.\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-024-52329-y\u0022\u003E\u201cUltrasound frequency-controlled microbubble dynamics in brain vessels regulate the enrichment of inflammatory pathways in the blood-brain barrier.\u201d\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E Nature Communications \u0026nbsp;doi.org\/10.1038\/s41467-024-52329-y\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFUNDING:\u003C\/strong\u003E This study was supported by NIH grants R37 CA239039, R01CA273878, R35NS105068, HL119798, HL139757, HL151358, and T32HL166146. This study was also supported by the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Ians Friends Foundation, and the German Research Foundation, and the Leducq Foundation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EResearchers led by Costas Arvanitis at Georgia Tech have developed a method using microbubbles and ultrasound to temporarily open the blood-brain barrier (BBB), enhancing drug delivery to the brain. This breakthrough could improve treatments for brain cancer, Alzheimer\u0027s, and more, by safely targeting the BBB.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Researchers led by Costas Arvanitis at Georgia Tech have developed a method using microbubbles and ultrasound to temporarily open the blood-brain barrier (BBB), enhancing drug delivery to the brain"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2024-10-08 13:50:22","changed_gmt":"2024-10-23 14:36:57","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-10-08T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-10-08T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"675241":{"id":"675241","type":"image","title":"Costas Arvanitis","body":"\u003Cp\u003ECostas Arvanitis is developing a method using microbubbles and ultrasound to breach the blood-brain barrier. \u2014 Photo by Jerry Grillo\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1728395115","gmt_created":"2024-10-08 13:45:15","changed":"1728395197","gmt_changed":"2024-10-08 13:46:37","alt":"Costas Arvanitis BME researcher","file":{"fid":"258843","name":"Costas Lab.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/08\/Costas%20Lab.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/08\/Costas%20Lab.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":7213847,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/10\/08\/Costas%20Lab.jpg?itok=Jo_fxvYz"}}},"media_ids":["675241"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"},{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"193999","name":"microbubbles"},{"id":"7677","name":"ultrasound"},{"id":"7615","name":"ultrasound drug delivery pharmaceutical therapy"},{"id":"178946","name":"blood-brain barrier"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"677707":{"#nid":"677707","#data":{"type":"news","title":"New Faculty Pluses School\u2019s Expertise in Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETwo new assistant professors joined the School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) faculty this fall.\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/lumimim.github.io\/\u0022\u003ELu Mi\u003C\/a\u003E comes to Georgia Tech from the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, where she was a Shanahan Foundation Fellow.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWe sat down with Mi to learn more about her background and to introduce her to the Georgia Tech and College of Computing communities.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFaculty:\u003C\/strong\u003E Lu Mi, assistant professor, School of CSE\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch Interests:\u003C\/strong\u003E Computational Neuroscience, Machine Learning\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEducation:\u003C\/strong\u003E Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; B.S. in Measurement, Control, and Instruments from Tsinghua University\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHometown:\u003C\/strong\u003E Sichuan, China (home of the giant pandas)\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow have your first few months at Georgia Tech gone so far?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI\u2019ve really enjoyed my time at Georgia Tech. Developing a new course has been both challenging and rewarding. I\u2019ve learned a lot from the process and conversations with students. My colleagues have been incredibly welcoming, and I\u2019ve had the opportunity to work with some very smart and motivated students here at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EYou hit the ground running this year by teaching your CSE 8803 course on brain-inspired machine intelligence. What important concepts do you teach in this class?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis course focuses on comparing biological neural networks with artificial neural networks. We explore questions like: How does the brain encode information, perform computations, and learn? What can neuroscience and artificial intelligence (AI) learn from each other? Key topics include spiking neural networks, neural coding, and biologically plausible learning rules. By the end of the course, I expect students to have a solid understanding of neural algorithms and the emerging NeuroAI field.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhen and how did you become interested in computational neuroscience in the first place?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI\u2019ve been fascinated by how the brain works since I was young. My formal engagement with the field began during my Ph.D. research, where we developed algorithms to help neuroscientists map large-scale synaptic wiring diagrams in the brain. Since then, I\u2019ve had the opportunity to collaborate with researchers at institutions like Harvard, the Janelia Research Campus, the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and the University of Washington on various exciting projects in this field.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat about your experience and research are you currently most proud of?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI\u2019m particularly proud of the framework we developed to integrate black-box machine learning models with biologically realistic mechanistic models. We use advanced deep-learning techniques to infer unobserved information and combine this with prior knowledge from mechanistic models. This allows us to test hypotheses by applying different model variants. I believe this framework holds great potential to address a wide range of scientific questions, leveraging the power of AI.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat about Georgia Tech convinced you to accept a faculty position?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech CSE felt like a perfect fit for my background and research interests, particularly within the AI4Science initiative and the development of computational tools for biology and neuroscience. My work overlaps with several colleagues here, and I\u2019m excited to collaborate with them. Georgia Tech also has a vibrant and impactful \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ENeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E community, which is another great attraction.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat are your hobbies and interests when not researching and teaching?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI enjoy photography and love spending time with my two corgi dogs, especially taking them for walks.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat have you enjoyed most so far about living in Atlanta?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI\u2019ve really appreciated the peaceful, green environment with so many trees. I\u2019m also looking forward to exploring more outdoor activities, like fishing and golfing.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETwo new assistant professors joined the School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) faculty this fall.\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/lumimim.github.io\/\u0022\u003ELu Mi\u003C\/a\u003E comes to Georgia Tech from the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, where she was a Shanahan Foundation Fellow.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWe sat down with Mi to learn more about her background and to introduce her to the Georgia Tech and College of Computing communities.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Two new assistant professors joined the School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) faculty this fall. Lu Mi comes to Georgia Tech from the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, where she was a Shanahan Foundation Fellow. "}],"uid":"36319","created_gmt":"2024-10-17 19:00:39","changed_gmt":"2024-10-17 19:06:02","author":"Bryant Wine","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-10-17T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-10-17T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"675349":{"id":"675349","type":"image","title":"Story Cover.jpg","body":null,"created":"1729191699","gmt_created":"2024-10-17 19:01:39","changed":"1729191699","gmt_changed":"2024-10-17 19:01:39","alt":"New CSE Faculty Lu Mi","file":{"fid":"258962","name":"Story Cover.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/17\/Story%20Cover.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/17\/Story%20Cover.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":68737,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/10\/17\/Story%20Cover.jpg?itok=EU-819PB"}}},"media_ids":["675349"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/new-faculty-pluses-schools-expertise-neuroscience-and-artificial-intelligence","title":"New Faculty Pluses School\u2019s Expertise in Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence"}],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"50877","name":"School of Computational Science and Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"42901","name":"Community"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"}],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"192863","name":"go-ai"},{"id":"172288","name":"School of Computational Science Engineering"},{"id":"654","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"2556","name":"artificial intelligence"},{"id":"9167","name":"machine learning"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBryant Wine, Communications Officer\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:bryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ebryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"677219":{"#nid":"677219","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines Announces New Initiative Leads","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines (IRIM) launched a new initiatives program, starting with several winning proposals, with corresponding initiative leads that will broaden the scope of IRIM\u2019s research beyond its traditional core strengths. A major goal is to stimulate collaboration across areas not typically considered as technical robotics, such as policy, education, and the humanities, as well as open new inter-university and inter-agency collaboration routes. In addition to guiding their specific initiatives, these leads will serve as an informal internal advisory body for IRIM. Initiative leads will be announced annually, with existing initiative leaders considered for renewal based on their progress in achieving community building and research goals. We hope that initiative leads will act as the \u201cfaculty face\u201d of IRIM and communicate IRIM\u2019s vision and activities to audiences both within and outside of Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMeet 2024 IRIM Initiative Leads\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EStephen Balakirsky; Regents\u0027 Researcher, Georgia Tech Research Institute \u0026amp; Panagiotis Tsiotras; David \u0026amp; Andrew Lewis Endowed Chair, Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace\u0026nbsp;Engineering | Proximity Operations for Autonomous Servicing\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhy It Matters:\u003C\/strong\u003E Proximity operations in space refer to the intricate and precise maneuvers and activities that spacecraft or satellites perform when they are in close proximity to each other, such as docking, rendezvous, or station-keeping. These operations are essential for a variety of space missions, including crewed spaceflights, satellite servicing, space exploration, and maintaining satellite constellations. While this is a very broad field, this initiative will concentrate on robotic servicing and associated challenges. In this context, robotic servicing is composed of proximity operations that are used for servicing and repairing satellites in space. In robotic servicing, robotic arms and tools perform maintenance tasks such as refueling, replacing components, or providing operation enhancements to extend a satellite\u0027s operational life or increase a satellite\u2019s capabilities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOur Approach:\u003C\/strong\u003E By forming an initiative in this important area, IRIM will open opportunities within the rapidly evolving space community. This will allow us to create proposals for organizations ranging from NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force. This will also position us to become national leaders in this area. While several universities have a robust robotics program and quite a few have a strong space engineering program, there are only a handful of academic units with the breadth of expertise to tackle this problem. Also, even fewer universities have the benefit of an experienced applied research partner, such as the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), to undertake large-scale demonstrations. Georgia Tech, having world-renowned programs in aerospace engineering and robotics, is uniquely positioned to be a leader in this field. In addition, creating a workshop in proximity operations for autonomous servicing will allow the GTRI and Georgia Tech space robotics communities to come together and better understand strengths and opportunities for improvement in our abilities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMatthew Gombolay; Assistant Professor, Interactive Computing | Human-Robot Society in 2125: IRIM Leading the Way\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhy It Matters:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003EThe coming robot \u201capocalypse\u201d and foundation models captured the zeitgeist in 2023 with \u201cChatGPT\u201d becoming a topic at the dinner table and the probability occurrence of various scenarios of AI driven technological doom being a hotly debated topic on social media. Futuristic visions of ubiquitous embodied Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics have become tangible. The proliferation and effectiveness of first-person view drones in the Russo-Ukrainian War, autonomous taxi services along with their failures, and inexpensive robots (e.g., Tesla\u2019s Optimus and Unitree\u2019s G1) have made it seem like children alive today may have robots embedded in their everyday lives. Yet, there is a lack of trust in the public leadership bringing us into this future to ensure that robots are developed and deployed with beneficence.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOur Approach:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003EThis proposal seeks to assemble a team of bright, savvy operators across academia, government, media, nonprofits, industry, and community stakeholders to develop a roadmap for how we can be the most trusted voice to guide the public in the next 100 years of innovation in robotics here at the IRIM. We propose to carry out specific activities that include conducting the activities necessary to develop a roadmap about Robots in 2125: Altruistic and Integrated Human-Robot Society. We also aim to build partnerships to promulgate these outcomes across Georgia Tech\u2019s campus and internationally.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGregory Sawicki; Joseph Anderer Faculty Fellow, School of Mechanical Engineering \u0026amp; Aaron Young; Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering | Wearable Robotic Augmentation for Human Resilience\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhy It Matters:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003EThe field of robotics continues to evolve beyond rigid, precision-controlled machines for amplifying production on manufacturing assembly lines toward soft, wearable systems that can mediate the interface between human users and their natural and built environments. Recent advances in materials science have made it possible to construct flexible garments with embedded sensors and actuators (e.g., exosuits). In parallel, computers continue to get smaller and more powerful, and state-of-the art machine learning algorithms can extract useful information from more extensive volumes of input data in real time. Now is the time to embed lean, powerful, sensorimotor elements alongside high-speed and efficient data processing systems in a continuous wearable device.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOur Approach:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003EThe mission of the Wearable Robotic Augmentation for Human Resilience (WeRoAHR) initiative is to merge modern advances in sensing, actuation, and computing technology to imagine and create adaptive, wearable augmentation technology that can improve human resilience and longevity across the physiological spectrum\u0026nbsp;\u2014 from behavioral to cellular scales. The near-term effort (~2-3 years) will draw on Georgia Tech\u2019s existing ecosystem of basic scientists and engineers to develop WeRoAHR systems that will focus on key targets of opportunity to increase human resilience (e.g., improved balance, dexterity, and stamina). These initial efforts will establish seeds for growth intended to help launch larger-scale, center-level efforts (\u0026gt;5 years).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPanagiotis Tsiotras; David \u0026amp; Andrew Lewis Endowed Chair, Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace\u0026nbsp;Engineering \u0026amp; Sam Coogan; Demetrius T. Paris Junior Professor, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering | Initiative on Reliable, Safe, and Secure Autonomous Robotics\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhy It Matters:\u003C\/strong\u003E The design and operation of reliable systems is primarily an integration issue that involves not only each component (software, hardware) being safe and reliable but also the whole system being reliable (including the human operator). The necessity for reliable autonomous systems (including AI agents) is more pronounced for \u201csafety-critical\u201d applications, where the result of a wrong decision can be catastrophic. This is quite a different landscape from many other autonomous decision systems (e.g., recommender systems) where a wrong or imprecise decision is inconsequential.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOur Approach:\u003C\/strong\u003E This new initiative will investigate the development of protocols, techniques, methodologies, theories, and practices for designing, building, and operating safe and reliable AI and autonomous engineering systems and contribute toward promoting a culture of safety and accountability grounded in rigorous objective metrics and methodologies for AI\/autonomous and intelligent machines designers and operators, to allow the widespread adoption of such systems in safety-critical areas with confidence. The proposed new initiative aims to establish Tech as the leader in the design of autonomous, reliable engineering robotic systems and investigate the opportunity for a federally funded or industry-funded research center (National Science Foundation (NSF) Science and Technology Centers\/Engineering Research Centers) in this area.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EColin Usher; Robotics Systems and Technology Branch Head, GTRI | Opportunities for Agricultural Robotics and New Collaborations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhy It Matters:\u003C\/strong\u003E The concepts for how robotics might be incorporated more broadly in agriculture vary widely, ranging from large-scale systems to teams of small systems operating in farms, enabling new possibilities. In addition, there are several application areas in agriculture, ranging from planting, weeding, crop scouting, and general growing through harvesting. Georgia Tech is not a land-grant university, making our ability to capture some of the opportunities in agricultural research more challenging. By partnering with a land-grant university such as the University of Georgia (UGA), we can leverage this relationship to go after these opportunities that, historically, were not available.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOur Approach:\u003C\/strong\u003E We plan to build collaborations first by leveraging relationships we have already formed within GTRI, Georgia Tech, and UGA. We will achieve this through a significant level of networking, supported by workshops and\/or seminars with which to recruit faculty and form a roadmap for research\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003Ewithin the respective universities. Our goal is to identify and pursue multiple opportunities for robotics-related research in both row-crop and animal-based agriculture. We believe that we have a strong opportunity, starting with formalizing a program with the partners we have worked with before, with the potential to improve and grow the research area by incorporating new faculty and staff with a unified vision of ubiquitous robotics systems in agriculture. We plan to achieve this through scheduled visits with interested faculty, attendance at relevant conferences, and ultimately hosting a workshop to formalize and define a research roadmap.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EYe Zhao; Assistant Professor, School of Mechanical Engineering | Safe, Social, \u0026amp; Scalable Human-Robot Teaming: Interaction, Synergy, \u0026amp; Augmentation\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhy It Matters:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003ECollaborative robots in unstructured environments such as construction and warehouse sites show great promise in working with humans on repetitive and dangerous tasks to improve efficiency and productivity. However, pre-programmed and nonflexible interaction behaviors of existing robots lower the naturalness and flexibility of the collaboration process. Therefore, it is crucial to improve physical interaction behaviors of the collaborative human-robot teaming.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOur Approach:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003EThis proposal will advance the understanding of the bi-directional influence and interaction of human-robot teaming for complex physical activities in dynamic environments by developing new methods to predict worker intention via multi-modal wearable sensing, reasoning about complex human-robot-workspace interaction, and adaptively planning the robot\u2019s motion considering both human teaming dynamics and physiological and cognitive states. More importantly, our team plans to prioritize efforts to (i) broaden the scope of IRIM\u2019s autonomy research by incorporating psychology, cognitive, and manufacturing research not typically considered as technical robotics research areas; (ii) initiate new IRIM education, training, and outreach programs through collaboration with team members from various Georgia Tech educational and outreach programs (including Project ENGAGES, VIP, and CEISMC) as well as the AUCC (World\u2019s largest consortia of African American private institutions of higher education) which comprises Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, \u0026amp; Spelman College; and (iii) aim for large governmental grants such as DOD MURI, NSF NRT, and\u0026nbsp;NSF Future of Work\u0026nbsp;programs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E-Christa M. Ernst\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines (IRIM) launched a new initiatives program, starting with several winning proposals, with corresponding initiative leads that will broaden the scope of IRIM\u2019s research beyond its traditional core strengths.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"We hope that initiative leads will act as the \u201cfaculty face\u201d of IRIM and communicate IRIM\u2019s vision and activities to audiences both within and outside of Georgia Tech."}],"uid":"27863","created_gmt":"2024-10-01 15:46:55","changed_gmt":"2024-10-02 13:12:33","author":"Christa Ernst","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-10-01T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-10-01T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"675178":{"id":"675178","type":"image","title":"Initiative Leads Graphic Fall2024.png","body":"\u003Cp\u003EIndustrial Robots sloving a puzzle\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1727797626","gmt_created":"2024-10-01 15:47:06","changed":"1727797626","gmt_changed":"2024-10-01 15:47:06","alt":"Two Industrial Robots sloving a puzzle","file":{"fid":"258779","name":"Initiative Leads Graphic Fall2024.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/01\/Initiative%20Leads%20Graphic%20Fall2024.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/10\/01\/Initiative%20Leads%20Graphic%20Fall2024.png","mime":"image\/png","size":1103961,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/10\/01\/Initiative%20Leads%20Graphic%20Fall2024.png?itok=Asj7NaS0"}}},"media_ids":["675178"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"545781","name":"Institute for Data Engineering and Science"},{"id":"142761","name":"IRIM"}],"categories":[{"id":"136","name":"Aerospace"},{"id":"131","name":"Economic Development and Policy"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"179356","name":"Industrial Design"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"188087","name":"go-irim"},{"id":"187582","name":"go-ibb"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"192863","name":"go-ai"},{"id":"187023","name":"go-data"},{"id":"186858","name":"go-sei"},{"id":"188360","name":"go-bbiss"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"},{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"},{"id":"193657","name":"Space Research Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["christa.ernst@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"676796":{"#nid":"676796","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Anna Ivanova Among Top Innovators in \u2018MIT Technology Review\u2019","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/people\/anna-ivanova\u0022\u003EAnna Ivanova\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Psychology\u003C\/a\u003E, was recently named to the \u003Cem\u003EMIT Technology Review\u003C\/em\u003E\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/innovators-under-35\/2024\/\u0022\u003E35 Innovators Under 35\u003C\/a\u003E for 2024 for her work on language processing in the human brain and artificial intelligence applications.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA key pillar of Ivanova\u2019s work involves large language models (LLM) commonly used in artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT. By approaching the study of LLMs with cognitive science techniques, Ivanova hopes to bring us closer to more functional AIs \u2014 and a better understanding of the brain.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI am happy that, these days, language and human cognition are topics that the world cares deeply about, thanks to recent developments in AI,\u201d says Ivanova, who is also a member of Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ENeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E, a burgeoning interdisciplinary research hub for neuroscience, neurotechnology, and society. \u201cNot only are these topics important, but they are also fun to study.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/researchers-reveal-roadmap-ai-innovation-brain-and-language-learning\u0022\u003ELearn more about Ivanova\u2019s research\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/h3\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe School of Psychology assistant professor was named one of the publication\u2019s top 35 innovators under 35 for her work on language in the human brain and artificial intelligence.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The School of Psychology assistant professor was named one of the publication\u2019s top 35 innovators under 35 for her work on language in the human brain and artificial intelligence."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2024-09-13 17:26:55","changed_gmt":"2024-09-18 18:10:07","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-09-13T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-09-13T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"674972":{"id":"674972","type":"image","title":"Anna Ivanova, assistant professor in the School of Psychology at Georgia Tech.","body":"\u003Cp\u003EAnna Ivanova, assistant professor in the School of Psychology at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1726248474","gmt_created":"2024-09-13 17:27:54","changed":"1728063786","gmt_changed":"2024-10-04 17:43:06","alt":"Anna Ivanova","file":{"fid":"258547","name":"Anna-Anya-Ivanova.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/09\/13\/Anna-Anya-Ivanova.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/09\/13\/Anna-Anya-Ivanova.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3316252,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/09\/13\/Anna-Anya-Ivanova.jpeg?itok=myfYZjaS"}}},"media_ids":["674972"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/innovators-under-35\/2024\/","title":"35 Innovators Under 35"},{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/researchers-reveal-roadmap-ai-innovation-brain-and-language-learning","title":"Researchers Reveal Roadmap for AI Innovation in Brain and Language Learning"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"192863","name":"go-ai"},{"id":"192253","name":"cos-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAudra Davidson\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ECommunications Program Manager\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ENeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"676739":{"#nid":"676739","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Psychologist Randall Engle Receives APS William James Fellow Award ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ESchool of Psychology Professor\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/people\/randall-w-engle\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERandall W. Engle\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003Ehas been honored by the Association for Psychological Science (APS) with the William James Fellow Award for his lifetime of significant contributions to the field of psychology. APS is the largest international organization representing scientific psychology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cI am honored to receive this award from APS,\u201d says Engle. \u201cFor over 40 years, I have been interested in individual differences in our ability to focus and maintain attention while performing complex tasks. Georgia Tech has given me the opportunity to work with incredibly bright, hard-working, and inquisitive students over my career. This award really belongs to them.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cI am thrilled to congratulate Randy on receiving the William James Fellow Award, one of the highest honors in our field,\u201d says\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/people\/tansu-celikel\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETansu Celikel\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, chair and professor of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Psychology\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cThis award is a testament to his groundbreaking research on attention and cognitive control, as well as his profound impact on generations of students and scholars. His contributions continue to shape our understanding of the mind, and we are immensely proud of his achievements.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EEngle\u2019s research\u0026nbsp;explores the nature of our ability to focus and maintain attention in the face of distractions, both external (\u201cwhat a pretty butterfly!\u201d) and internal (\u201cI wonder what my friend is doing now?\u201d). His\u0026nbsp;work has been influential across a wide array of areas \u2014 including social psychology, emotion, psychopathology, developmental psychology, and psychological testing \u2014 and has contributed to modern theory of cognitive and emotional control.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ERandall Engle received his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Ohio State University and joined Georgia Tech in 1995 as chair of the School of Psychology. In 2008, he stepped down from that role in order to establish the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cabi.gsu.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorgia State University\/Georgia Tech Center for Advanced Brain Imaging (CABI)\u003C\/a\u003E, serving as the center\u2019s director for four years. Engle was editor of\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003ECurrent Directions in Psychological Science\u003C\/em\u003E for over 10 years and has been on the editorial board of many other journals.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EHe has received numerous awards throughout his career and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Association of Psychological Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Society of Experimental Psychology, the Memory Disorders Research Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ELearn more about his research group here:\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/englelab.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Eenglelab.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout the Association for Psychological Science\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.psychologicalscience.org\/\u0022\u003EAssociation for Psychological Science\u003C\/a\u003E (previously the American Psychological Society) is the premier international organization dedicated to advancing scientific psychology and its representation as a science. Founded in 1988, it is the scientific home of thousands of leading psychological science researchers, practitioners, teachers, and students from around the world and spanning\u0026nbsp;the entire spectrum of scientific, applied, and teaching specialties.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout Georgia Tech\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/a\u003E, or Georgia Tech, is one of the top public research universities in the U.S., developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute offers\u202fbusiness, computing, design, engineering, liberal arts,\u202fand\u202f sciences degrees. Its more than 47,000 undergraduate and graduate students represent 54 U.S. states and territories and more than 143 countries. They study at the main campus in Atlanta, at instructional sites around the world, or through distance and online learning. As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech is an engine of economic development for Georgia, the Southeast, and the nation, conducting more than $1 billion in research annually for government, industry, and society.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESchool of Psychology Professor\u0026nbsp;Randall W. Engle\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003Ehas been honored by the Association for Psychological Science with the William James Fellow Award for his lifetime of significant contributions to the field of scientific psychology.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"School of Psychology Professor\u00a0Randall W. Engle\u00a0has been honored by the Association for Psychological Science with the William James Fellow Award for his lifetime of significant contributions to the field of scientific psychology."}],"uid":"36583","created_gmt":"2024-09-11 16:32:27","changed_gmt":"2024-09-12 20:17:31","author":"lvidal7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-09-12T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-09-12T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"674944":{"id":"674944","type":"image","title":"Professor Randall W. Engle","body":"\u003Cp\u003EPortrait of Randall Engle, professor of psychology\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1726072375","gmt_created":"2024-09-11 16:32:55","changed":"1763495840","gmt_changed":"2025-11-18 19:57:20","alt":"Professor Randall W. Engle","file":{"fid":"258516","name":"Randall Engle.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/09\/11\/Randall%20Engle.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/09\/11\/Randall%20Engle.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1085645,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/09\/11\/Randall%20Engle.jpg?itok=LVNl0Ng9"}}},"media_ids":["674944"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/recalling-academic-career-researching-mystery-memory","title":"Recalling an Academic Career Researching The Mystery of Memory"},{"url":"https:\/\/englelab.gatech.edu","title":"Attention and Working Memory Lab (Engle\u0027s research group)"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"167710","name":"School of Psychology"},{"id":"192249","name":"cos-community"},{"id":"192091","name":"Association for Psychological Science (APS)"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELindsay C. Vidal\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003EAssistant Director of Communications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["lvidal7@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"676056":{"#nid":"676056","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Neuroscientists Explore the Intersection of Music and Memory","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn two studies, Ph.D. student Yiren Ren\u0027s research explores music\u2019s impact on learning, memory, and emotions. One reveals that familiar music can enhance concentration and learning, while the other demonstrates that music with a strong emotional tone can reshape the quality of existing memories. Her findings suggest that music could be used for therapeutic interventions for cognitive function, or in conditions like PTSD and depression.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/feature\/music-and-memory\u0022\u003ERead more \u00bb\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Researchers demonstrate music\u2019s impact on learning and memory, with possible therapeutic applications for mental health."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn two studies, Ph.D. student Yiren Ren\u0027s research explores music\u2019s impact on learning, memory, and emotions. One reveals that familiar music can enhance concentration and learning, while the other demonstrates that music with a strong emotional tone can reshape the quality of existing memories. Her findings suggest that music could be used for therapeutic interventions for cognitive function, or in conditions like PTSD and depression.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Researchers demonstrate music\u2019s impact on learning and memory, with possible therapeutic applications for mental health."}],"uid":"27255","created_gmt":"2024-08-18 22:22:20","changed_gmt":"2024-09-04 20:43:25","author":"Josie Giles","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-08-22T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-08-22T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"674617":{"id":"674617","type":"image","title":"music-and-memory-thumbnail.jpg","body":null,"created":"1724019772","gmt_created":"2024-08-18 22:22:52","changed":"1724019772","gmt_changed":"2024-08-18 22:22:52","alt":"Yiren Ren working in her music lab at Georgia Tech.","file":{"fid":"258167","name":"music-and-memory-thumbnail.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/08\/18\/music-and-memory-thumbnail.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/08\/18\/music-and-memory-thumbnail.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":4633660,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/08\/18\/music-and-memory-thumbnail.jpg?itok=yQiGAZ7Q"}}},"media_ids":["674617"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"192253","name":"cos-neuro"},{"id":"193266","name":"cos-research"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EShelley Wunder-Smith\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:shelley.wunder-smith@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003Eshelley.wunder-smith@research.gatech.edu\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["shelley.wunder-smith@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"675456":{"#nid":"675456","#data":{"type":"news","title":" A New Neural Network Makes Decisions Like a Human Would","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EHumans make nearly \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hbr.org\/2023\/12\/a-simple-way-to-make-better-decisions#:~:text=Various%20sources%20suggest%20that%20the,how%20we\u0026amp;apos;ll%20say%20it.\u0022\u003E35,000 decisions\u003C\/a\u003E every day, from whether it\u2019s safe to cross the road to what to have for lunch. Every decision involves weighing the options, remembering similar past scenarios, and feeling reasonably confident about the right choice. What may seem like a snap decision actually comes from gathering evidence from the surrounding environment. And often the same person makes different decisions in the same scenarios at different times.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENeural networks do the opposite, making the same decisions each time. Now, Georgia Tech researchers in Associate Professor Dobromir\u0026nbsp;Rahnev\u2019s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/rahnevlab.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Elab\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;are training them to make decisions more like humans. This science of human decision-making is only just being applied to machine learning, but developing a neural network even closer to the actual human brain may make it more reliable, according to the researchers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn a paper in \u003Cem\u003ENature Human Behaviour\u003C\/em\u003E, \u201c\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41562-024-01914-8?utm_source=rct_congratemailt\u0026amp;utm_medium=email\u0026amp;utm_campaign=nonoa_20240712\u0026amp;utm_content=10.1038\/s41562-024-01914-8\u0022\u003EThe Neural Network RTNet Exhibits the Signatures of Human Perceptual Decision-Making\u003C\/a\u003E,\u201d a team from the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Psychology\u003C\/a\u003E reveals a new neural network trained to make decisions similar to humans.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDecoding Decision\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cNeural networks make a decision without telling you whether or not they are confident about their decision,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/farshadrafiei\/\u0022\u003EFarshad Rafiei\u003C\/a\u003E, who earned his Ph.D. in psychology at Georgia Tech. \u201cThis is one of the essential differences from how people make decisions.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELarge language models (LLM), for example, are prone to hallucinations. When an LLM is asked a \u003Ca\u003Equestion\u003C\/a\u003E it doesn\u2019t know the answer to, it will make up something without acknowledging the artifice. By contrast, most humans in the same situation will admit they don\u2019t know the answer. Building a more human-like neural network can prevent this duplicity and lead to more accurate answers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMaking the Model\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team trained their neural network on handwritten digits from a famous computer science dataset called MNIST and asked it to decipher each number. To determine the model\u2019s accuracy, they ran it with the original dataset and then added noise to the digits to make it harder for humans to discern. To compare the model performance against humans, they trained their model (as well as three other models: CNet, BLNet, and MSDNet) on the original MNIST dataset without noise, but tested them on the noisy version used in the experiments and compared results from the two datasets.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers\u2019 model relied on two key components: a Bayesian neural network (BNN), which uses probability to make decisions, and an evidence accumulation process that keeps track of the evidence for each choice. The BNN produces responses that are slightly different each time. As it gathers more evidence, the accumulation process can sometimes favor one choice and sometimes another. Once there is enough evidence to decide, the RTNet stops the accumulation process and makes a decision.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers also timed the model\u2019s decision-making speed to see whether it follows a psychological phenomenon called the \u201cspeed-accuracy trade-off\u201d that dictates that humans are less accurate when they must make decisions quickly.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOnce they had the model\u2019s results, they compared them to humans\u2019 results. Sixty Georgia Tech students viewed the same dataset and shared their confidence in their decisions, and the researchers found the accuracy rate, response time, and confidence patterns were similar between the humans and the neural network.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cGenerally speaking, we don\u0027t have enough human data in existing computer science literature, so we don\u0027t know how people will behave when they are exposed to these images. This limitation hinders the development of models that accurately replicate human decision-making,\u201d Rafiei said. \u201cThis work provides one of the biggest datasets of humans responding to MNIST.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENot only did the team\u2019s model outperform all rival deterministic models, but it also was more accurate in higher-speed scenarios due to another fundamental element of human psychology: RTNet behaves like humans. As an example, people feel more confident when they make correct decisions. Without even having to train the model specifically to favor confidence, the model automatically applied it, Rafiei noted.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIf we try to make our models closer to the human brain, it will show in the behavior itself without fine-tuning,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe research team hopes to train the neural network on more varied datasets to test its potential. They also expect to apply this BNN model to other neural networks to enable them to rationalize more like humans. Eventually, algorithms won\u2019t just be able to emulate our decision-making abilities, but could even help offload some of the cognitive burden of those 35,000 decisions we make daily.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENeural networks do the opposite, making the same decisions each time. Now, Georgia Tech researchers in Associate Professor Dobromir\u0026nbsp;Rahnev\u2019s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/rahnevlab.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Elab\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;are training them to make decisions more like humans. This science of human decision-making is only just being applied to machine learning, but developing a neural network even closer to the actual human brain may make it more reliable, according to the researchers.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"This science of human decision-making is only just being applied to machine learning, but developing a neural network even closer to the actual human brain may make it more reliable, according to the researchers."}],"uid":"34541","created_gmt":"2024-07-15 13:52:38","changed_gmt":"2024-08-30 16:31:40","author":"Tess Malone","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-07-15T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-07-15T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETess Malone, Senior Research Writer\/Editor\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003Etess.malone@gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"676335":{"#nid":"676335","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Collaborative Graduate Training in Computational Neural Engineering Expands ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESince it began in 2019, Georgia Tech and Emory University\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cntp.bme.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EComputational Neural-Engineering Training Program\u003C\/a\u003E has funded and trained doctoral students at the intersection of neuroscience, engineering, computation, and clinical experience.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe saw that there was a new kind of neuroscience that was happening, to both understand the mysteries of the brain and nervous system and to treat related diseases and disorders,\u201d says \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Garrett-B.-Stanley\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EGarrett Stanley\u003C\/a\u003E, program co-director, professor, and McCamish Foundation Distinguished Chair in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EWalter H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E (BME). \u201cThe program was created to fill this gap in training, and to provide a community for like-minded scientists and engineers across these disciplines.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECombined with support from Georgia Tech and Emory, that community is set to grow with recently renewed and increased funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re excited to expand the number of students funded and continue to grow our programs,\u201d says \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Lena-H.-Ting\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ELena Ting\u003C\/a\u003E, program co-director, professor, and McCamish Foundation Distinguished Chair in BME. \u201cWith this funding, we\u2019ll continue to attract the best and brightest students.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EExpanding Access\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThrough courses, research, professional development, and community outreach, the two-year program provides unprecedented training and community for doctoral students in BME, electrical and computational engineering, neuroscience, machine learning, and beyond.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur program is unique in that it combines computation \u2014 both how the brain computes and how we can use computational tools to better understand the brain \u2014 and engineering of technologies for interfacing with the brain and nervous system,\u201d says Stanley, who also co-directs the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/nec.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ENeural Engineering Center\u003C\/a\u003E with Ting.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStudents are also exposed to neurology, rehabilitation, and other related fields through clinical course requirements.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe teach our students alongside physical therapy and occupational therapy students to solve clinically relevant problems,\u201d explains Ting, who teaches several of the courses. \u201cWe think early exposure to such clinical problems can accelerate the translation of basic research to the clinic.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOriginally slated to last five years, funding for the program comes from the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/researchtraining.nih.gov\/programs\/training-grants\/T32-a\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ET32 program of institutional training grants\u003C\/a\u003E by the NIH and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/med.emory.edu\/directory\/profile\/?u=MBORICH\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EMichael Borich\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor in the Emory University School of Medicine, and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/directory\/christopher-john-rozell\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EChris Rozell\u003C\/a\u003E, professor and Julian T. Hightower Chair in Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E, also serve as directors of the program.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe NIH T32 funding mechanism is great because it enables universities to create training programs that span different traditional disciplines,\u201d says Stanley. Without the need to create entirely new academic units, training programs like these provide funding for students conducting interdisciplinary research. Since the funding isn\u2019t tied to a specific research group, it also gives students the flexibility to rotate through multiple labs to find the best fit. \u201cIn other words, it\u2019s a game changer.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith NIH funding renewed and expanded by 50%, the program will now have the capacity to fund more trainees.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI love to see the program grow so more of our students and faculty can benefit,\u201d said Ting. \u201cThanks to generous funding from Georgia Tech, we will also be able to support international students now, something we couldn\u2019t do in the past.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to support from the NIH, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/med.emory.edu\/index.html\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EEmory University School of Medicine\u003C\/a\u003E, and the joint Georgia Tech-Emory BME Department, the program is further bolstered by support from Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ECollege of Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EOffice of the Executive Vice President for Research\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhile the NIH funding enables us to support the salary and tuition for students,\u201d said Stanley, \u201clocal support from Georgia Tech and Emory enables us to not only manage the growing program and provide reporting back to the NIH, but also to provide student-initiated training workshops in emerging technical areas, career development activities, training in neuroethics, and social events that help to bring the community together.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe community, he said, is the \u201cmost exciting and significant part of this. The network of talented people brought together through this program will be valuable and influential for years to come.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFunding for the Georgia Tech and Emory University training program in computational neural engineering was recently renewed and increased by the National Institutes of Health, expanding opportunities for students and scholars.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Funding for the Georgia Tech and Emory University training program in computational neural engineering was recently renewed and increased by the National Institutes of Health, expanding opportunities for students and scholars."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2024-08-28 15:59:26","changed_gmt":"2024-08-28 16:16:40","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-08-28T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-08-28T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"674748":{"id":"674748","type":"image","title":"22C10400-P3-003.JPG","body":null,"created":"1724860784","gmt_created":"2024-08-28 15:59:44","changed":"1724860784","gmt_changed":"2024-08-28 15:59:44","alt":"Tech Tower","file":{"fid":"258308","name":"22C10400-P3-003.JPG","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/08\/28\/22C10400-P3-003.JPG","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/08\/28\/22C10400-P3-003.JPG","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":5470957,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/08\/28\/22C10400-P3-003.JPG?itok=7zbtoU4E"}}},"media_ids":["674748"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/georgia-tech-offer-phd-neuroscience-and-neurotechnology-new-minor","title":"Georgia Tech to Offer Ph.D. in Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, New Minor"}],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"42911","name":"Education"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"126591","name":"go-NeuralEngineering"},{"id":"172056","name":"go-BioE"},{"id":"1612","name":"BME"},{"id":"177092","name":"College of Engineering; Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory"},{"id":"187582","name":"go-ibb"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAudra Davidson\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ECommunications Manager\u003Cbr\u003ENeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"676015":{"#nid":"676015","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Undergraduate Anu Iyer Leads Parkinson\u2019s Research Study","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAnu Iyer\u003C\/strong\u003E, a Georgia Tech Dean\u2019s Scholar, published her first research article as a first-year\u0026nbsp;student \u2014 based on research conducted while she was in high school. She is the lead co-author of the paper published in\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-023-47568-w\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EScientific Reports\u003C\/a\u003E, a\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003ENature Portfolio\u003C\/em\u003E journal.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EIyer, now a second-year undergraduate majoring in biology with a pre-med focus, worked with researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) to develop a novel voice-based diagnostic tool for Parkinson\u2019s disease (PD).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cEssentially, we proved the feasibility of a telemedicine approach towards detecting PD,\u201d says Iyer. \u201cThrough a three-second phone call, our machine-learning model recognizes patterns in data to detect Parkinson\u2019s with a 97 percent accuracy rate.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EIyer states that additional strengths of the project include the potential for\u0026nbsp;detecting PD at an early stage, leading to improved treatment outcomes, and the practical benefits of a virtual diagnostic tool.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cParkinson\u2019s disease is a nervous system disorder that primarily affects the elderly population, and one of the many issues with detection is that symptoms must be analyzed in person,\u201d explains Iyer. \u201cIn Arkansas, 75 percent of our population resides in medically underserved areas\u0026nbsp;\u2014\u0026nbsp;it can be hard for them to access health facilities. Our research addresses the need for convenient detection via telemedicine.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFrom science fairs to academic researcher\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EIyer\u2019s teachers at her STEM middle school encouraged her passion for science and discovery. A science fair enthusiast, Iyer led a sixth-grade team to win the state title for the\u0026nbsp;Verizon Innovative Learning app, creating a smartphone app that turns off text notifications when a car reaches more than five miles per hour.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EIyer credits her middle school teachers for inspiring her to seek answers beyond what she found in her textbooks.\u0026nbsp;During the summer between eighth and ninth grade, Iyer watched YouTube videos to teach herself machine learning, appreciating the opportunity to use artificial intelligence to analyze data and make predictions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cMachine learning fascinates me because it holds so much potential,\u201d says Iyer. \u201cI\u0027ve always been interested in computer science, but machine learning opened my eyes to new possibilities and taught me that I can pay it forward through applied bioinformatics.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EIn ninth grade, she emailed UAMS professors with a research idea incorporating medicine and computer science. Her outreach led to a post as an undergraduate researcher, helping create a computer algorithm to detect eye disease. While working on a diagnostic AI model for malignancy, she began collaborating with\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EFred Prior\u003C\/strong\u003E, the chair of Bioinformatics at UAMS, who became a valued mentor.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cDr. Prior introduced me to the joys of research and how small changes can make a big difference in our world,\u201d says Iyer.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EPrior assigned her to the team focusing on Parkinson\u2019s in her 11th grade year\u0026nbsp;\u2014 and she soon began taking on more of an active leadership role in the research. She spent the rest of high school juggling coursework with constructing code and drafting proposals to create the computer algorithm capable of detecting PD.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EProgress and service\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EIyer\u2019s desire to improve the world through research led her to Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cOne thing that spoke to me is the Progress and Service motto,\u201d says Iyer. \u201cMy career goals include becoming an empathetic researcher focused on reducing healthcare disparities. Specifically, I hope to specialize in developing diagnostic tools that are affordable and available for underserved areas.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EAs lead co-author of the PD research study, Iyer spent much of her first year working with Prior and UAMS,\u0026nbsp;participating in Zoom calls every Saturday.\u0026nbsp;As a second-year,\u0026nbsp;Iyer intends to continue working with UAMS on PD and machine-learning research. She has also taken on a new role as multiple principal investigator for a study related to chronic back pain management.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELainie Pomerleau,\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003Ewho taught Iyer\u2019s first-year English course, and is now an assistant professor of English at the College of Coastal Georgia, helped Iyer prepare the PD paper for publication. \u201cAnu embodies Georgia Tech\u0027s mission to develop leaders who advance technology to improve the human condition,\u201d says Pomerleau.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EDespite her busy schedule, Iyer has immersed herself in the Georgia Tech community. She loves the climbing wall at the Campus Recreation Center and points to Cognitive Psychology as her favorite class. Iyer\u0026nbsp;considers\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/explorellc.cos.gatech.edu\/home\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EExplore\u003C\/a\u003E, the science-centered living and learning community, to be one of the highlights of her first year.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cI really enjoyed being a part of Explore, living with other students who prioritize science,\u201d says Iyer. \u201cIt was easy to make friends because we all had similar classes.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EIn the spring of her first year, she was selected as a College of Sciences Ambassador, accompanying prospective students and their parents to science-related courses and answering their questions about\u0026nbsp;campus life.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EShe plans to get more involved with researchers at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cI am a biology major, but one amazing thing about Georgia Tech is that there is a lot of encouragement to join labs outside of your major and pursue your interests,\u201d says Iyer. \u201cI\u2019d like to work in a Georgia Tech lab, particularly in neurology.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ELooking forward to her next few years at the Institute, she\u2019s excited about the possibilities ahead:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cGeorgia Tech is well known for groundbreaking research,\u201d she says. \u201cI want to take advantage of Tech\u2019s many opportunities\u0026nbsp;\u2014 and fulfill my ultimate goal of making a positive impact in the world.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESecond-year biology student Anu Iyer\u2019s groundbreaking research is revolutionizing Parkinson\u2019s disease detection.\u0026nbsp;Through a three-second phone call, her team\u2019s machine-learning model can detect Parkinson\u2019s with 97 percent accuracy.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Biology major Anu Iyer wants to make a positive difference in the world; her groundbreaking research detecting Parkinson\u2019s disease demonstrates she\u2019s already well on her way."}],"uid":"36607","created_gmt":"2024-08-15 12:25:48","changed_gmt":"2024-08-28 15:38:30","author":"ls67","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-08-16T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-08-16T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"674588":{"id":"674588","type":"image","title":"Iyer completed much of her research while in high school and submitted the paper for publication as a Georgia Tech first-year.","body":"\u003Cp\u003EIyer completed much of her research while in high school and submitted the paper for publication as a Georgia Tech first-year.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1723725121","gmt_created":"2024-08-15 12:32:01","changed":"1723823011","gmt_changed":"2024-08-16 15:43:31","alt":"Young woman standing in front of a poster describing her Parkinson\u0027s Disease research","file":{"fid":"258135","name":"Anu.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/08\/15\/Anu.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/08\/15\/Anu.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":86911,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/08\/15\/Anu.jpg?itok=JLHlMjep"}},"674597":{"id":"674597","type":"image","title":"As a first-year, Iyer enjoyed diving into Tech\u0027s many events and activities, such as Georgia Tech Night at the Aquarium.","body":"\u003Cp\u003EAs a first-year, Iyer enjoyed diving into Tech\u0027s many events and activities, such as Georgia Tech Night at the Aquarium.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1723729875","gmt_created":"2024-08-15 13:51:15","changed":"1724082962","gmt_changed":"2024-08-19 15:56:02","alt":"Four students pose with Georgia Tech mascot Buzz at the Georgia Aquarium.","file":{"fid":"258144","name":"AquariumBuzz.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/08\/15\/AquariumBuzz.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/08\/15\/AquariumBuzz.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":81209,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/08\/15\/AquariumBuzz.jpg?itok=fuf9fNtq"}}},"media_ids":["674588","674597"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/undergradresearch.gatech.edu\/research-opportunities","title":"Undergraduate Research Opportunities"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/celebrating-decade-explore-llc","title":"Celebrating a Decade of Explore LLC"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"42911","name":"Education"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"77121","name":"parkinson\u0027s disease"},{"id":"48951","name":"featured student research"},{"id":"98111","name":"telemedicine"},{"id":"189331","name":"diagnostic testing"},{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"192259","name":"cos-students"},{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWriter: Laura S. Smith\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003ECommunications Officer II\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003ECollege of Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003Elaura.smith@cos.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["laura.smith@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"676203":{"#nid":"676203","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Cassie Mitchell Pursues a 4th Paralympic Medal at Her 4th Straight Games","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s tough to say what keeps pushing Cassie Mitchell to compete in the Paralympics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMaybe it\u2019s stubbornness, a refusal to let the degenerative neurological condition that has paralyzed much of her body control what she does.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMaybe it\u2019s the fact that, despite three trips to the Paralympic Games going back to London in 2012 and despite medaling in 2016 and 2021, she still doesn\u2019t have an elusive gold medal.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMaybe it\u2019s simply that she\u2019s been an athlete her entire life and thrives by pushing herself.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhatever the motivation, Mitchell has qualified for \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.teamusa.com\/profiles\/cassie-mitchell-849540\u0022\u003Eher fourth straight Paralympic Games\u003C\/a\u003E and will compete in the discus throw in Paris when \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.teamusa.com\/paris-2024\/paralympics\u0022\u003Ethe events get underway Aug. 28 \u2013 Sept. 8\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMy goal has been to be on the top of the podium, to see the flag come up, to hear the national anthem at a Paralympic Games. I have been blessed to get that at World Championships and some other events, but not at a Paralympic Games,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Cassie-S.-Mitchell\u0022\u003EMitchell\u003C\/a\u003E, an associate professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E at Georgia Tech and Emory University. \u201cThat just keeps me coming back. It\u2019s like this sign I keep on my shelf: \u2018Never, never, never give up.\u2019 As long as I am able to go out, be competitive, and have a chance, then I want to keep going.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/news\/2024\/08\/cassie-mitchell-pursues-4th-paralympic-medal-her-4th-straight-games\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERead the full story on the College of Engineering website.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIt may be harder than ever to medal this time, but the Coulter BME faculty member is also working harder than ever to make it happen.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"It may be harder than ever to medal this time, but the Coulter BME faculty member is also working harder than ever to make it happen."}],"uid":"27446","created_gmt":"2024-08-26 14:28:10","changed_gmt":"2024-08-27 14:53:46","author":"Joshua Stewart","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-08-26T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-08-26T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"674705":{"id":"674705","type":"image","title":"Mitchell-Paralympics-thumb.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003ECassie Mitchell at the 2024 Paralympic Team Trials in July. (Photo: Joe Kusumoto, U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee)\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1724682505","gmt_created":"2024-08-26 14:28:25","changed":"1724682505","gmt_changed":"2024-08-26 14:28:25","alt":"Cassie Mitchell throws the discus at the Paralympic Team Trials (Photo: Joe Kusumoto, U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee)","file":{"fid":"258260","name":"Mitchell-Paralympics-thumb.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/08\/26\/Mitchell-Paralympics-thumb.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/08\/26\/Mitchell-Paralympics-thumb.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":670475,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/08\/26\/Mitchell-Paralympics-thumb.jpg?itok=hzdIN2Up"}}},"media_ids":["674705"],"groups":[{"id":"1237","name":"College of Engineering"},{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"},{"id":"289141","name":"Women in Engineering (WIE)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"23101","name":"cassie mitchell"},{"id":"3058","name":"Paralympics"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jstewart@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJoshua Stewart\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ECollege of Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jstewart@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"675258":{"#nid":"675258","#data":{"type":"news","title":"What IS Artificial Intelligence?","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s tempting to think that the artificial intelligence revolution is coming \u2014 for good or ill \u2014 and that AI will soon be baked into every facet of our lives. With generative AI tools suddenly available to anyone and seemingly every company scrambling to leverage AI for their business, it can feel like the AI-dominated future is just over the horizon.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe truth is, that future is already here. Most of us just didn\u2019t notice.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEvery time you unlock your smartphone or computer with a face scan or fingerprint. Every time your car alerts you that you\u2019re straying from your lane or automatically adjusts your cruise control speed. Every time you ask Siri for directions or Alexa to turn on some music. Every time you start typing in the Google search box and suggestions or the outright answer to your question appear. Every time Netflix recommends what you should watch next.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAll driven by AI. And all a regular part of most people\u2019s days.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut what is \u201cartificial intelligence\u201d? What about \u201cmachine learning\u201d and \u201calgorithms\u201d? How are they different and how do they work?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWe asked two of the many Georgia Tech engineers working in these areas to help us understand the basic concepts so we\u2019re all better prepared for the AI future \u2014 er, present.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/magazine\/2024\/spring\/what-is-artificial-intelligence\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERead the full crash course on the College of Engineering website.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis story was featured in the spring 2024 issue of \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/magazine\u0022\u003EHelluva Engineer\u003Cem\u003E magazine\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E, produced biannually by the College of Engineering.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EEngineers working in machine learning and AI offer a crash course in the basic concepts and buzzwords that have moved from the lab to everyday life.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Engineers working in machine learning and AI offer a crash course in the basic concepts and buzzwords that have moved from the lab to everyday life."}],"uid":"27446","created_gmt":"2024-06-27 20:11:28","changed_gmt":"2024-07-17 15:49:52","author":"Joshua Stewart","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-06-04T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-06-04T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"674255":{"id":"674255","type":"image","title":"AI-101-Helluva-Engineer-magazine.jpg","body":null,"created":"1719519097","gmt_created":"2024-06-27 20:11:37","changed":"1719519097","gmt_changed":"2024-06-27 20:11:37","alt":"An AI generated image of a humanoid robot looking at a futuristic city","file":{"fid":"257749","name":"AI-101-Helluva-Engineer-magazine.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/06\/27\/AI-101-Helluva-Engineer-magazine.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/06\/27\/AI-101-Helluva-Engineer-magazine.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":715210,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/06\/27\/AI-101-Helluva-Engineer-magazine.jpg?itok=5BjEjPSq"}}},"media_ids":["674255"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/magazine","title":"Helluva Engineer magazine"}],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"192863","name":"go-ai"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jstewart@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJoshua Stewart\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ECollege of Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jstewart@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"675259":{"#nid":"675259","#data":{"type":"news","title":"AI for a Better World","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EArtificial intelligence and machine learning techniques are infused across the College of Engineering\u2019s education and research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFrom safer roads to new fuel cell technology, semiconductor designs to restoring bodily functions, Georgia Tech engineers are capitalizing on the power of AI to quickly make predictions or see danger ahead.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/magazine\/2024\/spring\/ai-better-world\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EExplore some of the ways we are using AI to create a better future on the College\u0027s website.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis story was featured in the spring 2024 issue of \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/magazine\u0022\u003EHelluva Engineer\u003Cem\u003E magazine\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E, produced biannually by the College of Engineering.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech engineers are refining AI tools and deploying them to help individuals, cities, and everything in between.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech engineers are refining AI tools and deploying them to help individuals, cities, and everything in between."}],"uid":"27446","created_gmt":"2024-06-27 20:17:47","changed_gmt":"2024-07-17 15:48:14","author":"Joshua Stewart","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-06-04T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-06-04T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"674256":{"id":"674256","type":"image","title":"Aaron-Young-Dean-Molinaro-exoskeleton-Helluva-Engineer-magazine.jpg","body":null,"created":"1717532274","gmt_created":"2024-06-04 20:17:54","changed":"1719519474","gmt_changed":"2024-06-27 20:17:54","alt":"two people in the lab make adjustments to a robotic exoskeleton","file":{"fid":"257750","name":"Aaron-Young-Dean-Molinaro-exoskeleton-Helluva-Engineer-magazine.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/06\/27\/Aaron-Young-Dean-Molinaro-exoskeleton-Helluva-Engineer-magazine.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/06\/27\/Aaron-Young-Dean-Molinaro-exoskeleton-Helluva-Engineer-magazine.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":213178,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/06\/27\/Aaron-Young-Dean-Molinaro-exoskeleton-Helluva-Engineer-magazine.jpg?itok=rESL9HMe"}}},"media_ids":["674256"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/magazine","title":"Helluva Engineer magazine"}],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"192863","name":"go-ai"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jstewart@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJoshua Stewart\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ECollege of Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jstewart@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"675408":{"#nid":"675408","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Nunn School\u0027s Kosal Helps Lead National Academies Consensus Report on Chemical Terrorism ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat\u0027s happening:\u003C\/strong\u003E Margaret E. Kosal, associate professor in Georgia Tech\u0027s Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, played a key role in developing a new \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nationalacademies.org\/our-work\/assessing-and-improving-strategies-for-preventing-countering-and-responding-to-weapons-of-mass-destruction-terrorism-chemical-threats\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Econsensus report\u003C\/a\u003E by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) looking at U.S. strategies to prevent or respond to a chemical attack. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/margaret-e-kosal\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EKosal\u003C\/a\u003E, who has a Ph.D. in chemistry and extensive national security expertise, served as vice chair of the study committee.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is a NASEM consensus report?\u003C\/strong\u003E These rigorous reports are the gold standard in public science and policy guidance, providing policymakers, industry, and the public with evidence-based, authoritative advice on complex scientific, engineering, and health-related issues. This one was ordered by Congress and took nearly two years to complete.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhy it matters: \u003C\/strong\u003EWhile the U.S. hasn\u2019t yet seen a major chemical terrorism attack in recent years, terrorists have used chemical agents more often than any other WMD. \u0026nbsp;The committee concluded that the threat remains significant domestically and internationally. Their report highlights the need to maintain robust counter-terrorism measures while adapting to the United States\u2019 shifting strategic priorities.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAmong the key findings:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EAfter decades of focusing on terror groups, U.S. strategy now prioritizes state actors and interstate competition. This could potentially affect funding and attention to counter-terrorism efforts, the committee said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EThe U.S. needs to align its budget priorities to its new strategic direction to better prepare the nation to deter and, if necessary, respond to such attacks.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EWidespread availability of industrial chemicals and little visibility on potential insider threats exacerbate the threat.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EThe committee also stressed a critical need to support basic scientific and social science research specifically related to countering chemical terrorism, such as understanding social behavior related to emerging threats.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EThe experts also said that working with international partners to enhance chemical security and identify, prevent, counter, and respond to chemical and other weapons of mass destruction (WMD) threats worldwide help make the U.S. safer.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t, even unintentionally, shift to a strategy of depending on us \u2018being lucky\u2019 to stop terrorists who want to acquire and use WMD,\u201d \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/margaret-e-kosal\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EKosal\u003C\/a\u003E said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe bottom line:\u003C\/strong\u003E Kosal\u0027s leadership in this significant national security report underscores the Nunn School\u0027s and Georgia Tech\u0027s critical contributions to addressing complex global threats and highlights the school\u0027s expertise and commitment to shaping effective national security policies.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENunn School Associate Professor Margaret E. Kosal helped lead the National Academies committee study on chemical terrorism.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Associate Professor Margaret E. Kosal helped lead the National Academies committee study on chemical terrorism."}],"uid":"34600","created_gmt":"2024-07-09 15:47:03","changed_gmt":"2024-07-15 14:04:59","author":"mpearson34","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-07-09T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-07-09T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"674322":{"id":"674322","type":"image","title":"nasem cover 169.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EAssociate Professor Margaret E. Kosal helped lead the National Academies committee that produced the report on chemical terrorism.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1720542200","gmt_created":"2024-07-09 16:23:20","changed":"1720542200","gmt_changed":"2024-07-09 16:23:20","alt":"\u0022\u0022","file":{"fid":"257820","name":"nasem cover 169.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/07\/09\/nasem%20cover%20169.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/07\/09\/nasem%20cover%20169.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":363777,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/07\/09\/nasem%20cover%20169.jpg?itok=GqAKonAW"}}},"media_ids":["674322"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/news\/item\/674925\/nunn-school-researcher-joins-funded-team-explore-military-human-teams","title":"Nunn School Researcher Joins DoD-Funded Team to Explore Military AI-Human Teams "},{"url":"https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/news\/item\/659119\/srnl-georgia-tech-appoint-margaret-kosal-joint-faculty-position","title":"SRNL, Georgia Tech Appoint Margaret E. Kosal to Joint Faculty Position "},{"url":"https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/news\/item\/651733\/kosal-appointed-sustainable-bioindustrial-manufacturing-committee","title":"Kosal Appointed to Sustainable Bioindustrial Manufacturing Committee "}],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1285","name":"Sam Nunn School of International Affairs"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39481","name":"National Security"},{"id":"39511","name":"Public Service, Leadership, and Policy"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71901","name":"Society and Culture"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:michaael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EMichael Pearson\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["michaael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"675433":{"#nid":"675433","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Calhoun Wins Lifetime Achievement Award for Human Brain Mapping","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E (ECE) Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ece.gatech.edu\/directory\/vince-d-calhoun\u0022\u003EVince Calhoun\u003C\/a\u003E was honored with the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.humanbrainmapping.org\/i4a\/pages\/index.cfm?pageid=1\u0022\u003EOrganization for Human Brain Mapping\u003C\/a\u003E\u2019s Glass Brain Award at the organization\u2019s annual meeting in Seoul, Korea, this June.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe award recognizes lifetime achievements by leading researchers using or facilitating neuroimaging to discover original and influential findings regarding the organization and function of the human brain.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOne of the things I really like about the Glass Brain is it symbolizes to me our desire to see beneath the surface. It\u0027s a challenge to be open and transparent in our work,\u201d Calhoun said. \u201cVisualization is hard and subjective, we have to work to make the links between our fancy models, the underlying data, and our conclusions about the brain, as transparent as possible.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe\u0027s made many contributions to the field, including authorship on over 1,000 papers in industry journals, generating over 100,000 citations within the research community.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMuch of his work has focused on developing data-driven approaches to study brain dynamics, multimodal neuroimaging of the brain, and brain biomarkers across a range of mental and neurological conditions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECalhoun is the founding director of the tri-institutional \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/trendscenter.org\/\u0022\u003ECenter for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science\u003C\/a\u003E (TReNDS), a joint effort between Georgia State, Georgia Tech, and Emory University. The Center\u2019s goal is to improve the understanding of the human brain using advanced analytic approaches with an emphasis on translational research such as the development of predictive biomarkers for mental and neurological disorders.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECalhoun received his bachelor\u2019s degree in electrical engineering (EE) from the University of Kansas, a pair of master\u2019s degrees in biomedical engineering and information systems from Johns Hopkins University, and a Ph.D. in EE from the University of Maryland Baltimore County.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBefore coming to Georgia Tech, he worked as a research engineer in the psychiatric neuroimaging laboratory at Johns Hopkins, the director of medical image analysis at the Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center. He\u2019s also been an associate professor at Yale University, a distinguished professor at the University of New Mexico, and the President of the Mind Research Network.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Glass Brain Award is the latest of many distinctions Calhoun has received during his accomplished career. He\u2019s received fellowships from a number of organizations, including the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Institute of Biomedical and Medical Engineers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe\u2019s also won an IEEE Outstanding Engineer Award in 2014 and an IEEE Southwest Area Outstanding Educator Award in 2015.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe ECE professor received the Glass Brain Award for his work in neuroimaging to help further understand the organization and function of the human brain.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The ECE professor received the Glass Brain Award for his work in neuroimaging to help further understand the organization and function of the human brain."}],"uid":"36558","created_gmt":"2024-07-11 16:32:12","changed_gmt":"2024-07-12 19:30:31","author":"zwiniecki3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-07-11T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-07-11T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"674330":{"id":"674330","type":"image","title":"IMG_2042.JPG","body":null,"created":"1720715555","gmt_created":"2024-07-11 16:32:35","changed":"1720715555","gmt_changed":"2024-07-11 16:32:35","alt":"Vince Calhoun at OHBM 2024 Ceremony","file":{"fid":"257830","name":"IMG_2042.JPG","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/07\/11\/IMG_2042.JPG","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/07\/11\/IMG_2042.JPG","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2573989,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/07\/11\/IMG_2042.JPG?itok=u0NiHo-h"}}},"media_ids":["674330"],"groups":[{"id":"1255","name":"School of Electrical and Computer Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"}],"keywords":[{"id":"193844","name":"Glass Brain Award"},{"id":"187196","name":"neuroimaging"},{"id":"185178","name":"Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science (TReNDS)"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EZachary Winiecki\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["zwiniecki3@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"675438":{"#nid":"675438","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Hybrid Machine Learning Model Untangles Web of Communication in the Brain","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA new machine learning (ML) model created at Georgia Tech is helping neuroscientists better understand communications between brain regions. Insights from the model could lead to personalized medicine, better brain-computer interfaces, and advances in neurotechnology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Tech group combined two current ML methods into their hybrid model called MRM-GP (Multi-Region Markovian Gaussian Process).\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENeuroscientists who use MRM-GP learn more about communications and interactions within the brain. This in turn improves understanding of brain functions and disorders.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cClinically, MRM-GP could enhance diagnostic tools and treatment monitoring by identifying and analyzing neural activity patterns linked to various brain disorders,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?user=qW4_NR4AAAAJ\u0026amp;hl=en\u0022\u003EWeihan Li\u003C\/a\u003E, the study\u2019s lead researcher.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cNeuroscientists can leverage MRM-GP for its robust modeling capabilities and efficiency in handling large-scale brain data.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMRM-GP reveals where and how communication travels across brain regions.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe group tested MRM-GP using spike trains and local field potential recordings, two kinds of measurements of brain activity. These tests produced representations that illustrated directional flow of communication among brain regions.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EExperiments also disentangled brainwaves, called oscillatory interactions, into organized frequency bands. MRM-GP\u2019s hybrid configuration allows it to model frequencies and phase delays within the latent space of neural recordings.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMRM-GP combines the strengths of two existing methods: the Gaussian process (GP) and linear dynamical systems (LDS). The researchers say that MRM-GP is essentially an LDS that mirrors a GP.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELDS is a computationally efficient and cost-effective method, but it lacks the power to produce representations of the brain. GP-based approaches boost LDS\u0027s power, facilitating the discovery of variables in frequency bands and communication directions in the brain.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EConverting GP outputs into an LDS is a difficult task in ML. The group overcame this challenge by instilling separability in the model\u2019s multi-region kernel. Separability establishes a connection between the kernel and LDS while modeling communication between brain regions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThrough this approach, MRM-GP overcomes two challenges facing both neuroscience and ML fields. The model helps solve the mystery of intraregional brain communication. It does so by bridging a gap between GP and LDS, a feat not previously accomplished in ML.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe introduction of MRM-GP provides a useful tool to model and understand complex brain region communications,\u201d said Li, a Ph.D. student in the School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE).\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis marks a significant advancement in both neuroscience and machine learning.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFellow doctoral students\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/github.com\/JerrySoybean\u0022\u003EChengrui Li\u003C\/a\u003E and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/github.com\/yulewang97\u0022\u003EYule Wang\u003C\/a\u003E co-authored the paper with Li. School of CSE Assistant Professor\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sites.google.com\/site\/anqiwuresearch\u0022\u003EAnqi Wu\u003C\/a\u003E advises the group.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEach MRM-GP student pursues a different\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cse.gatech.edu\/phd-programs\u0022\u003EPh.D. degree offered by the School of CSE\u003C\/a\u003E. W. Li studies computer science, C. Li studies computational science and engineering, and Wang studies machine learning. The school also offers Ph.D. degrees in bioinformatics and bioengineering.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWu is a 2023 recipient of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/anqi-wu-awarded-2023-sloan-research-fellowship\u0022\u003ESloan Research Fellowship\u003C\/a\u003E for neuroscience research. Her work straddles two of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cse.gatech.edu\/research\u0022\u003ESchool\u2019s five research areas\u003C\/a\u003E: machine learning and computational bioscience.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMRM-GP will be featured at the world\u2019s top conference on ML and artificial intelligence. The group will share their work at the International Conference on Machine Learning (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/icml.cc\/\u0022\u003EICML 2024\u003C\/a\u003E), which will be held July 21-27 in Vienna.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EICML 2024 also accepted for presentation a second paper from Wu\u2019s group intersecting neuroscience and ML. The same authors will present\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/2402.01263\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EA Differentiable Partially Observable Generalized Linear Model with Forward-Backward Message Passing\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETwenty-four Georgia Tech faculty from the Colleges of Computing and Engineering will present 40 papers at ICML 2024. Wu is one of six faculty representing the School of CSE who will present eight total papers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe group\u2019s ICML 2024 presentations exemplify Georgia Tech\u2019s focus on neuroscience research as a\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/strategic-initiatives\u0022\u003Estrategic initiative\u003C\/a\u003E. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWu is an affiliated faculty member with the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/news\/2023\/09\/18\/georgia-tech-launch-interdisciplinary-neurosciences-research-program\u0022\u003ENeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E, a new interdisciplinary program at Georgia Tech that will lead research in neuroscience, neurotechnology, and society. The University System of Georgia Board of Regents recently approved a new\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/news.gatech.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/02\/georgia-tech-offer-phd-neuroscience-and-neurotechnology-new-minor\u0022\u003Eneuroscience and neurotechnology Ph.D. program\u003C\/a\u003E at Georgia Tech.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cPresenting papers at international conferences like ICML is crucial for our group to gain recognition and visibility, facilitates networking with other researchers and industry professionals, and offers valuable feedback for improving our work,\u201d Wu said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt allows us to share our findings, stay updated on the latest developments in the field, and enhance our professional development and public speaking skills.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EVisit \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sites.gatech.edu\/research\/icml-2024\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003Ehttps:\/\/sites.gatech.edu\/research\/icml-2024\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E for news and coverage of Georgia Tech research presented at ICML 2024.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA new machine learning (ML) model created at Georgia Tech is helping neuroscientists better understand communications between brain regions. Insights from the model could lead to personalized medicine, better brain-computer interfaces, and advances in neurotechnology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Tech group combined two current ML methods into their hybrid model called MRM-GP (Multi-Region Markovian Gaussian Process).\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENeuroscientists who use MRM-GP learn more about communications and interactions within the brain. This in turn improves understanding of brain functions and disorders.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A new machine learning (ML) model created at Georgia Tech is helping neuroscientists better understand communications between brain regions. "}],"uid":"36319","created_gmt":"2024-07-11 19:37:12","changed_gmt":"2024-07-12 15:25:01","author":"Bryant Wine","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-07-11T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-07-11T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"674337":{"id":"674337","type":"image","title":"MRM-GP Head Photo.jpg","body":null,"created":"1720726656","gmt_created":"2024-07-11 19:37:36","changed":"1720726656","gmt_changed":"2024-07-11 19:37:36","alt":"Weihan Li ICML 2024","file":{"fid":"257837","name":"MRM-GP Head Photo.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/07\/11\/MRM-GP%20Head%20Photo.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/07\/11\/MRM-GP%20Head%20Photo.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":92978,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/07\/11\/MRM-GP%20Head%20Photo.jpg?itok=CyGJUal2"}},"674338":{"id":"674338","type":"image","title":"YW Poster.jpg","body":null,"created":"1720726696","gmt_created":"2024-07-11 19:38:16","changed":"1720726696","gmt_changed":"2024-07-11 19:38:16","alt":"Yule Wang ICML 2024 CSE","file":{"fid":"257838","name":"YW Poster.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/07\/11\/YW%20Poster.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/07\/11\/YW%20Poster.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":37723,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/07\/11\/YW%20Poster.jpg?itok=nnjhmwZN"}},"674339":{"id":"674339","type":"image","title":"CSE_ICML2024.png","body":null,"created":"1720726742","gmt_created":"2024-07-11 19:39:02","changed":"1720726742","gmt_changed":"2024-07-11 19:39:02","alt":"CSE ICML 2024","file":{"fid":"257839","name":"CSE_ICML2024.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/07\/11\/CSE_ICML2024.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/07\/11\/CSE_ICML2024.png","mime":"image\/png","size":173722,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/07\/11\/CSE_ICML2024.png?itok=uiGRsZ3_"}}},"media_ids":["674337","674338","674339"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"50877","name":"School of Computational Science and Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"192863","name":"go-ai"},{"id":"10199","name":"Daily Digest"},{"id":"9153","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBryant Wine, Communications Officer\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:bryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ebryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"675120":{"#nid":"675120","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Academic Success and Advising Announces CCG and Advising Award Recipients","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Office of Undergraduate Education is pleased to announce our \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/oue.gatech.edu\/node\/3214\u0022\u003E2024 Academic Success and Advising (ASA) Award\u003C\/a\u003E recipients. ASA awards recognize the outstanding contributions of faculty and staff who have gone above and beyond to support our undergraduate students and improve retention, progression, and graduation.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESince 2004, Georgia Tech has formally recognized excellence in academic advising, an integral part of the academic culture at the Institute, ensuring a holistic experience for students. Champions in this work, one staff advisor and one faculty advisor, are honored, highlighting best practices and core values in advising.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENew this year, the Office of Undergraduate Education launched the Complete College Georgia (CCG) Champion Award. CCG is the University System of Georgia\u2019s statewide student success initiative to improve access to higher education and degree obtainment across the state. The CCG Champion Award recognizes one staff or faculty member who has made critical contributions to undergraduate student success, advancing the primary goals of CCG to improve the experience for Georgia Tech\u2019s highest priority students while promoting our institutional values.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMembers of ASA visited each awardee\u2019s office for a surprise presentation throughout May and June. Meet the remarkable 2024 ASA award recipients!\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch5\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EChristina M. Ragan, School of Biological Sciences\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h5\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOutstanding Undergraduate Academic Advisor (Faculty Advisor)\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/christina-ragan\u0022\u003EChristina Ragan\u003C\/a\u003E is an academic professional based in the School of Biological Sciences and works with the students, faculty, and staff in the Neuroscience undergraduate degree program. \u0026nbsp;Christina\u0027s commitment to the wellbeing of students while also conducting research and teaching multiple courses each semester, makes her a shining example of a faculty member\u0027s role in academic advising at Georgia Tech. One of her advisees writes:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EShe is a phenomenal advisor, who exudes compassion and understanding with every conversation she has. Not only does she stay positive and engaged in building trusting relationships while motivating her students, but she also takes the time to get a holistic understanding of her advisees. Dr. Ragan will always ask stimulating questions pertaining to different parts of student life at GA Tech, outside of academic advising, which has personally made me extremely fond of her.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Ch5\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EKristi Mehaffey, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h5\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOutstanding Undergraduate Academic Advisor (Primary Role)\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKristi Mehaffey, a Georga Tech alum, is an Advising Manager with the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. Kristi\u2019s dedication to the undergraduate students in Mechanical Engineering, her unwavering commitment to the growth and development of her advising team, and her service to the practice of academic advising has made her a key figure in retaining, empowering, and enriching the experiences of not only students within ME, but all Tech students. One of her advisees writes:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EKristi Mehaffey has truly been a guiding light for me. She goes above and beyond, working long hours and putting everything aside to help students like me. Whenever I faced a challenge, she met it head-on, always finding the best path forward for each of us. During one of the toughest moments I have faced, Kristi stepped into my life. She did not just offer to listen, but she was a constant source of support, helping me navigate the overwhelming emotions of grief. When I was struggling the most, lost in emotions, she kept my head up and made sure I didn\u2019t lose sight of my academic goals, while also encouraging me.\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Ch5\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAshton Tomlin, Office of Special Scholarships\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h5\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EComplete College Georgia (CCG) Champion Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOUE\u2019s inaugural CCG Champion is Ashton Tomlin, Senior Assistant Director in the Office of Special Scholarships. Ashton joined the Special Scholarships team in 2022, demonstrating her commitment to expanding access to students traditionally underrepresented in higher education by connecting financial aid and holistic student support. She has developed a support program for Tech Promise Scholars, ensuring student needs are fully understood. Ashton is praised by colleagues and students alike for her ability to connect with students and her tireless work to find the resources they need to succeed. Chaffee Viets, Director of the Office of Special Scholarships, shared:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ENot only has she created almost from scratch the non-financial elements of the Tech Promise Scholars Program, but she has empowered and served Stamps President\u2019s Scholars, Gold Scholars, students in Outdoor Recreation Georgia Tech (through a partnership we have with them), and various others, some of each of these being from economically challenged backgrounds. Without her being here, there are several students who may well have failed out of classes or left the Institute.\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;The CCG Champion selection committee also recognizes the significant contributions of all award finalists:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EFrances Buser, Academic Advising Manager, H. Milton School of Industrial and System Engineering\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003ELaura Garcia, Director of Undergraduate Career Education, Georgia Tech Career Center\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003ETristen Jones Hooker, Educational Outreach Manager, School of Materials Science and Engineering\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECongratulations to all our ASA award recipients for 2024! You exemplify Georgia Tech\u2019s values to amplify impact, expand access, and make students our top priority.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ECollege of Sciences Academic Professional Christina Ragan is among the recipients of the 2024 Academic Success and Advising (ASA) Awards.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"College of Sciences Academic Professional Christina Ragan is among the recipients of the 2024 Academic Success and Advising (ASA) Awards."}],"uid":"36583","created_gmt":"2024-06-17 15:02:28","changed_gmt":"2024-06-24 14:08:03","author":"lvidal7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-06-14T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-06-14T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"674190":{"id":"674190","type":"image","title":"Nicole Leonard, Mary Holder, Christina M. Ragan, and Lorett Swank","body":null,"created":"1718636578","gmt_created":"2024-06-17 15:02:58","changed":"1718636578","gmt_changed":"2024-06-17 15:02:58","alt":"Nicole Leonard, Mary Holder, Christina M. Ragan, and Lorett Swank","file":{"fid":"257672","name":"CCGGT Advisor Awards - Christina M. Ragan.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/06\/17\/CCGGT%20Advisor%20Awards%20-%20Christina%20M.%20Ragan.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/06\/17\/CCGGT%20Advisor%20Awards%20-%20Christina%20M.%20Ragan.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":642611,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/06\/17\/CCGGT%20Advisor%20Awards%20-%20Christina%20M.%20Ragan.jpg?itok=gSkCsgwl"}},"674191":{"id":"674191","type":"image","title":"2024 Academic Success and Advising (ASA) Award recipients","body":null,"created":"1718636797","gmt_created":"2024-06-17 15:06:37","changed":"1718636797","gmt_changed":"2024-06-17 15:06:37","alt":"2024 Academic Success and Advising (ASA) Award recipients","file":{"fid":"257673","name":"CCGGT Advisor Awards (1)_0.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/06\/17\/CCGGT%20Advisor%20Awards%20%281%29_0.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/06\/17\/CCGGT%20Advisor%20Awards%20%281%29_0.png","mime":"image\/png","size":986765,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/06\/17\/CCGGT%20Advisor%20Awards%20%281%29_0.png?itok=lk2Gt63U"}}},"media_ids":["674190","674191"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"42901","name":"Community"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"172013","name":"Faculty Awards and Honors"},{"id":"192249","name":"cos-community"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003Eby \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/oue.gatech.edu\/node\/1858\u0022 hreflang=\u0022en\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAnna Holcomb\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/oue.gatech.edu\/node\/1867\u0022 hreflang=\u0022en\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENicole Leonard\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/oue.gatech.edu\/node\/1852\u0022 hreflang=\u0022en\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EShannon Dobranski\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/oue.gatech.edu\/lorett-swank\u0022 hreflang=\u0022en\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELorett Swank\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E (Office of Undergraduate Education)\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"675110":{"#nid":"675110","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Fulbright U.S. Student Awards Announced for 2024-2025","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Institute of Technology is pleased to announce that five students and alumni have received a\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/us.fulbrightonline.org\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFulbright U.S. Student Program\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E award to study\/conduct research in the fields of international business and neuroscience and serve as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Mongolia and Taiwan for the 2024-2025 academic year from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EANISHA KANUKOLANU, \u003C\/strong\u003EB.S. NEUROSCIENCE, 2023, Research at the Technische Universit\u00e4t, Berlin, Berlin Germany. Anisha will conduct research under the guidance of Dr. Sein Jeung in the Berlin Mobile Brain-Body Imaging Lab. Anisha states, \u201cI am very passionate about cultural competency and creating globally inclusive research. I want to conduct research in Germany to learn more about the highly multicultural academic landscape in neuroscience research.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGINA PIAZZA\u003C\/strong\u003E, B.S. ECONOMICS \u0026amp; BS APPLIED LANGUAGES \u0026amp; INTERCULTURAL STUDIES, 2021, Mexico Binational Business Program. This unique program provides recipients with a ten-month internship in a Mexican or multinational company in Mexico City. Gina is excited about this opportunity to work internationally and develop valuable resources for her future career in global development. Gina states, \u201cThis experience will broaden my perspective on the process of development, and immersion in Mexican culture will help me to understand diverse viewpoints. As a result, I anticipate completing the grant period prepared to work with various stakeholders in a global development career.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETOM (MINSEOK) LEE\u003C\/strong\u003E, B.S. INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, 2024, English Teaching Assistant, Mongolia. While completing an internship at the Department of State, Tom was able to help out at the Mongolia Desk. Tom explains, \u201cI chose the English Teaching Assistant program in Mongolia because I wanted to continue learning about Mongolia and its language and culture.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEMILY YAN,\u003C\/strong\u003E B.S. BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, 2024, English Teaching Assistant, Taiwan. Emily is excited to teach young students from another culture and looks forward to fostering empathetic listening skills. With the ultimate goal of attending medical school, Emily explains, \u201cTeaching may seem distant from the field of medicine, but teaching plays a large part in patient care. I aspire to develop into a healthcare professional capable of comprehending and addressing the diverse needs of those under my care.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECLAIRE LIN\u003C\/strong\u003E, B.S. INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING, 2023, English Teaching Assistant, Taiwan. One of Claire\u2019s life goals is to bring accessibility to underserved areas around the globe. She explains, \u201cI have yearned to connect with communities through cultural immersion and direct communication to address the root causes of disparities in healthcare and education.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMore than 2,000 Fulbright U.S. Students\u2014recent college graduates, graduate students, and early career professionals from all backgrounds\u2014pursue graduate study, conduct research, or teach English in schools abroad each year.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESince 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided over 400,000 talented and accomplished students, scholars, teachers, artists, and professionals of all backgrounds with the opportunity to study, teach, and conduct research abroad. Fulbrighters exchange ideas, build people-to-people connections, and work to address complex global challenges.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFulbright is a program of the U.S. Department of State, with funding provided by the U.S. Government. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the Program, which has operated in over 160 countries worldwide.\u0026nbsp; In the United States, the Institute of International Education implements the Fulbright U.S. Student and U.S. Scholar Programs on behalf of the U.S. Department of State. For more information about the Fulbright Program, visit \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/fulbrightprogram.org\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003Ehttps:\/\/fulbrightprogram.org\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u2019s Prestigious Fellowships Advisor Dr. Karen Mura sees the Fulbright program as an opportunity for recipients to connect with the world as they advance their personal goals and growth. \u0022The Fulbright program is a tremendous opportunity for our students to broaden their horizons and gain valuable experience in their fields of study,\u0022 she said. \u0022We are incredibly proud of our five recipients for their hard work and dedication, and we look forward to seeing how they will contribute to their host communities while representing Georgia Tech and the United States.\u0022\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Office of Undergraduate Education is proud of these talented students and wishes them the best of luck as they embark on their Fulbright journeys.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStudents interested in Fulbright, or any nationally or internationally competitive award, can follow up by contacting Shannon Dobranski at \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto: shannon.dobranski@gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003Eshannon.dobranski@gatech.edu\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/pgpp.oue.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPre-Graduate and Pre-Professional Advising\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;is part of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.success.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAcademic Success and Advising (ASA)\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/oue.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOffice of Undergraduate Education (OUE).\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ECollege of Sciences graduate Anisha Kanukolanu is among the Georgia Tech students and alumni who have received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program award to study\/conduct research.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"College of Sciences graduate Anisha Kanukolanu is among the Georgia Tech students and alumni who have received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program award to study\/conduct research."}],"uid":"36583","created_gmt":"2024-06-13 20:09:25","changed_gmt":"2024-06-17 21:16:41","author":"lvidal7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-06-10T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-06-10T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"674179":{"id":"674179","type":"image","title":"Anisha Kanukolanu","body":null,"created":"1718309474","gmt_created":"2024-06-13 20:11:14","changed":"1718309474","gmt_changed":"2024-06-13 20:11:14","alt":"Anisha Kanukolanu","file":{"fid":"257660","name":"IMG_7063.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/06\/13\/IMG_7063.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/06\/13\/IMG_7063.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1181821,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/06\/13\/IMG_7063.jpg?itok=mNkJB-nC"}},"674180":{"id":"674180","type":"image","title":"Georgia Tech\u0027s Fulbright Scholars (2024-2025)","body":null,"created":"1718309538","gmt_created":"2024-06-13 20:12:18","changed":"1718309538","gmt_changed":"2024-06-13 20:12:18","alt":"Georgia Tech\u0027s Fulbright Scholars (2024-2025)","file":{"fid":"257661","name":"2024-2025 Fulbright Scholars Web (2)-2.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/06\/13\/2024-2025%20Fulbright%20Scholars%20Web%20%282%29-2.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/06\/13\/2024-2025%20Fulbright%20Scholars%20Web%20%282%29-2.png","mime":"image\/png","size":906967,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/06\/13\/2024-2025%20Fulbright%20Scholars%20Web%20%282%29-2.png?itok=mjZKPniz"}}},"media_ids":["674179","674180"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/urop.gatech.edu\/researcher-profiles\/anisha-kanukolanu","title":"Undergraduate research profiles: Anisha Kanukolanu"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"193157","name":"Student Honors and Achievements"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"174813","name":"B.S. Neuroscience"},{"id":"192253","name":"cos-neuro"},{"id":"192259","name":"cos-students"},{"id":"369","name":"Fulbright"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003Eby \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/oue.gatech.edu\/node\/1971\u0022\u003EKaren Mura\u003C\/a\u003E, Office of Undergraduate Education\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"674829":{"#nid":"674829","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Asthma\u0027s New Treatment Frontier","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EAsthma impacts more than 40 million Americans, and 10% of the world\u2019s population.\u0026nbsp;However, current anti-inflammatory treatments only partially control the disease\u2019s symptoms.\u0026nbsp;Now,\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003ELiang Han,\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003Ean associate professor in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E,\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003Ehas been\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/reporter.nih.gov\/project-details\/10856495\u0022\u003Eawarded a $2.47M grant by the National Institute of Health\u003C\/a\u003E to study the role our nervous system plays in asthma\u0026nbsp;\u2014 and the potential for new treatments. The grant will fund five years of research, with work beginning this spring.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cAsthma is typically considered an allergic inflammatory disease,\u201d Han says, \u201cand so the majority of research has previously focused on immune responses. But there is emerging evidence that the nervous system plays a critical role in the disease.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EHan highlights that our lungs are full of sensory nerves, which help monitor their internal state, and play an important role in regulating our breathing patterns and respiratory system. Vagal sensory neurons help send information from the lungs to the brain.\u0026nbsp;Recent data collected by\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EYanyan Xing\u003C\/strong\u003E, a former postdoctoral researcher in the Han lab and now a scientist at Empress Therapeutics, suggested that blocking a group of vagal sensory neurons stopped the development of asthma symptoms in mice.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cSince these sensory neurons are\u0026nbsp;responsible for responses like coughing, bronchoconstriction, and mucus\u0026nbsp;secretion, all of which are asthma symptoms, we want to investigate whether blocking these neurons can help inhibit asthma in humans,\u201d Han says. \u201cIf so, this might prove a promising treatment avenue for asthma.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe nervous system connection\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EIn her lab at Georgia Tech,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/liang-han\u0022\u003EHan\u2019s research\u003C\/a\u003E team investigates the role the nervous system plays in creating and behavioral responses, and how that contributes to chronic diseases.\u0026nbsp; \u201cWe want to understand how the nervous system receives, transmits, and interprets various stimuli to induce physiological and behavioral responses,\u201d she explains.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThis year, Han also received a\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/itching-answers-liang-han-receives-nsf-grant-dig-deeper-sensory-circuits\u0022\u003E$550k grant from the National Science Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E to investigate the neural circuit controlling itch sensation. The research has the potential to uncover new treatments for sensory conditions like chronic itch.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Liang Han awarded $2.47M NIH Grant to Study Nervous System\u0027s Role in Asthma "}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAsthma impacts more than 10% of the world\u2019s population, but current anti-inflammatory treatments only partially control the disease. Now, with a $2.47M grant, \u003Cstrong\u003ELiang Han\u003C\/strong\u003E is exploring the role our nervous systems play, potentially leading to new treatments.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Han will investigate whether blocking specific neurons can help inhibit asthma \u2014 which may provide a new avenue for developing treatments."}],"uid":"35599","created_gmt":"2024-05-21 14:21:13","changed_gmt":"2024-06-10 15:44:10","author":"sperrin6","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-05-21T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-05-21T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"674049":{"id":"674049","type":"image","title":"The Han Lab: (from left to right) Liang Han, Katy Lawson, Rossie Nho, William Hancock","body":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Han Lab: (from left to right) Liang Han, Katy Lawson, Rossie Nho, William Hancock\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1716301460","gmt_created":"2024-05-21 14:24:20","changed":"1716301460","gmt_changed":"2024-05-21 14:24:20","alt":"The Han Lab: (from left to right) Liang Han, Katy Lawson, Rossie Nho, William Hancock","file":{"fid":"257515","name":"Han Lab photo 2024 (1).jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/21\/Han%20Lab%20photo%202024%20%281%29.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/21\/Han%20Lab%20photo%202024%20%281%29.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3307240,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/05\/21\/Han%20Lab%20photo%202024%20%281%29.jpeg?itok=RlZwF5PQ"}}},"media_ids":["674049"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"192249","name":"cos-community"},{"id":"192253","name":"cos-neuro"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWritten by \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:sperrin6@gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESelena Langner\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"674925":{"#nid":"674925","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Nunn School Researcher Joins DoD-Funded Team to Explore Military AI-Human Teams ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhat models will work best for military AI-human teams? That\u2019s the question Nunn School of International Affairs Associate Professor Margaret E. Kosal will work to help answer as part of a Georgia Tech Research Institute-led project examining the use of human-AI teams.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re testing the use of AI and machine learning algorithms to assist the military in decision-making in situations where they have information overload and time constraints,\u201d said Kosal. \u201cOur emphasis is on building human-centered and trustworthy AI for national security and defense applications that are in alignment with international law.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhy it\u2019s important\u003C\/strong\u003E: The U.S. Department of Defense wants to ramp up its adoption and use of AI technologies, but these technologies pose numerous ethical and legal issues. Kosal, who previously worked as a science and technology advisor in the office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense, will provide the GTRI team with deep knowledge of the use of emerging technologies in national security contexts and help find solutions that satisfy legal and ethical concerns.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMore about the project:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EIt will explore how the military might develop and use a human-AI team that works well together in difficult situations like a combat zone.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EThey\u2019ll model such a system and measure how well skilled operators can work with it.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EOne component includes creating a human digital twin, or a digital version of an operator, that can help human teammates perform better.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EThey hope the results will be useful not only in military contexts, but also in humanitarian, disaster response, public health, and other situations.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMargaret E. Kosal will help a Georgia Tech Research Institute team examining what models will work best for human-AI military teams.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Margaret E. Kosal will help a Georgia Tech Research Institute team examining what models will work best for human-AI military teams."}],"uid":"34600","created_gmt":"2024-05-28 20:43:25","changed_gmt":"2024-05-31 18:41:41","author":"mpearson34","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-05-28T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-05-28T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"674079":{"id":"674079","type":"image","title":"mil ai.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EMargaret E. Kosal, associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, will join a Georgia Tech Research Institute team to investigate what models work best for military human-AI teams.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1716929019","gmt_created":"2024-05-28 20:43:39","changed":"1716929019","gmt_changed":"2024-05-28 20:43:39","alt":"\u0022\u0022","file":{"fid":"257549","name":"mil ai.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/28\/mil%20ai.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/28\/mil%20ai.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":344264,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/05\/28\/mil%20ai.jpg?itok=9QzutVUF"}}},"media_ids":["674079"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1285","name":"Sam Nunn School of International Affairs"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:michael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EMichael Pearson\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["michael.pearson@iac.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"674706":{"#nid":"674706","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Worms Inspire Wiggly Robots That Navigate All Landscapes","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWorms and snakes seem to wiggle their way across varying environments without needing to learn the terrain. In more complex landscapes, they move even faster, using obstacles to propel themselves forward like a person pulling themselves up a ladder. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThey don\u2019t alter their body-bending pattern no matter how dense the obstacles are,\u201d said\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ty-wang.github.io\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ETianyu Wang\u003C\/a\u003E, a robotics Ph.D. student in the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines and the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. \u201cWe were curious if this process was passively controlled, meaning they don\u2019t have to \u2018think\u2019 about how to deal with obstacles \u2014 we consider this a kind of \u2018mechanical intelligence.\u2019\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETo determine if this passive control hypothesis was correct, a team of roboticists, physicists, and engineers led by\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca data-entity-substitution=\u0022canonical\u0022 data-entity-type=\u0022node\u0022 data-entity-uuid=\u0022929f5776-4dc9-4e3b-a9af-7578c6fd76d0\u0022 href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/node\/2807\u0022\u003EDaniel Goldman\u003C\/a\u003E, the Dunn Family Professor in the School of Physics, and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca data-entity-substitution=\u0022canonical\u0022 data-entity-type=\u0022node\u0022 data-entity-uuid=\u0022b576aa4a-10b2-41c8-99fd-8027f447b195\u0022 href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/node\/2856\u0022\u003EHang Lu\u003C\/a\u003E, professor and Cecil J. \u201cPete\u201d Silas Chair in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, developed a limbless robot. This robot helped them better understand the biology that makes worms and snakes so agile. The result is a robot that could be vital for missions in which humans and wheeled robots are limited, such as search and rescue, industrial maintenance, and planetary exploration.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/feature\/wiggly-robots\u0022\u003ERead more about what they discovered at Georgia Tech Research News.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETo determine if this passive control hypothesis was correct, a team of roboticists, physicists, and engineers led by\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca data-entity-substitution=\u0022canonical\u0022 data-entity-type=\u0022node\u0022 data-entity-uuid=\u0022929f5776-4dc9-4e3b-a9af-7578c6fd76d0\u0022 href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/node\/2807\u0022\u003EDaniel Goldman\u003C\/a\u003E, the Dunn Family Professor in the School of Physics, and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca data-entity-substitution=\u0022canonical\u0022 data-entity-type=\u0022node\u0022 data-entity-uuid=\u0022b576aa4a-10b2-41c8-99fd-8027f447b195\u0022 href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/node\/2856\u0022\u003EHang Lu\u003C\/a\u003E, professor and Cecil J. \u201cPete\u201d Silas Chair in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, developed a limbless robot. This robot helped them better understand the biology that makes worms and snakes so agile. The result is a robot that could be vital for missions in which humans and wheeled robots are limited, such as search and rescue, industrial maintenance, and planetary exploration.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Worms and snakes seem to wiggle their way across varying environments without needing to learn the terrain. In more complex landscapes, they move even faster, using obstacles to propel themselves forward like a person pulling themselves up a ladder.  "}],"uid":"34541","created_gmt":"2024-05-13 21:48:07","changed_gmt":"2024-05-14 16:31:29","author":"Tess Malone","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-05-13T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-05-13T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"673992":{"id":"673992","type":"image","title":"worm-research-robot.jpg","body":null,"created":"1715636898","gmt_created":"2024-05-13 21:48:18","changed":"1715636898","gmt_changed":"2024-05-13 21:48:18","alt":"Worm research robot","file":{"fid":"257455","name":"worm-research-robot.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/13\/worm-research-robot.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/13\/worm-research-robot.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":281296,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/05\/13\/worm-research-robot.jpg?itok=Fid83wqG"}}},"media_ids":["673992"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"},{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETess Malone, Senior Research Writer\/Editor\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003Etess.malone@gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"674629":{"#nid":"674629","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Flicker Stimulation Shines in Clinical Trial for Epilepsy","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBiomedical engineer\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/singer.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EAnnabelle Singer\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;has spent the past decade developing a noninvasive therapy for Alzheimer\u2019s disease that uses flickering lights and rhythmic tones to modulate brain waves. Now she has discovered that the technique, known as flicker, also could benefit patients with a host of other neurological disorders, from epilepsy to multiple sclerosis.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPreviously, Singer and her collaborators demonstrated that the lights and sounds, delivered to patients through goggles and headphones, have beneficial effects. Flicker has been successful in animal studies and in\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/news.gatech.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/24\/early-feasibility-study-shows-flickering-lights-and-sound-could-be-new-weapon-0\u0022\u003Eearly human feasibility trials\u003C\/a\u003E, where it was tested for safety, tolerance, and patient adherence.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENow, thanks to a clinical trial for people with epilepsy, the researchers quantified flicker\u2019s effects with unprecedented precision. They also made an unexpected, but encouraging, discovery: The treatment reduced interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) in the brain.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThese large, intermittent electrophysiological events are observed between seizures in people with epilepsy. They appear as sharp spikes on an EEG readout.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhat\u2019s interesting about these IEDs is that they don\u2019t just occur in epilepsy,\u201d said Singer, McCamish Foundation Early Career Professor in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/\u0022\u003EWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cThey occur in autism, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer\u2019s, and other neurological disorders, too.\u201d And IEDs disrupt normal brain function, causing memory impairment.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESinger and her team published their findings recently in\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-024-47263-y\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ENature Communications\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Rhythm in Our Heads\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EInside the brain are elaborate symphonies of electrical activity: brain waves, or oscillations, that compose our memories, thoughts, and emotions. Singer wants to modulate those oscillations for therapeutic purposes.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAt specific frequencies of light and sound, the flicker treatment can induce gamma oscillations in mice. This helps the brain recruit microglia, cells responsible for removing beta amyloid, which is believed to play a central role in Alzheimer\u2019s pathology. Part of the work is in recording what\u2019s happening in the brain during treatment to verify how it\u2019s working.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe patients in the trial were under the care of physician\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neurosurgery.wustl.edu\/people\/jon-t-willie\/\u0022\u003EJon Willie\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;at the Emory University Hospital Epilepsy Monitoring Unit. (Willie, co-corresponding author of the study with Singer, is now at Washington University in St. Louis.) They were awaiting surgery to remove an area of the brain where seizures occur. Before that could happen, they had to undergo intracranial seizure monitoring \u2014 recording electrodes are placed in the brain to pinpoint the seizure onset zone and determine exactly which tissue should be removed. Then, patients and their care team wait for a seizure to happen. It can take days.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIn human studies, we\u2019ve used noninvasive methods like functional MRI or scalp EEG, but they have real downsides in terms of resolution,\u201d Singer said. \u201cWorking with these patients was a game changer. These are people with treatment-resistant epilepsy, which means that drugs aren\u2019t working for them.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPathway to Healing\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESinger\u2019s team recruited 19 patients. Lead author of the study, Lou Blanpain, a former Ph.D. student in Singer\u2019s lab and now a medical student at Emory, went from patient to patient with the flicker stimulation and recording equipment.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBecause these patients already had recording probes implanted for clinical reasons, we were able to record directly from the brain,\u201d Singer said. \u201cWe\u2019ve never been able to get recordings of this quality during flicker treatment before.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAs the researchers expected, flicker modulated the visual and auditory brain regions that respond strongly to stimuli. But it also reached deeper, into the medial temporal lobe and prefrontal cortex, brain regions crucial for memory. And across the brain, in regions Singer hadn\u2019t fully explored before, she found IEDs were decreasing.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThat has important implications for whether flicker is therapeutically relevant for people with Alzheimer\u2019s, but also in general if we want to target anything beyond the primary sensory regions,\u201d she said. \u201cAll of this points to the potential use of flicker in a lot of different contexts. Going forward, we\u2019re definitely going to look at other conditions and other potential implications.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECitation:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;Lou T. Blanpain, Eric R. Cole, Emily Chen, James K. Park, Michael Y. Walelign, Robert E. Gross, Brian T. Cabaniss, Jon T. Willie, Annabelle C. Singer.\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-024-47263-y\u0022\u003E\u201cMultisensory Flicker Modulates Widespread Brain Networks and Reduces Interictal Epileptiform Discharges,\u201d\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003ENature Communications\u003C\/em\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFunding:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003ENational Institutes of Health (R01 NS109226, RF1NS109226, RF1AG078736,\u0026nbsp;R01 MH120194, P41 EB018783, MH12019), DARPA, McCamish Foundation, Packard Foundation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECompeting interests:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;Annabelle Singer owns shares in Cognito Therapeutics, which aims to develop gamma stimulation-related products. These conflicts are managed by Georgia Tech\u2019s Office of Research Integrity Assurance.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBiomedical engineer\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/singer.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EAnnabelle Singer\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;has spent the past decade developing a noninvasive therapy for Alzheimer\u2019s disease that uses flickering lights and rhythmic tones to modulate brain waves. Now she has discovered that the technique, known as flicker, also could benefit patients with a host of other neurological disorders, from epilepsy to multiple sclerosis.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Biomedical engineer\u00a0Annabelle Singer\u00a0has spent the past decade developing a noninvasive therapy for Alzheimer\u2019s disease that also could benefit patients with a host of other neurological disorders, from epilepsy to multiple sclerosis."}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2024-05-09 21:09:38","changed_gmt":"2024-05-10 18:25:26","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-05-09T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-05-09T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"673971":{"id":"673971","type":"image","title":"Annabelle Singer in lab","body":"\u003Cp\u003EA scientist and her tools: Annabelle Singer has quantified her flicker technology with unprecedented precision in a new clinical trial. \u0026nbsp;\u2014 Photo by Jerry Grillo\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1715288693","gmt_created":"2024-05-09 21:04:53","changed":"1715288806","gmt_changed":"2024-05-09 21:06:46","alt":"Annabelle singer in laB","file":{"fid":"257433","name":"Annabelle3.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/09\/Annabelle3.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/09\/Annabelle3.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2465554,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/05\/09\/Annabelle3.jpg?itok=n9zhEfd6"}}},"media_ids":["673971"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"44881","name":"Alzheimer\u0027s Disease"},{"id":"107981","name":"epilepsy"},{"id":"183802","name":"Flicker"},{"id":"187624","name":"gamma flicker"},{"id":"1613","name":"Biomedical Engieering"},{"id":"187320","name":"brain activity"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"674495":{"#nid":"674495","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Teaching AI to Collaborate, not Merely Create, Through Dance","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETwo children are playing with a set of toys, each playing alone. That kind of play involves a somewhat limited set of interactions between the child and the toy. But what happens when the two children play together using the same toys?\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe actions are similar, but the choices and outcomes are very different because of the dynamic changes they\u2019re making with the other person,\u201d says Brian Magerko, Regents\u2019 Professor in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Literature, Media, and Communication. \u201cIt\u2019s a thing that humans do all the time, and computers don\u2019t do with us at all.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWelcome to the next frontier of artificial intelligence (AI) \u2014 not just generating but collaborating in real-time.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMagerko and his colleagues, Georgia Tech research scientist Milka Trajkova and Kennesaw State University Associate Professor of Dance Andrea Knowlton, are putting a collaborative AI system they\u2019ve developed to the ultimate test: the world\u2019s first collaborative AI dance performance.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch2\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDance Partner\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h2\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/expressivemachinery.gatech.edu\/projects\/luminai\/\u0022\u003ELuminAI\u003C\/a\u003E is an interactive system that allows participants to engage in collaborative movement improvisation with an AI virtual dance partner projected on a nearby screen or wall. LuminAI analyzes participant movements and improvises responses informed by memories of past interactions with people. In other words, LuminAI learns how to dance by dancing with us.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe National Science Foundation-supported project began about 12 years ago in a lab and became an art installation and public demo. LuminAI has since moved into a different phase as a creative collaborator and education tool in a dance studio.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re looking at the role LuminAI can play in dance education. As far as we\u2019re aware, this is the first implemented version of an AI dancer in a dance studio,\u201d says Trajkova, who was a professional ballet dancer before becoming a research scientist on the project.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETo prepare LuminAI to collaborate with dancers, the research team started by studying pairs of improvisational dancers.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re trying to understand how non-verbal, collaborative creativity occurs,\u201d Knowlton says. \u201cWe start by trying to understand influencing factors that are perceived as contributing to improvisational success between two artists. Through that understanding, we applied those criteria to an AI system so it can have a similar experience with co-creative success.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re working on a creative arc,\u201d adds Trajkova. \u201cSo instead of the AI agent just generating movements in response to the last thing that happened, we\u2019re working to track and understand the dynamics of creative ideas across time as a continuous flow, rather than isolated instances of reaction.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EStudents from Knowlton\u2019s improvisational dance class at Kennesaw State spent two months of their spring semester working routinely with the LuminAI dancer and recording their impressions and experiences. One of the purposes the team discovered is that LuminAI serves as a third view for dancers and allows them to try ideas out with the system before trying it out with a partner.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe classroom experiment will culminate in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/events\/item\/673929\/luminai-performance-collaboration-dance\u0022\u003Ea public performance on May 3 at Kennesaw State\u2019s Marietta Dance Theater\u003C\/a\u003E featuring the students performing with the LuminAI dancer. \u003Ca\u003EAs far as the research team is aware the event is the world\u2019s first collaborative AI dance performance.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile not all the dancers embraced having an AI collaborator, some of those who were skeptical at first left the experience more open to the possibility of collaborating with AI, Knowlton says. Regardless of their feelings toward working with AI, Knowlton says she believes the dancers gained valuable skills in working with specialized technology, especially as dance performances evolve to include more interactive media.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch2\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERefined Movement\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h2\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESo, what\u2019s next for LuminAI? The project represents at least two possible paths for its learnings. The first includes continued exploration about how AI systems can be taught to cooperate and collaborate more like humans.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWith the advent of generative AI these past few years, it\u2019s been really clear how great a need there is for this sort of social cognition,\u201d says Magerko. \u201cOne of the things we\u2019re going to be getting off the ground is sense-making with large language models. How do you collaborate with an AI system \u2013 rather than just making text or images, they\u2019ll be able to make \u003Cem\u003Ewith\u003C\/em\u003E us.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe second involves the body movements LuminAI has been cataloging and analyzing over the years. Dance exemplifies highly refined motor skills, often exhibiting a level of detail surpassing that found in various athletic disciplines or physical therapy. While the tools designed to capture these intricate movements\u2014through cameras and AI\u2014are still nascent, the potential for harnessing this granular data is significant, Trajkova says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThat exploration begins on May 30 with a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sites.gatech.edu\/artisticaiperformance\/\u0022\u003Etwo-day summit\u003C\/a\u003E being held at Georgia Tech to discuss its application for transforming performance athletics, with interdisciplinary participants in dance, computer vision, biomechanics, psychology, and human-computer interaction\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003Efrom Georgia Tech, Emory, KSU, Harvard, Royal Ballet in London, and Australian Ballet.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s about understanding AI\u0027s role in augmenting training, promoting wellness as well as diving deep in decoding the artistry of human movements. How can we extract insights about the quality of athlete\u2019s movements so we can help develop and enhance their own unique nuances?\u201d Trajkova says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech and KSU faculty are putting a collaborative AI system they\u2019ve developed to the ultimate test: the world\u2019s first collaborative AI dance performance.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech and KSU faculty are putting a collaborative AI system they\u2019ve developed to the ultimate test: the world\u2019s first collaborative AI dance performance."}],"uid":"36009","created_gmt":"2024-05-02 20:37:34","changed_gmt":"2024-05-10 18:03:49","author":"cwhittle9","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-05-02T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-05-02T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"673962":{"id":"673962","type":"image","title":"luminai.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EA Kennesaw State University dance student and the LuminAI-powered avatar dance together.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1715183949","gmt_created":"2024-05-08 15:59:09","changed":"1715184498","gmt_changed":"2024-05-08 16:08:18","alt":"A Kennesaw State University dance student and the LuminAI-powered avatar dance together.","file":{"fid":"257422","name":"luminai.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/08\/luminai.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/08\/luminai.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1145720,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/05\/08\/luminai.jpg?itok=GEUXa-Vw"}}},"media_ids":["673962"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/events\/item\/673929\/luminai-performance-collaboration-dance","title":"LuminAI: A Performance Collaboration of Dance and AI Event"},{"url":"https:\/\/expressivemachinery.gatech.edu\/projects\/luminai\/","title":"LuminAI Project Page"}],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1283","name":"School of Literature, Media, and Communication"}],"categories":[{"id":"42941","name":"Art Research"},{"id":"143","name":"Digital Media and Entertainment"},{"id":"42891","name":"Georgia Tech Arts"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187812","name":"artificial intelligence (AI)"},{"id":"192863","name":"go-ai"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMegan McRainey\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:megan.mcrainey@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emegan.mcrainey@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"674643":{"#nid":"674643","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Researchers Awarded $2.6 Million NIH Grant to Use AI to Advance Exoskeleton Assistance Post Stroke","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFaculty from the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, including Associate Professors\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/faculty\/sawicki\u0022\u003EGregory Sawicki\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/faculty\/young\u0022\u003EAaron Young\u003C\/a\u003E, have been awarded a five-year, $2.6 million Research Project Grant (R01) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe are grateful to our NIH sponsor for this award to improve treatment of post-stroke individuals using advanced robotic solutions,\u201d said Young, who is also affiliated with Georgia Tech\u0027s \u003Ca href=\u0022neuro.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ENeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe R01 will support a project focused on using optimization and artificial intelligence to personalize exoskeleton assistance for individuals with symptoms resulting from stroke. Sawicki and Young will collaborate with researchers from the Emory Rehabilitation Hospital including Associate Professor\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/med.emory.edu\/directory\/profile\/?u=TKESAR\u0022\u003ETrisha Kesar\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAs a stroke researcher, I am eagerly looking forward to making progress on this project, and paving the way for leading-edge technologies and technology-driven treatment strategies that maximize functional independence and quality of life of people with neuro-pathologies,\u0022 said Kesar.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe intervention for study participants will include a training therapy program that will use biofeedback to increase the efficiency of exosuits for wearers.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/me.gatech.edu\/faculty\/herrin\u0022\u003EKinsey Herrin\u003C\/a\u003E, senior research scientist in the Woodruff School and Neuro Next Initiative affiliate, explained the extended benefits of the study, including being able to increase safety for stroke patients who are moving outdoors. \u201cOne aspect of this project is testing our technologies on stroke survivors as they\u0027re walking outside. Being outside is a small thing that many of us take for granted, but a devastating loss for many following a stroke.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESawicki, who is also an associate professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and core faculty in Georgia Tech\u0027s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/robotics\u0022\u003EInstitute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines\u003C\/a\u003E, is also looking forward to the project. \u0022This new project is truly a tour de force that leverages a highly talented interdisciplinary team of engineers, clinical scientists, and prosthetics\/orthotics experts who all bring key elements needed to build assistive technology that can work in real-world scenarios.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMechanical engineering researchers\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/faculty\/sawicki\u0022\u003EGregory Sawicki\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/faculty\/young\u0022\u003EAaron Young\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;recently received $2.6 million from NIH to pursue a project focused on using optimization and artificial intelligence to personalize exoskeleton assistance for individuals with symptoms resulting from stroke.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Gregory Sawicki and Aaron Young will use artificial intelligence to personalize exoskeleton assistance for people with symptoms resulting from stroke."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2024-05-10 17:24:55","changed_gmt":"2024-05-10 17:37:41","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-05-10T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-05-10T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"673980":{"id":"673980","type":"image","title":"Greg-Sawicki-and-Aaron-Young_0.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EMechanical Engineering and Biological Sciences Associate Professor Gregory Sawicki (left) and Mechanical Engineering Associate Professor Aaron Young.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1715361934","gmt_created":"2024-05-10 17:25:34","changed":"1715361934","gmt_changed":"2024-05-10 17:25:34","alt":"Mechanical Engineering and Biological Sciences Associate Professor Gregory Sawicki (left) and Mechanical Engineering Associate Professor Aaron Young.","file":{"fid":"257442","name":"Greg-Sawicki-and-Aaron-Young_0.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/10\/Greg-Sawicki-and-Aaron-Young_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/10\/Greg-Sawicki-and-Aaron-Young_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":873186,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/05\/10\/Greg-Sawicki-and-Aaron-Young_0.jpg?itok=RCHlu6gw"}}},"media_ids":["673980"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/universal-controller-could-push-robotic-prostheses-exoskeletons-real-world-use","title":"Universal Controller Could Push Robotic Prostheses, Exoskeletons Into Real-World Use"},{"url":"https:\/\/me.gatech.edu\/news\/1000-steps-100-days-high-heels-may-help-improve-walking","title":"1,000 Steps for 100 Days in High Heels May Help Improve Walking"},{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/georgia-tech-partners-15m-nsf-grant-explore-muscle-dynamics","title":"Georgia Tech Partners on $15M NSF Grant to Explore Muscle Dynamics"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"192253","name":"cos-neuro"},{"id":"188087","name":"go-irim"},{"id":"594","name":"college of engineering"},{"id":"190256","name":"G.W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering"},{"id":"192863","name":"go-ai"},{"id":"187582","name":"go-ibb"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193655","name":"Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"},{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"},{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/user\/1065\u0022\u003EChloe Arrington\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nGeorge W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["carrington30@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"674367":{"#nid":"674367","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Why Can\u2019t Robots Outrun Animals?","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERobots that can run, jump, and even talk have shifted from the stuff of science fiction to reality in the past few decades. Yet even in robots specialized for specific movements like running, animals are still able to outmaneuver the most advanced robotic developments.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\/user\/simon-sponberg\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESimon Sponberg\u003C\/a\u003E recently collaborated with researchers at the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EUniversity of Washington\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.sfu.ca\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESimon Fraser University\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.colorado.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EUniversity of Colorado Boulder\u003C\/a\u003E, and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.sri.com\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EStanford Research Institute\u003C\/a\u003E to answer one deceptively complex question: Why can\u2019t robots outrun animals?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis work is about trying to understand how, despite have some really amazing robots, there still seems to be a gulf between the capabilities of animal movement and what we can engineer,\u201d says Sponberg, who is Dunn Family Associate Professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESchool of Physics\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERecently published in \u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/scirobotics.adi9754\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EScience Robotics\u003C\/a\u003E,\u003C\/em\u003E their study systematically examines a suite of biological and robotic runners to figure out how to further advance our best robotic designs.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIn robotics design we are often very component focused \u2014 we are used to having to establish specifications for the parts that we need and then finding the best component solution,\u201d said Sponberg, who also serves on the executive committee for Georgia Tech\u0027s \u003Ca href=\u0022neuro.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ENeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cThis is of course not how evolution works. We wondered if we systematically analyzed the performance of animals in the same component way that we design robots, if we might see an obvious gap.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe gap turns out not to be in the function of individual robotic components, but rather the ability of those components to work together in the seamless way biological components do, highlighting a field of opportunity for new research in robotic development.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis means that the frontier is not necessarily figuring out how to design better motors or sensors or controllers,\u201d says Sponberg, \u201cbut rather how to integrate them together \u2014 this is where biology really excels.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERead more about man versus machine and the future of bioinspired robotics \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ece.uw.edu\/spotlight\/why-animals-can-outrun-robots\/\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Georgia Tech Researcher Collaborates to Advance Bioinspired Design"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech Researcher Simon Sponberg collaborates to ask why robotic advancements have yet to outpace animals \u2014 and look at what we can learn from biology to engineer new robotic designs.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech Researcher Simon Sponberg collaborates to ask why robotic advancements have yet to outpace animals \u2014 and look at what we can learn from biology to engineer new robotic designs."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2024-04-24 19:31:58","changed_gmt":"2024-05-02 20:25:23","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-05-02T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-05-02T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"673838":{"id":"673838","type":"image","title":"mCLARI_Spider.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003ECan this small robot outrun a spider? Photo Credit: Animal Inspired Movement and Robotics Lab, CU Boulder.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1713987354","gmt_created":"2024-04-24 19:35:54","changed":"1713987354","gmt_changed":"2024-04-24 19:35:54","alt":"Can this small robot outrun a spider? Photo Credit: Animal Inspired Movement and Robotics Lab, CU Boulder.","file":{"fid":"257286","name":"mCLARI_Spider.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/04\/24\/mCLARI_Spider.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/04\/24\/mCLARI_Spider.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3554930,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/04\/24\/mCLARI_Spider.jpg?itok=wDPfHkwN"}}},"media_ids":["673838"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/georgia-tech-partners-15m-nsf-grant-explore-muscle-dynamics","title":"Georgia Tech Partners on $15M NSF Grant to Explore Muscle Dynamics"},{"url":"https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/edge-georgia-tech-professors-awarded-curci-grants-emerging-bio-research-0","title":"On The Edge: Georgia Tech Professors Awarded Curci Grants for Emerging Bio Research"},{"url":"https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/feature\/ultrafast-flight","title":"How Insects Evolved to Ultrafast Flight (And Back)"}],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"},{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"188087","name":"go-irim"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"192253","name":"cos-neuro"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"181469","name":"bioinspired design"},{"id":"193266","name":"cos-research"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"},{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAudra Davidson\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nResearch Communications Program Manager\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nNeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"673670":{"#nid":"673670","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Cosmic Curiosity: Georgia Tech Hosts Science and Engineering Day to Open Atlanta Science Festival","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech opened the 11th annual \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/atlantasciencefestival.org\/\u0022\u003EAtlanta Science Festival\u003C\/a\u003E (ASF) with record attendance for \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/atlsciencefestival\/demos\u0022\u003EScience and Engineering Day\u003C\/a\u003E. Despite the drizzly weather, about 4,000 people of all ages from throughout metro Atlanta \u2014 more than double the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/science-and-engineering-day-buzzes-excitement\u0022\u003Enumber of attendees in 2023\u003C\/a\u003E \u2014 visited campus on Saturday, March 9, 2024, for the space-themed event. They explored more than 45 exhibitions and hands-on activities related to art, robotics, nanotechnology, chemical and systems engineering, and biology, as well as other STEAM areas.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EVisitors began their investigations at \u201cEarth\u201d (the Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design), where they picked up a galactic passport specially designed to guide them from building to building \u2014 each designated with the name of a planet \u2014 and the demonstrations housed within.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAt \u201cMars\u201d (Marcus Nanotechnology Building), attendees measured their height in nanometers, experimented with fruit batteries, and took a window-tour of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/news.gatech.edu\/archive\/features\/hidden-georgia-tech-cleanroom.shtml\u0022\u003Elargest cleanroom in the Southeast\u003C\/a\u003E, where semiconductors are developed. Inside \u201cVenus\u201d (Parker H. Petit Biotech Building), budding scientists examined bioluminescent bacteria under a microscope and made Play-Doh models of the human brain. When visiting \u201cSaturn\u201d (Ford Environmental Sciences and Technology Building), visitors studied density by making DIY lava lamps and inspected human brain specimens the way a pathologist would.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cGetting to hold a human brain was cool,\u201d said a 12-year-old participant from Alpharetta. \u201cAnd I also liked comparing it to the brains of a pig and a mouse.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOther activities included math games and puzzles, the opportunity to build an artificial hand and a gallery display of research-inspired artwork. Georgia Tech faculty, students, and staff hosted all the demonstrations and served as volunteers who helped Science and Engineering Day guests navigate campus and the demonstration sites.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor many participants, the undoubted highlight was the chance to hear a presentation by former NASA astronaut and Georgia Tech alumnus Shane Kimbrough, MS OR 1998. Kimbrough spent 388 days in space over three missions and served as commander of the International Space Station (ISS) in 2016. He captivated the standing-room-only crowd with photos and descriptions of his time living and working aboard the ISS and answered questions from the kids in the audience.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s really exciting to see all the activities around campus today \u2026 we\u2019re inspiring the next generation of scientists and explorers for our country,\u201d Kimbrough said afterward.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe event was a resounding success for Georgia Tech and the Atlanta Science Fair.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELauren Overton-Kirk, who organized the event for the Institute, said, \u0022Georgia Tech Science and Engineering Day 2024 was so wonderful to share with the community. What started years ago as a day for young scientific exploration became an all-ages, space-themed scientific spectacular. You could feel the passion for learning fill the campus in a way only Georgia Tech could do.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBoth the Georgia Tech and the Atlanta Science Festival teams are looking forward to next year\u2019s Science and Engineering Day.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAs one of the founding organizations of the Atlanta Science Festival, Georgia Tech has been deeply invested in sharing the Institute\u2019s innovations with the community,\u201d said Meisa Salaita, ASF co-director. \u201cAnd that investment was deeply evident on March 9th as they opened their doors to kick off the 11th annual Science Festival. Their students and faculty came out with enthusiasm\u0026nbsp;to showcase science to the public. We couldn\u0027t be more thrilled with this partnership \u2014 and the many ways Tech has helped us show our community that Atlanta is a science city.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EScience and Engineering Day at the Institute\u0026nbsp;included more than 45 exhibitions and interactive demonstrations, hosted by Tech faculty, staff, and students. The highlight of the event was a presentation by alumnus and former NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough, who shared with audiences his experience of living and working in space.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"More than 4,000 guests visited Georgia Tech\u0027s kickoff event for the city\u0027s annual science extravaganza."}],"uid":"36123","created_gmt":"2024-03-21 19:30:17","changed_gmt":"2024-04-29 18:52:55","author":"Catherine Barzler","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-03-21T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-03-21T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"673462":{"id":"673462","type":"image","title":"4-Human Brain.jpeg","body":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EA\u0026nbsp;young investigator holds a human brain. (Credit: Joya Chapman)\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1711049862","gmt_created":"2024-03-21 19:37:42","changed":"1711049798","gmt_changed":"2024-03-21 19:36:38","alt":"A young boy wearing blue latex gloves holds a human brain","file":{"fid":"256861","name":"4-Human Brain.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/03\/21\/4-Human%20Brain.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/03\/21\/4-Human%20Brain.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":6072347,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/03\/21\/4-Human%20Brain.jpeg?itok=Pac9qgG0"}},"673463":{"id":"673463","type":"image","title":"2-Shane Kimbrough.jpeg","body":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EFormer astronaut and Tech Alumnus Shane Kimbrough described what it was like to live and work in space to a packed crowd at Science and Engineering Day. (Credit: Joya Chapman)\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1711049961","gmt_created":"2024-03-21 19:39:21","changed":"1711049903","gmt_changed":"2024-03-21 19:38:23","alt":"A man in a blue shirt stands in front of a class of adolescents","file":{"fid":"256862","name":"2-Shane Kimbrough.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/03\/21\/2-Shane%20Kimbrough.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/03\/21\/2-Shane%20Kimbrough.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":4520553,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/03\/21\/2-Shane%20Kimbrough.jpeg?itok=SqBYpkzf"}},"673461":{"id":"673461","type":"image","title":"1-ASF Galactic Passport.jpeg","body":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe Atlanta Science Festival Galactic Passport that visitors used to navigate their explorations around Georgia Tech\u0027s campus (Credit: Joya Chapman)\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1711049777","gmt_created":"2024-03-21 19:36:17","changed":"1711049587","gmt_changed":"2024-03-21 19:33:07","alt":"A blue booklet with an illustration of a pink astronaut","file":{"fid":"256860","name":"1-ASF Galactic Passport.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/03\/21\/1-ASF%20Galactic%20Passport.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/03\/21\/1-ASF%20Galactic%20Passport.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":4242606,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/03\/21\/1-ASF%20Galactic%20Passport.jpeg?itok=dZlUf9sD"}},"673464":{"id":"673464","type":"image","title":"5-Biotic Plot.jpeg","body":"\u003Cdiv\u003EThis guest at Science and Engineering Day examines tiny living organisms in a test tube. (Credit: Joya Chapman)\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n","created":"1711050045","gmt_created":"2024-03-21 19:40:45","changed":"1711049993","gmt_changed":"2024-03-21 19:39:53","alt":"Little girl in yellow headband examines a test tube. ","file":{"fid":"256863","name":"5-Biotic Plot.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/03\/21\/5-Biotic%20Plot.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/03\/21\/5-Biotic%20Plot.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3379179,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/03\/21\/5-Biotic%20Plot.jpeg?itok=7dAfl5fx"}},"673465":{"id":"673465","type":"image","title":"3-Glowing Bacteria.jpeg","body":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EA budding scientist examines bioluminescent bacteria under a microscope. (Credit: Joya Chapman)\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1711050334","gmt_created":"2024-03-21 19:45:34","changed":"1711050253","gmt_changed":"2024-03-21 19:44:13","alt":"A person looks into a microscope. A sign with the text \u0022why do bacteria GLOW\u0022 is in the foreground","file":{"fid":"256864","name":"3-Glowing Bacteria.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/03\/21\/3-Glowing%20Bacteria.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/03\/21\/3-Glowing%20Bacteria.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3667053,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/03\/21\/3-Glowing%20Bacteria.jpeg?itok=K6l2mTJd"}}},"media_ids":["673462","673463","673461","673464","673465"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"192249","name":"cos-community"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193652","name":"Matter and Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:shelley.wunder-smith@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EShelley Wunder-Smith\u003C\/a\u003E, Institute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["shelley.wunder-smith@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"674366":{"#nid":"674366","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Neurotech Moonshot: Georgia Tech Researcher Shares Impact of BRAIN Initiative in Congressional Briefing ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFor the past 10 years, the National Institutes of Health have led an unprecedented effort to revolutionize our understanding of the human brain. The aptly named \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/braininitiative.nih.gov\/about\/overview\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EBRAIN (Brain Research Through Advancing Neurotechnologies) Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E has led to remarkable technological advancements, insights into the structure and function of the brain, and budding therapies.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERecently, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/School of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E (ECE) Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/user\/1109\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EChris Rozell\u003C\/a\u003E traveled to Washington, D.C. to share the impact of his BRAIN Initiative research with U.S. Congressional offices \u2014 and offer insights on how critical this program is to society. The briefing took on a particular urgency because BRAIN Initiative funding was cut over 40% this year, and future funding appears to be in jeopardy in the current federal budget climate.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe millions of patients suffering with intractable neurologic disorders and mental illness deserve a moonshot to develop new solutions for their conditions,\u201d said Rozell, who also holds the Julian T. Hightower Chair in ECE and serves on the executive committee for Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ENeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cYou can\u0027t get to the moon with a paper plane, and you can\u2019t get there without a map. The BRAIN Initiative is a vital program because it\u0027s one of the few places that brings together interdisciplinary teams that include the scientists who have been building maps of brain circuits and the engineers who have been building rockets to understand and intervene with those circuits.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u0027m proud to have had the chance to represent not only our own research, but the incredible community here at Georgia Tech and around the country working to understand many different aspects of the brain, developing new neurotechnologies, and advancing therapies for neurologic disorders.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EInterdisciplinary impacts\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe main message we presented to Congress is that the interdisciplinary combination of rigorous science and technical innovation can have enormous societal impact over the next few decades,\u201d said Rozell.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA stark example of that impact was published in \u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-023-06541-3\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ENature\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E this past fall. In this research, Rozell and his collaborators at the\u202f\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/icahn.mssm.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EIcahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai\u003C\/a\u003E and\u202f\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/med.emory.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EEmory University School of Medicine\u003C\/a\u003E identified the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/news\/2023\/09\/researchers-identify-crucial-biomarker-tracks-recovery-treatment-resistant-depression\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Efirst known biomarker\u003C\/a\u003E of disease recovery with deep brain stimulation in treatment-resistant depression.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe fact that an engineer can advance clinical therapies is a testament to the new era we\u0027re in,\u201d says Rozell, \u201cwhere disciplinary boundaries are fading, and technological innovation accelerates our scientific and translational breakthroughs.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis research served as a focal point of the congressional briefing, where Rozell presented with BRAIN Initiative Director \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ninds.nih.gov\/about-ninds\/who-we-are\/staff-directory\/john-ngai\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EJohn J. Ngai\u003C\/a\u003E, clinical collaborators, and a family whose lives have been transformed by this work. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cEvents like last week are dream come true,\u201d shared Jon Nelson, who was treated with deep brain stimulation as part of the study and presented with Rozell in D.C. After living through 10 years of debilitating, treatment-resistant depression, Nelson says \u201cremission of depression still doesn\u0027t feel real. It\u0027s been a year and a half, and I still am in awe every single day.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe fact that I have come out of this study and found that the disease is purely an electrical deficiency in my brain has fueled me to completely pulverize the stigma of mental illness,\u201d Nelson explained. \u201cWhen you have an opportunity to go speak to Congress \u2014 that\u2019s about as great of a platform as you can get for that. Being able to put a face to what the BRAIN Initiative funding can do for people was just amazing.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen meeting with local representatives, Rozell also relayed his work as co-executive leader of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ENeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E, a budding Interdisciplinary Research Institute at Georgia Tech.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI was thrilled to highlight that Georgia Tech is leading the charge with the Neuro Next Initiative, which will evolve into a full Interdisciplinary Research Institute in 2025,\u201d said Rozell. \u201cGeorgia Tech has the ingredients\u0026nbsp;to become a leading center for modern technology-driven interdisciplinary brain research and workforce development.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis visit was a reminder to me that research funding is not guaranteed and it\u2019s important to keep communicating the critical value that research plays in advancing our understanding, training our workforce, fueling our economy, and ultimately making a better tomorrow for society.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech Professor Chris Rozell recently traveled to Washington, D.C. to present his groundbreaking research on treatment-resistant depression to Congress. There, Rozell shared insights on the impact of 10 years of the NIH BRAIN Initiative \u2014 and share with local representatives how Georgia Tech is playing a key role in leading the charge.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Chris Rozell traveled to Washington, D.C. to share the impacts of the past decade of brain research funded by the NIH BRAIN Initiative with Congress \u2014 and share with local representatives how Georgia Tech is playing a key role in leading the charge."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2024-04-24 19:01:17","changed_gmt":"2024-04-26 15:55:05","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-04-24T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-04-24T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"673835":{"id":"673835","type":"image","title":"Rozell was joined by BRAIN Initiative Director John J. Ngai, clinical collaborators, and a family whose lives have been transformed by this work. ","body":"\u003Cp\u003ERozell was joined by BRAIN Initiative Director John J. Ngai, clinical collaborators, and a family whose lives have been transformed by this work.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1713985800","gmt_created":"2024-04-24 19:10:00","changed":"1713985800","gmt_changed":"2024-04-24 19:10:00","alt":"Rozell was joined by BRAIN Initiative Director John J. Ngai, clinical collaborators, and a family whose lives have been transformed by this work. ","file":{"fid":"257282","name":"Chris-Rozell-BRAIN-Initiative-Briefing-Group-Photo.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/04\/24\/Chris-Rozell-BRAIN-Initiative-Briefing-Group-Photo.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/04\/24\/Chris-Rozell-BRAIN-Initiative-Briefing-Group-Photo.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3133594,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/04\/24\/Chris-Rozell-BRAIN-Initiative-Briefing-Group-Photo.jpg?itok=oOiNIDaf"}},"673836":{"id":"673836","type":"image","title":"Rozell presented to members of U.S. Congress as well as local representatives during his visit.","body":"\u003Cp\u003ERozell presented to members of U.S. Congress as well as local representatives during his visit.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1713985859","gmt_created":"2024-04-24 19:10:59","changed":"1713985859","gmt_changed":"2024-04-24 19:10:59","alt":"Rozell presented to members of U.S. Congress as well as local representatives during his visit.","file":{"fid":"257283","name":"Chris-Rozell-BRAIN-Initiative-Briefing-Room.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/04\/24\/Chris-Rozell-BRAIN-Initiative-Briefing-Room.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/04\/24\/Chris-Rozell-BRAIN-Initiative-Briefing-Room.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":407458,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/04\/24\/Chris-Rozell-BRAIN-Initiative-Briefing-Room.jpeg?itok=I_wOe-Z6"}},"673837":{"id":"673837","type":"image","title":"Georgia Tech Engineering Professor Chris Rozell shared his research and the impacts of the past decade of brain research funded by the NIH BRAIN Initiative with Congress.","body":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech Engineering Professor Chris Rozell shared his research and the impacts of the past decade of brain research funded by the NIH BRAIN Initiative with Congress.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1713985921","gmt_created":"2024-04-24 19:12:01","changed":"1713985921","gmt_changed":"2024-04-24 19:12:01","alt":"Georgia Tech Engineering Professor Chris Rozell shared his research and the impacts of the past decade of brain research funded by the NIH BRAIN Initiative with Congress.","file":{"fid":"257284","name":"Chris-Rozell-BRAIN-Initiative-Congressional-Briefing.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/04\/24\/Chris-Rozell-BRAIN-Initiative-Congressional-Briefing_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/04\/24\/Chris-Rozell-BRAIN-Initiative-Congressional-Briefing_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":414430,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/04\/24\/Chris-Rozell-BRAIN-Initiative-Congressional-Briefing_0.jpg?itok=QAcnntWA"}}},"media_ids":["673835","673836","673837"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/news\/2023\/09\/researchers-identify-crucial-biomarker-tracks-recovery-treatment-resistant-depression","title":"Researchers Identify Crucial Biomarker That Tracks Recovery from Treatment-Resistant Depression"},{"url":"https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu","title":"Learn more about the Neuro Next Initiative"},{"url":"https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/news\/2021\/09\/ai-and-neuroscience-become-dance-partners-georgia-tech-arts-event","title":"AI and Neuroscience Become Dance Partners for Georgia Tech Arts Event"}],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"155","name":"Congressional Testimony"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"111361","name":"BRAIN initiative"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"193266","name":"cos-research"},{"id":"192253","name":"cos-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39431","name":"Data Engineering and Science"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAudra Davidson\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nResearch Communications Program Manager\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nNeuro Next Initiative\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["audra.davidson@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"674256":{"#nid":"674256","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Aaron Levine Named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAaron Levine, associate dean for research and outreach in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world\u2019s largest multidisciplinary scientific society.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELevine is one of 502 people named to the AAAS Fellows Class of 2023, an honor the society has been awarding scientists, engineers, and innovators since 1874 for achievements and efforts on behalf of the advancement of science and its applications. AAAS Fellows are recognized for outstanding contributions to research, teaching, technology, and science communication.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI am deeply honored to receive this recognition from an organization that has supported and inspired me since I joined as a graduate student in 2006,\u201d said Levine. \u201cI am also encouraged by this acknowledgement that policy and ethics play a key role in bringing groundbreaking biomedical technologies to the people who need them.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe organization chose Levine, who is also a professor in the School of Public Policy, for his contributions to biomedical research policy \u2014 including advancing understanding of how policy debates influence contentious areas of research. His work is at the intersection of ethics, policy, and biomedical research.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI first became interested in bioethics and science policy while working on the human genome project and witnessing the ethical and policy issues that arose,\u201d said Levine. \u201cI believe addressing societal issues associated with emerging biomedical technologies is critical for these advances to reach their full potential.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELevine\u2019s work focuses on the development and oversight of \u0026nbsp;biomedical research and health care areas such as stem cell treatments, assisted reproductive technology, fetal tissue research, and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.genome.gov\/genetics-glossary\/CRISPR#:~:text=CRISPR%20(short%20for%20%E2%80%9Cclustered%20regularly,editing%20systems%20found%20in%20bacteria.\u0022\u003ECRISPR\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe author of \u003Cem\u003ECloning: A Beginner\u2019s Guide\u003C\/em\u003E, an accessible introduction to the science of cloning and the ethical and policy controversies this science inspires, Levine also has a longstanding interest in science communication. He was a member of the 2019-20 cohort of AAAS\u2019 \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.aaas.org\/programs\/center-public-engagement-science-and-technology\/2019-2020-leshner-leadership-institute?adobe_mc=MCMID%3D59452490132602400504006236822423448207%7CMCORGID%3D242B6472541199F70A4C98A6%2540AdobeOrg%7CTS%3D1713234123\u0022\u003EAlan I. Leshner Leadership Institute Public Engagement Fellows\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to his duties in the School and College, Levine also leads ethics and policy research for the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Cell Manufacturing Technologies (CMaT). From 2017 to 2022, he served as CMaT\u2019s co-director for engineering workforce development, helping guide efforts to produce a diverse, well-trained workforce for the biomanufacturing industry.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELevine holds a Ph.D. in public affairs from Princeton University and a master of philosophy from the University of Cambridge, where he was a Churchill Scholar. He earned a bachelor of science in biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAaron Levine, associate dean for research and outreach in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world\u2019s largest multidisciplinary scientific society.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Aaron Levine, associate dean for research and outreach in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world\u2019s largest multidisciplinary scientific society."}],"uid":"35777","created_gmt":"2024-04-18 13:03:09","changed_gmt":"2024-04-23 18:14:11","author":"Stephanie Kadel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-04-18T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-04-18T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"673747":{"id":"673747","type":"image","title":"Aaron Levine, Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Outreach","body":null,"created":"1713445859","gmt_created":"2024-04-18 13:10:59","changed":"1713445859","gmt_changed":"2024-04-18 13:10:59","alt":"Aaron Levine, Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Outreach","file":{"fid":"257180","name":"RS3752_0L2A8247-scr.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/04\/18\/RS3752_0L2A8247-scr.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/04\/18\/RS3752_0L2A8247-scr.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":49973,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/04\/18\/RS3752_0L2A8247-scr.jpg?itok=CpxVO9Bv"}}},"media_ids":["673747"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1289","name":"School of Public Policy"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:stephanie.kadel@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EStephanie N. Kadel\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["stephanie.kadel@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"673469":{"#nid":"673469","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Itching for Answers: Liang Han Receives NSF Grant to Dig Deeper into Sensory Circuits","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe skin on our hands and feet collectively makes up roughly 5% of our surface area \u2014 at least, when it comes to our bodies. When you look at an important sensory area of the brain called the somatosensory cortex, which receives information about things like touch and pain from everywhere on the body\u2019s surface, that number jumps to about 30%.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/liang-han\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ELiang Han\u003C\/a\u003E recently received $550k from the National Science Foundation to uncover where in our nervous system that discrepancy in neural real estate might stem from.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe somatosensory cortex is like the output of the whole neural circuit \u2014 but the neural circuit takes multiple steps,\u201d explains Han, an associate professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cHow does this neural circuit generate such a biased representation, and exactly which neurons are involved?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPinning down which step in the neural circuit is causing areas like the hands and feet to take up so much of the somatosensory cortex may give us insights into how our sensory systems evolved \u2014 and where best to treat them when things go wrong.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EItching for answers\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe somatosensory cortex is on the surface of the brain and receives information from specialized sensors on the surface of the body about touch, bodily movement, pain, temperature, and itch. Though it\u2019s organized in a way that roughly matches our body\u2019s structure \u2014 areas receiving information from the feet light up next to areas sensing the legs versus the ears, for example \u2014 the surface area of the somatosensory cortex is heavily biased towards certain body parts, like the hands.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETo find out where in the nervous system this bias originates, Han and her team are planning to examine the cellular mechanisms of one particular sensation: itch. Specifically, itch on glabrous (or hairless) skin, like that on the hands and feet.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019ve been studying itch sensation for a long time, and our previous study identified a group of neurons that control glabrous skin itch sensation,\u201d says Han. Led by \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/haley-steele-84292b148\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EHaley Steele\u003C\/a\u003E, a former Ph.D. student working with Liang, the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/itch-insight-skin-itch-mechanisms-differ-hairless-versus-hairy-skin\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Eresearch\u003C\/a\u003E gave Han and her team the ability to isolate and study the neurons responsible for sending glabrous skin itch sensation all the way from the fingertips, through the spinal cord, and finally to the somatosensory cortex in the brain.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EInterestingly for Han\u2019s team, recent data collected by \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/profile\/Yanyan-Xing\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EYanyan Xing\u003C\/a\u003E, a former postdoctoral researcher in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/klawson34.wixsite.com\/hanlab\u0022\u003EHan lab\u003C\/a\u003E, suggested that there were potential physical differences in the itch-sensing neural circuits for central body parts (like the torso) versus the overrepresented peripheral body parts (like the hands).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIf you ask me why we started this project, that\u0027s why,\u201d says Hand, \u201cbecause we saw that data and we thought, \u2018Oh, this is interesting.\u2019\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGoing more than skin deep\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThose physical differences are just one potential piece of the puzzle. When it comes to the cellular origins of brain\u2019s sensory biases, there could also be more itch-sensing neurons in peripheral areas of the body, their physiology could be different, their signals could be amplified somewhere down the line (like in the spinal cord or brain stem), or it could be a combination.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EUsing their previously developed tools to genetically label neurons specific to glabrous skin itch sensation in mice, Han and her team plan on studying all that \u2014 plus how these neural circuits develop over time.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur nervous system evolved in a way that our central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) allocated more neural resources to those distal (peripheral) parts of the body for sensory processing,\u201d explains Han. From exploring our environment to manipulating objects, having keen sensation in distal body parts like the hands and feet has been crucial for our survival. By understanding these sensory circuits, Han is hopeful that \u201cthis study will help us to understand how the nervous system evolved.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBeyond gaining key insights into the sensory system, understanding this particular sensation may help improve treatments for chronic itch \u2014 an experience that roughly one in five people will have in their lifetime.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cItch is associated with so many different conditions,\u201d says Han. \u201cUnderstanding the basic mechanisms of the neural circuit will help us to eventually treat the condition.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis research will be funded by the \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/awardsearch\/showAward?AWD_ID=2334697\u0026amp;HistoricalAwards=false\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ENational Science Foundation\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EGeorgia Tech\u0027s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) reviews all research and teaching activities that involve vertebrate animal subjects. IACUC approval is required in advance for all activities conducted by faculty, staff, or students, regardless of location and funding source.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe School of Biological Sciences associate professor will be digging deep into itch-sensing neural circuits to gain insights into how the sensory system is wired \u2014 and where best to treat it when things go wrong.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The School of Biological Sciences associate professor will be digging deep into itch-sensing neural circuits to gain insights into how the sensory system is wired \u2014 and where best to treat it when things go wrong."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2024-03-12 14:31:13","changed_gmt":"2024-04-16 20:44:51","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-03-12T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-03-12T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"673365":{"id":"673365","type":"image","title":"School of Biological Sciences Associate Professor Liang Han (left) with members of her lab, including Laboratory Technicians Katy Lawson (center left) and William Hancock (right), as well as biology Ph.D. student Rossie Nho.","body":"\u003Cp\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences Associate Professor Liang Han (left) with members of her lab, including Laboratory Technicians Katy Lawson (center left) and William Hancock (right), as well as biology Ph.D. student Rossie Nho.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1710261770","gmt_created":"2024-03-12 16:42:50","changed":"1710261576","gmt_changed":"2024-03-12 16:39:36","alt":"School of Biological Sciences Associate Professor Liang Han (left) with members of her lab, including Laboratory Technicians Katy Lawson (center left) and William Hancock (right), as well as biology Ph.D. student Rossie Nho.","file":{"fid":"256752","name":"Han Lab photo 2024.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/03\/12\/Han%20Lab%20photo%202024.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/03\/12\/Han%20Lab%20photo%202024.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3307240,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/03\/12\/Han%20Lab%20photo%202024.jpeg?itok=K0rmMUQE"}}},"media_ids":["673365"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/itch-insight-skin-itch-mechanisms-differ-hairless-versus-hairy-skin","title":"Itch Insight: Skin Itch Mechanisms Differ on Hairless Versus Hairy Skin"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/itch-you-cant-scratch-researchers-find-itch-receptors-throats-mice","title":"An Itch You Can\u2019t Scratch: Researchers Find Itch Receptors in the Throats of Mice"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/scratching-out-new-clues-sources-certain-itch-sensations","title":"Scratching Out New Clues on the Sources of Certain Itch Sensations"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"191961","name":"somatosensory feedback"},{"id":"189893","name":"sensory cortex"},{"id":"187337","name":"glabrous skin"},{"id":"192253","name":"cos-neuro"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"193266","name":"cos-research"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;Audra Davidson\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["davidson.audra@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"673621":{"#nid":"673621","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Universal Controller Could Push Robotic Prostheses, Exoskeletons Into Real-World Use","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ERobotic exoskeletons designed to help humans with walking or physically demanding work have been the stuff of sci-fi lore for decades. Remember \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/youtu.be\/jtVygtT8VIc\u0022\u003EEllen Ripley in that Power Loader in \u003Cem\u003EAlien\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E? Or the crazy mobile platform \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/youtu.be\/Z2OLmFw9wR8?si=hIsWKAiRYAWGWbpP\u0026amp;t=85\u0022\u003EGeorge McFly wore in 2015 in \u003Cem\u003EBack to the Future, Part II\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E because he threw his back out?\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EResearchers are working on real-life robotic assistance that could protect workers from painful injuries and help stroke patients regain their mobility. So far, they have required extensive calibration and context-specific tuning, which keeps them largely limited to research labs.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EMechanical engineers at Georgia Tech may be on the verge of changing that, allowing exoskeleton technology to be deployed in homes, workplaces, and more.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EA team of researchers in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/me.gatech.edu\/faculty\/young\u0022\u003EAaron Young\u2019s\u003C\/a\u003E lab have developed a universal approach to controlling robotic exoskeletons that requires no training, no calibration, and no adjustments to complicated algorithms. Instead, users can don the \u201cexo\u201d and go.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ETheir system uses a kind of artificial intelligence called deep learning to autonomously adjust how the exoskeleton provides assistance, and they\u2019ve shown it works seamlessly to support walking, standing, and climbing stairs or ramps. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1126\/scirobotics.adi8852\u0022\u003EThey described their \u201cunified control framework\u201d March 20 in \u003Cem\u003EScience Robotics\u003C\/em\u003E.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cThe goal was not just to provide control across different activities, but to create a single unified system. You don\u0027t have to press buttons to switch between modes or have some classifier algorithm that tries to predict that you\u0027re climbing stairs or walking,\u201d said Young, associate professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/me.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorge W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/news\/2024\/03\/universal-controller-could-push-robotic-prostheses-exoskeletons-real-world-use\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGet the full story on the College of Engineering website.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAaron Young\u2019s team has developed a wear-and-go approach that requires no calibration or training.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Aaron Young\u2019s team has developed a wear-and-go approach that requires no calibration or training."}],"uid":"27446","created_gmt":"2024-03-20 15:21:42","changed_gmt":"2024-04-11 22:18:35","author":"Joshua Stewart","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-03-20T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-03-20T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"673448":{"id":"673448","type":"image","title":"Aaron-Young-Dean-Molinaro-Exoskeleton-Universal-Controller-8778-h.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EResearcher Aaron Young makes adjustments to an experimental exoskeleton worn by then-Ph.D. student Dean Molinaro. The team used the exoskeleton to develop a unified control framework for robotic assistance devices that would allow users to put on an \u0022exo\u0022 and go \u2014 no extensive training, tuning, or calibration required. (Photo: Candler Hobbs)\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1710947849","gmt_created":"2024-03-20 15:17:29","changed":"1710947653","gmt_changed":"2024-03-20 15:14:13","alt":"Researcher Aaron Young makes adjustments to an experimental exoskeleton worn by then-Ph.D. student Dean Molinaro.","file":{"fid":"256845","name":"Aaron-Young-Dean-Molinaro-Exoskeleton-Universal-Controller-8778-h.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/03\/20\/Aaron-Young-Dean-Molinaro-Exoskeleton-Universal-Controller-8778-h.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/03\/20\/Aaron-Young-Dean-Molinaro-Exoskeleton-Universal-Controller-8778-h.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1210359,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/03\/20\/Aaron-Young-Dean-Molinaro-Exoskeleton-Universal-Controller-8778-h.jpg?itok=F-DsE5_T"}},"673449":{"id":"673449","type":"image","title":"Dean-Molinaro-Exoskeleton-Universal-Controller-Ramp-8897-h.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EDean Molinaro walks up an adjustable ramp while wearing an experimental exoskeleton, demonstrating how the team collected data in their effort to develop a unified control framework for robotic assistance devices. (Photo: Candler Hobbs)\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1710948006","gmt_created":"2024-03-20 15:20:06","changed":"1710947868","gmt_changed":"2024-03-20 15:17:48","alt":"A man wearing a robotic exoskeleton on his upper legs and hips walks up a ramp in a large, open lab space.","file":{"fid":"256846","name":"Dean-Molinaro-Exoskeleton-Universal-Controller-Ramp-8897-h.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/03\/20\/Dean-Molinaro-Exoskeleton-Universal-Controller-Ramp-8897-h.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/03\/20\/Dean-Molinaro-Exoskeleton-Universal-Controller-Ramp-8897-h.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":948862,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/03\/20\/Dean-Molinaro-Exoskeleton-Universal-Controller-Ramp-8897-h.jpg?itok=wDszvt2B"}}},"media_ids":["673448","673449"],"groups":[{"id":"1237","name":"College of Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"168835","name":"Aaron Young"},{"id":"89521","name":"Exoskeleton"},{"id":"188098","name":"Science Robotics"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jstewart@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJoshua Stewart\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jstewart@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"674046":{"#nid":"674046","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Neuroscience Study Taps Into Brain Network Patterns to Understand Deep Focus, Attention ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EFrom completing puzzles and playing music, to reading and exercising, growing up \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EDolly Seeburger\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E loved activities that demanded her full attention. \u201cIt was in those times that I felt most content, like I was in the zone,\u201d she remembers. \u201cHours would pass, but it would feel like minutes.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EWhile this deep focus state is essential to highly effective work, it\u2019s still not fully understood. Now, a new study led by Seeburger, a graduate student in the \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ESchool of Psychology\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E, alongside her advisor, \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EEric Schumacher\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E, a professor in the \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ESchool of Psychology\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E is unearthing the mechanisms behind it.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe interdisciplinary Georgia Tech team also includes \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ENan Xu, Sam Larson\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Eand \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EShella Keilholz\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E (\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ECoulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E), alongside \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EMarcus Ma\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E (\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ECollege of Computing\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E), and \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EChristine Godwin\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E (\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ESchool of Psychology\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E).\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe researchers\u2019 study, \u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.3758\/s13415-024-01156-1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ETime-varying functional connectivity predicts fluctuations in sustained attention in a serial tapping task\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E,\u201d was published in \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ECognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E earlier this year, and it investigates brain activity via fMRI during periods of deep focus and less-focused work.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe work is the first to investigate low-frequency fluctuations between different networks in the brain during focus, and could act as a springboard to study more complex behaviors and focus states.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cYour brain is dynamic! Nothing is just on or off,\u201d Seeburger explains. \u201cThis is the phenomenon we wanted to study. How does one get into the zone? Why is it that some people can sustain their attention better than others? Is this something that can be trained? If so, can we help people get better at it?\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe dynamic brain\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe team\u2019s work is also the first to study the relationship between fluctuations in attention and the brain network patterns within these low-frequency 20-second cycles. \u201cFor quite a while, the studies on neural oscillations focused on faster temporal frequencies, and the appreciation of these very low-frequency oscillations is relatively new,\u201d Seeburger says. \u201cBut, these low-frequency fluctuations may play a key role in regulating higher cognition such as sustained attention.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cOne of the things we\u0027ve discovered in previous research is that there\u0027s a natural fluctuation in activity in certain brain networks. When a subject is not doing a specific task while in the MRI scanner, we see that fluctuation happen roughly every 20 seconds,\u201d adds co-author Schumacher, explaining that the team was interested in the pattern because it is quasi-periodic, meaning that it doesn\u2019t repeat exactly every 20 seconds, and it varies between different trials and subjects.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EBy studying these quasi-periodic cycles, the team hoped to measure the relationship between the brain fluctuation in these networks and the behavioral fluctuation associated with changes in attention.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EYour attention needed\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ETo measure attention, participants tapped along to a metronome while in an fMRI scanner. The team could measure how \u201cin the zone\u201d participants were by measuring how much variability was in each participant\u2019s taps \u2014 more variability suggested the participant was less focused, while precise tapping suggested the participant was \u201cin the zone.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe researchers found that when a subject\u2019s focus level changed, different regions of the brain synchronized and desychronized, in particular the fronto-parietal control network (FPCN) and default mode network (DMN), The FPCN is engaged when a person is trying to stay on task, whereas the DMN is correlated with internally-oriented thoughts (which a participant might be having when less focused). \u201cWhen one is out-of-the-zone, these two networks synchronize, and are in phase in the low frequency,\u201d Seeburger explains. \u201cWhen one is in the zone, these networks desynchronize.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe results suggest that the 20-second patterns could help predict if a person is sustaining their attention or not, and could provide key insight for researchers developing tools and techniques that help us deeply focus.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe big picture\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EWhile the direct relationship between behavior and brain activity is still unknown, these 20-second patterns in brain fluctuation are seen universally, and across species. \u201cIf you put someone in a scanner and their mind is wandering, you find these fluctuations. You can find these quasi-period patterns in rodents. You can find it in primates,\u201d Schumacher says. \u201cThere\u0027s something fundamental about this brain network activity.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cI think it answers a really fundamental question about the relationship between behavior and brain activity,\u201d he adds. \u201cUnderstanding how these brain networks work together and impact behavior could lead to new therapies to help people organize their brain networks in the most efficient way.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EAnd while this simple task might not investigate complex behaviors, the study could act as a springboard to move into more complicated behaviors and focus states. \u201cNext, I would like to study sustained attention in a more naturalistic way,\u201d Seeburger says. \u201cI hope that we can further the understanding of attention and help people get a better handle on their ability to control, sustain, and increase it.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EDOI: \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3758\/s13415-024-01156-1\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Ehttps:\/\/doi.org\/10.3758\/s13415-024-01156-1\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EA team of Georgia Tech \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003Eresearchers\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E is the first to study the relationship between fluctuations in attention and the brain network patterns within low-frequency 20-second cycles. They found that synchronized and desynchronized activity in different brain networks across 20-second cycles corresponds to small shifts in attention levels. The research may have applications for therapeutic treatments and could be a springboard for future innovation.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A team of Georgia Tech researchers is the first to study the relationship between fluctuations in attention and the brain network patterns within low-frequency 20-second cycles. "}],"uid":"35599","created_gmt":"2024-04-08 17:57:51","changed_gmt":"2024-04-11 01:03:21","author":"sperrin6","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-04-09T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-04-09T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"673655":{"id":"673655","type":"image","title":"Photo credit: Paul Skorupskas, unsplash.com","body":null,"created":"1712604380","gmt_created":"2024-04-08 19:26:20","changed":"1712604380","gmt_changed":"2024-04-08 19:26:20","alt":"Photo credit: Paul Skorupskas, unsplash.com","file":{"fid":"257076","name":"paul-skorupskas-7KLa-xLbSXA-unsplash.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/04\/08\/paul-skorupskas-7KLa-xLbSXA-unsplash.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/04\/08\/paul-skorupskas-7KLa-xLbSXA-unsplash.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1315972,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/04\/08\/paul-skorupskas-7KLa-xLbSXA-unsplash.jpeg?itok=xT4Q41Ym"}},"673658":{"id":"673658","type":"image","title":"Dolly Seeburger","body":null,"created":"1712608243","gmt_created":"2024-04-08 20:30:43","changed":"1712608243","gmt_changed":"2024-04-08 20:30:43","alt":"Dolly Seeburger","file":{"fid":"257079","name":"Dolly_Seeburger.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/04\/08\/Dolly_Seeburger.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/04\/08\/Dolly_Seeburger.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":54569,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/04\/08\/Dolly_Seeburger.jpeg?itok=jUpqCfXC"}},"597958":{"id":"597958","type":"image","title":"Eric Schumacher","body":null,"created":"1509117744","gmt_created":"2017-10-27 15:22:24","changed":"1509117744","gmt_changed":"2017-10-27 15:22:24","alt":"","file":{"fid":"227959","name":"Eric Schumacher.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Eric%20Schumacher.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Eric%20Schumacher.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":291226,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Eric%20Schumacher.jpg?itok=uaE5TYzs"}}},"media_ids":["673655","673658","597958"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"192253","name":"cos-neuro"},{"id":"193266","name":"cos-research"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWritten by Selena Langner\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EContact: \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto: jess.hunt@cos.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJess Hunt-Ralston\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jess@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"672055":{"#nid":"672055","#data":{"type":"news","title":"The Challenges of Regulating Artificial Intelligence","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn 1950, Alan Turing asked, \u201cCan machines think?\u201d More than 70 years later, advancements in artificial intelligence are creating exciting possibilities and questions about its potential pitfalls.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA recent executive order issued by President Joe Biden seeks to establish \u0022new standards for AI safety and security\u0022 while addressing consumer privacy concerns and promoting innovation. Georgia Tech experts have examined the key elements of the order and offer their thoughts on its scope and what comes next.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EA Precautionary Tale\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe order calls for the development of standards, tools, and tests to ensure the safe use of AI. From voice scams and phishing campaigns to larger-scale threats, the technology\u2019s potential dangers have been widely documented. But \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/margaret-e-kosal\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EMargaret Kosal\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, says that additional context is often needed to dispel hysteria.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022No one is going to be hooking up AI to launch nuclear weapons, but AI capabilities may enable targeting, or enable the command and control and the decision-making time to be compressed,\u201d she said. \u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nThe order will create an AI Safety and Security Board tasked with addressing critical threats. Companies developing foundation models that \u0022pose a serious risk to national security, national economic security, or national public health and safety\u201d will be required to notify the federal government when training the model and required to share the results of all red-team safety tests \u2014 a simulated cyberattack to test a system\u0027s defenses.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESince the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2023\/11\/28\/ai-like-chatgpt-is-creating-huge-increase-in-malicious-phishing-email.html\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ea CNBC report\u003C\/a\u003E details a 1,267% rise in phishing emails. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/faculty.cc.gatech.edu\/~srijan\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESrijan Kumar\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor in the College of Computing, attributes the increase to the technology\u0027s availability and an inability to rein in \u0022bad actors.\u0022\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHe says these scams will only continue to get more sophisticated and personalized. They \u201ccan be created by knowing what you might be willing to fall prey to versus what I might fall prey to,\u201d said Kumar, whose systems have influenced misinformation detection on sites like X (formerly Twitter) and Wikipedia. \u201cAI is not going to autonomously do all of those bad things, but this order can ensure there are consequences for people who misuse it.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EA Delicate Balance\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBuilding an AI platform requires large amounts of data regardless of its intended application. Two primary goals of the executive order are protecting privacy and advancing equity.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETo protect personal data, the order tasks Congress with evaluating how agencies collect and use commercially available information and address algorithmic discrimination.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAcknowledging that everyone should be allowed to have their voice represented in the outputs of AI data sets, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.scheller.gatech.edu\/directory\/faculty\/desai\/index.html\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EDeven Desai,\u003C\/a\u003E associate professor in the Scheller College of Business, noted, \u0022There are people who don\u0027t want to be part of data sets, which is their right, but this means their voices won\u0027t be reflected in the outputs.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe order also includes sections to address intellectual property concerns among inventors and creators, though legal challenges will likely set new precedents in the years ahead.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen that time comes, Kosal says that \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/12\/27\/business\/media\/new-york-times-open-ai-microsoft-lawsuit.html\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Edefining \u201ctheft\u201d in the context of AI becomes the true challenge\u003C\/a\u003E and that, ultimately, money will play a significant role. \u0022If you spit out a Harry Potter book and read it yourself, nobody will care. It\u0027s when you start selling it to make money, and you don\u0027t share proceeds with the original people, then it becomes an issue,\u0022 she said.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EWhat Does AI-Generated Mean?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe order instructs the Department of Commerce to develop guidelines for content authentication and watermarking to label AI-generated content. Desai questions what it means for something to be truly created by AI.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAn important distinction lies between using AI to assist a writer in organizing their thoughts and using the technology to generate content. He likens the trend to the music industry in the 1980s.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Synthesizers really changed people\u0027s ability to generate music and, for a while, people thought that was horrible. They can just program the music. They\u0027re not. I am still the human responsible for that music, or that article in this case, so what is the point of the label?\u0022 he asks.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAs AI assistance becomes commonplace in content creation, trusting the source of information is increasingly important. Recently, articles published on Sports Illustrated\u0027s website \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/futurism.com\/sports-illustrated-ai-generated-writers\u0022\u003Efeatured AI-generated content\u003C\/a\u003E provided by a third-party company that had used a machine to write the content and create fake bylines. Sports Illustrated, which may not have known of the problem, ran the material without disclosure to readers. CEO Ross Levinsohn was ousted shortly after the story broke.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cPerhaps if the third party had disclosed its use of AI software, SI would have been able to assess how much AI was used and then chosen not to run the material, or to run it with a disclaimer that AI helped write the material,\u201d Desai said. \u0022Of course, even if they label the content as AI-generated, a reader still won\u0027t know exactly how much of the content came from AI or a human.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EAI and the Workforce\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAs AI systems and models become more sophisticated, workers may become more concerned about being replaced. To counteract these concerns, the order calls for a study to examine AI\u2019s potential impact on labor markets and investments in workforce training efforts.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EKumar compares the rise of AI to similar technological innovations throughout history and sees it as an opportunity for workers and industries to adapt. \u0022It\u0027s less a matter of AI replacing workers and more of reskilling people to use the new technology. It\u0027s no different from when assembly lines in the auto industry were created.\u0022\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EPromoting Innovation and Competition\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe power to harness the full potential of AI has initiated a race to the top. Desai believes that part of the executive order providing resources to smaller developers can help level the playing field.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022There is a possibility here for markets to open up. Current players using models that weren\u0027t built with transparency in mind might struggle, but maybe that\u0027s OK.\u0022\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe issue of reliability and transparency comes into focus for Desai, especially as it relates to government usage of AI. The order calls on agencies to \u0022acquire specified AI products and services faster, more cheaply, and more effectively through more rapid and efficient contracting.\u0022\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen taxpayer dollars are at stake, government can\u2019t afford to trust a technology it doesn\u2019t fully understand \u2014 a topic Desai \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/papers.ssrn.com\/sol3\/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2959472\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ehas explored elsewhere\u003C\/a\u003E. \u0022You can\u2019t just say, \u2018We don\u2019t know how it works, but we trust it.\u2019 That\u2019s not going to work. So that\u2019s where there may be a slowdown in the government\u2019s ability to use private sector software if they can\u2019t explain how the thing works and to show that it doesn\u2019t have discriminatory issues.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EWhat\u0027s Next\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPromoting and policing the safe use of AI cannot be done independently. Georgia Tech experts agree that participation on a global scale is necessary. To that end, the European Union will unveil its comprehensive EU AI Act, which includes a similar framework to the president\u0027s executive order.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDue to the evolving nature of AI, the executive order or the EU\u0027s actions will not be all-encompassing. Law often lags behind technology, but Kosal points out that it\u0027s crucial to think beyond what currently exists when crafting policy.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EExperts also agree that AI cannot be regulated or governed through a single document and that this order is likely the first in a series of policymaking moves. Kosal sees tremendous opportunity with the innovation surrounding AI but hopes the growing fear of its rise does not usher in another AI winter, in which interest and research funding fade.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"As innovation surrounding artificial intelligence continues, Georgia Tech experts offer their thoughts on the scope of the recent executive order and the challenges ahead in regulating AI."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAs innovation surrounding artificial intelligence continues, Georgia Tech experts offer their thoughts on the scope of the recent executive order and the challenges ahead in regulating AI.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"As innovation surrounding artificial intelligence continues, Georgia Tech experts offer their thoughts on the scope of the recent executive order and the challenges ahead in regulating AI."}],"uid":"36418","created_gmt":"2024-01-11 19:25:53","changed_gmt":"2024-04-10 21:07:00","author":"sgagliano3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-01-11T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2024-01-11T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"672744":{"id":"672744","type":"image","title":"Artificial Intelligence and Policy","body":null,"created":"1705003002","gmt_created":"2024-01-11 19:56:42","changed":"1705003002","gmt_changed":"2024-01-11 19:56:42","alt":"Artificial Intelligence and Policy","file":{"fid":"256040","name":"GettyImages-1191080384.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/01\/11\/GettyImages-1191080384.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/01\/11\/GettyImages-1191080384.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":15716234,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/01\/11\/GettyImages-1191080384.jpg?itok=QW7a-19y"}}},"media_ids":["672744"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/news.gatech.edu\/ai-am-i","title":"AI: Am I...The Future of Artificial Intelligence at Georgia Tech"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"151","name":"Policy, Social Sciences, and Liberal Arts"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"2556","name":"artificial intelligence"},{"id":"8144","name":"Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets"},{"id":"187812","name":"artificial intelligence (AI)"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"145171","name":"Cybersecurity"},{"id":"39451","name":"Electronics and Nanotechnology"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"},{"id":"39511","name":"Public Service, Leadership, and Policy"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:Steven.gagliano@gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESteven Gagliano\u003C\/a\u003E - Institute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Steven.gagliano@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"674140":{"#nid":"674140","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Haider Lab Paying Close Attention With Second BRAIN Award","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe old one-liner, \u201che\u2019s too broke to pay attention,\u201d is a fun play on words, but it also has a grain of grim neurological truth.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBecause attention does not come easily. The capability, for example, to visually pay attention to one thing and extract critical information while tuning out all else is a complex process involving the work of neurons and circuits across the brain.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cUnfortunately, we don\u2019t know a lot about these underlying mechanisms of attention,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/user\/1142\u0022\u003EBilal Haider\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/\u0022\u003EWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E at Georgia Tech and Emory University. \u201cAnd that partly explains why we lack effective treatments for various neurological conditions characterized by deficits in attention, and sensory perception.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Haider lab is working to close that critical information gap, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is supporting the effort through the BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) Initiative Award. The three-year, $1.4 million award is administered through the NIH\u2019s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis is Haider\u2019s second BRAIN Initiative award, and it is funding a project entitled, \u201cTracking Flow of Attention in Visual Circuits Across the Brain,\u201d which is basically a sequel to the lab\u2019s first BRAIN project.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOn the first grant, our focus was on the primary visual cortex in the mouse,\u201d said Haider, whose lab combined electrophysiological, optical, and computational techniques, with unprecedented detail, in transgenic mice that performed visual attention tasks.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe idea was, if they could study and measure higher cognitive functions in a simpler organism they could have a great tool for understanding the mechanisms of attention.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe current grant will let us go beyond the primary cortex to multiple brain areas, working our way down the chain, tracking attention,\u201d Haider said. \u201cWe want to discover how and where these signals of attention are organized and routed. How is it all coordinated and what brain areas need to be involved? Ultimately, long term, the goal is to understand how we can improve attention, and remedy attention deficits in human beings.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENeuro Next Initiative affiliate and Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering Associate Professor\u0026nbsp;Bilal Haider was recently awarded over $1 million by NIH to study visual attention \u2014 which could lead to new ways to boost attention and remedy attention deficits.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"BME researcher\u0027s new BRAIN Initiative award could help find new ways to boost attention and remedy attention deficits."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2024-04-10 20:33:47","changed_gmt":"2024-04-10 20:36:52","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-02-02T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2024-02-02T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"673681":{"id":"673681","type":"image","title":"Bilal-Haider-lab-180316AR109-DEV-t.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EBilal Haider in his lab.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1712781234","gmt_created":"2024-04-10 20:33:54","changed":"1712781234","gmt_changed":"2024-04-10 20:33:54","alt":"Bilal Haider in his lab.","file":{"fid":"257105","name":"Bilal-Haider-lab-180316AR109-DEV-t.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/04\/10\/Bilal-Haider-lab-180316AR109-DEV-t.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/04\/10\/Bilal-Haider-lab-180316AR109-DEV-t.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":62706,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/04\/10\/Bilal-Haider-lab-180316AR109-DEV-t.jpg?itok=3OOqZ765"}}},"media_ids":["673681"],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"674025":{"#nid":"674025","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech\u0027s Sonification Lab Revolutionizes Eclipse Experience for Visually Impaired","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAs the April 8 solar eclipse approaches, millions of people anticipate participating in the wonder of this celestial event. Yet, for those with visual impairments, traditional methods of observing such phenomena may present limitations. Fortunately, resources from the team of Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Psychology\u003C\/a\u003E professor, Bruce Walker, offer an inclusive approach, ensuring that everyone can engage with and appreciate the eclipse experience. Through detailed auditory descriptions and immersive virtual environments, the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/sonify.psych.gatech.edu\/eclipse2024\/\u0022\u003ESonification Lab\u003C\/a\u003E facilitates accessibility to the wonders of the universe for all, regardless of visual ability.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis is the absolute first technology of its kind to give blind and visually impaired users the complete information and spatial knowledge of a map, especially for an eclipse,\u201d said Brandon Biggs, Ph.D. student in the Human Centered Computing (HCC) program in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ic.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Interactive Computing.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAt the forefront of the Sonification Lab\u2019s research efforts are the resources provided by the lab\u2019s website. This comprehensive platform serves as a hub for eclipse enthusiasts, offering detailed maps, predictions, and scientific insights into the upcoming solar eclipse. These resources are integral to the Sonification Lab\u0027s work, enabling them to create fully accessible and accurate auditory representations of the eclipse experience, says Walker.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECrafting an Immersive Soundtrack\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThrough meticulous analysis and interpretation of the data, Walker\u0027s team crafts \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/youtu.be\/i0KYUla4iME?si=2gGvCxKXBEvBHHg4\u0022\u003Eauditory representations \u003C\/a\u003Eof the eclipse that accurately depict its various phases and phenomena. Each element, from the gradual obscuration of the sun to the fleeting moments of totality, he adds, is translated into carefully composed melodies and rhythms. This soundtrack offers listeners a unique and immersive way to experience the celestial event.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s almost like infotainment,\u201d said Walker. \u201cWe want to give a complete experience of totality during the eclipse, with the immersive sound of what birds and other animal behaviors would be at that time.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAs the moon begins to move across the face of the sun, the soundtrack reflects this gradual obscuration through subtle shifts in melody and rhythm. The gradual dimming of light is mirrored by a gradual crescendo in the music, creating a sense of anticipation and tension.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDuring the brief moments of totality, when the moon completely blocks the sun, the soundtrack reaches a climax. This crescendo symbolizes the awe-inspiring beauty of totality, capturing the profound experience of witnessing the sun\u0027s corona against the backdrop of darkness.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0022Pull\u0022 Style Audio Map:\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/audiom-staging.herokuapp.com\/embed\/151?apiKey=93UNUvOasOSGnRFY9GRJ2\u0022\u003EThis map\u003C\/a\u003E outlines the precise path the solar eclipse will take across North America. It provides information about the regions that will experience totality, using the same path data from NASA. The map\u2019s features offer both low lighting and an interactive icon to follow the route of the eclipse, making it engaging and web-accessibility compliant. By incorporating data from this map, the Sonification Lab ensures that their auditory representations align with the geographical features of the eclipse path.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0022Push\u0022 Style Map\u003C\/strong\u003E: \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/visualisation\/17332956\/\u0022\u003EThis map\u003C\/a\u003E provides detailed information about the timing of the eclipse in various locations. According to Walker, the map highlights the moments of partial and total eclipse, allowing listeners to follow the progression of the event in real time. By integrating data from this map, the Sonification Lab synchronizes their auditory compositions with the chronological sequence of the eclipse.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEnhancing Accessibility Through VR Technology\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to facilitating this auditory experience, the Sonification Lab also explores virtual reality (VR) capabilities to enhance accessibility for those unable to witness the eclipse firsthand. By immersing users in a virtual environment, complete with visual and auditory components, VR technology enables individuals to experience the eclipse in a highly immersive and interactive manner.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWalker explains that, in the VR environment, users can explore detailed visual representations of the eclipse, including accurate depictions of the sun, moon, and Earth. These visual components provide additional context and enrichment to the auditory experience, allowing users to better understand the celestial mechanics at play.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETo delve deeper into the wonders of the cosmos and experience the eclipse in a whole new way, individuals are encouraged to visit the website \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/sonify.psych.gatech.edu\/eclipse2024\/\u0022\u003Ehere.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAs the April 8 solar eclipse approaches, millions of people anticipate participating in the wonder of this celestial event. Yet, for those with visual impairments, traditional methods of observing such phenomena may present limitations. Fortunately, resources from the team of Tech\u2019s Sonification Lab offer an inclusive approach.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Through detailed auditory descriptions and immersive virtual environments, the Sonification Lab facilitates accessibility to the wonders of the universe for all, regardless of visual ability."}],"uid":"35797","created_gmt":"2024-04-05 16:27:36","changed_gmt":"2024-04-10 20:08:52","author":"Siobhan Rodriguez","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-04-05T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-04-05T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"673635":{"id":"673635","type":"image","title":"Georgia Tech\u0027s Sonification Lab Revolutionizes Eclipse Experience for Visually Impaired","body":null,"created":"1712334536","gmt_created":"2024-04-05 16:28:56","changed":"1712334536","gmt_changed":"2024-04-05 16:28:56","alt":"Image of people looking at the sky during a solar eclipse","file":{"fid":"257053","name":"AdobeStock_190151989.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/04\/05\/AdobeStock_190151989.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/04\/05\/AdobeStock_190151989.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":920830,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/04\/05\/AdobeStock_190151989.jpeg?itok=0V305psb"}}},"media_ids":["673635"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/news.gatech.edu\/news\/2024\/04\/02\/total-solar-eclipse-brings-history-within-sight","title":""}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"155","name":"Congressional Testimony"},{"id":"143","name":"Digital Media and Entertainment"}],"keywords":[{"id":"174840","name":"solar eclipse"},{"id":"174841","name":"totality"},{"id":"360","name":"accessibility"},{"id":"174847","name":"total solar eclipse"},{"id":"193620","name":"April 8 solar eclipse"},{"id":"175287","name":"Bruce Walker; Sonification Lab; Music; solar eclipse; great american eclipse"},{"id":"2751","name":"visually impaired"},{"id":"1102","name":"blind"},{"id":"192249","name":"cos-community"},{"id":"193266","name":"cos-research"},{"id":"192252","name":"cos-planetary"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESiobhan Rodriguez\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EInstitute Communications\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["sar30@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"673800":{"#nid":"673800","#data":{"type":"news","title":"NeuroChamp Wins 2024 ACC InVenture Prize","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan lang=\u0022EN-US\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ET\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Ehree Georgia Tech students who created a pediatric\u202fmedical device won $15,000 Wednesday night during the \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.accinventureprize.com\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan lang=\u0022EN-US\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E2024 A\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ECC InVenture Prize\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan lang=\u0022EN-US\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E, an annual undergraduate entrepreneurship competition.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan lang=\u0022EN-US\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EBiomedical\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E engineering \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Estudent \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ECaitlin van Zyl, \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Eher sister and mechanical engineering \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Emajor\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EJacqui van Zyl \u2014 both Stamps President\u0027s Scholars \u2014 and Meg Weaver\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E, a biomedical engineering major,\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E took first place with their invention,\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ENeuroChamp\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E. The wearable, concealed headband is used to continuously \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Emonitor\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E pediatric seizures. Half a million \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Echildre\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003En nationwide suffer from epilepsy, and many children experience daily, frequent seizures that cannot be detected by their parents, their teachers, or even themselves. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ENeuroChamp\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E sets itself apart from existing \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Emonitoring\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E devices because of its concealed design. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/vimeo.com\/user19937856\/review\/924872480\/9f0d688ff7\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan lang=\u0022EN-US\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EWatch their pitch for the competition\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan lang=\u0022EN-US\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan lang=\u0022EN-US\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe team was inspired to create the device partly from personal experience. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EA child in \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EJacqui van Zyl\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u2019s hometown\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E experienced the \u201csilent seizures\u201d that \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ENeuroChamp\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E can help \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Emonitor\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Eteam\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Eis\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E already working with physicians at Emory University and Children\u2019s Healthcare of Atlanta to launch a pilot study of the \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Emedical \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Edevice. Their ACC InVenture Prize winnings will help fund continued testing.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan lang=\u0022EN-US\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ETeams from 14 universities competed in this year\u2019s event, which was held\u202fat Florida State University.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThree Georgia Tech students who created a pediatric medical device won $15,000 Wednesday night during the 2024 ACC InVenture Prize, an annual undergraduate entrepreneurship competition.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Three Georgia Tech students who created a pediatric\u202fmedical device won $15,000 Wednesday night during the 2024 ACC InVenture Prize, an annual undergraduate entrepreneurship competition."}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2024-03-28 13:40:29","changed_gmt":"2024-04-02 15:41:48","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-03-28T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-03-28T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"673525":{"id":"673525","type":"image","title":"IMG_7202b_0.jpeg","body":"\u003Cp\u003E2024 ACC InVenture Prize Winners. (L-R) Chris Reaves, assistant vice provost for Undergraduate Education; Jacqui van Zyl; Meg Weaver; Caitlin van Zyl\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1711633388","gmt_created":"2024-03-28 13:43:08","changed":"1711656067","gmt_changed":"2024-03-28 20:01:07","alt":"2024 ACC InVenture Prize Winners - NeuroChamp"}},"media_ids":["673525"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.accinventureprize.com\/","title":"ACC InVenture Prize"},{"url":"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/user19937856\/review\/924872480\/9f0d688ff7","title":"VIDEO: NeuroChamp Pitch"}],"groups":[{"id":"556121","name":"ACC InVenture Prize"},{"id":"650643","name":"InVenture Prize"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"},{"id":"281961","name":"Office of Undergraduate Education \u0026 Student Success"},{"id":"108731","name":"School of Mechanical Engineering"},{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kristen.bailey@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EKristen Bailey\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"673265":{"#nid":"673265","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Researchers Reveal Roadmap for AI Innovation in Brain and Language Learning","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EOne of the hallmarks of humanity is language, but now, powerful new artificial intelligence tools also compose poetry, write songs, and have extensive conversations with human users. Tools like ChatGPT and Gemini are widely available at the tap of a button \u2014 but just how \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Esmart\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E are these AIs?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EA new multidisciplinary research effort co-led by \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EAnna (Anya) Ivanova\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E, assistant professor in the \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ESchool of Psychology\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E at Georgia Tech, alongside \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EKyle Mahowald\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E, an assistant professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Texas at Austin, is working to uncover just that.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ETheir results could lead to innovative AIs that are more similar to the human brain than ever before \u2014 and also help neuroscientists and psychologists who are unearthing the secrets of our own minds.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe study, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S1364661324000275\u0022\u003E\u201cDissociating Language and Thought in Large Language Models,\u201d\u003C\/a\u003E is published this week in the scientific journal \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ETrends in Cognitive Sciences\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E. The work is already making waves in the scientific community: an earlier \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/2301.06627\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Epreprint\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E of the paper, released in January 2023, has already been cited more than 150 times by fellow researchers. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Eresearch team \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Ehas continued to refine the research for this final journal publication.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cChatGPT became available while we were finalizing the preprint,\u201d Ivanova explains. \u201cOver the past year, we\u0027ve had an opportunity to update our arguments in light of this newer generation of models, now including ChatGPT.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EForm versus function\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe study focuses on large language models (LLMs), which include AIs like ChatGPT. LLMs are text prediction models, and create writing by predicting which word comes next in a sentence \u2014 just like how a cell phone or email service like Gmail might suggest what next word you might want to write. However, while this type of language learning is extremely effective at creating coherent sentences, that doesn\u2019t necessarily signify intelligence.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EIvanova\u2019s team argues that \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Eformal competence\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E \u2014 creating a well-structured, grammatically correct sentence \u2014 should be differentiated from \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Efunctional competence\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E \u2014 answering the right question, communicating the correct information, or appropriately communicating. They also found that while LLMs trained on text prediction are often very good at formal skills, they still struggle with functional skills.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cWe humans have the\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E tendency to conflate language and thought,\u201d Ivanova says. \u201cI think that\u2019s an important thing to keep in mind as we\u0027re trying to figure out what these models are capable of, because using that ability to be good at language, to be good at formal competence, leads many people to assume that AIs are also good at thinking \u2014 even when that\u0027s not the case.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EIt\u0027s a heuristic that we developed when interacting with other humans over thousands of years of evolution, but now in some respects, that heuristic is broken,\u201d Ivanova explains.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe distinction between formal and functional competence is also vital in rigorously testing an AI\u2019s capabilities, Ivanova adds. Evaluations often don\u2019t distinguish formal and functional competence, making it difficult to assess what factors are determining a model\u2019s success or failure. The need to develop distinct tests is one of the team\u2019s more widely accepted findings, and one that some researchers in the field have already begun to implement.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ECreating a modular system\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EWhile the human tendency to conflate functional and formal competence may have hindered understanding of LLMs in the past, our human brains could also be the key to unlocking more powerful AIs.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ELeveraging the tools of cognitive neuroscience while a postdoctoral associate at \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003EMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E, Ivanova and her team studied brain activity in neurotypical individuals via fMRI, and used behavioral assessments of individuals with brain damage to test the causal role of brain regions in language and cognition \u2014 both conducting new research and drawing on previous studies. The team\u2019s results showed that human brains use different regions for functional and formal competence, further supporting this distinction in AIs.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cOur research shows that in the brain, there is a language processing module and separate modules for reasoning,\u201d Ivanova says. This modularity could also serve as a blueprint for how to develop future AIs.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cBuilding on insights from human brains \u2014 where the language processing system is sharply distinct from the systems that support our ability to think \u2014 we argue that the language-thought distinction is conceptually important for thinking about, evaluating, and improving large language models, especially given recent efforts to imbue these models with human-like intelligence,\u201d says Ivanova\u2019s former advisor and study co-author \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EEvelina Fedorenko\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at MIT and a member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EDeveloping AIs in the pattern of the human brain could help create more powerful systems \u2014 while also helping them dovetail more naturally with human users. \u201cGenerally, differences in a mechanism\u2019s internal structure affect behavior,\u201d Ivanova says. \u201cBuilding a system that has a broad macroscopic organization similar to that of the human brain could help ensure that it might be more aligned with humans down the road.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EIn the rapidly developing world of AI, these systems are ripe for experimentation. After the team\u2019s preprint was published, OpenAI announced their intention to add plug-ins to their GPT models.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cThat plug-in system is actually very similar to what we suggest,\u201d Ivanova adds. \u201cIt takes a modularity approach where the language model can be an interface to another specialized module within a system.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EWhile the OpenAI plug-in system will include features like booking flights and ordering food, rather than cognitively inspired features, it demonstrates that \u201cthe approach has a lot of potential,\u201d Ivanova says.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe future of AI \u2014 and what it can tell us about ourselves\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EWhile our own brains might be the key to unlocking better, more powerful AIs, these AIs might also help us better understand ourselves. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cWhen researchers try to study the brain and cognition, it\u0027s often useful to have some smaller system where you can actually go in and poke around and see what\u0027s going on before you get to the immense complexity,\u201d Ivanova explains.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EHowever, since human language is unique, model or animal systems are more difficult to relate. That\u0027s where LLMs come in.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cThere are lots of surprising similarities between how one would approach the study of the brain and the study of an artificial neural network\u201d like a large language model, she adds. \u201cThey are both information processing systems that have biological or artificial neurons to perform computations.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn many ways, the human brain is still a black box, but \u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Eopenly available AIs offer a unique opportunity to see the synthetic system\u0027s inner workings and modify variables, and explore these corresponding systems like never before.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EIt\u0027s a really wonderful model that we have a lot of control over,\u201d Ivanova says. \u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EN\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Eeural networks \u2014 they are amazing.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EAlong with\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003EAnna (Anya) Ivanova, Kyle Mahowald, and Evelina Fedorenko, the\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E research team also includes\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EIdan Blank\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E (University of California, Los Angeles), as well as \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ENancy Kanwisher\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E and \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EJoshua Tenenbaum\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E(Massachusetts Institute of Technology).\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EDOI: \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.tics.2024.01.011\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.tics.2024.01.011\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EResearcher Acknowledgements\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EFor helpful conversations, we thank Jacob Andreas, Alex Warstadt, Dan Roberts, Kanishka Misra, students in the 2023 UT Austin Linguistics 393 seminar, the attendees of the Harvard LangCog journal club, the attendees of the UT Austin Department of Linguistics SynSem seminar, Gary Lupyan, John Krakauer, members of the Intel Deep Learning group, Yejin Choi and her group members, Allyson Ettinger, Nathan Schneider and his group members, the UT NLL Group, attendees of the KUIS AI Talk Series at Ko\u00e7 University in Istanbul, Tom McCoy, attendees of the NYU Philosophy of Deep Learning conference and his group members, Sydney Levine, organizers and attendees of the ILFC seminar, and others who have engaged with our ideas. We also thank Aalok Sathe for help with document formatting and references.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EFunding sources\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EAnna (Anya) Ivanova was supported by funds from the Quest Initiative for Intelligence. Kyle Mahowald acknowledges funding from NSF Grant 2104995. Evelina Fedorenko was supported by NIH awards R01-DC016607, R01-DC016950, and U01-NS121471 and by research \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Efunds from the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and the Simons Foundation through the Simons Center for the Social Brain.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"A new study highlights how human neuroscience is paving the way for AI innovation \u2014 and what AI can teach us about ourselves."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EA new study co-led by School of Psychology\u0027s Anna (Anya) Ivanova uncovers the relationship between language and thought in artificial intelligence models like ChatGPT, leveraging cognitive neuroscience research on the human brain. The results are a roadmap to developing new AIs \u2014 and to better understanding how we think and communicate.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A new study co-led by Anna (Anya) Ivanova highlights how human neuroscience is paving the way for AI innovation \u2014 and what AI can teach us about ourselves."}],"uid":"35599","created_gmt":"2024-02-29 15:37:55","changed_gmt":"2024-03-27 19:26:43","author":"sperrin6","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-03-19T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-03-19T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"673267":{"id":"673267","type":"image","title":"Anna (Anya) Ivanova","body":null,"created":"1709232142","gmt_created":"2024-02-29 18:42:22","changed":"1709232116","gmt_changed":"2024-02-29 18:41:56","alt":"Anna (Anya) Ivanova","file":{"fid":"256635","name":"anna-ivanova-bridge-web.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/02\/29\/anna-ivanova-bridge-web.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/02\/29\/anna-ivanova-bridge-web.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3192349,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/02\/29\/anna-ivanova-bridge-web.jpg?itok=vU8hy_BM"}},"673258":{"id":"673258","type":"image","title":"The Intersection of AI and Cognitive Neuroscience","body":null,"created":"1709221061","gmt_created":"2024-02-29 15:37:41","changed":"1709220852","gmt_changed":"2024-02-29 15:34:12","alt":"The Intersection of AI and Cognitive Neuroscience","file":{"fid":"256626","name":"anna-ivanova-brain-lead-shot.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/02\/29\/anna-ivanova-brain-lead-shot.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/02\/29\/anna-ivanova-brain-lead-shot.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":4544965,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/02\/29\/anna-ivanova-brain-lead-shot.jpg?itok=uRkUeVBJ"}},"673259":{"id":"673259","type":"image","title":"Anna (Anya) Ivanova","body":null,"created":"1709221061","gmt_created":"2024-02-29 15:37:41","changed":"1709220852","gmt_changed":"2024-02-29 15:34:12","alt":"Anna (Anya) Ivanova","file":{"fid":"256627","name":"Anna (Anya) Ivanova.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/02\/29\/Anna%20%28Anya%29%20Ivanova.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/02\/29\/Anna%20%28Anya%29%20Ivanova.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3316252,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/02\/29\/Anna%20%28Anya%29%20Ivanova.jpeg?itok=eRJg9NaG"}}},"media_ids":["673267","673258","673259"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/2303.12712","title":"Sparks of Artificial General Intelligence: Early experiments with GPT-4"},{"url":"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/chatgpt-agi-intelligence\/","title":"Some Glimpse AGI in ChatGPT. Others Call It a Mirage"},{"url":"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/technology\/archive\/2023\/01\/chatgpt-ai-language-human-computer-grammar-logic\/672902\/","title":"The Difference Between Speaking and Thinking"},{"url":"https:\/\/mcgovern.mit.edu\/2024\/03\/19\/researchers-reveal-roadmap-for-ai-innovation-in-brain-and-language-learning\/","title":"MIT McGovern Institute press release"},{"url":"https:\/\/liberalarts.utexas.edu\/news\/researchers-reveal-roadmap-for-ai-innovation-in-brain-and-language-learning","title":"UT Austin press release"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"192863","name":"go-ai"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"193266","name":"cos-research"},{"id":"192253","name":"cos-neuro"},{"id":"192258","name":"cos-data"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39431","name":"Data Engineering and Science"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"},{"id":"39541","name":"Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWritten by Selena Langner\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEditor and Press Contact:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto: jess.hunt@cos.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJess Hunt-Ralston\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nDirector of Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nGeorgia Tech\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jess@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"673379":{"#nid":"673379","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Partners on $15M NSF Grant to Explore Muscle Dynamics","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThis press release is shared jointly with the \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/news.uci.edu\/2024\/03\/04\/uc-irvine-receives-15-million-nsf-grant-for-integrative-movement-research\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EUC Irvine newsroom\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $15 million to an interdisciplinary team spanning 21 institutions across the country\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe six-year funding will support the \u003Cstrong\u003EIntegrative Movement Sciences Institute (IMSI)\u003C\/strong\u003E, an innovative group conducting groundbreaking research in the mechanics of muscle control during agile movements in changing environments.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ENSF IMSI includes several key Georgia Tech researchers: \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ECo-PI \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\/user\/simon-sponberg\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ESimon Sponberg\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E, Dunn Family Associate Professor in the School of Physics and School of Biological Sciences\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Lena-H.-Ting\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ELena Ting\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E, professor and McCamish Foundation Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Engineering and co-director of the Neural Engineering Center\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/faculty\/sawicki\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EGreg Sawicki\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E, associate professor in the S\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Echool of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Biological Sciences\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first US-based integrative center on the fundamental biology of muscle and movement that aims to bridge from the molecule to the whole animal to understand dynamic locomotion,\u201d co-PI Sponberg says.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe research team also includes PI \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EMonica Daley\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E (UC Irvine), and additional Co-PIs \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EKiisa Nishikawa\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E (Northern Arizona University), \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EJill McNitt-Gray\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E (USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences), and \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EAnne Silverman\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E (Colorado School of Mines).\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ELeveraging expertise\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cThe Georgia Tech contingent will leverage the Institute\u0027s expertise in the multiscale biophysics of muscle, neuromechanics, integrative physiology and bio-robotic movement,\u201d Sponberg says, \u201cincluding the Institute\u2019s expertise in fundamental muscle biology and movement technologies.\u201d\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EThe group will also collaborate with \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ETom Irving\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E and \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EWeikang Ma\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E at the \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.anl.gov\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EArgonne National Lab\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E to leverage multiscale imaging, which will help connect the team\u2019s understanding of the function of muscle at the nanoscale to the properties of that tissue during motion.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EA central theme of the new Integrative Movement Sciences Institute will bridge fundamental discoveries about the biophysics and physiology of muscle and movement from insects to humans \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u2014\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E research that Sponberg\u2019s lab specializes in. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ELast year, Sponberg also received a prestigious Curci grant to study \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/edge-georgia-tech-professors-awarded-curci-grants-emerging-bio-research-0\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Ecoordinated movement in hawk moths\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E. The team\u2019s goal is to understand how muscle integrates with the rest of a body\u2019s biology and the surrounding environment to allow animals and humans to move through so many varied environments.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cMuscle is unlike any other tissue,\u201d Sponberg says. \u201cIt enables movement in all animals and allows them to negotiate nearly every environment on this planet. For humans, it is the key piece of our physiology that translates our brain\u2019s intentions into the movement that lets us get around in our world.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ECreating models that can understand muscular control in dynamic, complex environments is vital, and could have applications spanning biotechnology, like building more dynamic robotics, and bioeconomy, creating avenues to develop new physical therapy and rehabilitation protocols.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u201cBy integrating across scale and bringing to bear an interdisciplinary team of biologists, biophysicists, and bioengineers that span the scale from molecule to ecosystem, the new Integrative Movement Science Institute will create the next generation of muscle and movement models and experiments to understand locomotion in diverse settings,\u201d Sponberg adds.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cspan\u003EFunding for this research is \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/awardsearch\/showAward?AWD_ID=2319710\u0026amp;HistoricalAwards=false\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003Eprovided by the National Science Foundation\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E.\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ENSF has awarded the interdisciplinary team six years of funding to support the Integrative Movement Sciences Institute. The Institute,\u0026nbsp;which includes a Georgia Tech contingent of researchers led by Co-PI Simon Sponberg, aims to bridge research on muscles spanning the molecular level to the whole animal to understand dynamic locomotion. \u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Co-PI Simon Sponberg will lead the Georgia Tech contingent of researchers, which aims to understand dynamic, agile movement."}],"uid":"35599","created_gmt":"2024-03-06 18:39:12","changed_gmt":"2024-03-07 20:26:18","author":"sperrin6","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-03-07T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2024-03-07T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"673324":{"id":"673324","type":"image","title":"Simon Sponberg","body":null,"created":"1709750206","gmt_created":"2024-03-06 18:36:46","changed":"1709750179","gmt_changed":"2024-03-06 18:36:19","alt":"Simon Sponberg","file":{"fid":"256706","name":"Simon Headshot.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/03\/06\/Simon%20Headshot.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/03\/06\/Simon%20Headshot.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2798844,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/03\/06\/Simon%20Headshot.jpeg?itok=eui2CnK8"}}},"media_ids":["673324"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"192253","name":"cos-neuro"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"193266","name":"cos-research"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39541","name":"Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWritten by Selena Langner\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EContact: \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto: jess.hunt@cos.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJess Hunt-Ralston\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jess@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"657321":{"#nid":"657321","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Spring Sciences Celebration Honors Faculty and Staff Excellence","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAs the end of the school year approaches, recognition of exceptional work across research, teaching, administration, and community building took center stage at Harrison Square on April 14 at the College of Sciences Spring Sciences Celebration.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur annual celebration is a welcomed tradition in the College,\u201d shared \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/lozier.eas.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESusan Lozier\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, dean and Betsy Middleton and John Clark Sutherland Chair. \u201cAs we greet new members of faculty, recognize excellence and service in research and teaching, and affirm our special community of staff and faculty, we thank the generous alumni and friends who help make these awards possible.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to annual awards honoring faculty development and mentoring, this year\u2019s ceremony featured new accolades for staff members, made possible by funding from the Betsy Middleton and John Sutherland Dean\u2019s Chair endowment \u2014 as well as a trio of awards recognizing exceptional contributions from postdoctoral fellows and research scientists, established through the advocacy of the College\u2019s Research Faculty Advisory Council.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EFaculty Development Awards\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Cullen-Peck Fellowship Awards\u003C\/strong\u003E, established by \u003Cstrong\u003EFrank Cullen\u003C\/strong\u003E (\u201873 Math, MS \u201876 ISyE, PhD \u201884 ISyE) and \u003Cstrong\u003EElizabeth (Libby) Peck\u003C\/strong\u003E (\u201875 Math, MS \u201876 ISyE), to recognize mid-career faculty pursuing highly innovative research:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/people\/faculty\/399\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDobromir (Doby) Rahnev\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor, Psychology\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.math.gatech.edu\/~mtao8\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMolei Tao\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor, Mathematics\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\/people\/pamela-peralta-yahya\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPamela Peralta-Yahya\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Gretzinger Moving Forward Award\u003C\/strong\u003E, endowed by \u003Cstrong\u003ERalph Gretzinger\u003C\/strong\u003E (\u201870 Math) and named to honor his late wife Jewel, recognizing the leadership of school chairs and senior faculty members who have played a pivotal role in diversifying faculty composition, creating a family friendly work environment, and providing a supportive culture for junior faculty:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/people\/huey-dr-greg\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGreg Huey\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, chair and school professor, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Eric R. Immel Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching\u003C\/strong\u003E, endowed by \u003Cstrong\u003ECharles Crawford\u003C\/strong\u003E (\u201871 Math) to recognize exemplary teaching in lower-division foundational courses by faculty in the early stages of their career \u2014 and to honor a late faculty member in the School of Mathematics, professor Eric R. Immel, who greatly influenced Crawford\u2019s undergraduate experience at Tech:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/alonzo-whyte\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAlonzo Whyte\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, academic professional in Biological Sciences, academic advisor for the Health and Medical Sciences (HMED) Minor, and director of academic advising for the Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\/user\/peter-yunker\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPeter Yunker\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor, Physics\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Leddy Family Dean\u2019s Faculty Excellence Award\u003C\/strong\u003E, established by \u003Cstrong\u003EJeff Leddy\u003C\/strong\u003E (\u201978 Physics) and \u003Cstrong\u003EPam Leddy\u003C\/strong\u003E to support a faculty member at the associate professor level with proven accomplishments in research and teaching:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/will-ratcliff\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWilliam (Will) Ratcliff\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor in Biological Sciences and director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences program\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Faculty Mentor Award\u003C\/strong\u003E, established jointly by the College of Sciences and the Georgia Tech ADVANCE Program and presented to exemplary senior faculty who help new faculty advance in their careers as they learn to balance their roles as researchers, teachers, and advisors to their own graduate students and postdoctoral researchers:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/people.math.gatech.edu\/~kang\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESung Ha Kang\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, professor, Mathematics\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/people\/lynch-stieglitz-dr-jean\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJean Lynch-Stieglitz\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, professor and associate chair, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\/people\/loren-williams\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELoren Williams\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EResearch Faculty Awards\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Outstanding Junior Research Faculty Award\u003C\/strong\u003E and \u003Cstrong\u003EOutstanding Senior Research Faculty Award\u003C\/strong\u003E recognize postdoctoral and non-tenure track research faculty who have made exceptional research contributions with significant impact on their field of study:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOutstanding Junior Research Faculty Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.thewhiteleylab.com\/gina-lewin.html\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGina R. Lewin\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, postdoctoral fellow in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/marvin-whiteley\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMarvin Whiteley\u2019s\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E research group, Biological Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOutstanding Senior Research Faculty Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/anton-petrov\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAnton S. Petrov\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, research scientist II and co-investigator of the Center for the Origins of Life in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\/people\/loren-williams\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELoren Williams\u2019\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E research group, Chemistry and Biochemistry\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Research Faculty Community Trailblazer Award\u003C\/strong\u003E recognizes postdoctoral and non-tenure track research faculty who have demonstrated exceptional and sustained leadership that strengthens and improves the research faculty community:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/reveals.gatech.edu\/content\/micah-j-schaible\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMicah J. Schaible\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, research scientist II in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/reveals.gatech.edu\/content\/thomas-m-orlando\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThomas (Thom) Orlando\u2019s\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E research group, Electron and Photon Induced Chemistry on Surfaces (EPICS) Lab, Chemistry and Biochemistry\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EStaff Leadership and Excellence Awards\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe newly established \u003Cstrong\u003EExceptional Staff Member Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EStaff Excellence Awards\u003C\/strong\u003E recognize staff who exemplify outstanding performance above and beyond the call of duty \u2014 positively impacting the strategic goals of their department and the College, consistently providing excellent service within their school or the overall College, and demonstrating exemplary teamwork:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EExceptional Staff Member Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/jasmine-martin\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJasmine Martin\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant to the chair, Biological Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EStaff Excellence Awards\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\/user\/katrine-pate\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EKatrine Pate\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, grants administrator, Physics\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/math.gatech.edu\/people\/lea-marzo\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELea Marzo\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant to the chair, Mathematics\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/people\/bass-stacey\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EStacey Bass\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, grants administrator lead, Psychology and Earth and Atmospheric Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/math.gatech.edu\/people\/steven-daniele\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESteven Daniele\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, IT support engineer senior, Academic \u0026amp; Research Computing Services (ARCS)\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe inaugural\u003Cstrong\u003E Leadership in Action Staff Award \u003C\/strong\u003Eand\u003Cstrong\u003E Excellence in Leadership Staff Awards\u003C\/strong\u003E recognize staff who have made exceptional contributions to the College through innovative and strategic leadership, change management, business process improvement, special project leadership, and similar accomplishments:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELeadership in Action Staff Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/math.gatech.edu\/people\/kimberly-stanley\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EKimberly Stanley\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E,\u003C\/strong\u003E assistant director of business operations, Mathematics\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EExcellence in Leadership Staff Awards\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kathy-sims-mcdaniels-4543416a\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EKathy Sims-McDaniels\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, development assistant in the Dean\u2019s Office and chair of College of Sciences Staff Advisory Council\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jwallom\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJohn Wallom\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, associate director of IT Operations, ARCS\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe College also recognized and welcomed a trio of new faculty members who arrived on campus this school year:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/onur-birol\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOnur Birol\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, academic professional, Biological Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/tansu-celikel\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETansu Celikel\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, professor and school chair, Psychology\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/people\/ellis-shelby-0\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EShelby Ellis\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, lecturer, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\t\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe 2022 Spring Sciences Celebration program can be \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/2022_cos_spring_sciences_celebration_-_program.pdf\u0022\u003Efound here\u003C\/a\u003E, and high-resolution photos can be \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.dropbox.com\/sh\/1z9b7f449hfis1u\/AAAIiZDNTptJqkL0qvZlXTwLa?dl=0\u0022\u003Edownloaded here\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Joined by alumni and friends, the College of Sciences welcomes new professors, presents annual faculty honors alongside inaugural staff and research faculty awards in recognition of individual excellence and community accomplishments."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJoined by alumni and friends, the College of Sciences welcomes new professors, presents annual faculty honors alongside inaugural staff and research faculty awards in recognition of individual excellence and community accomplishments.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Joined by alumni and friends, the College of Sciences welcomes new professors, presents annual faculty honors alongside inaugural staff and research faculty awards in recognition of individual excellence and community accomplishments."}],"uid":"34528","created_gmt":"2022-04-15 16:06:43","changed_gmt":"2024-02-15 21:20:57","author":"jhunt7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-04-15T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-04-15T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"657320":{"id":"657320","type":"image","title":"The 2022 Spring Sciences Celebration, held on April 14 at Harrison Square. 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2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/The%202022%20Spring%20Sciences%20Celebration%202.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/The%202022%20Spring%20Sciences%20Celebration%202.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":858097,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/The%202022%20Spring%20Sciences%20Celebration%202.jpg?itok=PQCrm3oq"}}},"media_ids":["657320","657326","657328","657327","657329","657330","657332","657333","657334","657336","657337","657347","657338","657339","657340","657341","657342","657343","657344","657345"],"groups":[{"id":"620089","name":"Center for Microbial Dynamics and Infection (CMDI)"},{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"607235","name":"Radiation Effects on Volitiles and Exploration of Asteroids and Lunar Surfaces (REVEALS)"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"85951","name":"School of Chemistry and Biochemistry"},{"id":"364801","name":"School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS)"},{"id":"1279","name":"School of Mathematics"},{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"188231","name":"CMDI"},{"id":"276","name":"Awards"},{"id":"2188","name":"Honors"},{"id":"190384","name":"faculty recognition"},{"id":"190385","name":"staff recognition"},{"id":"190386","name":"spring sciences celebration"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"173647","name":"_for_math_site_"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jess@cos.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJess Hunt-Ralston\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nDirector of Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences at Georgia Tech\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jess@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"672812":{"#nid":"672812","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Celebrating 100 Years of Psychology at Georgia Tech","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESince the early days of the Institute, Georgia Tech students have explored aspects of the mind, brain, and behavior through psychology. What started as one or two courses in business psychology has since erupted into dynamic,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/college-sciences-rises-us-news-best-graduate-school-rankings#:~:text=Georgia%20Tech%20College%20of%20Sciences%20rankings\u0026amp;text=37%20rank%20from%202022%2C%20in,Health%20MD%20Anderson%20Cancer%20Center.\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Enationally ranked\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;psychology research and academic programs that serve hundreds of students annually.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBeginning with just a few courses in applied psychology, psychology at Georgia Tech has evolved into one of the most dynamic and distinctive psychology schools globally,\u201d says\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/tansu-celikel-chair\u0022\u003ETansu Celikel\u003C\/a\u003E, professor and chair of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Psychology\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cOur educational and research endeavors are designed to meet the needs of our students and the society as we explore the causal interplay between the mind, brain, behavior and technology.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThough psychology courses had been taught at the Institute prior, it was in 1924 that psychology became a core requirement for three of Tech\u2019s then 12 degree programs, solidifying it as a staple of the Georgia Tech curriculum.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETo commemorate the past century of psychology at Georgia Tech, we\u2019re taking a deep dive into its storied history at the Institute.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/psychology-georgia-tech-century-progress\u0022\u003ERead more on the College of Sciences website.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESince the early days of the Institute, Georgia Tech students have explored aspects of the mind, brain, and behavior through psychology. To commemorate 100 years of psychology at Georgia Tech, we\u2019re taking a deep dive into its storied history.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Since the early days of the Institute, Georgia Tech students have explored aspects of the mind, brain, and behavior through psychology. To commemorate 100 years of psychology at Georgia Tech, we\u2019re taking a deep dive into its storied history. "}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2024-02-07 17:18:00","changed_gmt":"2024-02-13 15:39:21","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-02-09T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2024-02-09T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"673000":{"id":"673000","type":"image","title":"Historical people and places in the School of Psychology. (Credit: Audra Davidson)","body":null,"created":"1707326287","gmt_created":"2024-02-07 17:18:07","changed":"1707512137","gmt_changed":"2024-02-09 20:55:37","alt":"A black and white collage on a gold background.","file":{"fid":"256340","name":"School-of-Psychology-History-Collage-HG.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/02\/07\/School-of-Psychology-History-Collage-HG.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/02\/07\/School-of-Psychology-History-Collage-HG.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":113559,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/02\/07\/School-of-Psychology-History-Collage-HG.jpg?itok=enwdTaTS"}}},"media_ids":["673000"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/about\/history","title":"More on the history of the School of Psychology"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/new-minor-science-mental-health-and-well-being-launches-school-psychology","title":"New Minor in the Science of Mental Health and Well-Being Launches in the School of Psychology"},{"url":"https:\/\/news.gatech.edu\/features\/2021\/06\/thirty-years-computing-liberal-arts-and-sciences","title":"Thirty Years of Computing, Liberal Arts, and Sciences"}],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[{"id":"42901","name":"Community"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"151","name":"Policy, Social Sciences, and Liberal Arts"}],"keywords":[{"id":"122821","name":"cognitive psychology"},{"id":"177295","name":"computational neuroscience"},{"id":"174813","name":"B.S. Neuroscience"},{"id":"192253","name":"cos-neuro"},{"id":"192249","name":"cos-community"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:davidson.audra@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAudra Davidson\u003C\/a\u003E, Communications Officer II\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECollege of Sciences at Georgia Tech\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["davidson.audra@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"669757":{"#nid":"669757","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Researchers Identify Crucial Biomarker That Tracks Recovery from Treatment-Resistant Depression","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA team of clinicians, engineers, and neuroscientists has made a groundbreaking discovery in the field of treatment-resistant depression. By analyzing the brain activity of patients undergoing deep brain stimulation (DBS), the researchers identified a unique pattern in brain activity that reflects the recovery process in patients with treatment-resistant depression. This pattern, known as a biomarker, serves as a measurable indicator of disease recovery and represents a significant advance in treatment for \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.emoryhealthcare.org\/centers-programs\/treatment-resistant-depression-program\/index.html\u0022\u003Ethe most severe and untreatable forms of depression\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe team\u2019s findings, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-023-06541-3\u0022\u003Epublished in the journal \u003Cem\u003ENature\u003C\/em\u003E Sept. 20\u003C\/a\u003E, offer the first window into the intricate workings and mechanistic effects of DBS on the brain during treatment for severe depression.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDBS involves implanting thin electrodes in a specific brain area to deliver small electrical pulses, similar to a pacemaker. Although DBS has been approved and used for movement disorders such as Parkinson\u2019s disease for many years, it remains experimental for depression.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis study is a crucial step toward using objective data collected directly from the brain via the DBS device to inform clinicians about the patient\u2019s response to treatment. This information can help guide adjustments to DBS therapy, tailoring it to each patient\u2019s unique response and optimizing their treatment outcomes.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/news\/2023\/09\/researchers-identify-crucial-biomarker-tracks-recovery-treatment-resistant-depression\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERead the full story on the College of Engineering website.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EHarnessing the power of explainable AI, researchers have unveiled the first insights into the complex workings of deep-brain stimulation therapy for severe depression.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Harnessing the power of explainable AI, researchers have unveiled the first insights into the complex workings of deep-brain stimulation therapy for severe depression."}],"uid":"27446","created_gmt":"2023-09-18 19:57:10","changed_gmt":"2023-09-26 11:36:27","author":"Joshua Stewart","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-09-20T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2023-09-20T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"671741":{"id":"671741","type":"image","title":"Depression DBS Brain Illustration","body":"\u003Cp\u003EAn illustration created from scans of the white matter brain structure of a patient in the study by Georgia Tech, Mount Sinai, and Emory University researchers. The highlighted paths are the regions targeted in deep-brain stimulation therapy for treatment-resistant depression. Recordings of brain activity during treatment paired with new explainable AI tools can provide objective data about recovery to physicians. (Illustration: Mike Halerz, TeraPixel)\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1695067711","gmt_created":"2023-09-18 20:08:31","changed":"1695222163","gmt_changed":"2023-09-20 15:02:43","alt":"Copper-colored illustration of a hair-like mass shaped like a brain. The strands are the white matter structure of a patient brain.  It\u0027s encircled by ones \u0026 zeros that connect to a bright spot in the frontal lobe with brightly lit pathways extending from that spot \u2014 the target pathways for a deep-brain stimulation therapy to treat severe depression. (Illustration: Mike Halerz, TeraPixel)","file":{"fid":"254849","name":"SCC-DBS-Copper-Brain-Illus-Mike-Halerz-TeraPixel_crop.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/09\/18\/SCC-DBS-Copper-Brain-Illus-Mike-Halerz-TeraPixel_crop.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/09\/18\/SCC-DBS-Copper-Brain-Illus-Mike-Halerz-TeraPixel_crop.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3164889,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/09\/18\/SCC-DBS-Copper-Brain-Illus-Mike-Halerz-TeraPixel_crop.jpg?itok=b2EI1erz"}}},"media_ids":["671741"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"177256","name":"Chris Rozell"},{"id":"9024","name":"depression"},{"id":"189654","name":"deep brain stimulation"},{"id":"1925","name":"Electrical and Computer Engineering"},{"id":"594","name":"college of engineering"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"126591","name":"go-NeuralEngineering"},{"id":"126201","name":"go-neural"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMedia Contact:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:aisles3@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAyana Isles\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nMedia Relations\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n404.660.2927\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["aisles3@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"660846":{"#nid":"660846","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Robotics, Wearables, Speech Assistance Among New McCamish Parkinson\u2019s Blue Sky Grant Recipients","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe latest round of \u201cBlue Sky\u201d seed grants from the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/parkinsons.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EMcCamish Parkinson\u2019s Disease Innovation Program\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;will once again support research teams at Georgia Tech and Emory University taking a technology-driven approach to probe the devastating brain disorder. But this year, they\u2019re breaking with tradition.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re starting to see more proposed projects from teams who have not traditionally worked in Parkinson\u2019s disease,\u201d said\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/stanley.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGarrett Stanley\u003C\/a\u003E, professor and founding director of the McCamish program in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis is one of the goals of the McCamish Program, to help scientists and engineers who have worked in other areas bring their ideas and talent to understanding, treating, and one day curing Parkinson\u2019s disease,\u201d Stanley added.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/parkinsons.gatech.edu\/research\/blue_sky_research_teams\/\u0022\u003EThe five new multidisciplinary Blue Sky research teams\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;bring a broad range of expertise for projects focused on robotics, wearables, assistive communication technology, and advanced personalized therapeutics. Grants were awarded in two categories: $40,000 for two teams engaged in earlier-stage research and $125,000 for three teams.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA team led by Coulter BME Associate Professor\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Charlie-Kemp\u0022\u003ECharlie Kemp\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;is using a $125,000 award to combine the concepts of fun and utility. They\u2019re developing a therapeutic robotic game system to increase and enhance the patient exercise experience, while reducing the demands on therapists. The goal is a future where people with Parkinson\u2019s disease can play therapeutic games at home with interactive robots, giving therapists more time to provide individualized guidance.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERobotics researcher\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Yue-Chen\u0022\u003EYue Chen\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;has a completely different aim in mind. He\u2019s leading a team of engineers, scientists, and clinicians in developing, \u201ca safer and more accurate approach for deep brain stimulation electrode placement during Parkinson\u2019s disease treatment,\u201d he said. Chen is an assistant professor in the Coulter Department, and his team received one of the larger grants.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe Blue Sky grant will allow us to develop collaborations with the surgeons, identify the critical gap, and collect the preliminary data for future external grant applications,\u201d Chen said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEmory\u2019s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/providers.emoryhealthcare.org\/provider\/Amanda+Gillespie\/779269\u0022\u003EAmanda Gillespie\u003C\/a\u003E, director of Speech Pathology of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.emoryhealthcare.org\/centers-programs\/voice-center\/our-team.html\u0022\u003EEmory Voice Center\u003C\/a\u003E, is leading a team using its $125,000 grant to design the Speech-Assisting Multi-Microphone System (SAMMS), wearable technology that can isolate, monitor, and analyze vocal loudness and provide biofeedback to the wearer when minimum loudness targets aren\u2019t met.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis is a continuation of a Blue Sky project that began with the first round of seed grants, last year. \u201cWe aim to make further improvements to the technology based on our pilot study feedback and evaluate the device over a prolonged period of use with patients, testing the hypothesis that using the device improves vocal loudness in conversation over time,\u201d Gillespie said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/minoru-shinohara\u0022\u003EMinoru Shinohara\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor in Georgia Tech\u2019s School of Biological Sciences, is leading a $40,000 early effort in wearable tech. Shinohara\u2019s project aims to treat motor symptoms \u2014 like tremors, rigidity, and poor balance \u2014 with an on-skin, wireless system that automatically assesses dance therapy motions, with the aim of improving lower-limb motor control.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cLong term, we\u2019d like to apply this approach to various rehabilitation exercises and clinical populations,\u201d Shinohara said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAnd\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Michael-R-Borich\u0022\u003EMichael Borich\u003C\/a\u003E, who runs the Neural Plasticity Research Lab at Emory, is leading a team leveraging its $40,000 award to begin preliminary work on improving mobility and reducing falls in Parkinson\u2019s patients.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe long-term goal of our project is to develop personalized, non-invasive brain stimulation techniques targeting abnormal cognitive-motor interactions,\u201d Borich said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Blue Sky seed grant program, made possible by a gift from the McCamish Foundation, launched last year to identify and support engineers and scientists at Georgia Tech and Emory who can bring innovative approaches to Parkinson\u2019s research.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe are building a community of researchers across Georgia Tech and Emory that expands on what was already a strong effort in the Atlanta area,\u201d Stanley said. \u201cIn future years, our goal will be to work towards narrowing the scope to focus on a coordinated effort across multiple teams, which is really unique and exciting.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe five new multidisciplinary Blue Sky research teams bring a broad range of expertise for projects focused on robotics, wearables, assistive communication technology, and advanced personalized therapeutics.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The five new multidisciplinary Blue Sky research teams bring a broad range of expertise for projects focused on robotics, wearables, assistive communication technology, and advanced personalized therapeutics."}],"uid":"35403","created_gmt":"2022-09-02 18:20:17","changed_gmt":"2023-09-07 16:33:48","author":"Carly Ralston","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-09-02T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-09-02T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"660845":{"id":"660845","type":"image","title":"Robotics, Wearables, Speech Assistance Among New McCamish Parkinson\u2019s Blue Sky Grant Recipients","body":null,"created":"1662142673","gmt_created":"2022-09-02 18:17:53","changed":"1662142673","gmt_changed":"2022-09-02 18:17:53","alt":"","file":{"fid":"250373","name":"GettyImages-869651916_0.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/GettyImages-869651916_0.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/GettyImages-869651916_0.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":140623,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/GettyImages-869651916_0.jpeg?itok=puCzuq03"}}},"media_ids":["660845"],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"665927":{"#nid":"665927","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Neuroscience-focused Researchers Jeffrey Markowitz and Anqi Wu Awarded 2023 Sloan Fellowship","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ENews coverage originally posted by Jerry Grillo and Bryant Wine\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EJeffrey Markowitz and Anqi Wu have joined a cohort of 125 early career scholars who represent the most promising scientific researchers working today. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sloan.org\/fellowships\/\u0022\u003EThe Sloan Fellowship\u003C\/a\u003E awards are the most competitive, prestigious awards available to early career researchers. Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, fellowships award rising scientists $75,000 on any expenses supporting their research over a two-year term.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMarkowitz\u2019s research focuses on how the brain decides which action to perform at each moment in time \u2013 that is, action selection. He is interested in the cortical and subcortical circuits that mediate this process and how they go awry in neurological disorders such as Parkinson\u2019s disease.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis is a great honor, and I\u2019m very fortunate because this award gives us a fair amount of freedom in the early stages of our research,\u201d said Markowitz, an assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. \u201cSometimes, how creative you can be is defined by how flexible your support is. This award is really key as we try new, innovative things in our work.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWu\u2019s research aims at leading next-generation computational neuroscience. Her research develops integrated data analysis tools to provide systematic, comprehensive understandings of neural mechanisms and biological functions, pushing the boundary of computational models for neuroscience.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe fellowship provides significant financial support for my early-stage research career,\u201d said Wu, an assistant professor in the School of Computational Science and Engineering. \u201cI will use it for the research on developing advanced statistical models for neural and behavioral data analyses. My hope is to help experimental neuroscientists to decipher the massive datasets they collect and provide interpretable insights into our brain.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/news\/jeffrey-markowitz-named-2023-sloan-research-fellow\u0022\u003EFull story on Jeffrey Markowitz\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/anqi-wu-awarded-2023-sloan-research-fellowship\u0022\u003EFull story on Anqi Wu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech researchers have joined a cohort of 125 early career scholars who represent the most promising scientific researchers working today.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech researchers have joined a cohort of 125 early career scholars who represent the most promising scientific researchers working today. "}],"uid":"34602","created_gmt":"2023-02-17 23:01:33","changed_gmt":"2023-04-04 18:11:41","author":"Georgia Parmelee","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-02-17T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2023-02-17T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"670441":{"id":"670441","type":"image","title":"Jeffrey Markowitz and Anqi Wu","body":null,"created":"1680631748","gmt_created":"2023-04-04 18:09:08","changed":"1680631840","gmt_changed":"2023-04-04 18:10:40","alt":"Jeffrey Markowitz and Anqi Wu","file":{"fid":"253298","name":"JeffreyMarkowitz-AnqiWu.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/04\/04\/JeffreyMarkowitz-AnqiWu.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/04\/04\/JeffreyMarkowitz-AnqiWu.png","mime":"image\/png","size":170542,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/04\/04\/JeffreyMarkowitz-AnqiWu.png?itok=BgP_-MIX"}}},"media_ids":["670441"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"187582","name":"go-ibb"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"660689":{"#nid":"660689","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Q\u0026A: 22 Questions with the Kashlan Triplets (Neuro \u002722)","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAs triplets, Adam, Rommi, and Zane Kashlan are used to doing things together. After three years at Georgia Tech, the brothers added one more thing to that list: graduating with a trio of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/academics\/degrees\/bachelors\/neuroscience-bs\u0022\u003EBachelor of Science in Neuroscience\u003C\/a\u003E degrees this past May and gearing up for medical school.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENeuroscience is the fastest growing undergraduate major in the College of Sciences at Georgia Tech, and prospective and current students often enjoy hearing from our alumni about their experiences in the program.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWe recently spoke with the NEURO \u201822 Kashlan brothers about their time at Georgia Tech, advice for students, and a look at what\u2019s next on the horizon:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EMAJORING IN NEUROSCIENCE\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cstrong\u003EWhy did you decide to study Neuroscience at Georgia Tech?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EZane:\u003C\/strong\u003E The Neuroscience program at Georgia Tech is unique in that it\u0027s incredibly interdisciplinary. As Neuroscience majors, students can freely take courses in Georgia Tech\u0027s top-ranked programs like engineering, computer science, and even business on top of a regular course load filled with biology and other science core curricula.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition, the broad nature of the curriculum offers students an opportunity to explore all areas of Neuroscience, including Biological Neuroscience, Neuroengineering, Computational Neuroscience, and several other pathways that help develop essential lifelong skills. It is a fantastic \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/isss.oie.gatech.edu\/content\/what-are-stem-eligible-majors-here-georgia-tech\u0022\u003ESTEM\u003C\/a\u003E major to pick as students who want to explore different career paths and pick up different skills. We enjoyed charting our individual experiences within Neuroscience and are so grateful for the advisors and professors who supported us along the way.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat made you all decide to go to Georgia Tech together?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EZane:\u003C\/strong\u003E Georgia Tech has always felt like a second home to us. We were born and grew up in the Atlanta area. Georgia Tech offered a strong list of notable faculty members. The modern campus is big enough to explore different interests in a wide variety of subjects. Tech offered a special place for us to be challenged, make new friends, and grow independently as a trio.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERommi:\u003C\/strong\u003E I would add the fact that Georgia Tech offered an unparalleled value of education.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETwo questions in one: Who were your favorite professors, mentors, TAs \u2014 and why?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERommi:\u003C\/strong\u003E There were so many professors and mentors that helped shape me into the person that I am today. For example, my involvement with Dr. Ragan in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/news\/nih-brain-initiative-taps-two-labs-georgia-tech#:~:text=It\u0027s%20all%20part%20of%20the,epilepsy%20and%20traumatic%20brain%20injury.\u0022\u003EBRAIN Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E helping promote neuroscience to students in schools around the Atlanta area, enforced my love for neuroscience and giving back to the community. Dr. Decker, who mentored me as a TA, instilled and enforced my passion for teaching. Dr. Shepler, who I worked closely with in mentoring students in Chemistry under the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/tutoring.gatech.edu\/plus-sessions\/\u0022\u003EPLUS Program\u003C\/a\u003E, further deepened my love for teaching science. Dr. Harrison, who guided me through my first teaching experience in the biology department, is another example. Like all other professors, they were vital in facilitating an engaging, fun, and highly memorable learning environment.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EZane: \u003C\/strong\u003EFrom the very long list of professors I had an extraordinary time learning from, I especially enjoyed being a TA for Dr. Decker in Anatomy and Pathology. Dr. Tyson helped develop my interest in mentoring others and deepening my experience in Organic Chemistry. Dr. Senf provided continuous support in sponsoring the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/act.alz.org\/site\/TR?team_id=725003\u0026amp;pg=team\u0026amp;fr_id=15491\u0022\u003EStudents Against Alzheimer\u0027s\u003C\/a\u003E organization I helped found and fostered my passion for scientific communication and advocacy. Also, a thank you to the GT 1000 program for allowing me to be a part of mentoring the next generation of Yellow Jackets \u2013 Sandi Bramblett and Dr. Rafael Bras for showing me the ropes of leading by example and to Savitra Y Dow and Dr. Lacy Hodges for their constant support.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdam:\u003C\/strong\u003E I\u0027m so grateful for all the professors I had the privilege of learning from and taking classes with over my tenure at Georgia Tech, such as Dr. Decker, Dr. Tyson, Dr. Holder, Dr. Weigel, Dr. Whyte, Dr. Howitz, Dr. Kerr, Dr. Harrison, and Dr. Duarte. I especially value my experience with Dr. Shepler, with whom I took chemistry in my first year because she made the learning of science meaningful and fun. Dr. Senf helped develop my scientific writing skill, which is critical in neuroscience research. Dr. Ragan, with whom I took NEUR 4001, for learning so much about research methods, proper presentation creation and delivery, paper writing, and making the atmosphere of every class fun and engaging.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWould you all intentionally take classes together?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERommi: \u003C\/strong\u003ESometimes it worked out that we would have similar classes since we\u0027re all neuroscience majors. Still, most semesters, we would only share a required class or two, while some classes might be with different professors because of time conflicts with other courses. We each prioritized taking whatever classes worked best with our individual schedules and graduation plans, but taking a lesson or two [together] was always fun.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECoolest thing you\u0027ve learned about the human brain?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERommi:\u003C\/strong\u003E The most remarkable thing I\u0027ve learned about the human brain is how much we don\u0027t know about it. Out of every meticulous detail we know about human physiology and function we have barely scratched the surface of our cognition and thinking. This leaves so much room for exploration in neuroscience research because there is so much yet to be uncovered.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003ECAMPUS LIFE\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cstrong\u003EDuring the school year, did you have any daily routines or habits?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdam:\u003C\/strong\u003E After my first year, my earliest class usually started around 10 a.m. On a typical day, I liked to wake up at around 9 a.m. if I didn\u0027t have any events or important assignments to complete. After taking some of my morning classes, I would almost always go to the fourth floor of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/library.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECrosland Tower\u003C\/a\u003E [in the Price Gilbert Memorial] Library to do my assignments and study before lunch or my following classes. After grabbing some lunch and attending the rest of my classes that day, I usually went to the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.crc.gatech.edu\/home\u0022\u003ECRC\u003C\/a\u003E to play basketball with my friends or eat dinner. On busy days though, I went back to studying or completing projects and other longer assignments in preparation for exams or important deadlines.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat was your most memorable experience from the past few years?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdam: \u003C\/strong\u003EI would probably have to say graduation. While it is a bit clich\u00e9, knowing that your years of hard work through trials and tribulations have finally amounted to something great is amazing.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAny recommendations for places to visit around campus and Atlanta?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdam:\u003C\/strong\u003E I enjoyed Six Flags Night with my friends in the fall; Lake Lanier to enjoy the water; and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/beltline.org\/\u0022\u003E[Atlanta] Beltline\u003C\/a\u003E, which has an amazing history. I had the opportunity to visit [there] with my English class during my first year.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERommi:\u003C\/strong\u003E I\u0027ll add the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.georgiaaquarium.org\/?keyword\u0026amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw3qGYBhBSEiwAcnTRLmze_E3lgDICm2OHJbUFeKGr4ZQyDkbbOvWJallhdvhCly0LzSJh9xoCq3kQAvD_BwE\u0022\u003EGeorgia Aquarium\u003C\/a\u003E to that list \u2014 the whale sharks and penguins make it an awesome experience.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWere you involved in any clubs or organizations?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EZane: \u003C\/strong\u003EDuring my first semester, I enjoyed my experience in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/transitionseminars.oue.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGT1000\u003C\/a\u003E and looked up to my team leader for the class. I joined the GT1000 program because of that experience and served as a team leader for my first two years on campus and then as an ambassador for my last year. I enjoyed helping students work through many of the challenges I had once experienced as a first-year. Since my first year, I have spent a good portion of time outside class as a volunteer and advocate for the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.alz.org\/\u0022\u003EAlzheimer\u0027s Association\u003C\/a\u003E, where we urge our national leaders to support increased care and research funding to one day end Alzheimer\u0027s.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBy connecting with other volunteers in the state and country, I saw the need for younger voices to get involved in the cause. I founded Students Against Alzheimer\u0027s, a student-led organization that works with the Alzheimer\u0027s Association to get younger advocates involved. I\u0027m also grateful to have had the opportunity to go to Washington D.C. with other advocates, where we met \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.warnock.senate.gov\/\u0022\u003ESenator Raphael Warnock \u003C\/a\u003Eand other states\/national representatives to push for updates in legislation. I would spend a lot of time with family or having fun in the Atlanta area in my free time.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdam:\u003C\/strong\u003E I joined and participated in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sites.gatech.edu\/swimclub\/\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech Swim Club\u003C\/a\u003E, founded a GT chapter of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.apdaparkinson.org\/?utm_source=google\u0026amp;utm_medium=cpc\u0026amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw3qGYBhBSEiwAcnTRLpQt-D5YR357RqxJBkZBNRW0fYILoWF7suz06Cb5DeFFG4Q0znTH3RoCjBgQAvD_BwE\u0022\u003EAmerican Parkinson\u0027s Disease Association\u003C\/a\u003E, and was part of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.sga.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EStudent Government\u003C\/a\u003E during my first year. Outside of school, I was heavily involved with my research at the Woolf Lab for the past two years. I volunteered as a medical assistant at the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/goodsamatlanta.org\/\u0022\u003EGood Samaritan Health Clinic\u003C\/a\u003E. I was also a part of several organizations where I tutored and supported Georgia\u0027s refugee children, which I have been involved in since middle school.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERommi: \u003C\/strong\u003EThe organization I was involved in the most was \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/tutoring.gatech.edu\/#:~:text=Tutoring%20%26%20Academic%20Support%20(TAS),your%20experience%20with%20TAS%20here.\u0022\u003ETeaching and Academic Services at Tech\u003C\/a\u003E. I participated as a PLUS leader and one-on-one tutor, assisting in events such as \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/tutoring.gatech.edu\/studypalooza\/\u0022\u003EStudypalooza\u003C\/a\u003E. The opportunity to give back to my peers through teaching and guidance was a great experience. Outside the classroom, I helped lead the BRAIN initiative, whereas as a neuroscience student, I went to schools around the Atlanta area to hold activity-filled seminars promoting the learning of neuroscience.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe students observed activities such as a human brain dissection, controlling nerves in your arm, and a \u0022mind control\u0022 machine. These activities deepened my love and advocacy for neuroscience. I also discovered my passion for helping others, volunteering as a trained nurse assistant at the Good Sam Health Clinic. I also had the privilege to be part of the task force set up to design the process of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/health.gatech.edu\/coronavirus\/testing\u0022\u003ECovid-19 testing\u003C\/a\u003E for the students and the community at GT in preparation for reopening the campus.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat\u0027s the most important thing you\u0027ve learned through Tech?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EZane: \u003C\/strong\u003EAside from balancing time and managing classes, the most important and unexpected lesson I have learned is knowing when to ask for help. It was important along our journeys to connect with fellow students and professors to get extra support during the more challenging weeks or when making career plans. I feel that Tech\u0027s most valuable resource doesn\u0027t come from the new buildings or courses, it\u0027s the role models \u2013 our peers and mentors \u2013 that we engage with daily.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERommi: \u003C\/strong\u003EGT enforced several lessons \u2014 including problem-solving, how to persevere, self-motivation, and putting things into perspective.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat was the hardest class you took, and why?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdam: \u003C\/strong\u003EI would definitely have to say that Principles of Neuroscience (NEUR 2001) was the hardest class that I have taken at Georgia Tech. It\u0027s a four-credit class I took my first semester and included a lab component. You essentially learn most of the basic neuroscience curriculum in one extremely demanding class. The lab consists of lots of reports that have to be extremely in-depth and are significantly longer than normal papers. The lecture had a significant portion of the grade dedicated to exams which were incredibly detailed and required memorization of the minor details. It was a challenging experience, but looking back I\u0027m grateful because it allowed me to adjust to Georgia Tech\u0027s rigorous curriculum early and understand foundational neuroscience, which helped my research.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003ESTEM RESEARCH, CAREERS IN HEALTH AND MEDICINE\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat\u0027s your advice for young people interested in STEM research?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EZane: \u003C\/strong\u003EI think the most important part of being interested in STEM is just that \u2014 curiosity. Being curious about everyday scientific phenomena is the crux of being a good researcher or engineer. Just by staying curious so many doors are open for learning. A student can start with some YouTube videos, hone that passion by taking a course or joining a lab, and who knows, maybe one day that passion will turn into a career.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdvice for students who are interested in a career in health and medicine?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EZane: \u003C\/strong\u003EBuilding a career in medicine takes a long time, maybe up to 12 years or more after college. Get involved through internships and research as early as your first year and take the time to figure out what about medicine and health interests you. There are so many opportunities, not only within the scope of being a clinician, but also in medical research; medical technology; medical business; and medical law. Going down the path of a physician is certainly not the only way to have a career in health.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMake sure that you network with your peers and alumni to find out what others have career ideas that can serve as inspiration for yourself. I especially recommend taking a gap year or two before making such an impactful commitment to exploring all potential career opportunities that might interest you before dedicating yourself to a life in medicine.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdam: \u003C\/strong\u003EI agree with Zane that you must do a lot of soul-searching when you commit to the field of medicine. This is a highly specialized career you will spend the rest of your life doing. Remember that you need to love what you do; otherwise, you will not be happy, and your patients will pick up on that.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EACADEMICS AND STUDY TIPS\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cstrong\u003EDid you have any study strategies or habits?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERommi: \u003C\/strong\u003EI\u0027m an early morning person, so most of my studying took place before I began my first class, which was typically in the late morning or afternoon. The rule of thumb is to study for two to three hours for every lecture hour, so I always tried to study the material ahead of the lectures to get familiar with the topics being presented in class as they are taught and then revisit the material immediately after.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdam: \u003C\/strong\u003ESpaced repetition, consistency, and time management is the key to excelling in school. I can confidently say that you don\u0027t need to be the smartest person to get the best grades because you can outweigh that by being more disciplined and efficient. Finding a study habit that works for you is the key. Oftentimes, what works for one person most likely won\u0027t work for another. You must learn and discover what works best for you through iteration in your first semester.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDiscover the studying habit that helps you perform best on exams and assignments. What worked for me was spacing out my studying ahead of exams and using spaced repetition, so I would revisit concepts multiple times before taking an exam rather than moving through the material progressively and not reviewing old lectures.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition, I would ramp up my studying a few days before an exam with the most time spent the day before and the day-of, because I found it easier to recall small details from a PowerPoint slide when reviewing it an hour prior to taking the exam (after multiple run-throughs, though).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe strategy can sometimes vary between classes: brute repetition and memorization works in a subject like biology \u2014 but not so much in a conceptual subject like physics and math that requires more practice than learning.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe second half of doing well in classes is understanding the syllabus and finding what assignments or exams you need to score well on. Maximizing your grade in non-exam\/quiz assignments gives you the highest chance of getting an A in the class and oftentimes gives you a buffer to score an 80 or 85 exam average.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFavorite study spot on campus?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdam: \u003C\/strong\u003EMy favorite study spots on campus would have to either be the fourth and fifth floor of the Crosland Tower Library or the third floor of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/library.gatech.edu\/clough\u0022\u003ECULC\u003C\/a\u003E. The Library\u0027s first floor is always packed, so the quiet upper floors were great for studying. The bridge connecting the two main libraries was also a relaxing spot to study since the windows give a nice view of the city and keep the area well-lit.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat were your go-to study snacks?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERommi:\u003C\/strong\u003E I\u0027m a big sandwich guy; throughout my time at Georgia Tech, I\u0027ve probably had upwards of a thousand sandwiches between classes. You can always count on the 14th Street Jimmy John\u2019s.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow do you recharge after a tough exam or difficult class?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERommi: \u003C\/strong\u003EI crashed a lot on the beanbags on the fourth floor of CULC building, hung around the dorms a lot, tried to forget about it, and worked towards the next assignment or class to study for.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat motivated you when you were struggling in a class?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdam: \u003C\/strong\u003EWhen struggling in a class, I always reminded myself that I wasn\u0027t alone. I stressed that I should continue to persevere and not get demoralized if I got a bad exam grade, or didn\u0027t understand some concept right away. I noticed that classes at Georgia Tech usually got harder as the semester progressed, until the eighth or ninth week, then eased off significantly as the final exam approached.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy biggest piece of advice for all students would be to focus on scoring as high as possible on all non-exam grades, like participation and homework assignments that you have the most control over. Getting close to a 100 percent in those sections carries your average significantly and allows you to have the room to tank a few bad quiz or exam grades, and gives you lots of buffer for the final exam.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt\u0027s also important to keep track of your grade in the class and what grade section you\u0027re underperforming in (homework, quiz, test, etc.). This lets you know what assignments mean the most to your grade and prioritize time between different classes and assignments to maximize your chances of keeping your averages high.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERommi:\u003C\/strong\u003E I think not falling too far behind made it much easier to prepare and be ready. Don\u0027t wait; go seek help if you don\u0027t understand a topic fully. GT has a lot of resources for help when needed. Take advantage of all that is available. A key piece of advice, read your syllabus at the beginning of the semester and fully understand the professor\u0027s expectations. Study ahead and follow the syllabus.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat\u0027s the best advice you\u0027ve learned about balancing school and life?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdam:\u003C\/strong\u003E Balancing school, sleep, and a social life can be challenging. I always liked to keep a few consistent hobbies fit into my schedule, like playing basketball at the CRC or even just walking around campus at night so I could have some escape from the pressure of school.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI learned that getting into a routine and set schedule also helps with this balance because you get more hours out of your day when your time is managed properly. Unfortunately though, there will be times when you will have to sacrifice going out on a Friday night to complete a project or make sure that you perform well on an exam.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI encourage you not to feel bad about making these hard decisions because it all becomes worth it come graduation day. That said, having some avenue to de-stress from school and have fun is super important, even if it\u0027s a small activity for a few minutes a day because studying at Tech without taking a break will burn you out quickly.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAlso, sleep is your friend \u2014 don\u0027t ignore it. It\u0027s a cheat code to improve your mood and mental health, reflect on your school performance and social relationships, improve your mood, etcetera.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003E2022 AND BEYOND\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat are your plans for the rest of 2022 and beyond?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdam: \u003C\/strong\u003EAfter graduating in the spring, I moved to Boston to work as a research assistant in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/kirbyneuro.org\/WoolfLab\/\u0022\u003EWoolf Lab at Harvard Medical School\u003C\/a\u003E. We study non-opioid-based analgesic drugs used in the treatment of chronic pain. I will apply to medical schools next summer and want to pursue a career as a physician focusing on improving immigrant and refugee health in the United States- my passion since middle school.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EZane: \u003C\/strong\u003EIn late April, I switched my research work from Yale Medical to the Woolf Lab at Harvard Medical. In the future, I plan to combine my passion for research and medicine as a physician-scientist to improve patients\u0027 lives suffering from neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer\u0027s.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERommi: \u003C\/strong\u003EI moved to Boston with Zane and Adam and have been focusing on volunteering at various clinics and studying for my MCAT exam. After taking the MCAT exam this fall, I will start working as a research assistant.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003ESPIRIT OF GEORGIA TECH\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cstrong\u003EBest part of being a Yellow Jacket?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EZane:\u003C\/strong\u003E The decision has to be between making great friends and calling such an amazing school home.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERommi: \u003C\/strong\u003EThe best part of being a Yellow Jacket is knowing that I am ready to face any new challenge, confident that I will do well.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdam:\u003C\/strong\u003E Developing many relationships and connections with friends, mentors, and professors at the school have continued to benefit me even after graduation. Also, coming from Georgia Tech opens up many doors and opportunities that you otherwise wouldn\u0027t get at other schools \u2014 the name and prestige of the school mean a lot to employers and graduate schools.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Three Years, Three Neuroscience Degrees, and Three Future Medical Professionals"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAs triplets, Adam, Rommi, and Zane Kashlan are used to doing things together. After three years at Georgia Tech, the brothers added one more thing to that list: graduating with a trio of\u0026nbsp;Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience\u0026nbsp;degrees and gearing up for medical school. We recently spoke with the Kashlans about their time at Georgia Tech, advice for students, and what\u2019s next on the horizon.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"We recently spoke with the NEURO \u201822 Kashlan triplets about their time at Georgia Tech, advice for students, and what\u2019s next on the horizon."}],"uid":"35599","created_gmt":"2022-08-30 14:47:02","changed_gmt":"2023-03-28 19:31:26","author":"sperrin6","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-09-01T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-09-01T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"660692":{"id":"660692","type":"image","title":"The Kashlan Triplets, NEURO \u002722","body":null,"created":"1661876050","gmt_created":"2022-08-30 16:14:10","changed":"1662042841","gmt_changed":"2022-09-01 14:34:01","alt":"","file":{"fid":"250357","name":"web kashlan triplets.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/web%20kashlan%20triplets.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/web%20kashlan%20triplets.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":679263,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/web%20kashlan%20triplets.jpg?itok=C1s2WbjE"}},"660695":{"id":"660695","type":"image","title":"Zane volunteering with the Students Against Alzheimer\u0027s organization he helped found.","body":null,"created":"1661876197","gmt_created":"2022-08-30 16:16:37","changed":"1662042886","gmt_changed":"2022-09-01 14:34:46","alt":"Zane volunteering with the Students Against Alzheimer\u0027s organization he helped found. ","file":{"fid":"250328","name":"Zane_Alz_PromotingFight.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Zane_Alz_PromotingFight.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Zane_Alz_PromotingFight.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1694360,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Zane_Alz_PromotingFight.jpeg?itok=zyYHn9Ni"}},"660693":{"id":"660693","type":"image","title":"Rommi working as a teaching assistant (TA) in an anatomy course.","body":null,"created":"1661876106","gmt_created":"2022-08-30 16:15:06","changed":"1662042920","gmt_changed":"2022-09-01 14:35:20","alt":"Rommi working as a teaching assistant (TA) in an anatomy course.","file":{"fid":"250326","name":"Rommi Teaching Assistant Anatomy Course.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Rommi%20Teaching%20Assistant%20Anatomy%20Course.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Rommi%20Teaching%20Assistant%20Anatomy%20Course.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":128753,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Rommi%20Teaching%20Assistant%20Anatomy%20Course.jpeg?itok=XhQeZqYE"}},"660795":{"id":"660795","type":"image","title":"Adam at Harvard Medical Lab","body":null,"created":"1662043175","gmt_created":"2022-09-01 14:39:35","changed":"1680031872","gmt_changed":"2023-03-28 19:31:12","alt":"","file":{"fid":"250359","name":"Adam at Harvard Medical Lab.JPG","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Adam%20at%20Harvard%20Medical%20Lab.JPG","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Adam%20at%20Harvard%20Medical%20Lab.JPG","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":648992,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Adam%20at%20Harvard%20Medical%20Lab.JPG?itok=8ceQxRZZ"}},"660694":{"id":"660694","type":"image","title":"Adam, Rommi and Zane Kashlan with their parents, Dean and Judy, and Georgia Tech President \u00c1ngel Cabrera (M.S. PSY \u201893, Ph.D. PSY \u201895).","body":null,"created":"1661876149","gmt_created":"2022-08-30 16:15:49","changed":"1662042949","gmt_changed":"2022-09-01 14:35:49","alt":"Adam, Rommi and Zane Kashlan with their parents, Dean and Judy, and Georgia Tech President \u00c1ngel Cabrera (M.S. PSY \u201893, Ph.D. PSY \u201895).","file":{"fid":"250327","name":"With President Cabrera.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/With%20President%20Cabrera.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/With%20President%20Cabrera.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":952118,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/With%20President%20Cabrera.jpeg?itok=vq4XY2eX"}},"660696":{"id":"660696","type":"image","title":"Commencement Weekend, Spring 2022","body":null,"created":"1661876241","gmt_created":"2022-08-30 16:17:21","changed":"1662043053","gmt_changed":"2022-09-01 14:37:33","alt":"","file":{"fid":"250358","name":"Graduation weekend, Spring 2022.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Graduation%20weekend%2C%20Spring%202022.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Graduation%20weekend%2C%20Spring%202022.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1238069,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Graduation%20weekend%2C%20Spring%202022.jpg?itok=Kgux2guo"}}},"media_ids":["660692","660695","660693","660795","660694","660696"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/news.gatech.edu\/archive\/features\/three-brothers-three-valedictorians-three-yellow-jackets.shtml#main","title":"Three Brothers. Three Valedictorians. Three Yellow Jackets."},{"url":"https:\/\/www.ajc.com\/education\/fraternal-bond-continues-as-triplets-to-graduate-from-georgia-tech\/ENN3NLEJ3VDOZN5N32RM2COFWQ\/","title":"3 for 3: Georgia Tech triplets graduate a year early"},{"url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=N_b8E-I8qeo","title":"Three of a Kind: The Kashlan Triplets"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"},{"id":"42901","name":"Community"},{"id":"42911","name":"Education"},{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"},{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"1304","name":"neuroscience"},{"id":"190558","name":"Kashlan triplets"},{"id":"191213","name":"gt22"},{"id":"167822","name":"study tips"},{"id":"191214","name":"advice for students"},{"id":"1071","name":"Undergraduates"},{"id":"191215","name":"neuro"},{"id":"277","name":"Biology"},{"id":"1222","name":"psychology"},{"id":"167141","name":"Student Life"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39511","name":"Public Service, Leadership, and Policy"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJess Hunt-Ralston\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nDirector of Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences at Georgia Tech\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ESpecial thanks to Dean Kashlan for organizing this interview, and to Georgia Tech Office of Undergraduate Education and our College of Sciences student writers for sharing questions for this story. \u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jess.hunt@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"656450":{"#nid":"656450","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Christina Ragan: Celebrating Brain Awareness Week \u2014 and Neuroscience for All ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFrom the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/atlantasciencefestival.org\/events-2022\/183-mindcraft-the-science-of-crafting\/\u0022\u003Escience of crafting\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;to\u0026nbsp;a\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/atlantasciencefestival.org\/events-2022\/171-science-improv\/\u0022\u003Escience improv show\u003C\/a\u003E,\u0026nbsp;Georgia Tech has partnered with\u0026nbsp;the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/atlantasciencefestival.org\/\u0022\u003EAtlanta Science\u0026nbsp;Festival\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;in filling the\u0026nbsp;month of March with science outreach events since\u0026nbsp;the annual festival was founded\u0026nbsp;in 2014.\u0026nbsp;And after receiving a seed grant\u0026nbsp;from the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/dana.org\/\u0022\u003EDana Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;for\u0026nbsp;the second year in a row,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/christina-ragan\u0022\u003EChristina Ragan\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;is ready to partner with the festival to\u0026nbsp;host her outreach \u201cSuper Bowl\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u2014\u0026nbsp;Brain Awareness Day.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWith a passion for inspiring others and making neuroscience more accessible, Ragan, a faculty member and lecturer in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E and the director of Outreach for the Undergraduate Program in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuroscience.cos.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ENeuroscience\u003C\/a\u003E at Tech, is a leader in developing neuroscience-related outreach events.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor the past two years, Ragan has been annually awarded a $1,500 seed grant from the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/dana.org\/\u0022\u003EDana Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E to design that kind of outreach in celebration of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.brainawareness.org\/\u0022\u003EBrain Awareness Week\u003C\/a\u003E, the Foundation\u2019s global campaign dedicated to fostering curiosity and enthusiasm for brain science.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EArriving at Georgia Tech in early 2021, Ragan organized a virtual Brain Awareness Day event for middle school students that welcomed over 100 attendees.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEveryone is Welcome: Science \u0026amp; Engineering Day at GT 2022\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis spring\u2019s programming, scheduled on campus for March 19 as part of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/nano\/ATLScienceFestival\u0022\u003EScience \u0026amp; Engineering Day at GT\u003C\/a\u003E, is set have an even bigger audience. (Organizers have confirmed that anyone who missed the RSVP period for this day-long celebration is still welcome to attend without registration, with limited courtesy parking available in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/nano\/ATLScienceFestival\u0022\u003Ecentral lot shown here\u003C\/a\u003E.)\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAs the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/christina-ragan-honored-award-neuroscience-teaching-outreach-mentorship\u0022\u003E2020 Carol Ann Paul Neuroscience Educator of the Year\u003C\/a\u003E, Ragan\u2019s dedication in the space has already made an impact on campus. This month, we spoke with Ragan to learn more about Brain Awareness Day and her approach to reaching community members beyond campus:\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: What is Brain Awareness Week, and why do you think it\u2019s important?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA: Brain Awareness Week, organized by the Dana Foundation, is a great way to share Neuroscience to the public in a way that is engaging, fun, and accessible to a broad audience.\u0026nbsp; We are celebrating Brain Awareness Week in three ways: 1. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/nano\/ATLScienceFestival\u0022\u003EOur Brain Awareness Day event\u003C\/a\u003E as part of the Atlanta Science Festival (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/nano\/ATLScienceFestival\u0022\u003EMarch 19\u003C\/a\u003E from 10am-2pm in CULC 483 and 487), 2. Laboratory Tours for High Schoolers during the March 19 event, and 3.\u0026nbsp;Visiting the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.drewcharterschool.org\/\u0022\u003EDrew School\u003C\/a\u003E on April 1. My organizing committee of Neuro undergraduates (Rommi Kashlan, Brenna Cheney, Claire Deng, and Payton McClarity-Jones) have been extremely helpful in planning these activities.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI love that we get to involve our undergraduates for our outreach events, so they get to teach others all about the brain. I think it\u0027s important for the public to learn about the nervous system since it plays such a critical role in pretty much everything we do. Even when we are asleep or daydreaming, our brain is hard at work.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EScience doesn\u0027t need to be restricted to folks who have formal degrees. Every time a kid asks, \u0022but why?\u0022 they are acting just like a scientist!\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: Seed grants are often given to help researchers or faculty begin to develop new projects or programs. What project or program do you hope to develop with this grant?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA: I would love to get involved with folks involved in STEM education in the greater Atlanta area to assess the outcomes of events like these. Who are we reaching and who do we still need to increase our efforts to? How can we reach the most people? What kinds of events not only promote students to pursue STEM careers, but also encourage appreciation and literacy for science for those who aren\u0027t in STEM fields? I\u0027d also like to form strong relationships with area schools so we can share our Neuroscience demonstrations with them, as well.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis is the second year I have received this grant and I am so excited that we can use it to increase the number of resources we can use for Neuroscience outreach. It is a tremendous honor to be recognized for something I consider so rewarding.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI would love it if attendees for our Atlanta Science Festival event walk away excited, inspired, and curious about Neuroscience. I hope that this year\u0027s attendees become regular attendees annually and spread the word to their friends. I would love for attendees to tell their parents and teachers about it so we can arrange more school visits, especially to schools who may not always get opportunities \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: Where does your passion for neuroscience outreach stem from?\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA: My mom introduced me to community outreach at a young age through various volunteering opportunities. She instilled an appreciation, rather than an obligation, for serving others and I have her to thank for promoting that. I always had fun volunteering, especially as a family, and never found it to be a chore.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt wasn\u2019t until graduate school when I became involved in Graduate Women in Science that I started doing STEM outreach. During my Postdoctoral Fellowship at Michigan State University, I was involved with the Neuroscience Fair and school visits for Brain Awareness Week. At Purdue University Northwest, I organized my very own Neuroscience Fair event that hosted 500 attendees.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: What\u2019s your favorite neuroscience outreach event or program that you\u2019ve done?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA: I call Brain Awareness Day (the event that will be part of Atlanta Science Festival this year) my \u201cSuper Bowl\u201d.\u0026nbsp; I love seeing all the attendees engaged with the presenters and the look on their faces when they learn the neuroscience behind the activity. It\u0027s really funny when their minds are just blown away after the gears start turning and they figure something out.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: Why do you think this kind of outreach is important?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA: Neuroscience outreach is important, especially for middle school girls, because that is the time in their lives when they are unfortunately taught that being smart or liking science isn\u0027t for girls. I don\u0027t expect everyone who attends our outreach events to become scientists, but I do aim to encourage an appreciation for science and to think like scientists.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWe are truly in the Information Age, and it is our job as educators to help students learn how to evaluate all this information that is literally at their fingertips.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: How do you envision outreach playing into the future of Georgia Tech\u2019s Neuroscience program as it continues to develop?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA: I think outreach can have a positive impact for our Tech students and for the community. I envision outreach being something that our program is known for to provide our students an opportunity to engage with the public in a way that is fun and an application of what they have learned in their classes.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI think that what we offer students in the classroom is just a small portion of their education. I would love to foster relationships with other schools and youth organizations to make\u0026nbsp;neuroscience accessible to all.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EEach March, we join the Dana Foundation in celebrating Brain Awareness Week. \u201cI think it\u0027s important for the public to learn about the nervous system since it plays such a critical role in pretty much everything we do. Even when we are asleep or daydreaming, our brain is hard at work,\u201d shares Christina Ragan, biology lecturer and director of Outreach for Undergraduate Neuroscience at Tech. Learn about Ragan\u2019s work and approach to outreach \u2014 and drop by \u0022Through the Lenses of Your Senses\u0022 on March 19.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Learn about biology lecturer and director of Outreach for Undergraduate Neuroscience Christina Ragan\u2019s work and approach to outreach \u2014 and stop by \u0022Through the Lenses of Your Senses\u0022 on March 19."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2022-03-17 17:29:13","changed_gmt":"2023-03-28 19:26:49","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-03-17T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-03-17T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"656436":{"id":"656436","type":"image","title":"Christina Ragan challenging attendees with optical illusions at a previous Brain Awareness Day Neuroscience event held at Michigan State 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Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"42901","name":"Community"},{"id":"42911","name":"Education"},{"id":"133","name":"Special Events and Guest Speakers"},{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"188268","name":"Christina Ragan"},{"id":"1304","name":"neuroscience"},{"id":"2179","name":"outreach"},{"id":"190172","name":"Brain Awareness Day"},{"id":"190173","name":"Brain Awareness Week"},{"id":"66491","name":"Atlanta Science Festival"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter and Media Contact:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;Audra Davidson\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences at Georgia Tech\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\ndavidson.audra@gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEditor:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;Jess Hunt-Ralston\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nDirector of Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jess@cos.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejess@cos.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMore information about the Brain Awareness Day event:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/nano\/ATLScienceFestival\u0022\u003EScience \u0026amp; Engineering Day at GT\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["davidson.audra@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"662632":{"#nid":"662632","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Undergraduate Research at Georgia Tech: Psychology, Economics Team Up to Explore Spatial Navigation and Learning","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EChances are we all know someone who gets lost easily and often: people who move to a new city or walk into an office building and have no idea where to go \u2014 and even after several trips they continue to take wrong turns and spend time searching. Others, however, seem to have a built-in GPS, finding their way and instinctively discovering shortcuts. What could account for these individual differences?\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA recent paper by an interdisciplinary team of authors from the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Psychology\u003C\/a\u003E and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/econ.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Economics\u003C\/a\u003E at \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech\u003C\/a\u003E discovered that through psychology and neuroscience, good navigators often use a bird\u2019s eye view perspective to organize and remember different places in the environment and have a map-like representation of the environment in their mind. Bad navigators on the other hand, often use a route-based, or turn-by-turn, strategy to learn the environment, making their representation of the environment much less configural.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EReinforcement learning\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201c\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-022-18245-1#auth-Lou-Eschapasse\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA comparison of reinforcement learning models of human spatial navigation\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E,\u201d recently published in \u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/srep\/\u0022\u003ENature Scientific Reports\u003C\/a\u003E,\u003C\/em\u003E explores reinforcement learning (RL), a popular type of machine learning algorithm which the famous \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.deepmind.com\/research\/highlighted-research\/alphago\u0022\u003EAlphaGo\u003C\/a\u003E is built on, to further investigate these individual differences in spatial navigation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAcademic Professional and first author \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/qiliang-he\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQiliang He\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E \u003C\/strong\u003Eexplained, \u201cWhat RL can offer \u2014 whereas other traditional measurements can\u2019t \u2014 is that RL can quantify how much a navigator relies on their \u2018map-like\u2019 representation and how much they rely on their \u2018turn-by-turn\u2019 knowledge to go from Point A to Point B. It\u2019s a number between 0 to 1, with 0 indicating complete reliance on turn-by-turn knowledge and 1 indicating complete reliance on map-like knowledge.\u201d He added that the study combines psychology and computer science\/data science.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe critical thing which RL brings to the table for human navigation research is it helps us interpret how \u2018adaptive\u2019 a person\u2019s strategy is,\u201d noted Assistant Professor of Psychology \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/thackery-i-brown\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThackery Brown\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cFor example, sometimes navigating a well-learned route is just as efficient as any other path we might come up with to reach a goal \u2014 in this case, the person navigating that route isn\u2019t necessarily a bad navigator, but may actually be allocating their brain\u2019s resources in the most efficient way.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBrown added that in the study, RL was used to characterize how someone\u2019s current navigational choices relate to 1, the quickest option to reach a goal and 2, how this option seems to build on their past experiences. \u201cWe can get a much richer understanding of why a navigator chooses the path that they do and how efficient it is in terms of their current understanding of the environment.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EUndergraduate researchers \u2014 and co-authors\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe paper is unique in that it combines an interdisciplinary group of authors, and that co-authors include two undergraduate students. In addition to Brown and He, co-authors of the paper included undergraduates \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/lou-eschapasse-bb60721a9\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELou Eschapasse\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, who is studying \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuroscience.cos.gatech.edu\/home\u0022\u003ENeuroscience\u003C\/a\u003E in the College of Sciences with a concentration in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/\u0022\u003EBiomedical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E in College of Engineering; and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuroscience.cos.gatech.edu\/home\u0022\u003ENeuroscience major\u003C\/a\u003E \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/elizabeth-beveridge\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EElizabeth H. Beveridge\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E. The team also included then-graduate student \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jancy-ling-liu-2018416a\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJancy Ling Liu\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, formerly mentored by Brown, who is now with the Georgia Tech School of Economics Ph.D. program.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201c[The] two undergraduate students contributed significantly to the research, earning authorship in the paper,\u201d said \u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/tansu-celikel-chair\u0022\u003ETansu Celikel\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E, professor and chair of the School of Psychology. \u201cThis is a great example of the research ecosystem available to undergraduates at Tech.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIn our lab, we place great responsibility on the Georgia Tech undergrads who work with us, and they flourish under this real sense of ownership of the studies which we conduct,\u201d said Brown. \u201cIn my time as a professor we have had many majors from across the breadth of programs at GT \u2014 and Elizabeth and Lou are perfect examples of how brilliant, motivated, and well-trained our students are in neuroscience, psychology, and the related disciplines.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe undergraduate research assistants provided very helpful suggestions during the conceptualization stage of the project,\u201d said He. \u201c[They] collected most of the data, and participated in the writing and revision of this paper.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EElizabeth Beveridge, one of the undergraduate research assistants, has published three papers with Brown and He, won the\u003Cstrong\u003E \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/undergradresearch.gatech.edu\/content\/presidents-undergraduate-research-awards\u0022\u003EPURA\u003C\/a\u003E (President\u0027s Undergraduate Research Award) twice, and has her thesis under invited revision in a prestigious psychology journal. Beveridge\u0027s fellow undergraduate research assistant, Lou Eschapasse, has published two papers, and has finished a follow-up study on neuroimaging.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI think these are both great examples of the research ecosystem available to undergraduates at GT, even during the time when we couldn\u2019t meet face to face,\u201d said He.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI always knew I wanted to get involved in research, so I reached out to Professor Brown during my fall semester of freshman year. As a neuroscience major, I have always been interested in memory and how we use those past experiences to make decisions,\u201d Beveridge shared. \u201cI feel so lucky to be named as a co-author, and I am extremely appreciative of Professor Brown and Qiliang He. They have been amazing mentors and taught me so much about research throughout college.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EGood navigators\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe team\u0027s study was conducted between February 2020 and September 2020, at the time COVID was first reported in the United States. \u201cWe discussed this project via an online meeting platform during the pandemic and we deployed this project into apps that could work on participants\u2019 Windows and Mac computers,\u201d He said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBesides using an objective way to quantify navigation strategy, He explained that they were also interested in how consistently people were using their \u2018default\u2019 strategy. \u201cWe hypothesize that good navigators not only use map-like strategy more often, but also adaptively change their strategy according to the environmental characteristics. We reason that the changing navigation strategy can be good but also cognitive demanding (i.e., using more cognitive resources, or to think harder).\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHe explained that they predict that in a stable, predictable environment, good navigators tend to stick to one strategy to preserve cognitive resources. In an unpredictable environment, good navigators tend to vary their navigation strategy more often to meet the navigational needs at the expense of cognitive resources. \u201cThe consistency of using a specific navigation strategy can also be estimated by the RL model,\u201d He added.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cNavigating is computationally very challenging for the brain (the stimuli, goals, and relevance of our prior knowledge to the choices we need to make are constantly shifting),\u201d noted Brown. \u201cAnd it might be tempting to assume certain navigational strategies are inherently better than others. But following a well-worn route can free up resources for us to hold conversations, plan our next tasks, or monitor for dangers in our environment.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe findings are important, because they show most peoples\u2019 navigation reflects a hybrid of different ways we learn from our past successes and failures (different RL models), and a person\u2019s unique mixture of more turn-by-turn and map-like learning helps define individual differences in how well they do under different types of navigational demands, Brown added.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe insights from the study could inform interventions to teach people to be better at navigating challenging situations and can even inform efforts in computer science and robotics to develop artificial agents which can learn to solve navigational problems in the ways people do.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECitation:\u003C\/strong\u003E He, Q., Liu, J.L., Eschapasse, L.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003Eet al.\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;A comparison of reinforcement learning models of human spatial navigation.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003ESci Rep\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;12, 13923 (2022). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41598-022-18245-1\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout Georgia Tech\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech, is a top 10 public research university developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute offers business, computing, design, engineering, liberal arts, and sciences degrees. Its nearly 44,000 students representing 50 states and 149 countries, study at the main campus in Atlanta, at campuses in France and China, and through distance and online learning. As a leading technological university, Georgia Tech is an engine of economic development for Georgia, the Southeast, and the nation, conducting more than $1 billion in research annually for government, industry, and society.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA recent paper from the School of Psychology and the School of Economics has found that good navigators often use a bird\u2019s eye view perspective to organize and remember different places in the environment and have a map-like representation of the environment in their mind.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Study shows good navigators often use a bird\u2019s eye view perspective to organize and remember different places in the environment and have a map-like representation of the environment in their mind.  "}],"uid":"34528","created_gmt":"2022-10-27 13:42:07","changed_gmt":"2023-03-28 14:38:02","author":"jhunt7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-10-27T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-10-27T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"662644":{"id":"662644","type":"image","title":"From left: Elizabeth H. Beveridge, Lou Eschapasse, Jancy Ling Liu","body":null,"created":"1666884448","gmt_created":"2022-10-27 15:27:28","changed":"1680014254","gmt_changed":"2023-03-28 14:37:34","alt":"","file":{"fid":"250917","name":"researchpsych.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/researchpsych.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/researchpsych.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":603846,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/researchpsych.jpg?itok=DSA8vE2n"}},"623600":{"id":"623600","type":"image","title":"Thackery Brown and Qiliang He","body":null,"created":"1563820172","gmt_created":"2019-07-22 18:29:32","changed":"1563820172","gmt_changed":"2019-07-22 18:29:32","alt":"","file":{"fid":"237508","name":"Thackery Brown and Qiliang He.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Thackery%20Brown%20and%20Qiliang%20He.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Thackery%20Brown%20and%20Qiliang%20He.png","mime":"image\/png","size":1397167,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Thackery%20Brown%20and%20Qiliang%20He.png?itok=QPOTELfk"}},"662331":{"id":"662331","type":"image","title":"Brain Graphic","body":null,"created":"1666201093","gmt_created":"2022-10-19 17:38:13","changed":"1666201093","gmt_changed":"2022-10-19 17:38:13","alt":"","file":{"fid":"250839","name":"Brain_Dana Neuroscience.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Brain_Dana%20Neuroscience.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Brain_Dana%20Neuroscience.png","mime":"image\/png","size":1177104,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Brain_Dana%20Neuroscience.png?itok=equyxK0B"}}},"media_ids":["662644","623600","662331"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/thackery-brown-probes-black-box-problems-cognitive-neuroscience","title":"Thackery Brown Probes the \u2018Black Box Problems\u2019 in Cognitive Neuroscience"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/virtual-reality-helps-reveal-honeycomb-grids-human-brain-navigation","title":"Virtual Reality Helps Reveal Honeycomb Grids in Human Brain for Navigation"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"192259","name":"cos-students"},{"id":"167710","name":"School of Psychology"},{"id":"167037","name":"school of economics"},{"id":"249","name":"Biomedical Engineering"},{"id":"594","name":"college of engineering"},{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1304","name":"neuroscience"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"1051","name":"Computer Science"},{"id":"92811","name":"data science"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39431","name":"Data Engineering and Science"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"},{"id":"39541","name":"Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nLaurie E. Smith, College of Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEditor and Contact:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jess@cos.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJess Hunt-Ralston\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nDirector of Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences at Georgia Tech\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jess@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"662383":{"#nid":"662383","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, National Academies Select Cassie Mitchell for Science Diversity Leadership Program","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThroughout her engineering education and research career,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Cassie-S.-Mitchell\u0022\u003ECassie Mitchell\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;hasn\u0026rsquo;t seen many role models who look like her.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMitchell developed a neurological condition at 18 that has resulted in quadriplegia, and she rarely has encountered other professionals in STEM fields with similar disabilities. That\u0026rsquo;s made it imperative to her to be the role model she didn\u0026rsquo;t have.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;As a disabled professor, I want students from diverse backgrounds and disabilities to feel empowered and included,\u0026rdquo; Mitchell said, \u0026ldquo;and to know they have professors who can relate to them.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University has made a point to involve students from all kinds of backgrounds and with all kinds of abilities in her lab \u0026mdash; from high school interns to Ph.D. students.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EShe\u0026rsquo;ll get to build on those efforts as one of the first awardees under an initiative from the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chanzuckerberg.com\/\u0022\u003EChan Zuckerberg Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nationalacademies.org\/\u0022\u003ENational Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;to recognize and support excellent early career biomedical researchers who have a record of promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. The\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/czi-sciencediversityleadership.nas.edu\/\u0022\u003EScience Diversity Leadership award program\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;includes $1.15 million in grant funding over five years.\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chanzuckerberg.com\/science\/programs-resources\/science-diversity-leadership-awards\/\u0022\u003EThe organizations announced the initial round of recipients Oct. 19.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;To increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in the biomedical sciences, we must do everything possible to attract, retain, and nurture top talent at our colleges and universities,\u0026rdquo; National Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt said\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chanzuckerberg.com\/newsroom\/chan-zuckerberg-initiative-and-national-academies-of-sciences-engineering-and-medicine-launch-science-diversity-leadership-program-to-recognize-and-further-accomplishments-of-outstanding-science-fac\/\u0022\u003Eearlier this year when the initiative was launched\u003C\/a\u003E. \u0026ldquo;We are pleased to partner with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative on this effort, which will recognize and encourage faculty who make mentorship and stewardship a top priority in their academic programs.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMitchell will use the funding to support her lab\u0026rsquo;s efforts to develop large-scale biomedical data integration and machine learning methods to identify features that explain health disparities or improve disparities in health outcomes.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The Science Diversity Leaders program will enable us to focus on data integration and machine learning technology specifically aimed at predictive medicine for rare diseases and diseases where there are known health outcome disparities. Such rare diseases and underrepresented populations are often under-funded through traditional programs in academia or industry,\u0026rdquo; Mitchell said. \u0026ldquo;The program also will expand my ability to mentor even more underrepresented students in our large predictive medicine research internship program.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sites.gatech.edu\/cassie-mitchell-lab\/\u0022\u003EMitchell\u0026rsquo;s lab\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;is indeed large: She estimated she has mentored and advised more than 160 students in the last five years, including a significant number of minority students and students with disabilities.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to undergraduate researchers, she has an active internship program for high schoolers from historically underrepresented backgrounds that will get a boost from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative grant. And all of those students get the benefit of Mitchell\u0026rsquo;s guidance as well as the Ph.D. students she advises, she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;You may have heard the saying, \u0026lsquo;It takes a village to raise a child.\u0026rsquo; I believe scientific mentoring is the same,\u0026rdquo; Mitchell said. \u0026ldquo;I strongly believe in individual mentoring meetings between the principal investigator and the student. However, I also believe it is crucial that students have peer mentors within the lab, research teams within the lab with structured student leadership, as well as external professional development through scientific meetings and specialized programs.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Students and early stage investigators need an entire network of supportive mentors who have a diverse set of experiences, viewpoints, and ideas.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAlong with their leadership on efforts to diversify the pipeline of future scientists, award winners have made significant research contributions to the biomedical sciences and show promise for continuing scientific achievement.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Cassie Mitchell is one of the first awardees under an initiative from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine."}],"uid":"35403","created_gmt":"2022-10-20 18:23:45","changed_gmt":"2022-10-20 18:23:45","author":"Carly Ralston","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-10-20T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-10-20T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"662382":{"id":"662382","type":"image","title":"Cassie Mitchell and Ph.D. Students ","body":null,"created":"1666290087","gmt_created":"2022-10-20 18:21:27","changed":"1666290087","gmt_changed":"2022-10-20 18:21:27","alt":"","file":{"fid":"250844","name":"Mitchell-Lab-2022-3x2.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Mitchell-Lab-2022-3x2.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Mitchell-Lab-2022-3x2.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":123563,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Mitchell-Lab-2022-3x2.jpeg?itok=OwBVVxEM"}}},"media_ids":["662382"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"662309":{"#nid":"662309","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Jeffrey Markowitz Wins Packard Fellowship to Follow His Ideas Wherever They Lead","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIt was like one of those old hidden-camera TV shows \u0026mdash;\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003ECandid Camera\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;or, for a younger crowd, a much kinder and gentler version of\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EPunk\u0026rsquo;d\u003C\/em\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Jeffrey-Markowitz\u0022\u003EJeffrey Markowitz\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;thought he was scheduled for an ordinary Zoom meeting with Machelle Pardue, associate chair for faculty development in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. Running a little late, he hopped on the call and there was the smiling face of Coulter BME Chair Alyssa Panitch on the screen along with Pardue.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThen, suddenly a mystery guest appeared on the call \u0026nbsp;a representative from the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.packard.org\/\u0022\u003EDavid and Lucile Packard Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;broke into the meeting, delivering the good news that Markowitz had won a 2022 Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering \u0026ndash; and to capture his reaction for their Twitter feed.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I immediately covered my face and was like, \u0026lsquo;what?\u0026rsquo; This was a such great surprise,\u0026rdquo; Markowitz said. \u0026ldquo;When you apply for something like this, you try to put it out of your head, because you never expect to get it.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Packard Fellowships are among the most prestigious grants for young faculty members, awarded to some of the most innovative early career scientists in the nation. Markowitz gets $875,000 funding over five years \u0026mdash; and the freedom to take risks and explore new frontiers in his research.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It means that we can back away a little from the grind of grant applications and just focus on doing cool science,\u0026rdquo; Markowitz said. And he has some big ideas in mind.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The question we\u0026rsquo;re interested in is, how does your brain control everything you do? Every second \u0026mdash; really, much faster than that \u0026mdash; your brain is making decisions about what to do with your body,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;We know this process isn\u0026rsquo;t easy, because when it fails the consequences are severe \u0026mdash;\u0026nbsp;as in Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s or Huntington\u0026rsquo;s diseases. We\u0026rsquo;re really excited to have the opportunity to study this process, and to use the understanding we gain to push the envelope in treating neurodegenerative disease.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cblockquote\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026quot;Every second \u0026mdash; really, much faster than that \u0026mdash; your brain is making decisions about what to do with your body.\u0026nbsp;We know this process isn\u0026rsquo;t easy, because when it fails the consequences are severe \u0026mdash;\u0026nbsp;as in Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s or Huntington\u0026rsquo;s diseases. We\u0026rsquo;re really excited to have the opportunity to study this process, and to use the understanding we gain to push the envelope in treating neurodegenerative disease.\u0026quot;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ndash; Jeffrey Markowitz\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003ETaking Flight\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMarkowitz wants to study this elemental process, and he\u0026#39;s using the mouse model. But his interest in the brain began on what he called \u0026ldquo;the abstract side. In graduate school, I was basically doing applied mathematics \u0026mdash; building models of the brain mathematically, on a computer.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAfter Markowitz\u0026#39;s computational work with researcher Stephen Grossberg, he was drawn into the lab of Tim Gardner at Boston University (now at University of Oregon). Gardner got Markowitz interested in experimental work with the zebra finch, a songbird.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We asked a biological question: How does a songbird sing? So we built electrode arrays specifically to record neurons in the zebra finch,\u0026rdquo; Markowitz said. \u0026ldquo;The arrays had to be really stable, because birds fly. This gave me the bug for balancing aspects of engineering methods with biology, and I\u0026rsquo;ve been hooked ever since.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAs a postdoctoral researcher, he switched from birds to mice, answering biological questions using machine learning. The work helped Markowitz \u0026ldquo;see the power of not just building the device to collect the data, but also building the algorithm to make sense of the data. Those three things \u0026mdash; biology, machine learning, and device engineering \u0026mdash; when you mash them together it sounds a lot like neuroengineering.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003ECapturing the Moment\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen Markowitz was applying for faculty positions, he found a strong presence of all three things at Coulter BME and Georgia Tech where, he said, he could work next door to an expert in optics and another expert in gene sequencing, with a culture of youthful energy in the broad computational neuroscience space that he works in.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EToday, his primary research approach is to use 3D motion capture of a mouse as it freely explores a large arena. This requires using a variety of techniques to simultaneously record what the neurons are doing while the animal is moving, with the ability to then dial in specific changes to their brain activity.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;For example, let\u0026rsquo;s say we\u0026rsquo;re recording, and we see that cells one, two, and three seem really engaged when the mouse is rearing up and sniffing the wind,\u0026rdquo; Markowitz said. \u0026ldquo;If we want to know which one is actually important, we go in and ping those cells in very specific patterns while the animal is doing what it does naturally.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBasically, Markowitz is trying to read and then write neural activity in freely moving animals. As a postdoc, he helped develop a software tool called MoSeq (for motion sequencing), designed to quantify 3D video of freely behaving mice and uncover the organization of mouse behavior.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;MoSeq is like gene sequencing, but for behavior,\u0026rdquo; Markowitz said. \u0026ldquo;It takes in all of this data and basically allows us to relate neural activity to free behavior. Now what I want to be able to do is build new systems that let us figure out how the brain controls everything an animal does behaviorally, in real time. The exciting part is, that the technologies we build to understand motion will also help us improve motion in patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Markowitz gets $875,000 funding over five years \u2014 and the freedom to take risks and explore new frontiers in his research. "}],"uid":"35403","created_gmt":"2022-10-19 14:30:59","changed_gmt":"2022-10-19 14:30:59","author":"Carly Ralston","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-10-18T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-10-18T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"657483":{"id":"657483","type":"image","title":"Jeffrey Markowitz (vertical)","body":null,"created":"1650557460","gmt_created":"2022-04-21 16:11:00","changed":"1650557460","gmt_changed":"2022-04-21 16:11:00","alt":"Jeffrey Markowitz headshot","file":{"fid":"249197","name":"Markowitz-Jeffrey-v.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Markowitz-Jeffrey-v.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Markowitz-Jeffrey-v.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":346309,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Markowitz-Jeffrey-v.jpg?itok=dbPFu3CZ"}}},"media_ids":["657483"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"661303":{"#nid":"661303","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Eva Dyer Using NSF CAREER Award to Make Neuron-Behavior Connection","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Eva-Dyer\u0022\u003EEva Dyer\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;wants to know what is happening in her brain when she plucks the strings and hears the resonance of the hollow-bodied instrument in her hands, or what happens when she reaches for a cup of coffee on the table and blows on the hot liquid before tasting it.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESo many things occur in those few seconds \u0026mdash; perception, actions based on countless subconscious experiences, sensations \u0026mdash; and all are orchestrated through the coordinated activity of hundreds of thousands of neurons.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDyer, a computational neuroscientist, wants to understand that symphony of neural activity. And the National Science Foundation (NSF) is helping her with a\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/awardsearch\/showAward?AWD_ID=2146072\u0026amp;HistoricalAwards=false\u0022\u003EFaculty Early Career Development Award \u0026ndash; or CAREER award\u003C\/a\u003E. The NSF\u0026rsquo;s most prestigious award for young researchers, the five-year grant helps establish a foundation for a lifetime of integrated work in research and education.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This is a great surprise and really exciting for my lab. On a personal level, the CAREER is a great reflection on the work we\u0026rsquo;ve been doing monitoring large populations of neurons in different regions of the brain,\u0026rdquo; said Dyer, assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAs principal investigator of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/dyerlab.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ENeural Data Science Lab (or NerDS Lab),\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;Dyer\u0026rsquo;s work has blurred the line between machine learning and neuroscience. Her lab has been at the forefront of advances in neural recording and gathering data. She wants to use the CAREER award to address the next challenge.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;With all these massive datasets we now have, it\u0026rsquo;s time for us to mine it \u0026mdash; to make sense of it all,\u0026rdquo; Dyer said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHer CAREER project, funded with $500,000 over the next five years, will focus will be on developing new machine learning methods to map what is happening between the neural activity that we never see and the complex behaviors that we seem to perform with ease. Like drinking a cup of coffee.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We can use these new approaches to better understand neural computation, or compare neural activity between individuals,\u0026rdquo; Dyer said. \u0026ldquo;Then we can create dynamic models that accurately capture the changing nature of the brain over time as a result of aging or disease.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDyer\u0026rsquo;s CAREER Award is the latest in a flurry of impressive honors and awards that have come her way in recent years.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EShe was one of three researchers in the U.S. to receive a\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/news\/eva-dyer-wins-mcknight-technology-award\u0022\u003EMcKnight Technological Innovations\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;in Neuroscience Award in 2020. Then her lab won its first National Institutes of Health R01 grant, in the form of a\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/news\/making-sense-brain\u0022\u003EBRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) Award.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAlso, as part of a growing community of researchers at\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/computational-neuroscience-digging-deep-georgia-tech\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech working in computational neuroscience,\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;Dyer is a sought-after collaborator. She recently became co-principal investigator of another NSF-supported project kicking off in October that includes principal investigator Vidya Muthakumar,\u0026nbsp;assistant professor in Tech\u0026rsquo;s Schools of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Industrial and Systems Engineering, and\u0026nbsp;other researchers from Georgia Tech and the University of Maryland.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELike much of Dyer\u0026#39;s work, including the CAREER project (which also kicks off in October), the work will involve the development of ew machine learning tools, innovations, she said, \u0026quot;that lie at the heart of a lot of our recent innovations in decoding brain states.\u0026quot;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Eva Dyer wants to use her NSF CAREER award to address the next challenge."}],"uid":"35403","created_gmt":"2022-09-20 14:45:36","changed_gmt":"2022-09-20 14:45:36","author":"Carly Ralston","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-09-20T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-09-20T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"661302":{"id":"661302","type":"image","title":"Eva Dyer","body":null,"created":"1663685010","gmt_created":"2022-09-20 14:43:30","changed":"1663685010","gmt_changed":"2022-09-20 14:43:30","alt":"","file":{"fid":"250505","name":"Eva Hero image_0.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Eva%20Hero%20image_0.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Eva%20Hero%20image_0.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":101415,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Eva%20Hero%20image_0.jpeg?itok=0jjJzkj0"}}},"media_ids":["661302"],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"660379":{"#nid":"660379","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Ballet and the Neuroethics Grand Challenge at Georgia Tech Arts","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EOn September 9, 2022, witness the world premiere of a ballet made in creative collaboration between a renowned choreographer, esteemed research scientists, and celebrated artists when Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre performs \u003Cem\u003EStep the Brain Along a Path\u003C\/em\u003E at Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s Ferst Center for the Arts.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAn innovative exploration of technological interventions into the human brain.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn what Georgia Tech Arts and Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre (TMBT) have dubbed the \u0026ldquo;Neuroethics Grand Challenge,\u0026rdquo; the two companies along with acclaimed choreographer Troy Schumacher and internationally revered new media artist Sergio Mora-Diaz explore neuroscience and the ethics of intervention with AI and other technologies.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOur brain is the path to human experience. Interacting with the adaptive brain has the potential to challenge our self-understanding, arguably more than any other scientific discipline. John Welker, TMBT\u0026rsquo;s artistic director, says \u0026ldquo;In any collaboration, there are surprises that are part of my joy for discovery, but this particular process has made me so much more aware and appreciative of the intimate connection between our minds\u0026#39; intention and how that is carried out through the movement of our bodies.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe artists\u0026rsquo; collaborative partnership extends to a team of researchers led by Christopher Rozell, professor in the School of Electrical \u0026amp; Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Karen Rommelfanger, president and founder of the Institute of Neuroethics Think and Do Tank. Other faculty who engaged with the artists by discussing their research include: Chethan Pandarinath, assistant professor, Annabelle Singer, assistant professor, Garrett Stanley, professor, and Lena Ting, professor, in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University; and Doby Rahnev, associate professor in the School of Psychology at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERozell, who has been with the project since its inception, states:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Science and technology research is pushing us to the boundaries of what we know about the human brain, and that forces us to wrestle with ideas that are insufficiently described by our current language. The arts can help us process this emerging understanding in new ways that go beyond language and can do it by creating something beautiful that we can celebrate as a uniquely human experience. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t be prouder of the way that this project has fulfilled the potential of integrating science and the arts.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECreativity plays an important role at Georgia Tech\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe premiere of \u003Cem\u003EStep the Brain Along a Path\u003C\/em\u003E comes as the final phase of a three-year project that included two work-in-progress showings in 2021 presented by Georgia Tech Arts. Adding to the opportunities for outreach and engagement will be a video installation in the Ferst Center lobby displayed in tandem with the performances of the ballet, offering insight into neuroscience at Georgia Tech. For this installation Georgia Tech Arts connected Atlanta-based creative artist Kimberly Binns with a Georgia Tech team led by Rozell with graduate student lead Abby Paulson, BMED, Kyle Johnsen, BMED, and GT alumnus Timothy Min, M.S. Music Technology 2022.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We had no idea what would happen when we brought together these scientists and artists,\u0026rdquo; says Aaron Shackelford, the director of Georgia Tech Arts. \u0026ldquo;What we did know was innovation happens in these creative spaces where arts intersect with research. Throughout this three-year journey we have had the opportunity to see artists, faculty, and graduate students learn from each other and inspire each other, and been able to invite our campus and community to join in this process. The arts provide these unique experiences, these encounters that nurture new ideas and new ways to understand cutting edge research and the human condition. This is why the arts play such a critical role at Georgia Tech, and why this project embodies the possibilities for arts and research across our campus.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EStep the Brain Along a Path\u003C\/em\u003E was commissioned in part with support from the Charles Loridans Foundation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E8:00 p.m., Friday, September 9, 2022\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E3:00 p.m., Sunday, September 11, 2022\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EGeorgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s Ferst Center for the Arts - 349 Ferst Dr NW, Atlanta, GA, 30332\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003ETicket Price: $5 GT students, $10.00 public; general admission\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EDirect Purchase Link: \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/artsgatech.universitytickets.com\/w\/event.aspx?id=2244\u0026amp;r=89dfe701284f4fd49bc8fbb73ca99c25\u0022\u003Eartsgatech.universitytickets.com\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EBox Office Contact Information: 404.894.9600, \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:tickets@arts.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Etickets@arts.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDesign image (c) Sergio Mora Diaz\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDancer photo Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre (c) Felipe Barral\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"An innovative exploration of technological interventions into the human brain"}],"uid":"35403","created_gmt":"2022-08-22 17:22:34","changed_gmt":"2022-08-22 17:22:57","author":"Carly Ralston","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-08-22T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-08-22T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"660370":{"id":"660370","type":"image","title":"Step the Brain Along a Path design by Sergio Mora Diaz","body":null,"created":"1661183059","gmt_created":"2022-08-22 15:44:19","changed":"1661183059","gmt_changed":"2022-08-22 15:44:19","alt":"Against an inky black background, white lines and shapes bring to mind images of neural pathways.","file":{"fid":"250250","name":"TMBTST~1.JPG","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/TMBTST~1.JPG","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/TMBTST~1.JPG","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":298145,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/TMBTST~1.JPG?itok=KT4B6AnB"}},"659035":{"id":"659035","type":"image","title":"Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre: STEP THE BRAIN ALONG A PATH","body":null,"created":"1655934125","gmt_created":"2022-06-22 21:42:05","changed":"1655934149","gmt_changed":"2022-06-22 21:42:29","alt":"A woman wearing beige shorts and tank top stands alone in the spotlight, her left arm raised above her head as she looks towards her palm. Above her looms an amorphous blue projection. ","file":{"fid":"249813","name":"TMBT website show.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/TMBT%20website%20show.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/TMBT%20website%20show.png","mime":"image\/png","size":107087,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/TMBT%20website%20show.png?itok=Ak_9lj2P"}}},"media_ids":["660370","659035"],"groups":[],"categories":[{"id":"42891","name":"Georgia Tech Arts"}],"keywords":[{"id":"6780","name":"ballet"},{"id":"4251","name":"dance"},{"id":"191119","name":"neuroethics"},{"id":"1304","name":"neuroscience"},{"id":"249","name":"Biomedical Engineering"},{"id":"107031","name":"College of Engineering; School of Electrical and Computer Engineering"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EElizabeth Geiger, Communications Officer, SEWB\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["elizabeth.geiger@arts.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"660160":{"#nid":"660160","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Serpooshan Lab Creates New 3D-Printed Tool to Study Deadly Pediatric Neuroblastoma","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENeuroblastoma is a terrifying word for parents of young kids. This solid tumor cancer develops in the nerve tissue, primarily affects infants, and typically comes with a grim prognosis.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;There is a very high morbidity and mortality rate for these babies,\u0026rdquo; said researcher\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Vahid-Serpooshan\u0022\u003EVahid Serpooshan\u003C\/a\u003E, an assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, whose lab develops tissue engineering technologies to study and better understand pediatric cancers.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDespite advances in treatment, neuroblastoma still accounts for about 15% of all pediatric oncology deaths. And more than half of those patients who do respond eventually relapse.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Even with advanced treatments that have been successful, like chemo-immunotherapies, some of these babies will respond, and some won\u0026rsquo;t respond at all,\u0026rdquo; Serpooshan said. \u0026ldquo;We don\u0026rsquo;t really know exactly what is going on, and that is a huge dilemma. Part of the problem is, pediatric cancer in general has not been intensively studied as a specific and distinct disease. The challenge is, we need to develop better research tools.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWith that in mind, Serpooshan\u0026rsquo;s lab has collaborated with Emory pediatric oncologist Kelly Goldsmith to create a new 3D printed, dynamic model of pediatric neuroblastoma tumors that could lead to improved, personalized treatments for young patients.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EEnvironmental Impact\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESerpooshan and his team are focused on the neuroblastoma tumor microenvironment and its influence on tumor behavior and the tumor\u0026#39;s response to therapy. These interactions play significant roles in cancer progression, metastasis, and response to therapies.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;In recent years, this has become an area of great research interest, but there is a lack of reliable and biomimetic experimental models,\u0026rdquo; said Serpooshan, whose team\u0026rsquo;s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/advs.202200244\u0022\u003Erecent study in the journal\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EAdvanced Science\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;details their work\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;in developing an in vitro model of neuroblastoma using a relatively new technology called 3D bioprinting.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EInstead of utilizing metals and plastics to create a device or model, as in traditional 3D printing, the bioprinting technique uses materials like cells and hydrogels to create functional 3D tissues. These materials, called bioink, mimic the composition of human tissues.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESerpooshan\u0026rsquo;s lab has been a pioneer in using bioprinting in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications, which is the group\u0026rsquo;s primary focus. For this project, the researchers applied a hydrogel called gelMA as the bioink.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThen human-derived neuroblastoma spheroids (3D cell cultures that mimic tissues and microtumors) and human vascular endothelial cells (the cells lining blood vessels) were incorporated into the bioprinted gelMA to create a working model of the neuroblastoma tumor microenvironment.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003ESuccessful Test Run\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers manufactured their model and studied the processes of cancer under static and dynamic conditions \u0026mdash; static, when nothing is really moving through the system, is the approach most often used in drug screening with in vitro applications, \u0026ldquo;which is a big limitation,\u0026rdquo; Serpooshan said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETo track the tumor under more realistic, or dynamic, conditions, researchers used a bioreactor to simulate blood flow through the vasculature. Their analysis of the tumor environment under these conditions offered the most effective representation of what goes on between tumor cells and the vasculature, demonstrating in three dimensions how aggressively a tumor can grow, and how it may or may not respond to drugs.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This is just a first step, but we\u0026rsquo;re very excited for having developed such a robust platform that can be adapted for a lot of future research applications,\u0026rdquo; Serpooshan said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThey\u0026rsquo;re starting with neuroblastoma, because Goldsmith\u0026rsquo;s lab has access to neuroblastoma cells from a variety of different patients and sources that now can be studied in a new way.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Some of these patients already have shown resistance to chemo-immunotherapy,\u0026rdquo; Serpooshan said. \u0026ldquo;So we can take advantage of this clinical data and create different models, drill down to the basic cellular and molecular mechanisms at play, and potentially come up with scenarios and strategies to help those patients who are resisting the drugs. Now we can move forward and ask more meaningful and clinically relevant questions.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=QfPCQ36IiMM\u0026amp;t=2s\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EVideo of 3D Bioprinting in action\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Serpooshan Lab Creates New 3D-Printed Tool to Study Deadly Pediatric Neuroblastoma"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2022-08-15 17:29:06","changed_gmt":"2022-08-15 19:13:02","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-08-15T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-08-15T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"660158":{"id":"660158","type":"image","title":"Journal cover","body":null,"created":"1660584110","gmt_created":"2022-08-15 17:21:50","changed":"1660584110","gmt_changed":"2022-08-15 17:21:50","alt":"","file":{"fid":"250194","name":"VS_biogel-cover-svbg_v004.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/VS_biogel-cover-svbg_v004.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/VS_biogel-cover-svbg_v004.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":973944,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/VS_biogel-cover-svbg_v004.jpg?itok=0zxFINZw"}},"660157":{"id":"660157","type":"image","title":"Vahid Serpooshan","body":null,"created":"1660584037","gmt_created":"2022-08-15 17:20:37","changed":"1660584037","gmt_changed":"2022-08-15 17:20:37","alt":"","file":{"fid":"250193","name":"DSC_7044.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/DSC_7044.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/DSC_7044.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3002999,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/DSC_7044.jpg?itok=nkRRVlV3"}}},"media_ids":["660158","660157"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"3024","name":"biomaterials"},{"id":"185067","name":"3D Bioprinting"},{"id":"191056","name":"bioprinting"},{"id":"191057","name":"pediatric cancer"},{"id":"12215","name":"Neuroblastoma"},{"id":"249","name":"Biomedical Engineering"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"659065":{"#nid":"659065","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Researchers Aim to Stop Chemo Neuro Damage Before it Starts","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAbout half of the cancer patients who receive chemotherapy are treated with drugs made from platinum-based compounds, or PBCs. That\u0026rsquo;s because these drugs have demonstrated real success in improving cancer survival rates.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHowever, there\u0026rsquo;s a downside \u0026ndash; off-target side effects, neurotoxicity being among the more prevalent and significant. Pain, fatigue, weakness, strange sensations, and difficulty with balance are the common symptoms known collectively as chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, or CIN. For many clinicians, this has been a fair trade-off\u0026nbsp; \u0026ndash; powerful, toxic cancer drugs save lives, but kill neurons. It\u0026rsquo;s the price of survival.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech postdoctoral researcher \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/profile\/Stephen-Housley\u0022\u003EStephen Housley\u003C\/a\u003E isn\u0026rsquo;t buying it.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The basic position has been, \u0026lsquo;we cured your cancer, but you have neurotoxin damage, so let\u0026rsquo;s manage those symptoms.\u0026rsquo; Because when neurons becomes dysfunctional, it is challenging to correct it,\u0026rdquo; said Housley, a neuroscientist, physiologist, and licensed physical therapist who works with \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Timothy-Cope\u0022\u003ETim Cope\u003C\/a\u003E, professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/\u0022\u003EWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E at Georgia Tech and Emory University, and with cancer researcher \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/john-mcdonald\u0022\u003EJohn McDonald\u003C\/a\u003E, professor in the School of Biological Sciences.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBut what if the nerve cells didn\u0026rsquo;t have to become dysfunctional? What if you could stop the damage\u0026nbsp;before it even begins? Housley and his colleagues aim to find out with help from a new \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cancer.gov\/\u0022\u003ENIH National Cancer Institute\u003C\/a\u003E R01 grant, \u0026ldquo;which will help us really drill down into some of the mechanisms of neurotoxicity experienced by cancer survivors globally,\u0026rdquo; said Housley, who is leading the research effort.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECope, principal investigator on the $2.5 million grant, added, \u0026ldquo;building on our recent discoveries, we\u0026rsquo;re taking a new direction that has the promising potential to identify novel targets for treating neurotoxic damage to the neurons that are responsible for movement disorders.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe grant will support a growing area of research for Cope\u0026rsquo;s team, which published a paper on its\u0026nbsp;discoveries earlier this year. Housley was the lead author of\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.pnas.org\/content\/118\/51\/e2100428118\u0022\u003E\u0026ldquo;Neural circuit mechanisms of sensorimotor disability in cancer treatment\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/a\u003E, which appeared in the journal \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.pnas.org\/\u0022\u003EProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECope and Housley work in the pre-clinical phase of cancer treatment, developing and studying animal models to mimic the human condition, so they can study the effects of chemotherapy on the individual neurons and circuits that human behaviors and perceptions emerge from. Previous studies from other labs have determined that these drugs are causing the nerve damage by themselves, but the Georgia Tech team discovered a more nuanced set of circumstances.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Biology is more complex than that \u0026ndash; the cancer interacts with the chemotherapy, changing the underlying causes and worsening the nerve dysfunction long-term,\u0026rdquo; Housley asserted, explaining that the majority of previous studies have focused only on the effects due to chemotherapy.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;If you are diagnosed with cancer and are treated with these drugs, in the great scenario, you go into remission and stop the drugs,\u0026quot; he added. \u0026quot;The problem is, the side effects don\u0026rsquo;t stop. They actually evolve and convert into something a bit different than what was happening early on. And they persist for a long time, in many cases over a decade.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EDamage from the Start\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHousley and Cope have focused on the chronic phase of cancer and discovered that there is a likely a link between what happens in the earliest stages of treatment and the long-term probability of developing neurologic disorders.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;While a patient is in the chair getting chemotherapy, they will not only have sensory problems, but an increased stimulation, often perceived as being painful or\u0026nbsp;hypersensitivity to cold,\u0026rdquo; Housley said. \u0026ldquo;And you will see people with muscle spasms, and twitching, really visceral responses. The speed at which these drugs can impact the nervous system is stark. The motor system that helps us move is being affected in the course of minutes or hours.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis muscle hyperactivity is due to an increase in the excitability of the nervous system across both the sensory and motor systems, and that spiking behavior \u0026ndash; the currency of the nervous system\u0026ndash; can last for days after the treatment. And then, the nervous system goes haywire.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn response to the infusion of these PBC drugs, the system overcompensates. The hyper excitability goes in an opposite direction. So now, instead of an electrical jolt, the system slows down: when reaching for and grabbing a cup of coffee, the collaboration between your motor and sensory systems gets fuzzy. Is your sensory system correctly anticipating the weight of the cup while your motor system grabs and lifts? Will the cup slip and spill hot coffee on your lap?\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHousley, Cope and their multidisciplinary team, including McDonald, want to stop the initial hyper excitability from happening in the first place. Through a process called in vivo electrophysiology, they use glass electrodes to study the behavior of single cells as they respond to stimulation, such as that caused by the reaction of cancer to a platinum-based drug. With these approaches they are testing new pharmacologic and gene therapy approaches to prevent hyper excitability.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s a challenging but powerful approach,\u0026rdquo; said Housley. The ultimate goal is to block the neurotoxic effects of the drugs, so that they can beat the cancer and not harm the patient\u0026rsquo;s long term health and quality of life. \u0026ldquo;Through these experiments, we want to knock out the various drivers of what we suspect is causing this serious problem, and ultimately prevent the long-term consequences of these neurological disorders.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"New grant from NIH supporting Cope lab\u2019s work focused on long-term effects from platinum-based cancer drugs"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAbout half of cancer patients who receive chemotherapy are treated with drugs made from platinum-based compounds, which have demonstrated real success in improving cancer survival rates. However, there\u0026rsquo;s a downside: off-target side effects, neurotoxicity being among the more prevalent and significant. Now, a new grant from the NIH is helping Timothy Cope\u0026#39;s lab identify the long-term effects from these drugs.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"New grant from NIH supporting Cope lab\u2019s work focused on long-term effects from platinum-based cancer drugs"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2022-06-23 17:35:09","changed_gmt":"2022-08-15 18:48:28","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-06-23T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-06-23T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"659063":{"id":"659063","type":"image","title":"Housley Cope","body":null,"created":"1656005497","gmt_created":"2022-06-23 17:31:37","changed":"1656005510","gmt_changed":"2022-06-23 17:31:50","alt":"","file":{"fid":"249826","name":"Housley Cope.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Housley%20Cope.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Housley%20Cope.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":720256,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Housley%20Cope.jpg?itok=Y5uD4OXH"}}},"media_ids":["659063"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/tangled-messages-tracing-neural-circuits-chemotherapys-constellation-side-effects","title":"Tangled Messages: Tracing Neural Circuits to Chemotherapy\u0027s \u0027Constellation of Side Effects\u0027 "},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/multi-algorithm-approach-helps-deliver-personalized-medicine-cancer-patients","title":"Multi-Algorithm Approach Helps Deliver Personalized Medicine for Cancer Patients"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/chemotherapy-and-cancer-gang-cause-neurological-side-effect-study-says","title":"Chemotherapy and Cancer Gang up to Cause a Neurological Side Effect, Study Says"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"385","name":"cancer"},{"id":"185045","name":"Neuropathy"},{"id":"1439","name":"chemotherapy"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"657516":{"#nid":"657516","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Mathematics, Physics Use Moths and Origami Structures for Innovative Defense Research","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech has received two Department of Defense (DoD) \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.defense.gov\/News\/Releases\/Release\/Article\/2953234\/department-of-defense-announces-university-research-funding-awards\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E2022 Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) awards\u003C\/a\u003E totaling almost $14 million. The highly competitive government program supports interdisciplinary teams of investigators developing innovative solutions in DoD interest areas. This year, the DoD awarded $195 million to 28 research teams across the country.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s MURIs are both primarily within the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Physics\u003C\/a\u003E. First, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\/user\/simon-sponberg\u0022\u003ESimon Sponberg\u003C\/a\u003E, a Dunn Family Associate Professor of Physics and Biological Sciences, leads a team discovering how animals strategically use sensing and cognition to make decisions in complex environments. The project, \u003Cem\u003EFast, Lexicographic Agile Perception Integrates Decision and Control in a Spike-Resolved, Sensorimotor Program (FLAP),\u003C\/em\u003E specifically addresses the \u0026nbsp;core DoD topic area of understanding neural systems integration for competent autonomy in decision and control.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We have all these great, sophisticated algorithms for processing big data, but an animal doesn\u0026#39;t have time to process a million samples of its environment and then figure out what\u0026rsquo;s a predator,\u0026rdquo; said Sponberg.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EStudying moths for their agile, sophisticated flying and complex sensing abilities, the team will record electrical activity in the brain to determine how the moths make decisions and use natural language processing techniques to see how a moth derives meaning from sensory cues and movements. The goal is to develop an information processing framework that enables quick, flexible decision-making that could facilitate the next generation of autonomous bio-inspired systems and better integrate living systems with engineered technologies\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe interdisciplinary nature of the team makes complex research possible. Half the team is made of experimentalists: Sponberg specializes in sensors connected to motor systems with precisely timed signals; Jeff Riffell, a professor at the University of Washington, studies how the nervous system processes sensory signals to control behavior; and as a vision neuroscientist at Florida International University, Jamie Theobald, determines how animals parse complex environments. The other half of the team will build the framework: Duke Professor Vahid Tarokh models complex datasets, Georgia Tech \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/math.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Mathematics\u003C\/a\u003E Assistant Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hannahchoi.math.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EHannah Choi\u003C\/a\u003E focuses on neural networks, and Cornell Professor Silvia Ferrari ties it all together as a control theorist embedding control in neural structures.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;MURIs were originally training grants for the DoD to develop the next generation of scientists who would make progress,\u0026rdquo; said Sponberg. \u0026ldquo;This funding will allow us to have postdocs and graduate students across all six labs and disciplines working together tightly and creating a community.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor the second MURI, \u003Cem\u003EProgramming Multistable Origami and Kirigami Structures via Topological Design,\u003C\/em\u003E Georgia Tech Assistant Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\/user\/david-rocklin\u0022\u003EZeb Rocklin\u003C\/a\u003E is part of a team exploring a new class of origami- and kirigami-inspired flexible, lightweight structures capable of transitioning between many stable shapes to perform different tasks or adapt to changing environmental conditions. These structures could be used in a range of applications, from multifunctional robots and collapsible antennae to rapidly assembled bridges and temporary structures, and force protection elements like origami-inspired bulletproof shields.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe team combines experts in mathematics, physics, material science, mechanics, robotics, numerical modeling, and computation, including Harvard University Professors Katie Betoldi, Jennifer Lewis, L. Mahadevan, and Robert Wood, as well as University of Pennsylvania Associate Professor Eleni Katifori\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers will develop mathematical models to characterize and design the complex mechanical behavior of multi-stable origami and kirigami structures\u037e new scale-spanning manufacturing processes that efficiently integrate actuation and sensing\u037e and experimental test beds to serve as a platform for evaluation and optimization of design concepts.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026quot;This project benefits from Georgia Tech\u0026#39;s ability to develop tight, powerful connections between engineering advanced technologies and developing universal, mathematically rigorous physical theories,\u0026rdquo; Rocklin said. \u0026ldquo;We\u0026#39;ll be starting from concepts that anyone can get a sense of by looking at or feeling a piece of origami and using robotics and multifunctional 3D printing to create complex, flexible and robust dynamical structures that can do things nobody has ever seen before.\u0026quot;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Georgia Tech professors receive nearly $14 million in MURI Funding"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech has received two Department of Defense (DoD) 2022 Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) awards totaling almost $14 million.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech has received two Department of Defense (DoD) 2022 Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) awards totaling almost $14 million."}],"uid":"34518","created_gmt":"2022-04-22 17:11:10","changed_gmt":"2022-06-22 15:21:18","author":"sbarone7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-04-18T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-04-18T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"657429":{"id":"657429","type":"image","title":"Hawkmoth","body":null,"created":"1650324661","gmt_created":"2022-04-18 23:31:01","changed":"1650324681","gmt_changed":"2022-04-18 23:31:21","alt":"Hawkmoth on hand","file":{"fid":"249173","name":"Hawkmoth on hand.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Hawkmoth%20on%20hand.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Hawkmoth%20on%20hand.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":281734,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Hawkmoth%20on%20hand.jpg?itok=I2nnBp36"}},"655519":{"id":"655519","type":"image","title":"Hannah Choi","body":null,"created":"1645028839","gmt_created":"2022-02-16 16:27:19","changed":"1645028839","gmt_changed":"2022-02-16 16:27:19","alt":"","file":{"fid":"248515","name":"Hannah Choi.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Hannah%20Choi.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Hannah%20Choi.png","mime":"image\/png","size":335309,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Hannah%20Choi.png?itok=-0AZJGuR"}},"657430":{"id":"657430","type":"image","title":"origami","body":null,"created":"1650325061","gmt_created":"2022-04-18 23:37:41","changed":"1650325061","gmt_changed":"2022-04-18 23:37:41","alt":"origami- and kirigami-inspired multifunctional structures","file":{"fid":"249174","name":"Untitled design (6).jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Untitled%20design%20%286%29.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Untitled%20design%20%286%29.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":51130,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Untitled%20design%20%286%29.jpeg?itok=z5f1Z2R9"}}},"media_ids":["657429","655519","657430"],"groups":[],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"168854","name":"School of Mathematics"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"166937","name":"School of Physics"},{"id":"5230","name":"Biophysics"},{"id":"173647","name":"_for_math_site_"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETess Malone, Research writer\/editor\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["tess.malone@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"657428":{"#nid":"657428","#data":{"type":"news","title":" School of Physics Uses Moths and Origami Structures for Innovative Defense Research","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech has received two Department of Defense (DoD) \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.defense.gov\/News\/Releases\/Release\/Article\/2953234\/department-of-defense-announces-university-research-funding-awards\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E2022 Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) awards\u003C\/a\u003E totaling almost $14 million. The highly competitive government program supports interdisciplinary teams of investigators developing innovative solutions in DoD interest areas. This year, the DoD awarded $195 million to 28 research teams across the country.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s MURIs are both primarily within the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Physics\u003C\/a\u003E. First, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\/user\/simon-sponberg\u0022\u003ESimon Sponberg\u003C\/a\u003E, a Dunn Family Associate Professor of Physics and Biological Sciences, leads a team discovering how animals strategically use sensing and cognition to make decisions in complex environments. The project, \u003Cem\u003EFast, Lexicographic Agile Perception Integrates Decision and Control in a Spike-Resolved, Sensorimotor Program (FLAP),\u003C\/em\u003E specifically addresses the \u0026nbsp;core DoD topic area of understanding neural systems integration for competent autonomy in decision and control.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We have all these great, sophisticated algorithms for processing big data, but an animal doesn\u0026#39;t have time to process a million samples of its environment and then figure out what\u0026rsquo;s a predator,\u0026rdquo; said Sponberg.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EStudying moths for their agile, sophisticated flying and complex sensing abilities, the team will record electrical activity in the brain to determine how the moths make decisions and use natural language processing techniques to see how a moth derives meaning from sensory cues and movements. The goal is to develop an information processing framework that enables quick, flexible decision-making that could facilitate the next generation of autonomous bio-inspired systems and better integrate living systems with engineered technologies\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe interdisciplinary nature of the team makes complex research possible. Half the team is made of experimentalists: Sponberg specializes in sensors connected to motor systems with precisely timed signals; Jeff Riffell, a professor at the University of Washington, studies how the nervous system processes sensory signals to control behavior; and as a vision neuroscientist at Florida International University, Jamie Theobald, determines how animals parse complex environments. The other half of the team will build the framework: Duke Professor Vahid Tarokh models complex datasets, Georgia Tech \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/math.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Mathematics\u003C\/a\u003E Assistant Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hannahchoi.math.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EHannah Choi\u003C\/a\u003E focuses on neural networks, and Cornell Professor Silvia Ferrari ties it all together as a control theorist embedding control in neural structures.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;MURIs were originally training grants for the DoD to develop the next generation of scientists who would make progress,\u0026rdquo; said Sponberg. \u0026ldquo;This funding will allow us to have postdocs and graduate students across all six labs and disciplines working together tightly and creating a community.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor the second MURI, \u003Cem\u003EProgramming Multistable Origami and Kirigami Structures via Topological Design,\u003C\/em\u003E Georgia Tech Assistant Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\/user\/david-rocklin\u0022\u003EZeb Rocklin\u003C\/a\u003E is part of a team exploring a new class of origami- and kirigami-inspired flexible, lightweight structures capable of transitioning between many stable shapes to perform different tasks or adapt to changing environmental conditions. These structures could be used in a range of applications, from multifunctional robots and collapsible antennae to rapidly assembled bridges and temporary structures, and force protection elements like origami-inspired bulletproof shields.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe team combines experts in mathematics, physics, material science, mechanics, robotics, numerical modeling, and computation, including Harvard University Professors Katie Betoldi, Jennifer Lewis, L. Mahadevan, and Robert Wood, as well as University of Pennsylvania Associate Professor Eleni Katifori\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers will develop mathematical models to characterize and design the complex mechanical behavior of multi-stable origami and kirigami structures\u037e new scale-spanning manufacturing processes that efficiently integrate actuation and sensing\u037e and experimental test beds to serve as a platform for evaluation and optimization of design concepts.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026quot;This project benefits from Georgia Tech\u0026#39;s ability to develop tight, powerful connections between engineering advanced technologies and developing universal, mathematically rigorous physical theories,\u0026rdquo; Rocklin said. \u0026ldquo;We\u0026#39;ll be starting from concepts that anyone can get a sense of by looking at or feeling a piece of origami and using robotics and multifunctional 3D printing to create complex, flexible and robust dynamical structures that can do things nobody has ever seen before.\u0026quot;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":" Georgia Tech professors receive nearly $14 million in MURI Funding"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech has received two Department of Defense (DoD) 2022 Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) awards totaling almost $14 million.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech has received two Department of Defense (DoD) 2022 Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) awards totaling almost $14 million."}],"uid":"34541","created_gmt":"2022-04-18 23:25:40","changed_gmt":"2022-05-19 14:05:42","author":"Tess Malone","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-04-18T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-04-18T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"657429":{"id":"657429","type":"image","title":"Hawkmoth","body":null,"created":"1650324661","gmt_created":"2022-04-18 23:31:01","changed":"1650324681","gmt_changed":"2022-04-18 23:31:21","alt":"Hawkmoth on hand","file":{"fid":"249173","name":"Hawkmoth on hand.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Hawkmoth%20on%20hand.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Hawkmoth%20on%20hand.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":281734,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Hawkmoth%20on%20hand.jpg?itok=I2nnBp36"}},"657430":{"id":"657430","type":"image","title":"origami","body":null,"created":"1650325061","gmt_created":"2022-04-18 23:37:41","changed":"1650325061","gmt_changed":"2022-04-18 23:37:41","alt":"origami- and kirigami-inspired multifunctional structures","file":{"fid":"249174","name":"Untitled design (6).jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Untitled%20design%20%286%29.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Untitled%20design%20%286%29.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":51130,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Untitled%20design%20%286%29.jpeg?itok=z5f1Z2R9"}}},"media_ids":["657429","657430"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"1279","name":"School of Mathematics"},{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"},{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"168854","name":"School of Mathematics"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"166937","name":"School of Physics"},{"id":"5230","name":"Biophysics"},{"id":"173647","name":"_for_math_site_"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETess Malone, Research writer\/editor\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["tess.malone@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"658152":{"#nid":"658152","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Outstanding Students Honored at Annual Celebration","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAs the academic year nears its end, a season of celebration begins. Several students were recognized for excellence this year at the annual \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/specialevents.gatech.edu\/events\/student-honors\u0022 tabindex=\u0022-1\u0022\u003EStudent Honors Celebration\u003C\/a\u003E on Thursday, April 21. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/georgiatech\/albums\/72177720298383657\u0022 tabindex=\u0022-1\u0022\u003ESee photos from the event on Flickr\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe following students were recognized at this year\u0026#39;s event:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003ECollege of Computing\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDonald V. Jackson Fellowship\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nShoale Badr, Lohith Burra, Raj Sanjay Shah\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMarshall D. Williamson Fellowship\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCole Anderson, Tricia Dang, Abrahim Ladha, Pengda Xie\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOutstanding Graduate Head Teaching Assistant Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nRusty Otomo\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOutstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nSam Jijina\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOutstanding Undergraduate Head Teaching Assistant Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nMitchell Gacuzana\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOutstanding Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nAnthony Zheng\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch5\u003EHistory and Sociology\u003C\/h5\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Bellon Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nKatie Marchese and Yihua Xu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch5\u003EModern Languages\u003C\/h5\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EExcellence in Applied Languages and Intercultural Studies (ALIS) Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nElla Tiller\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch5\u003EInternational Affairs\u003C\/h5\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EInternational Affairs Graduate Teaching Assistant of the Year\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nAmelia Rousseau\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EInternational Affairs Online Teaching Assistant of the Year\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nLeslie Dwolatzky\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EInternational Affairs Outstanding Graduate Student Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBrian Stewart\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EInternational Affairs Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nSamuel Ellis\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch5\u003EEconomics\u003C\/h5\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOutstanding Economics Student Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nSamantha Cameron\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch5\u003EPublic Policy\u003C\/h5\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOutstanding Public Policy Undergraduate Student Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nArcha Amin, Kathryn Earles, Adam Lederer\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003ECollege of Design\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAIA Medal for Academic Excellence\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nWeston Byerly and Monica Rizk\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAICP Outstanding Student Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nFreyja Brandel-Tanis\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAlpha Rho Chi Medal\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nAnLi French\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIndustrial Designers Society of America Student Merit Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nSophia De Lurgio\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJohn and Joyce Caddell Student Merit Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBlaine Allen and Naomi Censullo\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EKim Scott Logan Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nMir Jeffres\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EStanley, Love-Stanley, P.C. Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBreanna Rhoden and Christian Waweru\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EScheller College of Business\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDow Chemical-P.C. McCutcheon Prize for Outstanding Student Achievement in Business\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCindy Qiu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJennifer R. and Charles B. Rewis Award for Student Excellence in Accounting\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nKatherine Fishman and Vicky Yang\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJohn R. Battle Award for Student Excellence\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBen Barnett and Kara Pomerantz\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENaresh K. Malhotra Scholarship for Marketing Research\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nClara McKay\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003ECollege of Sciences\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA. Joyce Nickelson and John C. Sutherland Prize\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nSarah Eisenstadt\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECynthia L. Bossart and James Efron Scholarship\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nSena Ghobadi\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELarry S. O\u0026rsquo;Hara Fellowship\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nJason Tsukahara, Youngho Yoo, Pedro Marquez Zacarias\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMehta Phingbodhipakkiya Undergraduate Memorial Scholarship\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nNabojeet Das\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERoger M. Wartell, Ph.D., and Stephen E. Brossette, M.D., Ph.D. Award for Multidisciplinary Studies in Biology, Physics, and Mathematics\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nLila Nassar\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EVirginia C. and Herschel V. Clanton Jr. Scholarship\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nGriffin Wagner\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch5\u003ECollege-Wide Award\u003C\/h5\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERobert A. Pierotti Memorial Scholarship\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nHolly McCann and Soham Kulkarni\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003ECollege of Engineering\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch5\u003EAerospace Engineering\u003C\/h5\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAerospace Engineering Outstanding Senior Scholar Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nAnonto Zaman\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDonnell W. Dutton Outstanding Senior in Aerospace Engineering Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nStacey Tian\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch5\u003EBiomedical Engineering\u003C\/h5\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EG.D. Jain Outstanding Senior in Biomedical Engineering Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nKevin McCoy\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOutstanding Academic Achievement in Biomedical Engineering Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nAdith Srivasta\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ES.K. Jain Outstanding Research Award in Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nMary Kate Gale\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch5\u003EChemical and Biomolecular Engineering\u003C\/h5\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EChair\u0026rsquo;s Award \u0026mdash; Outstanding Chemical and Biomolecular Junior\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nEthan Guglielmo\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EChair\u0026rsquo;s Award \u0026mdash; Outstanding Chemical and Biomolecular Senior\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nChristina Whetzel\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch5\u003ECivil and Environmental Engineering\u003C\/h5\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBuck Stith Outstanding Junior Award in Civil Engineering\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nAnthony Sanseverino\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBuck Stith Outstanding Junior Award in Environmental Engineering\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nAidan Labrozzi\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBuck Stith Outstanding Senior Award in Civil and Environmental Engineering\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nZoe Zhang\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESchool Chair\u0026rsquo;s Outstanding Senior Award in Civil Engineering\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nThomas Papageorge\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESchool Chair\u0026rsquo;s Outstanding Senior Award in Environmental Engineering\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nJohanna Hall\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch5\u003EElectrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/h5\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EElectrical and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Research Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nPradyot Yadav\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOutstanding Computer Engineering Senior Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nZachary Olkin\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOutstanding Electrical Engineering Senior Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nKatherine Roberts\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch5\u003EIndustrial and Systems Engineering\u003C\/h5\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAlpha Pi Mu Academic Excellence Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nOscar Aguilar and Xufei Liu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEvelyn Pennington Outstanding Service Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nHung Doan and Duncan Siebert\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EInstitute of Industrial and Systems Engineers Excellence in Leadership Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nDany Shwayri\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch5\u003EMaterials Science and Engineering\u003C\/h5\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAmerican Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) Student Chapter Award for Graduating Senior \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nAlp Kulaksizoglu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESchool of Materials Science and Engineering Outstanding Senior Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nAlp Kulaksizoglu and Matthew Kuner\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch5\u003EMechanical Engineering\u003C\/h5\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorge W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering Outstanding Scholar Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nAndrew Galassi\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorge W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering School Chair\u0026rsquo;s Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nJoseph Stein\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERichard K. Whitehead Jr. Memorial Awards\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nJulia Binegar, Blake Castleman, Sarah Chen, William Compton, Rebekah Travis\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch5\u003ENuclear and Radiological Engineering\u003C\/h5\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOutstanding Scholastic Achievement Award \u0026mdash; Nuclear and Radiological Engineering Program, School of Mechanical Engineering\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nMaryEmma Hughes\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch5\u003ECollege-Wide Awards\u003C\/h5\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECollege of Engineering (COE) Honors Awards\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nEvan Beckley, Denzel Carter, Eliezer Zavala Gonzalez, Zhiyi Li, Matthew Liu,\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBain McHale, Kristina Malinowski, Jana Shade, Taryn Trigler, Sophia Ung, Nick Vu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDavidson Family Tau Beta Pi Senior Engineering Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nZachary Olkin\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EInstitute Awards\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAlvin M. Ferst Leadership and Entrepreneur Scholarship Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nAdam Lederer and Chris Ozgo\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENaugle Communication Center Assistant of the Year Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nJose Miranda-Hernandez\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech Faculty Women\u0026rsquo;s Club Scholarships\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nAlexander Emelianov, Kelly Haas, Ben Howard, Parth Parashar, Shiloh Emma Thomas-Wilkinson\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJordan Lockwood Peer Tutor of the Year Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nEmily Nguyen and Raneem Rizvi\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOutstanding Learning Assistant Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nAboubacar Barrie\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOutstanding PLUS Leader Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nJerry Schweiger\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOutstanding Student Assistant Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nVivi Tran\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOutstanding Tutor Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nRaymond Copeland\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EProvost\u0026rsquo;s Academic Excellence Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nKathryn Earles, Jocelyn Kavanagh, Emily Salmond, Conner Yurkon\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELove Family Foundation Award\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nYashvardhan Tomar\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESeveral College of Sciences students were recognized for excellence this year at the annual Student Honors Celebration on Thursday, April 21.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Several College of Sciences students were recognized for excellence this year at the annual Student Honors Celebration on Thursday, April 21."}],"uid":"34528","created_gmt":"2022-05-12 15:38:02","changed_gmt":"2022-05-12 15:38:12","author":"jhunt7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-05-11T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-05-11T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"658120":{"id":"658120","type":"image","title":"Love Family Foundation Award","body":null,"created":"1652303624","gmt_created":"2022-05-11 21:13:44","changed":"1652303624","gmt_changed":"2022-05-11 21:13:44","alt":"Yashvardhan Tomar Earns the Love Family Foundation Award","file":{"fid":"249476","name":"52029369651_a80560b947_k.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/52029369651_a80560b947_k.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/52029369651_a80560b947_k.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":494722,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/52029369651_a80560b947_k.jpg?itok=a7Mf_zyh"}}},"media_ids":["658120"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/specialevents.gatech.edu\/","title":"Special Events and Protocol"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"364801","name":"School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS)"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"85951","name":"School of Chemistry and Biochemistry"},{"id":"1279","name":"School of Mathematics"},{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:events@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Eevents@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"658033":{"#nid":"658033","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Thackery Brown Probes the \u2018Black Box Problems\u2019 in Cognitive Neuroscience ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/thackery-i-brown\u0022\u003EThackery Brown\u003C\/a\u003E has always viewed the mysteries of the human mind as \u0026ldquo;black box problems.\u0026rdquo; The assistant professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Psychology\u003C\/a\u003E specializes in cognitive neuroscience because it enables him \u0026ldquo;to get behind the curtain and understand why cognition succeeds and fails, and potentially study ways of improving it.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECognition, the mental process of acquiring, using, and storing knowledge, will continue to dominate Brown\u0026rsquo;s research, thanks to a two-year funding grant from the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/curcifoundation.org\/\u0022\u003EShurl and Kay Curci Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E, which has awarded $20 million since its founding in 2006 to research projects that \u0026ldquo;will lead to significant advances in medicine or scientific knowledge.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt\u0026#39;s part of a busy season for Brown. In addition to the Curci funding, he\u0026#39;s just received a\u0026nbsp;research grant\u0026nbsp;from the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nia.nih.gov\u0022\u003ENational Institute on Aging\u003C\/a\u003E, and he and members of his lab\u0026nbsp;just published a new study on memory recall and spatial navigation.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Curci grant \u0026ldquo;is a great honor,\u0026rdquo; Brown says.\u0026nbsp;\u0026ldquo;One of the challenges, especially among young scientists, is having opportunities to do research that\u0026rsquo;s really on the cutting edge of our field. That\u0026rsquo;s where it\u0026rsquo;s more high-risk, high-reward. It\u0026rsquo;s harder to support big ideas, especially when you\u0026rsquo;re junior faculty, so this is a great opportunity to get at the forefront of the field\u0026rsquo;s biggest questions.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA priority for the Curci Foundation is research dealing with neuroscience and brain science, which lends to the title for Brown\u0026rsquo;s Curci research project:\u0026nbsp;\u0026quot;Establishing the neural mechanisms behind our cognitive maps through development of a virtual reality and closed-loop neurofeedback platform.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECognitive maps are how we view the layout of our physical environment in our minds, and learning more about how we construct them and encode the information in them into memory is key to treating Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s and other memory-related disorders, as well as the normal aging process.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhat Brown has proposed \u0026ldquo;could potentially change the way we approach memory research,\u0026rdquo; he says. Brown wants to combine traditional brain imaging tools like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and electroencephalography\u0026nbsp;(EEG) with machine learning in a unique way.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The idea here would be to develop a neurofeedback system, where essentially if we can read out signatures that the brain is attempting to create, we can feed-back stimuli to the brain that can enhance or strengthen those neural signatures.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMachine learning would allow this to happen in real time. \u0026ldquo;It could start to interpret neural signals as they\u0026rsquo;re coming out of the recording device, rather than the researcher needing to go offline and crunch numbers, which is worthless if you\u0026rsquo;re trying to change someone\u0026rsquo;s neural function \u003Cem\u003Ein situ\u003C\/em\u003E, or as they\u0026rsquo;re engaged in it.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMind-mapping our environments\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to the Curci funding, Brown is also part of a research team whose study, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/35389701\/\u0022\u003E\u0026ldquo;Episodic memory integration shapes value-based decision-making in spatial navigation\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/a\u003E, will soon be published in the \u003Cem\u003EJournal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition\u003C\/em\u003E. The team is made up of Georgia Tech School of Psychology and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/econ.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Economics\u003C\/a\u003E researchers, and the accepted manuscript version of the study was published \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/35389701\/\u0022\u003Eonline\u003C\/a\u003E April 7.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe team includes postdoctoral fellow \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?user=Fnub5csAAAAJ\u0026amp;hl=en\u0022\u003EQiliang He\u003C\/a\u003E, research assistants \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/elizabeth-beveridge\u0022\u003EElizabeth Beveridge\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/lou-eschapasse-bb60721a9\u0022\u003ELou Eschapasse\u003C\/a\u003E, and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/vanesa-vargas-650223176\u0022\u003EVanessa Vargas\u003C\/a\u003E, all from the School of Psychology; and doctoral candidate \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/econ.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/09952c77-116f-5f42-94a1-0a42d9b70a32\u0022\u003EJancy Liu\u003C\/a\u003E from the School of Economics. All are members of Brown\u0026rsquo;s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/maplab.gatech.edu\/people\/\u0022\u003EMemory Affect Planning (MAP) Lab\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESpatial navigation \u0026mdash; knowing where you are, how you got there, and how to get to another destination \u0026mdash; is a key cognitive ability. Brown\u0026rsquo;s research team wanted to know what factors go into the choices humans make when navigating based on memories. Participants learned where various objects were in a virtual environment, and then decided whether to reach those goals from familiar starting locations or unpredictable ones,\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We created a (computational) model of just how much people were integrating prior experiences into their current choices,\u0026rdquo; Brown says. \u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;re hopeful this is a new tool for the field. It may be used for other types of tasks like interpreting neuroimaging data, for example \u0026mdash; how much of this behavior or brain activity is being influenced by prior experiences?\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBrown says the recent study is similar to the kind of research he\u0026rsquo;ll work on with the Curci funding. \u0026ldquo;What we want to do in the Curci award is try to strengthen people\u0026rsquo;s mental maps of their environments. The current theory that people broadly hold is that our cognitive maps of environments really come about by integrating different (memory) episodes. When you have two navigational experiences and they cross paths, you stick them together and you start to build a little map.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe published study tries to determine how good people are in integrating all their different experiences into their cognitive maps, and the decisions that are then made based on that information. \u0026ldquo;In the Curci award, we want to try to zoom in on the neural signature of the maps themselves, and try to strengthen them to lead to better performance.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENIH National Institute on Aging grant\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBrown was notified in early May that he had won another cognitive neuroscience-related grant, this one a five-year award\u0026nbsp;from the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nia.nih.gov\/\u0022\u003ENational Institute on Aging (NIA)\u003C\/a\u003E, one of the 27 institutes and research centers that make up the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nih.gov\/\u0022\u003ENational Institutes of Health\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBrown says the NIA research mission is related to the Curci award. While that grant is more concerned with state-of-the-art method development and understanding cognitive map neural signals by manipulating them, the NIA grant focuses on how the structure of our environment, like the layouts of buildings and roads, is stored by the brain.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The grant also asks two questions,\u0026rdquo; Brown adds. \u0026ldquo;Can we understand individual differences in navigation ability by studying the way our brain stores this structure information? And can differences in how people\u0026#39;s spatial memory declines with age be understood in part by how fragmented their neural maps of their environment are?\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This is another huge honor for me. It will support my lab and research program for five years, and combined with the Curci this support touches on many of the big questions about how humans are able to plan and navigate their lives.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDOI: \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.apa.org\/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fxlm0001133\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/doi.apa.org\/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fxlm0001133\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/35389701\/\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/35389701\/\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EFunding for the Journal of Experimental Psychology study was provided by the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nih.gov\/\u0022\u003ENational Institutes of Health\u003C\/a\u003E and their \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nia.nih.gov\/\u0022\u003ENational Institute on Aging\u003C\/a\u003E, and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.warrenalpertfoundation.org\/\u0022\u003EWarren Alpert Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThackery Brown, assistant professor in the School of Psychology, has won a pair of prestigious research grants from the Curci Foundation and National Institute on Aging \u0026mdash; and his lab has new research findings on memory, spatial navigation, and decision-making.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Brown has won a pair of prestigious research grants from the Curci Foundation and National Institute on Aging \u2014 and his lab has new research findings on memory, spatial navigation, and decision-making."}],"uid":"34434","created_gmt":"2022-05-09 14:18:51","changed_gmt":"2022-05-09 19:49:08","author":"Renay San Miguel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-05-09T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-05-09T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"658016":{"id":"658016","type":"image","title":"Thackery Brown at Georgia Tech\u0027s Center for Advanced Brain Imaging. (Photo Thackery Brown)","body":null,"created":"1651861953","gmt_created":"2022-05-06 18:32:33","changed":"1651861953","gmt_changed":"2022-05-06 18:32:33","alt":"","file":{"fid":"249429","name":"thackery brown at CABI.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/thackery%20brown%20at%20CABI.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/thackery%20brown%20at%20CABI.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":103142,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/thackery%20brown%20at%20CABI.jpeg?itok=1-532HDe"}}},"media_ids":["658016"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/virtual-reality-helps-reveal-honeycomb-grids-human-brain-navigation","title":"Virtual Reality Helps Reveal Honeycomb Grids in Human Brain for Navigation"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/remembering-ourselves","title":"Remembering Ourselves"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/summer-bounty","title":"A Summer Bounty"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/mice-and-megahertz-qiliang-he-wins-fellowship-study-gamma-wave-stimulation-reversing-age","title":"Of Mice and Megahertz: Qiliang He Wins Fellowship to Study Gamma Wave Stimulation for Reversing Age-Related Memory Damage"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"167710","name":"School of Psychology"},{"id":"175547","name":"Thackery Brown"},{"id":"190555","name":"Shurl and Kay Curci Foundation"},{"id":"187499","name":"National Institute on Aging"},{"id":"2270","name":"National Institutes of Health"},{"id":"1228","name":"memory"},{"id":"175448","name":"cognitive neuroscience"},{"id":"3034","name":"decision-making"},{"id":"365","name":"Research"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERenay San Miguel\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\/Science Writer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n404-894-5209\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["renay.san@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"658038":{"#nid":"658038","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Dobromir Rahnev Receives 2022 Elsevier-Vision Sciences Society Young Investigator Award","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis story first appeared in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.visionsciences.org\/2022-yia\/\u0022\u003EVision Sciences Society newsroom\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Vision Sciences Society is honored to present Dobromir (Doby) Rahnev with the 2022 Elsevier\/VSS Young Investigator Award.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Elsevier\/VSS Young Investigator Award, sponsored by\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EVision Research\u003C\/em\u003E, is given to an early-career vision scientist who has made outstanding contributions to the field. The nature of this work can be fundamental, clinical, or applied. The award selection committee gives highest weight to the significance, originality and potential long-range impact of the work.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe selection committee may also take into account the nominee\u0026rsquo;s previous participation in VSS conferences or activities, and substantial obstacles that the nominee may have overcome in their careers. The awardee is asked to give a brief presentation of her\/his work and is required to write an article to be published in\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EVision Research\u003C\/em\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EDobromir (Doby) Rahnev\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAssociate Professor, School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe 2022 Elsevier\/VSS Young Investigator Award goes to Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/rahnevlab.gatech.edu\/people.html\u0022\u003EDobromir (Doby) Rahnev\u003C\/a\u003E for fundamental contributions to our understanding of perceptual decision making and visual metacognition. Rahnev is an associate professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Psychology\u003C\/a\u003E at Georgia Tech. After finishing his Bachelor\u0026rsquo;s degree in Psychology at Harvard University, Rahnev obtained his Ph.D. at Columbia University with Hakwan Lau and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UC Berkeley with Mark D\u0026rsquo;Esposito.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERahnev\u0026rsquo;s research seeks to uncover the computational and neural bases of perceptual decision making. He studies the top-down processes that modulate the normal visual experience, using a combination of neuroimaging, brain stimulation, psychophysics, and computational modeling.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHis early pioneering work on attention-related subjective biases has inspired new lines of investigation and stimulated debates among philosophers. In another influential line of studies, Rahnev used a combination of brain stimulation and neuroimaging to demonstrate the existence of a hierarchical structure in the prefrontal cortex such that progressively rostral regions control later stages of perceptual decision making.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHis more recent work has uncovered the sources of suboptimality in perceptual decision making and developed improved models of visual metacognition.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERahnev has received an impressive series of grants from NIH, NSF, and the Office of Naval Research and mentored many graduate students and postdocs. He has also spearheaded several large collaborative efforts, such as creating the Confidence Database and organizing a consensus paper where researchers in visual metacognition agreed on shared goals.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERahnev\u0026rsquo;s research exemplifies open and high-quality science that produces fundamental discoveries about how humans make perceptual decisions.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ERahnev will speak during the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.visionsciences.org\/2022-yia\/\u0022\u003EVSS 2022 Awards session\u003C\/a\u003E:\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003E\u0026#39;Bias and confidence in perceptual decision making\u0026#39;\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EMonday, May 16, 2022, 12:30 \u0026ndash; 1:45 pm EDT, Talk Room 2\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026quot;Perceptual decision making is the process of choosing a course of action based on the available sensory evidence. This process begins with a stimulus that is internally represented in the visual system. Based on the internal representation, a person makes a decision and can also evaluate this decision via a confidence rating.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EProgress on perceptual decision making ultimately requires an understanding of the stimulus, the internal representation, the decision, and the confidence in the decision. This talk will focus on recent work that begins to reveal the computations that link all these components together.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI will show how previously unexplained response biases emerge from individual differences in the internal representation. I will also present a new process model of confidence that allows the unbiased measurement of metacognitive ability and fits empirical data better than existing alternatives.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI will end by highlighting exciting new developments in the field that promise to revolutionize our understanding of the computations underlying perceptual decision making.\u0026quot;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"The Elsevier-VSS Young Investigator Award, sponsored by Vision Research, is given to an early-career vision scientist who has made outstanding contributions to the field. "}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Elsevier-VSS Young Investigator Award, sponsored by \u003Cem\u003EVision Research\u003C\/em\u003E, is given to an early-career vision scientist who has made outstanding contributions to the field. This year\u0026#39;s recipient is Doby Rahnev, associate professor in the School of Psychology.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The Elsevier-VSS Young Investigator Award, sponsored by Vision Research, is given to an early-career vision scientist who has made outstanding contributions to the field. "}],"uid":"34528","created_gmt":"2022-05-09 15:41:56","changed_gmt":"2022-05-09 15:47:26","author":"jhunt7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-05-09T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-05-09T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"606749":{"id":"606749","type":"image","title":"Rahnev MRI","body":null,"created":"1528203097","gmt_created":"2018-06-05 12:51:37","changed":"1680031736","gmt_changed":"2023-03-28 19:28:56","alt":"","file":{"fid":"231415","name":"dobromir_rahnev_fmri1_12.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dobromir_rahnev_fmri1_12.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dobromir_rahnev_fmri1_12.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":61799,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/dobromir_rahnev_fmri1_12.jpg?itok=bfYAfUUa"}}},"media_ids":["606749"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"132","name":"Institute Leadership"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"170258","name":"Dobromir Rahnev"},{"id":"167710","name":"School of Psychology"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"},{"id":"39511","name":"Public Service, Leadership, and Policy"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jess@cos.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJess Hunt-Ralston\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nDirector of Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences at Georgia Tech\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jess@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"657681":{"#nid":"657681","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Go Inside Lena Ting\u2019s Neuromechanics Lab on Public TV\u2019s \u2018Your Fantastic Mind\u2019","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.emoryhealthcare.org\/your-fantastic-mind\/season-three\/Episode%203.html\u0022\u003Enewest episode of the public television program \u0026ldquo;Your Fantastic Mind\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/a\u003E takes viewers inside \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuromechanicslab.emory.edu\/index.html\u0022\u003ELena Ting\u0026rsquo;s lab\u003C\/a\u003E in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, where researchers are knocking subjects off balance to understand how we move.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe episode, \u0026ldquo;Game Changers,\u0026rdquo; shows how Ting and her colleagues use a unique moving platform to yank the rug from under subjects in their quest to study movement, human balance and gait, and the complex interplay of the nervous system and musculoskeletal system.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;You don\u0026rsquo;t think about balance,\u0026rdquo; Ting says in the episode. \u0026ldquo;However, it\u0026rsquo;s a super complex interaction of many parts of your brain, your nervous system, your muscles and sensory system, that is constantly shifting around without your awareness.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETing, \u003Ca href=\u0022\/bme\/faculty\/Lena-H.-Ting\u0022\u003EMcCamish Foundation Distinguished Chair and professor\u003C\/a\u003E, also explains how her team collects mountains of data about muscle activity and biomechanical forces alongside data from the brain to deepen our understanding of balance and movement disorders and find new ways to help people suffering from them.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.emoryhealthcare.org\/your-fantastic-mind\/season-three\/Episode%203.html\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWatch the full episode on the Emory Healthcare website.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe \u0026ldquo;Game Changers\u0026rdquo; episode shows how Ting\u0026#39;s team study movement, human balance, and gait.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The \u201cGame Changers\u201d episode shows how Ting\u0027s team study movement, human balance, and gait."}],"uid":"27446","created_gmt":"2022-04-27 16:09:46","changed_gmt":"2022-04-27 16:09:46","author":"Joshua Stewart","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-04-25T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-04-25T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"657678":{"id":"657678","type":"image","title":"Your Fantastic Mind TItle Screen","body":null,"created":"1651075587","gmt_created":"2022-04-27 16:06:27","changed":"1651075587","gmt_changed":"2022-04-27 16:06:27","alt":"Your Fantastic Mind title screen with outline of a brain in a box.","file":{"fid":"249267","name":"Your-Fantastic-Mind-Title-screenshot.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Your-Fantastic-Mind-Title-screenshot.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Your-Fantastic-Mind-Title-screenshot.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":276731,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Your-Fantastic-Mind-Title-screenshot.jpg?itok=QcCHoTqS"}}},"media_ids":["657678"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.emoryhealthcare.org\/your-fantastic-mind\/season-three\/Episode%203.html","title":"Your Fantastic Mind: Game Changers"},{"url":"https:\/\/neuromechanicslab.emory.edu\/index.html","title":"Ting\u0027s Neuromechanics Lab"}],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"2266","name":"Lena Ting"},{"id":"190452","name":"Your Fantastic Mind"},{"id":"249","name":"Biomedical Engineering"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jstewart@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJoshua Stewart\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jstewart@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"653829":{"#nid":"653829","#data":{"type":"news","title":"How to Pre-Health at Tech: Ritika Chanda, Fourth-Year Neuroscience Student ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow to Pre-Health at Tech\u003C\/strong\u003E is a new series of stories and experiences with our faculty, current students, and alumni working in healthcare and medical fields. Check back throughout the spring for interviews with:\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/how-pre-health-tech-alonzo-whyte-health-and-medical-sciences-advisor\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAlonzo Whyte\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, faculty member, academic advisor for the Health and Medical Sciences (HMED) Minor, director of academic advising for the Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience, and development leader in the School of Biological Sciences\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/how-pre-health-tech-jeffrey-kramer-first-year-biology-student\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJeffrey Kramer\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, first-year biology undergraduate\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/how-pre-health-tech-jenna-nash-neur-21-physician-assistant-graduate-student\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJenna Nash\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E (NEUR \u0026#39;21), physician assistant graduate student\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/how-pre-health-tech-charles-winter-bio-12-anesthesiologist-assistant\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECharles Winter\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E (BIO \u0026#39;12), anesthesiologist assistant\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERitika Chanda has made the most of her time at Georgia Tech. Through challenging classes, undergraduate research, leadership roles in student organizations, and an internship, Chanda shares she\u0026#39;s ready to enter the healthcare field after graduation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EShe encourages all students to take advantage of their time at Tech to get involved in various activities to learn more about their future career path. She shares that \u0026ldquo;I am someone who strives to challenge myself and try new things,\u0026rdquo; and her time at Georgia Tech certainly has been full of excitement and discovery.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile serving as president of\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gatech.campuslabs.com\/engage\/organization\/student-hospital-connections\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EStudent Hospital Connections (SHC)\u003C\/a\u003E, the organization was awarded \u0026ldquo;Burdell\u0026rsquo;s Best for Community Champion\u0026rdquo; award at Tech\u0026rsquo;s Up with the White and Gold Ceremony. From volunteering at pop-up vaccine clinics, to helping on a Covid-19 helpline, to making masks for local charitable clinics and homeless shelters, service has been a vital part of Chanda\u0026rsquo;s Georgia Tech experience.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHere are Chanda\u0026rsquo;s recommendations for \u0026ldquo;How to Pre-Health\u0026rdquo; at Georgia Tech:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: What is your degree, year, and hometown?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA: I am a fourth-year Neuroscience major with minors in\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hmed.cos.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ehealth and medical sciences\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/leadership.gatech.edu\/content\/minor-leadership-studies-0#:~:text=The%20Minor%20in%20Leadership%20Studies%20is%20designed%20to,skills%20through%20a%20project%20based%20experiential%20learning%20course.\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Eleadership studies\u003C\/a\u003E. I am from Columbus, Georgia, which is located about two hours south from Atlanta!\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: What activities are you involved with on campus?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA: On campus, I am involved in several student organizations, research and mentoring. I currently serve as the president of\u0026nbsp;SHC, executive vice president of\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gatech.campuslabs.com\/engage\/organization\/american-medical-student-association\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EAmerican Medical Student Association (AMSA)\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and vice president of\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gatech.campuslabs.com\/engage\/organization\/support-health-and-education-for-women\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESupport, Health, and Education (S.H.E) for Women\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESHC is an organization focused on promoting volunteerism and healthcare awareness among Georgia Tech students. Our goal is to provide students interested in leadership and volunteerism with the opportunities and resources to make an impact in our community!\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAMSA is an organization with the mission of supporting, informing, and inspiring future physicians to make healthcare a better place. Our goal is to provide support for the academic aspects of being a pre-health student through our workshops and initiatives.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELast, but not least, S.H.E for Women is a newly chartered organization with the mission of spreading awareness to women\u0026rsquo;s health issues, especially in the realm of homelessness. Our goal is to provide support to larger Atlanta-based organizations with similar missions by advocating for them, informing our Georgia Tech students of these issues, and hosting service projects to help alleviate said issues.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy role in each of organizations involves coordinating the operations of the organizations and most importantly supporting all members in their future endeavors. My goal is to be a resource for others and to share my experiences.\u0026nbsp;As a teaching leader for a Neuroscience GT 1000 course, I have the opportunity to continue this goal as a mentor for first-year students! I also serve as an undergraduate research assistant in professor\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/eric-schumacher\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EEric Schumacher\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026rsquo;s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/control.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ECognitive Neuroscience at Tech Research Lab (CoNTRoL)\u003C\/a\u003E. I am currently completing the research option on my own project investigating whether attentional brain networks, which are neural pathways in the brain modulating attention, can predict learning in an online environment using fMRI techniques!\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOff campus, I am involved in several different activities as well. I serve as a medical intern at the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/goodsamatlanta.org\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EGood Samaritan Health Center\u003C\/a\u003E, or Good Sam, which is a charitable clinic just five minutes away from Georgia Tech. Through this position, I support the hard-working medical staff, while also practicing skills essential for future healthcare providers, such as making patients feel safe and comfortable, managing the demands of healthcare, and being adaptable and flexible. Throughout my four years at Tech, this experience has been the most eye-opening and impactful to me. Before Good Sam, I was blind to many of the issues related to healthcare, such as the effects of healthcare disparities, the lack of healthcare accessibility and more.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis experience inspired me to also be an advocate for more accessible and equitable healthcare and motivated me to use my resources to help spread awareness and educate other Georgia Tech students through AMSA\u0026rsquo;s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gtamsa.weebly.com\/advocating-for-health-equity.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EUrban Clinic of Atlanta\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(UCA) team and Student Hospital Connection\u0026rsquo;s Outreach team. With Good Sam, I also serve as a clinical caller and shift coordinator on their Covid-19 helpline and a volunteer for their Covid-19 and flu pop-up vaccine sites! I also work as a medical scribe for\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cwccga.com\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EComprehensive Women\u0026rsquo;s Care of Columbus\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(CWCC), a private OBGYN practice in my hometown dedicated to providing accessible and women-focused healthcare. During my free time, I do some dancing here and there!\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: When did you know you wanted a career in pre-health?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA: When I was about eight years old, my uncle came to live with us while studying for the United States Medical License Exam, which is a three-step examination program to receive your medical license. During this time, my uncle was also responsible for watching me while my parents worked. He would encourage me to study with him by giving me case studies to memorize. I was responsible for learning the patient\u0026rsquo;s symptoms and history, and then presenting the case to him so he could \u0026ldquo;diagnose\u0026rdquo; me. That was the summer I realized I wanted to pursue medicine because connecting with and being able to help others has always been something I have been passionate about! As I grew older, I began seeing the positive and life-changing impact physicians had on individuals, families and groups of people, and my Georgia Tech experience inspired me to use my education to help underserved and uninsured populations receive quality healthcare.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: Why did you choose to pursue pre-health at Georgia Tech?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA: When I was a prospective student, I came to tour Georgia Tech. Prior to the tour, I was quite hesitant in coming to Tech for pre-health, but very quickly I realized that Georgia Tech was located in a vibrant community full of opportunities just steps away from campus! Additionally, I am someone who strives to challenge myself and try new things. I value personal growth and I knew Georgia Tech would help facilitate that for me. I am really thankful for choosing to come here for my undergraduate experience.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: What resources at Georgia Tech have prepared you for a pre-health career?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA: Student organizations and the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/prehealth.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EPre-Health Advising Office\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;have been really impactful in preparing me for my pre-health career. Through student organizations, I found an open and welcoming community, as well as support from my upperclassmen peers. As a current upperclassman participating in student organizations, I am grateful to be able to provide support those still learning about the path! The\u0026nbsp;Pre-Health Advising Office\u0026nbsp;has been crucial in supporting me academically as I pursue this path. They have many programs to help assist through the process and are always available during their drop-in hours to talk. Talking about your career can be really stressful and make you feel vulnerable, but the Office does a great job with building relationships with students, so you have a safe place to go to for career-related discussions.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: What have some of your favorite classes at Georgia Tech been and why?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA: One of my favorite classes to participate in was\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/vip.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EVertical Integrated Projects (VIP)\u003C\/a\u003E. During my first and second year at Tech, I joined a VIP regarding\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/vip.gatech.edu\/teams\/vpt\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EHealth Informatics on FHIR\u003C\/a\u003E, or Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources. This project was heavily industrial engineering-based, but very interesting! I appreciated learning about how other fields, especially engineering, could improve healthcare.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAs a\u0026nbsp;leadership studies minor, I am required to delve a little bit into management and business, which led me to taking MGT 3662, Management in the Healthcare Sector. This course was extremely eye-opening as it exposed me to many conflicts in healthcare and delved into how business and technology make an impact on the patient experience. I would highly recommend this course to pre-health students! I am currently taking the practicum portion of this course and working closely with the Children\u0026rsquo;s Healthcare of Atlanta to help resolve an issue they are currently facing using the skills I have learned in MGT 3662 and my experience working in and learning more the healthcare field.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI also really enjoyed taking physics for life sciences and organic chemistry, as these courses challenged me the most! In the end, despite the challenge, I realized how much they helped me improve my critical thinking skills. Additionally, it was great seeing how they could be applied in medicine and pharmaceuticals to improve healthcare.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: What professors, advisors, or older students have helped you prepare for your career?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA: During my first semester at Georgia Tech, my GT 1000 and PSYC 1101 professor\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/mary-holder\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EMary Holder\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;played a huge role in helping me adapt to college life. With her support, I learned the necessary time management and study skills needed to succeed at Georgia Tech. This also gave me the opportunity to try out other interests of mine inspired by Tech, such as industrial engineering through a VIP program and my leadership studies minor! I am really thankful for the support of my family, friends, and academic and career advisors!\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERitika Chanda shares her experiences in challenging classes, undergraduate research, leadership roles in student organizations, an internship, and more at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Ritika Chanda shares her experiences in challenging classes, undergraduate research, leadership roles in student organizations, an internship, and more at Georgia Tech."}],"uid":"35185","created_gmt":"2021-12-18 16:45:27","changed_gmt":"2022-04-25 17:38:41","author":"kpietkiewicz3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-03-07T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2022-03-07T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"653951":{"id":"653951","type":"image","title":"Chanda and Patrick Kramer accepting the Burdell\u2019s Best for Community Champion award for Student Hospital Connections.","body":null,"created":"1640485797","gmt_created":"2021-12-26 02:29:57","changed":"1680031699","gmt_changed":"2023-03-28 19:28:19","alt":"","file":{"fid":"248061","name":"thumbnail_Photo 6.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/thumbnail_Photo%206.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/thumbnail_Photo%206.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":237960,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/thumbnail_Photo%206.jpg?itok=KgYXGreP"}},"653947":{"id":"653947","type":"image","title":"Ritika Chanda volunteering with Intown Collaborative Ministries during a vaccination clinic.","body":null,"created":"1640485354","gmt_created":"2021-12-26 02:22:34","changed":"1680031704","gmt_changed":"2023-03-28 19:28:24","alt":"","file":{"fid":"248058","name":"thumbnail_Photo 4.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/thumbnail_Photo%204.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/thumbnail_Photo%204.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":169722,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/thumbnail_Photo%204.jpg?itok=Uk9Blapn"}},"653952":{"id":"653952","type":"image","title":"Chanda at the first in-person Student Hospital Connections Executive Board meeting of her presidency.","body":null,"created":"1640486089","gmt_created":"2021-12-26 02:34:49","changed":"1680031710","gmt_changed":"2023-03-28 19:28:30","alt":"","file":{"fid":"248062","name":"thumbnail_Photo 1.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/thumbnail_Photo%201.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/thumbnail_Photo%201.png","mime":"image\/png","size":1305907,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/thumbnail_Photo%201.png?itok=XEkznBmu"}}},"media_ids":["653951","653947","653952"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/how-pre-health-tech-alonzo-whyte-health-and-medical-sciences-advisor","title":"How to Pre-Health at Tech: Alonzo Whyte, Health and Medical Sciences Advisor"}],"groups":[{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"42901","name":"Community"},{"id":"42911","name":"Education"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1129","name":"healthcare"},{"id":"5170","name":"pre-health"},{"id":"11725","name":"pre-med"},{"id":"524","name":"medicine"},{"id":"453","name":"undergraduate research"},{"id":"189595","name":"undergraduate leadership"},{"id":"288","name":"Leadership"},{"id":"171373","name":"student leadership"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003EGrace Pietkiewicz\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Assistant\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:gracepz@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Egracepz@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEditor:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003EAudra Davidson\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nScience Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPre-Health at Tech:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/prehealth.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Eprehealth.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["gracepz@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"653953":{"#nid":"653953","#data":{"type":"news","title":"How to Pre-Health at Tech: Jenna Nash, NEUR \u002721, Physician Assistant Graduate Student","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow to Pre-Health at Tech\u003C\/strong\u003E is a new series of stories and experiences with our faculty, current students, and alumni working in healthcare and medical fields. Check back throughout the spring for interviews with:\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/how-pre-health-tech-alonzo-whyte-health-and-medical-sciences-advisor\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAlonzo Whyte\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, faculty member, academic advisor for the Health and Medical Sciences (HMED) Minor, director of academic advising for the Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience, and development leader in the School of Biological Sciences\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/how-pre-health-tech-ritika-chanda-fourth-year-neuroscience-student\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERitika Chanda\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, fourth-year neuroscience undergraduate with dual-minors in health and medical sciences and leadership studies\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/how-pre-health-tech-jeffrey-kramer-first-year-biology-student\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJeffrey Kramer\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, first-year biology undergraduate\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/how-pre-health-tech-charles-winter-bio-12-anesthesiologist-assistant\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECharles Winter\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E (BIO \u0026#39;12), anesthesiologist assistant\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIf it wasn\u0026rsquo;t for her dad\u0026rsquo;s encouragement, Jenna Nash may never have applied to Georgia Tech. After her admission to Tech, Nash says the resources available for pre-health students at Tech felt like \u0026ldquo;the missing puzzle piece that fell in place\u0026rdquo; when deciding what college to attend.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFour years and countless memories later, the Canton, Georgia native graduated in May 2021 with a degree in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuroscience.cos.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Eneuroscience\u003C\/a\u003E and a minor in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hmed.cos.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Ehealth and medical sciences\u003C\/a\u003E. From her involvement in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gtpac.weebly.com\/\u0022\u003EPhysician Assistant Club\u003C\/a\u003E as a member and vice president of marketing, to support from peers, professors, and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gatech.campuslabs.com\/engage\/organization\/neuroscience-club\u0022\u003ENeuroscience Club\u003C\/a\u003E, Nash shares that coming to campus was \u0026ldquo;the best decision I have ever made.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHer time at Georgia Tech helped Nash achieve her goal of physician assistant (PA) school. This semester, she begins classes at \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chp.mercer.edu\/academics-departments\/physician-assistant-studies\/\u0022\u003EMercer University\u003C\/a\u003E for the Master of Medical Science (MMSc) degree.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHere are Nash\u0026rsquo;s tips on \u0026ldquo;How to Pre-Health\u0026rdquo; at Georgia Tech:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: Why did you decide to pursue pre-health at Georgia Tech?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA: I knew going into college that I wanted to pursue a pre-health career, but Tech actually helped secure my decision to become a physician assistant. I was weighing heavily between nurse practitioner, which requires a complete Bachelor of Nursing, then going back to school to become a nurse practitioner for around two years; versus physician assistant, where you can choose your own undergraduate degree and then complete around 27 months of school; versus doctor, which requires a complete undergraduate degree then four or more years of school depending on specialty.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile choosing what school to attend, I knew I wanted to stay in state because of financial reasons, but most schools in Georgia that offered nursing programs did not seem challenging enough to me.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy dad actually encouraged me to apply to Tech, even though I thought there was no way I would get in, and I didn\u0026#39;t think it had a huge pre-health program. However, checked all the boxes \u0026ndash; challenging, football team, great location \u0026ndash; so when I got in, I knew that it was meant to be. From there, I decided to become a physician assistant instead of a doctor because of a mentor in high school that told me about the flexibility and freedom that comes with becoming a PA instead of doctor \u0026ndash; then, I knew it was for me. Additionally, I found out there was a club for pre-physician assistant students at Tech which sealed the deal. It was kind of my missing puzzle piece that fell in place. It was the best decision I have ever made.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: What resources did you use at Georgia Tech to support your career aspirations, such as clubs, advisors, or supportive professors?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA: One of the best resources for me during my time at Tech was the Physician Assistant Club (PAC). It is tricky navigating how to get into graduate school and it was getting super overwhelming trying to figure it out on my own. My pre-health advisor, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/prehealth.gatech.edu\/maria-krakovski\u0022\u003EMaria Krakovski\u003C\/a\u003E, and one of my sisters in my sorority, Claudia Varnedoe, encouraged me to join PAC. I am so happy that I did! It helped me figure out what I needed to do while in college, allowed me to form connections with other people that aspired to become PAs, gave me job and volunteering options, and walked me through the application process which was so helpful when it came time to apply for schools my senior year.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOne of the best things that came from PAC was the opportunity to work with \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.goodshepherdclinic.org\/\u0022\u003EGood Shepherd\u0026rsquo;s Clinic\u003C\/a\u003E, which provided healthcare to uninsured people of Atlanta. At this clinic, I learned how much I loved working with underserved populations and learned a lot about the inequality in the healthcare system of Georgia and the United States.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAnother thing I am so thankful for was \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/tutoring.gatech.edu\/tutoring\/\u0022\u003Eone-on-one tutoring through the Tutoring \u0026amp; Academic Support Office\u003C\/a\u003E at the Clough Undergraduate Commons (CULC). I was studying there nearly three times a week for help on subjects that I could not figure out for the life of me. It increased my confidence in my ability to solve problems and allowed me to reflect on what I really understood. Tutoring is a very underused resource at Tech, and I cannot encourage people to take advantage of the tutoring resources enough!\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: How did Georgia Tech help you during the application cycle for graduate school? Any tips that process?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA: I am so thankful that I had Georgia Tech resources available during my application cycle. I used lots of the available resources, especially when it came to writing my personal statement. I took advantage of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.communicationcenter.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECommunication Center\u003C\/a\u003E to edit my essay a lot. They really helped to critique and organize my thoughts. Writing has always been a weakness of mine, because I write just like I talk, and my message can get confusing; they went through it with me sentence by sentence to make sure every word in my essay was meaningful.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI put to use every bit of knowledge I gained from PAC during the application process. I utilized other students in the Club that I made connections with to review my application and make sure that I did not miss any small details. I encourage students to take advantage of peers with similar goals to share the stress of the application cycle with, because they are an invaluable resource.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: What graduate degree are you pursuing and where? Why did you choose that program?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA: I am studying to become a physician assistant (PA) at \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chp.mercer.edu\/academics-departments\/physician-assistant-studies\/\u0022\u003EMercer University\u003C\/a\u003E. I knew from high school I wanted to become a physician assistant because of my desire to form connections with patients while still having time to enjoy life outside of my career.\u0026nbsp; I chose the PA program at Mercer because of its proximity to Atlanta. During my time at Tech, I became connected to the city and realized how much it has to provide. But, living in Atlanta and through my involvement at Tech, I also noticed the large population of people in need of healthcare, shelter, food, and more. Since Mercer focuses on service opportunities, I thought this would be a great way for me to give back to the city I learned so much from in college.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: What advice do you have for current Georgia Tech pre-health students?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA: Get as many healthcare experiences as possible that you can while you are at Tech. In Atlanta you have access to many different fields \u0026ndash; take advantage of that! Try different things, because each thing you do will give you more information and shape your future as a healthcare provider. During those experiences, keep a journal of conversations, patients, or advice that make an impact on you. This will help you in future interviews, when writing your personal statements, or talking about your career. And it is fun to look back at it all when you are questioning whether you have chosen the correct path for yourself.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOne of the most important pieces of advice that was given to me is: this is the only time in your healthcare journey where you will get the opportunity to see how different providers handle situations differently. Take advantage of shadowing experiences to determine how you will act as a healthcare provider in the future.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELastly, develop a network of people that have a career path that is similar to you. For me I had three main people: someone who already was working in the field, someone currently in my chosen graduate program, and then someone that was at the same stage as myself. Having these people to go to with \u0026ldquo;stupid\u0026rdquo; questions was so useful and really eased my stress about the whole application process. In my experience, people are flattered when you ask them for help because it makes them feel important, so don\u0026rsquo;t be afraid to reach out!\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: What makes Georgia Tech special?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA: I had the best four years of my life at Georgia Tech, and I am forever thankful for everything I learned from my professors, friends, and peers. It was challenging, but at the end of the day, you come out of Tech ready to accomplish anything that is ahead of you. Cherish the moments getting to learn in such a stimulating academic environment. You were chosen to be at this school for a reason.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFeel free to reach out to me if you ever need advice or encouragement! I\u0026rsquo;m always available. \u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jnash45@gmail.com\u0022\u003EEmail Jenna Nash\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp; \u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJenna Nash shares her experiences before, during, and after Tech \u0026mdash; with tips for preparing for graduate school.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Jenna Nash shares her experiences before, during, and after Tech \u2014 with tips for preparing for graduate school."}],"uid":"35185","created_gmt":"2021-12-26 02:40:17","changed_gmt":"2022-04-25 17:37:49","author":"kpietkiewicz3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-04-07T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-04-07T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"653957":{"id":"653957","type":"image","title":"Jenna Nash says \u0022I had the best 4 years of my life at Georgia Tech.\u0022 ","body":null,"created":"1640486797","gmt_created":"2021-12-26 02:46:37","changed":"1680031671","gmt_changed":"2023-03-28 19:27:51","alt":"","file":{"fid":"248066","name":"thumbnail_IMG_8045.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/thumbnail_IMG_8045.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/thumbnail_IMG_8045.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":307717,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/thumbnail_IMG_8045.jpg?itok=N4AXvlCP"}},"653955":{"id":"653955","type":"image","title":"Nash credits the Physician Assistant Club at Georgia Tech for invaluable advice to support her path to graduate school. ","body":null,"created":"1640486703","gmt_created":"2021-12-26 02:45:03","changed":"1680031678","gmt_changed":"2023-03-28 19:27:58","alt":"","file":{"fid":"248064","name":"image (2).png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/image%20%282%29.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/image%20%282%29.png","mime":"image\/png","size":232225,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/image%20%282%29.png?itok=yIxiAHlz"}},"653956":{"id":"653956","type":"image","title":"\u0022Try different things, because each thing you do will give you more information and shape your future as a healthcare provider,\u0022 encourages Nash.","body":null,"created":"1640486749","gmt_created":"2021-12-26 02:45:49","changed":"1680031685","gmt_changed":"2023-03-28 19:28:05","alt":"","file":{"fid":"248065","name":"thumbnail_IMG_9246.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/thumbnail_IMG_9246.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/thumbnail_IMG_9246.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":139294,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/thumbnail_IMG_9246.jpg?itok=HIhYIrkn"}},"653954":{"id":"653954","type":"image","title":"Nash, NEUR \u002721, is set to begin classes at Mercer University to be a Physician Assistant.","body":null,"created":"1640486655","gmt_created":"2021-12-26 02:44:15","changed":"1680031692","gmt_changed":"2023-03-28 19:28:12","alt":"","file":{"fid":"248063","name":"thumbnail_IMG_9774.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/thumbnail_IMG_9774.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/thumbnail_IMG_9774.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":444245,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/thumbnail_IMG_9774.jpg?itok=Avbtx3Tq"}}},"media_ids":["653957","653955","653956","653954"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"42901","name":"Community"},{"id":"42911","name":"Education"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"},{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1129","name":"healthcare"},{"id":"5170","name":"pre-health"},{"id":"11725","name":"pre-med"},{"id":"524","name":"medicine"},{"id":"453","name":"undergraduate research"},{"id":"189595","name":"undergraduate leadership"},{"id":"288","name":"Leadership"},{"id":"171373","name":"student leadership"},{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"},{"id":"39541","name":"Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003EGrace Pietkiewicz\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Assistant\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:gracepz@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Egracepz@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEditor:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003EAudra Davidson\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nScience Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPre-Health at Tech:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/prehealth.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Eprehealth.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["gracepz@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"653608":{"#nid":"653608","#data":{"type":"news","title":"How to Pre-Health at Tech: Alonzo Whyte, Health and Medical Sciences Advisor ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow to Pre-Health at Tech\u003C\/strong\u003E is a new series of stories and experiences with our faculty, current students, and alumni working in healthcare and medical fields. Check back throughout the spring for interviews with:\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/how-pre-health-tech-ritika-chanda-fourth-year-neuroscience-student\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERitika Chanda\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, fourth-year neuroscience undergraduate with dual-minors in health and medical sciences and leadership studies\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/how-pre-health-tech-jeffrey-kramer-first-year-biology-student\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJeffrey Kramer\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, first-year biology undergraduate\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/how-pre-health-tech-jenna-nash-neur-21-physician-assistant-graduate-student\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJenna Nash\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E (NEUR \u0026#39;21), physician assistant graduate student\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/how-pre-health-tech-charles-winter-bio-12-anesthesiologist-assistant\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECharles Winter\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E (BIO \u0026#39;12), anesthesiologist assistant\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMeet Alonzo Whyte\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAs a faculty member, advisor for the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hmed.cos.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EHealth and Medical Sciences (HMED) Minor\u003C\/a\u003E, and director of academic advising for the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuroscience.cos.gatech.edu\/curriculum\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EBachelor of Science in Neuroscience\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;at Georgia Tech,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/alonzo-whyte\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EAlonzo Whyte\u003C\/a\u003E supports pre-health students throughout their time at Tech. He also teaches neuroscience and serves as a development leader in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E, working to incorporate feedback on the program and support future growth through curriculum development, course instruction, and academic advising. Whyte is also a member of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/diversity\/task-force\/members\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ECollege of Sciences Task Force on Racial Equity\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and in spring 2021 received the Institute\u0026rsquo;s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/40-college-sciences-faculty-honored-students-class-1934-cios-awards-ctl-honor-roll\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EClass of 1934 Course Instructor Opinion Survey Award.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn his tenure at Tech, Whyte says he has seen a diversity of routes that students take on the path to a pre-health career. Today he shares some advice on success stories, mistakes to avoid, and resources to explore.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHere\u0026rsquo;s his take on \u0026ldquo;How to Pre-Health\u0026rdquo; at Georgia Tech:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: What is your role advising students on the Pre-Health Track?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;As a neuroscience advisor and an advisor for the Health and Medical Sciences Minor, I see a lot of students on the Track for anything from medical school, to physician assistant school, to dental school, to physical therapy school, and everything in between. We try our best as advisors to have some knowledge in terms of what steps the students need to take in order to meet the pre-requisite requirements for different programs, because it\u0026rsquo;s not simple.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThere is no pre-medical major at Georgia Tech. Students need to do research to find out what specific programs they\u0026rsquo;re interested in and what classes they need to meet their goals. In that capacity, as an advisor for the major and the minor, I have developed some knowledge in terms of what classes students should be taking for the different paths.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBut really, my job is to ensure that their completed courses help students towards progress for their major or minor, and wrapped into that are the pre-health requirements. And even though I have some experience and knowledge about what things students are doing to prepare for their post-graduate experience, I strongly, strongly recommend that every student talk to the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/prehealth.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EPre-Health Advising Office\u003C\/a\u003E. They have a set of advisors there that are dedicated to helping the writing medical school letters, interviewing, and anything else needed.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor example, last week I was part of a mock medical school interview process. The Pre-Health Office creates those types of events. As major and minor advisors, we ensure the students\u0026#39; academic course work will earn their desired degree and that students\u0026rsquo; courses are getting applied appropriately, while edging them along the pre-health path.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: What other key resources are there for students on the pre-health path?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;Again, the Pre-Health Office is fantastic. They\u0026rsquo;re very busy, so to get a meeting with their advisors such as\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/prehealth.gatech.edu\/staff\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EMr. Castelan or Ms. Liggins\u003C\/a\u003E, it\u0026rsquo;s important to book in advance.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAdditionally, advisors are still not the only experts in what the students need. I find that the best solution is to utilize peer advisors as well as a student groups. The Pre-Health Office has many resources; they have their own set of\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/prehealth.gatech.edu\/staff\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Epeer advisors\u003C\/a\u003E;\u0026nbsp;they have a very active\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/piazza.com\/gatech\/other\/prehealthadvising\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EPiazza page\u003C\/a\u003E, that allows you to connect with the pre-health community to get quick answers to your pre-health questions; and they have a list of\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/prehealth.gatech.edu\/student-organizations\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Epre-health student organizations\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u0026rsquo;m also a faculty advisor for a new club, the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gatech.campuslabs.com\/engage\/organization\/apsa\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EAmerican Physician Scientist Association\u003C\/a\u003E. They are students who are looking to be physicians, scientists, or something similar. They\u0026rsquo;ll have speakers come who are focused on that subject.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAdditionally, I am faculty advisor for\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gatech.campuslabs.com\/engage\/organization\/minority-association-of-pre-medical-students\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EMinority Association of Pre-Medical Students\u003C\/a\u003E. It\u0026rsquo;s not just limited to minority identity students, it\u0026rsquo;s a very diverse group of students and open to all. This semester they hosted a medical school showcase where they had representatives from different medical schools come and talk the attendees through the application process.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThere\u0026rsquo;s also an\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gatech.campuslabs.com\/engage\/organization\/american-medical-student-association\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EAmerican Medical Student Association\u003C\/a\u003E, a\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gatech.campuslabs.com\/engage\/organization\/pre-dental-society\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EPre-Dental Society\u003C\/a\u003E, and many more places where you can connect with senior students who are going through the application cycle, as well as participate in their events where they bring in guest or representatives of medical schools to provide great insight. The pre-health path is really a collaborative process.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThere\u0026rsquo;s not one single resource. You have to pick and choose what resources you need. If you have questions about classes, I\u0026rsquo;ll be a person to talk to. If you have questions about the application cycle, you can talk to me, but I\u0026rsquo;ll refer you to the Pre-Health Office as they have all these peer advisors, all these student associations. The community is great, and there are plenty of supportive resources.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: In your experience, what kind of activities do students on the Pre-Health\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003ETrack do to ensure they take the right steps to pursue the rigorous process of applying to these difficult schools?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;I think one of the biggest things is thinking beyond GPA and Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) score. While those are important factors for the application, currently the holistic view of the student is huge. There are some shifts and trends in the application experience.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI would say many students are waiting a year or two after their undergraduate graduation as a way to build up their credentials. Maybe they need more clinical hours, or they\u0026rsquo;re taking positions as a medical assistant, Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), things like that, to get hands-on experience to show that they can thrive in a medical environment. Maybe they don\u0026rsquo;t have the strongest GPA, so they\u0026rsquo;ll do a one- or two-year master\u0026rsquo;s in something like genetics to show that they can achieve academically and handle the rigor of medical school.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThree important things that students do are leadership positions, getting involved in clubs, and research.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EShowing commitment to clubs is important by staying active not just for one semester but two or three years if possible. Additionally, research is becoming popular. Working in biomedical, neuroscience, chemistry, or other research lab shows that students can commit to a project that\u0026rsquo;s high-level science. We have\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/undergradresearch.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ethese opportunities at Georgia Tech\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;where students can successfully write a thesis, get some publications or poster presentations.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThat\u0026rsquo;s a lot of what I see for strong candidates \u0026ndash; along with maintaining a good attitude throughout that all, because when recommendation letters are written, it won\u0026rsquo;t matter how much you\u0026rsquo;ve done if you\u0026rsquo;ve had a sour attitude the whole time! As advisors, we want to ensure that we\u0026rsquo;re putting students in the position to become a good clinician. When we\u0026rsquo;re thinking about who we\u0026rsquo;re sending to medical school, we think, who do we want to be treated by when we\u0026rsquo;re older? Do I want some student who is grumpy, even if they\u0026rsquo;re the smartest? That\u0026rsquo;s one of the reasons for graduate school interviews \u0026ndash; personality does matter for who you choose as your doctor.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: For students who are on the Pre-Health Track, but have a major that is not explicitly science related, how does their path differentiate from students studying a healthcare related subject?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;The\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/undergraduate-degree-programs\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ECollege of Sciences majors\u003C\/a\u003E, in particular neuroscience and biology, have a lot of pre-health courses already built into the major requirements \u0026hellip; Whereas if you\u0026rsquo;re studying computer science or engineering, you don\u0026rsquo;t have the lab science requirements built into the degree the same way. You have other courses you must take, so you have to find a place in your schedule to fit the pre-health courses in.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor students studying\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ebiomedical engineering\u003C\/a\u003E, for example, because of the heavy credit requirements to complete that major, students are often really stretched to find every free elective that completes a pre-health requirement \u0026hellip; So, there\u0026rsquo;s a bit more pressure.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThere are plenty of non-science students who attend medical school after graduation successfully. In fact, some schools are looking for students with diverse skill sets. For example, some schools want engineering students who want to be doctors, because that\u0026rsquo;s how they design medical devices well.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: What would you tell prospective students interested in pursuing a pre-health career through Georgia Tech?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;The rigor of Georgia Tech has a national, if not international, reputation. You leave Georgia Tech prepared for the rigor of medical school. That\u0026rsquo;s what we hear from our students who have gone off to places like Emory for a medical degree \u0026ndash; they say that Georgia Tech prepared them to excel and succeed in their medical school courses. You can go to many different institutions and earn high marks, but you\u0026rsquo;re going to get your world turned over when you go off to medical school. The struggle is helpful, because you build skills to succeed while struggling, and then when you step up to the challenge of medical school, you\u0026rsquo;re ready for it.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: What other advice do you have for students on the Pre-Health Track to ensure they have a successful time here?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA: Again, I think it\u0026rsquo;s important that students don\u0026rsquo;t focus solely on GPA. A \u0026ldquo;C\u0026rdquo; is not the end of your pre-health path. A \u0026ldquo;D\u0026rdquo; is not even the end of your pre-health path. Think about the whole picture. There are plenty of students who struggle their first year and that\u0026rsquo;s expected. So, you have to adjust, and have some grace there, understanding that there\u0026rsquo;s more to the process than GPA.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI also encourage students, regardless of if they\u0026rsquo;re straight \u0026ldquo;A\u0026rdquo; students or straight \u0026ldquo;B\u0026rdquo; students, to have an open mindset to other careers. You may have come to Georgia Tech thinking that you want to be pre-health, but I would suggest still exploring other paths. Consider, \u0026ldquo;What if I were to start my career with a bachelor\u0026rsquo;s degree and not go to medical school, what would I do? What would I enjoy?\u0026rdquo; And then tailor their minor towards that. For example, if they like programming, pursue a\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/minors\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EComputer Science Minor\u003C\/a\u003E. If they like writing science communication, a\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.lmc.gatech.edu\/programs\/minors\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ELanguage, Media, and Communications Minor\u003C\/a\u003E. There are many things they can do in addition to their major, along with the pre-health requirements. So, if they get to graduation and decide they don\u0026rsquo;t want to go to medical school, they have something that they\u0026rsquo;re also equally excited about.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESome of the best medical school applicants I\u0026#39;ve seen have had activities like projects where they worked in conjunction with local hospitals to design new algorithms for them to read how patients are treated upon arrival. That\u0026rsquo;s taking their interests and putting in into this pre-health context. And that you would be great for public health, if they decide they don\u0026rsquo;t want to pursue a medical doctorate. A multimodal, diverse skill set is really important to think outside the box of what it means to be a typical pre-med student, to move to being something more creative and unique.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQ: My last question is a little more personal to you. What do you like about advising for the Health and Medical Sciences minor?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EA:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;I love the energy that students bring. The\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/catalog.gatech.edu\/programs\/minor-health-and-medical-sciences\/#requirementstext\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EHMED minor requirements\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;are flexible, diverse and very interdisciplinary \u0026ndash; similar to the Neuroscience major. We have students taking classes in science,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/autonomy-beneficence-and-justice-summer-bioethics-course-teaches-fundamental-theories-and\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ebioethics\u003C\/a\u003E, and any of the College of Sciences programs. I love seeing the diversity of classes that they pull together and the interesting things that they\u0026rsquo;re doing. And I think that the freedom to explore these interdisciplinary courses is important. They really choose their own adventure to complete the minor.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EJust to show how varied the minor is, you could complete the HMED minor and not take a single class that is a pre-requisite for medical school. If you\u0026rsquo;re a neuroscience student also interested in\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ephysics\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/psychology.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Epsychology\u003C\/a\u003E, you could take those courses through the minor, none of which will serve as pre-health requirements. So, people can cater the minor to what their future path may be.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn his tenure as a faculty member at Tech, Alonzo Whyte, academic advisor for both the Health and Medical Sciences Minor and the B.S. in Neuroscience program, has seen a diversity of routes that students take on the path to a pre-health career. Today he shares some advice on success stories, mistakes to avoid, and resources to explore.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"In his tenure at Tech, Alonzo Whyte, academic advisor for the Health and Medical Sciences Minor and B.S. in Neuroscience, has seen a diversity of routes for students on the path to a pre-health career. Today he shares advice, insights, and resources."}],"uid":"35185","created_gmt":"2021-12-10 20:23:29","changed_gmt":"2022-04-25 17:36:39","author":"kpietkiewicz3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-02-22T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2022-02-22T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"632873":{"id":"632873","type":"image","title":"Alonzo Whyte","body":null,"created":"1582567434","gmt_created":"2020-02-24 18:03:54","changed":"1680031663","gmt_changed":"2023-03-28 19:27:43","alt":"","file":{"fid":"240807","name":"Alonzo Whyte Pro-Head Shot.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Alonzo%20Whyte%20Pro-Head%20Shot.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Alonzo%20Whyte%20Pro-Head%20Shot.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":580246,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Alonzo%20Whyte%20Pro-Head%20Shot.jpg?itok=r6cdRqh4"}}},"media_ids":["632873"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/celebrating-black-history-month-letting-diversity-shine-alonzo-whyte","title":"Celebrating Black History Month: Letting Diversity Shine with Alonzo Whyte"},{"url":"https:\/\/prehealth.gatech.edu\/","title":"Pre-Health Advising at Georgia Tech"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"85951","name":"School of Chemistry and Biochemistry"},{"id":"443951","name":"School of Psychology"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"42911","name":"Education"},{"id":"132","name":"Institute Leadership"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"},{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"5170","name":"pre-health"},{"id":"1413","name":"advising"},{"id":"1770","name":"academic advising"},{"id":"1129","name":"healthcare"},{"id":"184039","name":"pre-medical students"},{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"1304","name":"neuroscience"},{"id":"167710","name":"School of Psychology"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39511","name":"Public Service, Leadership, and Policy"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter: \u003C\/strong\u003EGrace Pietkiewicz\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Assistant\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:gracepz@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Egracepz@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEditor: \u003C\/strong\u003EAudra Davidson\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nScience Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPre-Health at Tech: \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/prehealth.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Eprehealth.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["gracepz@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"657491":{"#nid":"657491","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Research Teams Update Progress on New Models for Health Disparities","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAlopecia was front and center for Valencia Watson long before Academy Award winner Will Smith and comedian Chris Rock made it topical with the smack seen round the world.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA third-year graduate student in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, Watson struggles with a form of the autoimmune disease, which causes hair loss and is two to six times more prevalent in Black women, like her, than in other people.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPersonal experience drove her to study the mechanisms underlying alopecia, and in so doing, Watson has inspired a new project and focus area in the lab of Coulter BME Professor Cheng Zhu. It\u0026rsquo;s one of four early-stage projects launched by the Department last year aimed at developing new tools for studying diseases that disproportionately affect people of African descent.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EUltimately, the research teams hope to develop animal models that will more closely replicate the risk factors and social determinants of health common among Black Americans. Each received a $25,000 seed grant, \u0026ldquo;to get us started in applying our expertise to address a very big challenge,\u0026rdquo; said Ed Botchwey, who developed the program with fellow Coulter BME faculty member Johnna Temenoff.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Developing these systems that can model the underlying causes of health disparities will eventually allow us to bring the different aspects of biomedical engineering to bear,\u0026rdquo; added Botchwey, an associate professor. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m looking forward to seeing how the seed grant support has impacted these researchers and what they\u0026rsquo;ve been able to do so far.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBotchwey will get his chance April 18 at the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/event\/symposium-health-disparities-academy-medicine-distinguished-lecture\u0022\u003ESymposium on Health Disparities\u003C\/a\u003E, when the four research teams will present their work so far. The event also will include the Academy of Medicine Distinguished Lecture from University of Connecticut Professor Cato Laurencin, who basically launched the field of regenerative engineering. He\u0026rsquo;ll talk more about diminishing racial disparities in healthcare and biomedical research.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;He\u0026rsquo;s the consummate physician-scientist,\u0026rdquo; Botchwey said. \u0026ldquo;I think he\u0026rsquo;ll address the efforts we can make to not only impact health disparities but perhaps also what so many of us were desperate for during the season of protest: making real progress in the area of racial equity. He\u0026rsquo;ll speak powerfully to that, and we\u0026rsquo;ll hear his perspective on the challenges in front of us.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBut first, attendees will be briefed on the challenges that the four Coulter Department research teams are tackling right now:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EAlopecia Areata\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ECheng Zhu, principal investigator; Loren Krueger, Emory University, co-investigator\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAlopecia is an autoimmune disorder in which T cells mistakenly attack hair follicles, and to develop a better disease model, Zhu\u0026rsquo;s team has to figure out why. Zhu credited Watson with moving the lab in this direction.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Valencia convinced us,\u0026rdquo; said Zhu, Regents Professor and J. Erskine Love Chair in Engineering in the Coulter Department. His lab studies how immune cells sense, respond to, and adapt in a dynamic environment while being buffeted by natural mechanical forces in the body.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;ve used our approach to study T cells in tumor immunology [and] infection, but not autoimmune diseases,\u0026rdquo; Zhu said. \u0026ldquo;So we think it\u0026rsquo;s a good idea to include alopecia areata, because it\u0026rsquo;s one of the most prevalent autoimmune disorders in the world.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWatson said she wasn\u0026rsquo;t totally convinced that her condition was an autoimmune disorder at first, because there is no evident antigen activity to incite the T cells. That\u0026rsquo;s given the research team something to look for. Watson sees it as, \u0026ldquo;an opportunity to contribute to the research by first identifying what is activating the T cells.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETheir work to this point has manifested in a perspective article, with Watson and fellow grad student Makala Faniel as lead authors, discussing the potential for mechanobiology and mechanoimmunology \u0026ldquo;to contribute to alopecia research by adding new methods, new approaches, and new ways of thinking,\u0026rdquo; they wrote.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EBreast Cancer\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EKarmella Haynes, principal investigator; Curtis Henry, Emory University, co-investigator\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen the seed grant program was announced, Haynes\u0026rsquo; lab was already at work developing an engineered protein to activate genes that are silenced in triple negative breast cancer cells, and she was working with Henry\u0026rsquo;s lab on developing epigenetics experiments for another type of cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukemia.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Dr. Henry had done some exciting work showing how obese-associated serum affected epigenetics and gene expression,\u0026rdquo; said Haynes, an assistant professor. \u0026ldquo;We started thinking about how to translate this research to triple negative breast cancer, which disproportionately kills African American women.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThey are two very different forms of cancer, but their project is investigating how the biochemistry of serum in obese patients might affect epigenetic states in breast cancer, and make the disease more aggressive and deadly.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Once we understand this, we can artificially reprogram the epigenetic state and block cancer cell replication and the formation of new tumors in other parts of the body,\u0026rdquo; Haynes said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELed by postdoctoral fellow Cara Shields, the Haynes lab will share new data at the symposium, showing how fat cells can actually prevent cancer cell death by silencing the genes that would otherwise activate a suicide switch or prevent the cancer from spreading.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile they haven\u0026rsquo;t created the animal model that replicates these conditions yet, Haynes and her collaborators are currently applying for a major external grant and plan to publish their results. First, they want to complete their investigation of gene silencing and demonstrate how epigenetic engineering can be used to activate the affected genes.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We are working on making our approach, \u0026lsquo;epigenome actuation,\u0026rsquo; more clinically translatable to cancer and generally applicable to other diseases that affect cell development,\u0026rdquo; Haynes said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003EGlaucoma\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EC. Ross Ethier, principal investigator; Michael Anderson, University of Iowa, and Michael Hauser, Duke University, are collaborators\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBlack people are three to four times more likely to develop glaucoma than people of Asian or European descent, and it progresses faster: People of African descent are six times more likely to go blind. Cydney Wong, a Ph.D. student who has taken the lead on this research in the Ethier lab, knows this all too well.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;My grandmother, who I grew up with, has glaucoma, so I have a personal interest in this disease,\u0026rdquo; Wong said. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ve watched as her vision gradually declined. At this point she is almost completely blind.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHer grandmother is 90 and loves hearing about Wong\u0026rsquo;s research, which is now focused on a certain genetic risk factor associated with people of African descent all over the globe.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Our\u0026nbsp;project is investigating whether a mouse expressing this genetic risk factor exhibits glaucomatous damage in its eye,\u0026rdquo; Wong said. \u0026ldquo;However, I think the more big-picture goal would be to better understand why glaucoma tends to progress so quickly in people of African descent so that we can develop treatments to prevent vision loss in these patients.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch3\u003ETraumatic Brain Injury\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EMichelle LaPlaca, principal investigator; Levi Wood, mechanical engineering, Georgia Tech, co-investigator\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELaPlaca has spent the better part of her career studying traumatic brain injury (TBI) from multiple angles, to understand the underlying mechanisms during and following an injury. The idea is to develop better strategies for diagnosis and treatment.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWith this project, she\u0026rsquo;s also attempting to probe the risk factors that can make TBI worse, to gain a deeper understanding of why some underrepresented groups, such as African Americans, with TBI are significantly more likely to have post-injury complications. \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELaPlaca\u0026rsquo;s team is piecing together how chronic stressors and dietary factors, which have not been applied together for the study of TBI animal models before, may influence outcomes.\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ve been very interested in the heterogeneous factors that contribute to traumatic brain injury complications,\u0026rdquo; said LaPlaca, who was inspired somewhat by a meeting of the National Neurotrauma Society last year. \u0026ldquo;We held a session for the first time on health disparities in TBI, in which we discussed rural-urban disparities, race disparities, and social determinants. It was very timely and re-energized my interest in this area of research.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBasically, her team is working to develop a state of stress before injury, \u0026ldquo;a new direction for me,\u0026rdquo; LaPlaca said. \u0026ldquo;But I think it\u0026rsquo;s really critical that we start to use some of these more complicated models in our animal research to complement clinical and public health efforts.\u0026rdquo;\u003Cem\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Four Coulter BME research groups will offer more details alongside deeper discussions at Symposium on Health Disparities"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFour Coulter BME research groups will offer more details alongside deeper discussions at Symposium on Health Disparities.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Four Coulter BME research groups will offer more details alongside deeper discussions at Symposium on Health Disparities."}],"uid":"27446","created_gmt":"2022-04-14 21:22:33","changed_gmt":"2022-04-21 16:31:07","author":"Joshua Stewart","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-04-14T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-04-14T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"657484":{"id":"657484","type":"image","title":"Health Disparities Seed Grants Researchers","body":null,"created":"1650557551","gmt_created":"2022-04-21 16:12:31","changed":"1650557551","gmt_changed":"2022-04-21 16:12:31","alt":"These BME faculty members are developing new models to study health disparities. Left to right are C. Ross Ethier, Karmella Haynes, Michelle LaPlaca, and Cheng Zhu.","file":{"fid":"249198","name":"Seed-Grants-Update-Ethier-Haynes-LaPlaca-Zhu-composite-h.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Seed-Grants-Update-Ethier-Haynes-LaPlaca-Zhu-composite-h.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Seed-Grants-Update-Ethier-Haynes-LaPlaca-Zhu-composite-h.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":407637,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Seed-Grants-Update-Ethier-Haynes-LaPlaca-Zhu-composite-h.jpg?itok=Wi9ZLKvE"}}},"media_ids":["657484"],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"182581","name":"health disparities"},{"id":"180069","name":"reducing health disparities"},{"id":"41331","name":"Ross Ethier"},{"id":"187959","name":"Karmella Haynes"},{"id":"8664","name":"Michelle LaPlaca"},{"id":"9893","name":"Cheng Zhu"},{"id":"249","name":"Biomedical Engineering"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"657489":{"#nid":"657489","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Desai, Mitchell Honored for Mentoring Undergrad Researchers","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Tech Faculty Honors Committee has recognized two faculty members in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering for their remarkable support of undergraduate researchers.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe committee selected \u003Ca href=\u0022\/bme\/faculty\/Jaydev-Desai\u0022\u003EJaydev Desai\u003C\/a\u003E for the 2022 Senior Faculty Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Award and \u003Ca href=\u0022\/bme\/faculty\/Cassie-S.-Mitchell\u0022\u003ECassie Mitchell\u003C\/a\u003E for the Junior Faculty Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Award.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBoth have made bachelor\u0026rsquo;s degree students a priority in their labs, giving them opportunities to work with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and to help produce peer-reviewed research publications.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I am deeply passionate about mentoring our terrific undergraduate students in research and guiding them through their academic journey at Georgia Tech,\u0026rdquo; said Desai, G.P. \u0026ldquo;Bud\u0026rdquo; Peterson and Valerie H. Peterson Professor in Pediatric Research. \u0026ldquo;It is gratifying to see some of the undergraduates from my \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/robomed.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EMedical Robotics and Automation Lab \u003C\/a\u003Eland a job in prestigious Fortune 500 companies. Equally gratifying is to see some of the students who have gone through the research experience in my lab pursue a higher academic degree.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe awards recognize faculty members at Georgia Tech who have demonstrated sustained achievement in mentoring undergraduates in research activities. For Mitchell, that started when she was a research engineer in Coulter BME and continued after she became a tenure-track faculty member.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This award is such an honor, because undergraduate research is a true passion of mine, both personally and professionally,\u0026rdquo; said Mitchell, assistant professor in the Coulter Department. \u0026ldquo;Receiving this award also illustrates that my mentoring and unique undergraduate research program is of great value to Georgia Tech.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMitchell said she often has dozens of undergrad students \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sites.gatech.edu\/cassie-mitchell-lab\/\u0022\u003Eworking in her lab\u003C\/a\u003E, and like Desai\u0026rsquo;s group, they often secure positions in industry and prestigious graduate programs after they\u0026rsquo;ve worked in her lab.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I often say that, while I do not have biological children of my own, I have an extraordinary number of scientific offspring. And my students, both graduate and undergraduate, are like family to me,\u0026rdquo; Mitchell said. \u0026ldquo;When I see them publish or get awards, I am like a parent hollering loudly from the stands.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBoth have made bachelor\u0026rsquo;s degree students a priority in their labs, giving them opportunities to work with graduate students and help produce peer-reviewed research publications.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Both have made bachelor\u2019s degree students a priority in their labs, giving them opportunities to work with graduate students and help produce peer-reviewed research publications."}],"uid":"27446","created_gmt":"2022-04-21 16:28:04","changed_gmt":"2022-04-21 16:28:04","author":"Joshua Stewart","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-04-21T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-04-21T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"657488":{"id":"657488","type":"image","title":"Undergrad Research Mentor Awards - Desai, Mitchell","body":null,"created":"1650558462","gmt_created":"2022-04-21 16:27:42","changed":"1650558462","gmt_changed":"2022-04-21 16:27:42","alt":"Cassie Mitchell and Jaydev Desai headshots","file":{"fid":"249199","name":"Desai-Mitchell-composite-h.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Desai-Mitchell-composite-h.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Desai-Mitchell-composite-h.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":315967,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Desai-Mitchell-composite-h.jpg?itok=YjRmrWn6"}},"646422":{"id":"646422","type":"image","title":"Cassie Mitchell (2020)","body":null,"created":"1618328767","gmt_created":"2021-04-13 15:46:07","changed":"1618328767","gmt_changed":"2021-04-13 15:46:07","alt":"Cassie Mitchell headshot","file":{"fid":"245380","name":"Mitchell-Cassie-v.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Mitchell-Cassie-v.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Mitchell-Cassie-v.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":225349,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Mitchell-Cassie-v.jpg?itok=whwKgafl"}},"653002":{"id":"653002","type":"image","title":"Jaydev Desai","body":null,"created":"1637259796","gmt_created":"2021-11-18 18:23:16","changed":"1637259796","gmt_changed":"2021-11-18 18:23:16","alt":"","file":{"fid":"247694","name":"Jaydev-Desai-Hi-Res-Headshot.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Jaydev-Desai-Hi-Res-Headshot.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Jaydev-Desai-Hi-Res-Headshot.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1474151,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Jaydev-Desai-Hi-Res-Headshot.jpg?itok=y8wxPIr-"}}},"media_ids":["657488","646422","653002"],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"169945","name":"Jaydev Desai"},{"id":"23101","name":"cassie mitchell"},{"id":"190410","name":"Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Award"},{"id":"249","name":"Biomedical Engineering"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jstewart@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJoshua Stewart\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jstewart@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"657487":{"#nid":"657487","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Honors Singer for Excellent Teaching","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Center for Teaching and Learning at Georgia Tech has named biomedical engineering faculty member \u003Ca href=\u0022\/bme\/faculty\/Annabelle-Singer\u0022\u003EAnnabelle Singer\u003C\/a\u003E one of best teachers on campus this year, selecting her for the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ctl.gatech.edu\/faculty\/awards\/ctl-bp\u0022\u003ECTL\/BP Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe award honors up to six assistant professors each year who have demonstrated excellence and innovation in the classroom and a passion for teaching. They also have made a difference in their students\u0026rsquo; lives or made connections between research and teaching.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I love seeing students rise to the challenge of creative problem solving,\u0026rdquo; said Singer, McCamish Foundation Early Career Assistant Professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering. \u0026ldquo;I push students to think outside the box, and I get a lot of satisfaction out of seeing them realize that with hard work and brainstorming, they can generate new ways to solve important problems.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ctl.gatech.edu\/faculty\/awards\/ctl-bp https:\/\/cpn-us-w2.wpmucdn.com\/sites.gatech.edu\/dist\/2\/852\/files\/2022\/04\/Singer_CTL-BP-2022.pdf\u0022\u003EIn nomination materials\u003C\/a\u003E, students praised Singer for her dedication to creating courses that inspired them to give their best, even when they didn\u0026rsquo;t know all the answers. Several credited her courses with helping them discover a passion for neuroscience or a desire to pursue graduate school.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;[The] assignments brought out the best in everyone the way few group projects do: my classmates and I found ourselves capitalizing on each other\u0026rsquo;s diverse skill sets to create concepts that pushed barriers. It was the thrill of experiencing what scientific innovation felt like for the first time that was perhaps the biggest takeaway from her course,\u0026rdquo; one student wrote. \u0026ldquo;The excitement I felt thinking of ideas for her course was a substantial inspiration for me to pursue graduate school. The work I am proudest of from my entire undergraduate career was done in her course, and I have referred back to it many times.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOne student wrote that Singer\u0026rsquo;s classrooms are exciting places, where intellectual curiosity is high and all of the students strive to give their best. Others praised Singer for seamlessly transitioning her courses to virtual or hybrid options during the pandemic \u0026mdash; and for keeping a close eye on her students\u0026rsquo; well-being.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The flexibility and empathy Dr. Singer conveyed to all of us alleviated our stress for outside factors during a complex time in our college careers,\u0026rdquo; the student wrote.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESinger teaches courses like BMED 4853, Systems Physiology, and BMED 4803\/NEUR 4803, Introduction to Neuroengineering, a course she developed to fill a gap in the Department\u0026rsquo;s curriculum for students.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It\u0026#39;s very nice to be recognized because I try to implement the kind of classes I would want to take as a student,\u0026rdquo; Singer said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EStudents praise Singer for her dedication to creating courses that inspired them to give their best, even when they didn\u0026rsquo;t know all the answers.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Students praise Singer for her dedication to creating courses that inspired them to give their best, even when they didn\u2019t know all the answers."}],"uid":"27446","created_gmt":"2022-04-18 13:23:11","changed_gmt":"2022-04-21 16:22:23","author":"Joshua Stewart","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-04-18T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-04-18T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"649080":{"id":"649080","type":"image","title":"Annabelle Singer (horiz)","body":null,"created":"1627407369","gmt_created":"2021-07-27 17:36:09","changed":"1627407369","gmt_changed":"2021-07-27 17:36:09","alt":"Annabelle Singer headshot","file":{"fid":"246433","name":"Singer-Annabelle-h.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Singer-Annabelle-h.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Singer-Annabelle-h.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":301539,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Singer-Annabelle-h.jpg?itok=HPSKGC3M"}}},"media_ids":["649080"],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"181421","name":"Annabelle Singer"},{"id":"181038","name":"CTL\/BP teaching award"},{"id":"172443","name":"Center for Teaching and Learning"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"249","name":"Biomedical Engineering"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jstewart@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJoshua Stewart\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jstewart@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"657486":{"#nid":"657486","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Neuroengineer Jeffrey Markowitz Joins Coulter BME Faculty","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAs a graduate student, \u003Ca href=\u0022\/bme\/faculty\/Jeffrey-Markowitz\u0022\u003EJeffrey Markowitz\u003C\/a\u003E joined a lab that was studying how zebra finches create their courtship song. The finches could learn their father\u0026rsquo;s song and then generate the exact same sequence of muscle movements up to a thousand times a day for years and years with near-perfect precision.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFrom then on, Markowitz was hooked on understanding how the brain controls motor sequencing.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn March, Markowitz became the newest faculty member in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, where he will continue to \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/markolab.github.io\/\u0022\u003Eunravel how the brain controls action with a combination of computational, engineering, and biological approaches.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The same brain circuits that control action selection also, when they go awry, lead to debilitating disorders, such Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s disease. We hope that through advancing our understanding the function and logic of these circuits, and through engineering new approaches to controlling their activity, we can pave the way toward new therapeutics for neurological disease,\u0026rdquo; Markowitz said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESome of his primary work is exploring the potential of deep brain stimulation to help patients with neurological disease.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It seems reasonable to assume that one pattern [of stimulation] might work in one context, and a completely different pattern might be required in another. So, a primary thrust in my lab is to develop new closed-loop approaches to deep brain stimulation,\u0026rdquo; Markowitz said. \u0026ldquo;We want to use machine learning to rapidly detect the state of the brain and the body, and then deliver tailored stimulation in response.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMarkowitz recently finished his postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School. He earned his Ph.D. at Boston University and his bachelor\u0026rsquo;s at Johns Hopkins University.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENew faculty member uses a combination of computational, engineering, and biological approaches to unravel how the brain controls action.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"New faculty member uses a combination of computational, engineering, and biological approaches to unravel how the brain controls action."}],"uid":"27446","created_gmt":"2022-03-15 16:16:22","changed_gmt":"2022-04-21 16:18:42","author":"Joshua Stewart","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-03-15T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-03-15T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"657483":{"id":"657483","type":"image","title":"Jeffrey Markowitz (vertical)","body":null,"created":"1650557460","gmt_created":"2022-04-21 16:11:00","changed":"1650557460","gmt_changed":"2022-04-21 16:11:00","alt":"Jeffrey Markowitz headshot","file":{"fid":"249197","name":"Markowitz-Jeffrey-v.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Markowitz-Jeffrey-v.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Markowitz-Jeffrey-v.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":346309,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Markowitz-Jeffrey-v.jpg?itok=dbPFu3CZ"}}},"media_ids":["657483"],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"190409","name":"Jeffrey Markowitz"},{"id":"249","name":"Biomedical Engineering"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jstewart@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJoshua Stewart\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jstewart@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"657485":{"#nid":"657485","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Keilholz, Lam, Singh Elected to AIMBE College of Fellows","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThree faculty members in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering have \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/aimbe.org\/2022-aimbe-fellows\/\u0022\u003Ejoined the distinguished College of Fellows\u003C\/a\u003E of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EElection to fellow means \u003Ca href=\u0022\/bme\/faculty\/Shella-Keilholz\u0022\u003EShella Keilholz\u003C\/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022\/bme\/faculty\/Wilbur-A.-Lam\u0022\u003EWilbur Lam\u003C\/a\u003E, and \u003Ca href=\u0022\/bme\/faculty\/Ankur-Singh\u0022\u003EAnkur Singh\u003C\/a\u003E are considered among the most accomplished professionals in the field: \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/aimbe.org\/college-of-fellows\/about\/\u0022\u003EFellows represent just the top 2% of medical and biological engineers in the nation\u003C\/a\u003E, according to \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/aimbe.org\/\u0022\u003Ethe organization more commonly known as AIMBE.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Being elected as a fellow of AIMBE is one of the most significant honors of my career,\u0026rdquo; said Lam, a physician and professor in the Coulter Department and the Emory Department of Pediatrics. \u0026ldquo;Almost every fellow in AIMBE right now, including faculty from our own Department here at Emory and Georgia Tech, is a biomedical engineering hero of mine.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EKeilholz echoed that sentiment and said she is looking forward to engaging with other fellows.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;What impresses me most about AIMBE is the expectation that fellows give back to society and advocate for science. I\u0026rsquo;m honored to be part of a group that is dedicated to making the world better,\u0026rdquo; Keilholz said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESingh called his election as an AIMBE fellow \u0026ldquo;pivotal to my academic career. It will now allow me to work with a cohort of dedicated scientists toward developing and implementing innovative approaches to bioengineering education, research, and advocacy for research funding.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESingh is an associate professor in Coulter BME and Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/singhlab.bme.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EHis research lab\u003C\/a\u003E creates biomaterials-based immune tissues to mimic the structure and function of lymph nodes so they can study interactions between cells and cell decision-making. These models are tiny 3D tissue cultures grown from patient cells called organoids, or \u0026ldquo;on-chip\u0026rdquo; systems that draw inspiration from circuits on a microchip to create tiny channels and chambers on silicon wafers that recreate the flow and forces of tissues in the body.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EKeilholz, a professor in the Coulter Department, also has been serving as interim associate chair for faculty development. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sites.google.com\/view\/keilholz-lab\/home\u0022\u003EHer work connects\u003C\/a\u003E neuroscience, signal processing, and complex systems analysis to develop imaging methods to study networks of activity in the brain and provide tools to diagnose and treat clinical manifestations of brain dysfunction. The AIMBE College of Fellows also highlighted her work increasing inclusivity in science.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/lamlab.bme.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ELam\u0026rsquo;s lab\u003C\/a\u003E integrates micro- and nanotechnology and experimental hematology and oncology to study, diagnose, and treat blood disorders, cancer, and childhood diseases. He also leads the Atlanta Center for Microsystems Engineered Point-of-Care Technology Center, which has played a key role in validating the accuracy of Covid-19 at-home tests for the National Institutes of Health.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELam called himself a late-blooming biomedical engineer, which makes fellowship in AIMBE all the more special, he said. Lam didn\u0026rsquo;t major in engineering in college and was a physician-in-training before he became \u0026ldquo;enamored by the field,\u0026rdquo; and only went back to pursue a Ph.D. in bioengineering after his pediatrics residency.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;As such, to receive this bona fide biomedical engineering accolade by the top biomedical engineering society is especially humbling and gratifying for me,\u0026rdquo; Lam said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBecoming a fellow of AIMBE is increasingly difficult, and it comes with expectations, as Keilholz noted: The organization expects fellows to give back, advance excellence, and advocate for medical and biological engineering.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESingh said the competitiveness of the selection process for new fellows is not lost on him, and he is grateful for the opportunity to contribute.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Election to AIMBE underscores the importance of thinking outside the box and championing transformative interdisciplinary research,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;I am fortunate that the outstanding environment at Georgia Tech and my collaborations with Emory Medicine, among others, continue to provide a fertile ground for pushing cutting-edge research.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESingh, Lam, and Keilholz join more than two dozen current Coulter Department faculty members as AIMBE Fellows, including former chair Susan Margulies, who has served as chair of the AIMBE College of Fellows for 2021. Several of the association\u0026rsquo;s fellows are Nobel Laureates, and many are members of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine.\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ece.gatech.edu\/news\/655488\/inan-elected-2022-class-aimbe-college-fellows\u0022\u003EThe 2022 class of fellows also includes another Georgia Tech researcher\u003C\/a\u003E: \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ece.gatech.edu\/faculty-staff-directory\/omer-t-inan\u0022\u003EOmer Inan\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a member of Coulter BME\u0026#39;s Ph.D. program faculty.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe new class of fellows will be inducted officially at the organization\u0026rsquo;s annual meeting in March.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFellows represent just the top 2% of medical and biological engineers in the nation, according to AIMBE.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Fellows represent just the top 2% of medical and biological engineers in the nation, according to AIMBE."}],"uid":"27446","created_gmt":"2022-02-18 17:13:01","changed_gmt":"2022-04-21 16:16:01","author":"Joshua Stewart","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-02-18T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2022-02-18T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"657482":{"id":"657482","type":"image","title":"2022 AIMBE Fellows - Keilholz, Lam, Singh","body":null,"created":"1650557386","gmt_created":"2022-04-21 16:09:46","changed":"1650557386","gmt_changed":"2022-04-21 16:09:46","alt":"Headshots of Shella Keilholz, Wilbur Lam, and Ankur Singh. Text: Elected as Fellows of American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).","file":{"fid":"249196","name":"AIMBE-fellows-Keilholz-Lam-Singh-by-Manit-Rambhia-h.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/AIMBE-fellows-Keilholz-Lam-Singh-by-Manit-Rambhia-h.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/AIMBE-fellows-Keilholz-Lam-Singh-by-Manit-Rambhia-h.png","mime":"image\/png","size":420911,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/AIMBE-fellows-Keilholz-Lam-Singh-by-Manit-Rambhia-h.png?itok=p8t5YBdS"}}},"media_ids":["657482"],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"1007","name":"AIMBE"},{"id":"16371","name":"AIMBE Fellow"},{"id":"190408","name":"Shella Keilholz"},{"id":"14681","name":"Wilbur Lam"},{"id":"15184","name":"Ankur Singh"},{"id":"249","name":"Biomedical Engineering"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jstewart@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJoshua Stewart\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jstewart@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"654648":{"#nid":"654648","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Haider Studying Neural Traffic Jams in Autism","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn people with autism, neural \u0026ldquo;traffic jams\u0026rdquo; may slow the flow of information along visual routes in the brain, delaying timely, responsive actions.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EJust as highway departments study vehicle traffic flow, Georgia Tech and Emory researcher\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Bilal-Haider\u0022 tabindex=\u0022-1\u0022\u003EBilal Haider\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;is studying neural traffic in the brain to understand the holdups, and his discoveries could lead to therapeutic techniques to \u0026ldquo;unjam\u0026rdquo; the flow of neural information.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENow the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.sfari.org\/\u0022 tabindex=\u0022-1\u0022\u003ESimons Foundation Autism Research Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(SFARI) is supporting his efforts. In December, Haider received one of 17 SFARI\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.sfari.org\/2021\/12\/17\/sfari-2021-pilot-awardees-announced\/\u0022 tabindex=\u0022-1\u0022\u003EPilot Awards\u003C\/a\u003E, part of a $5 million national initiative supporting exploratory ideas with the potential to transform autism spectrum disorder research.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This will be one of the first studies to test the idea that, because \u0026lsquo;traffic\u0026rsquo; is slowed at multiple points in the brain, visual messages never get to the final destination to cause an action on time,\u0026rdquo; said Haider, assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. \u0026ldquo;Typical studies only focus on one area at a time. This one will be among the first to try and connect all the major dots along the route.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/haider.gatech.edu\/\u0022 tabindex=\u0022-1\u0022\u003EHaider\u0026rsquo;s lab\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;will use the three-year, $300,000 grant to comprehensively measure neural activity in mice while they view, process, and respond to visual stimuli. The idea, Haider said, is to develop a full picture of visual brain area activity using neural probe technology developed in part by his former colleagues at University College London. The probes will target each visual destination on the map to track electrical firing along the neural route.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe team will first identify a network of specialized visual brain areas \u0026mdash; up to eight distinct regions \u0026mdash; using a 20-year-old standard technique called blood flow imaging. The researchers have developed a way to make the skull transparent and image brain blood flow, basically using glass windows and a compound called cyanoacrylate.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s Krazy Glue, essentially, and it keeps the skull healthy and intact so that we can later make really stable and uncompromised neural recordings with electrical probes in all of the destinations on the map, across several days or even weeks of recordings,\u0026rdquo; Haider said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis kind of investigation with delicate neural probes in the brain would be difficult if the skull was removed in a mouse that is awake, breathing, and moving while performing a visual task.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe imaging tracks the amount of oxygen in blood by measuring how much light gets reflected back from the brain. \u0026nbsp;So, with a high-speed camera and a bright red light focused on the brain surface, Haider\u0026rsquo;s team will measure the active versus inactive areas of the brain that demand oxygenated blood.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EUsing this system while showing the mouse strong flashing and moving visual stimuli, the researchers can find the active visual areas of the brain and build a map of the visual brain areas. The team will study both typical, wildtype mice, and also mice that have been engineered to have the same genetic mutation as some people with autism.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Our goal is to measure how networks of neurons across these eight brain areas might miscommunicate, or get lost along the route, and lead to impairments of visual perception in the autism model mice,\u0026rdquo; Haider said. \u0026ldquo;We expect that the flow of visual information \u0026mdash; the neural \u0026lsquo;traffic\u0026rsquo; on the map \u0026mdash; during visual task performance in the autism model mice will be slower and less orderly than in the typical wildtype mice.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe findings of this research could help in the development of new therapeutic techniques to \u0026ldquo;unjam\u0026rdquo; the traffic at the key points of the route and speed up or restore behavioral performance. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;A longer-term application would be to connect with clinicians and human brain researchers who study individuals with autism,\u0026rdquo; Haider said. \u0026ldquo;Then we could see if EEG or functional MRI activity in people with autism also shows evidence of neural traffic jams along the same visual routes, and if these correlate with visual disturbances or poorer visual behaviors.\u0026nbsp;We could also test promising therapeutics in mice to see if they \u0026lsquo;unjam\u0026rsquo; traffic and improve behavior.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EContact\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022 tabindex=\u0022-1\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERelated Links\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.sfari.org\/2021\/12\/17\/sfari-2021-pilot-awardees-announced\/\u0022 tabindex=\u0022-1\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EComplete list of SFARI Pilot Award winners\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/haider.gatech.edu\/\u0022 tabindex=\u0022-1\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EHaider Lab\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Simons Foundation award supports research of information flow along the visual neural highway"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESimons Foundation award supports research of information flow along the visual neural highway\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Simons Foundation award supports research of information flow along the visual neural highway"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2022-01-21 02:35:28","changed_gmt":"2022-04-21 16:04:45","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-01-20T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2022-01-20T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"654647":{"id":"654647","type":"image","title":"Bilal Haider","body":null,"created":"1642732205","gmt_created":"2022-01-21 02:30:05","changed":"1642732205","gmt_changed":"2022-01-21 02:30:05","alt":"","file":{"fid":"248264","name":"180316AR109-DEV.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/180316AR109-DEV.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/180316AR109-DEV.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":607556,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/180316AR109-DEV.jpg?itok=mabAJM5v"}}},"media_ids":["654647"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"6053","name":"Autism"},{"id":"168618","name":"neural engineering"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"656156":{"#nid":"656156","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Haider\u2019s Window System Allows for Long-Term Studies of Brain Activity","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBilal Haider is studying how multiple areas of the brain work together for visual perception.\u0026nbsp; This could help researchers understand if neural activity \u0026ldquo;traffic jams\u0026rdquo; underlie all kinds of visual impairments: from running a red light when visual attention is elsewhere, to shedding light on the autism-affected brain.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETo do this kind of work, researchers need a reliable \u0026ldquo;map\u0026rdquo; of all the visual brain areas with specific coordinates for each unique brain. Drawing the map requires monitoring and recording data from an active, working brain, which usually means creating a window in the skull to watch blood flow activity.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHaider\u0026rsquo;s team has developed a better approach \u0026mdash; a new kind of window that\u0026rsquo;s more stable and allows for longer-term studies. The assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University explains how in a paper published in February in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-022-05932-2\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EScientific Reports, \u003C\/em\u003Ean open access forum of \u003Cem\u003ENature\u003C\/em\u003E publishing\u003Cem\u003E.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETo get a clear image of the brain\u0026rsquo;s visual network, Haider\u0026rsquo;s lab uses an established technique called blood flow imaging, which tracks oxygen in the blood, measuring the active and inactive areas of a mouse brain while the animal views visual stimuli. To capture a strong blood flow signal, researchers typically create a cranial window by thinning the skull or removing a piece of it altogether. These procedures can diminish stability in the awake, pulsing brain \u0026mdash; detrimental conditions for delicate electrophysiological measurements made in the same visual areas after imaging.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Standard windows give really good pictures of the vasculature,\u0026rdquo; Haider said. \u0026ldquo;But the downside is, if you\u0026rsquo;re working with an animal learning how to perform a sophisticated task that requires weeks of training, and you want to do neural recordings from the brain later, that area has been compromised if the skull is missing or thinned out.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe team\u0026rsquo;s new cranial window system allows for high-quality blood flow imaging and stable electrical recordings for weeks or even months. The secret is a surgical glue called Vetbond \u0026mdash; which contains cyanoacrylate, the same compound that\u0026rsquo;s in Krazy Glue \u0026mdash; and a tiny glass window.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBasically, a thin layer of the glue is applied to the skull with a micropipette and a curved glass coverslip is placed on top of that. The cyanoacrylate creates a \u0026ldquo;transparent skull\u0026rdquo; effect. Haider\u0026rsquo;s team developed the new window system and then vetted the accuracy of the resulting visual brain maps.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Sometimes the simplest things work. The glue creates a barrier allowing all of the normal physiological processes underneath to carry on, but leaving the bone transparent,\u0026rdquo; Haider said. \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s like putting a protector on your smartphone. The protector is over the glass surface, but everything underneath stays crystal clear and functioning.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHaider\u0026rsquo;s approach will help his team accomplish their larger goals \u0026mdash; to measure the activity of neurons in the brain\u0026rsquo;s visual pathways and understand how neural traffic jams diminish our visual attention, and how these processes may contribute to visual impairments in people with autism. It\u0026rsquo;s work that\u0026rsquo;s getting a boost, thanks to recent support of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/news\/haider-studying-neural-traffic-jams-autism\u0022\u003ESimons Foundation Autism Research Initiative\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHaider said proper study of brain function requires repeatable measurements of neural activity, so he has made the new window system publicly available.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We think this will be useful tool for other researchers,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;We made the code, all the hardware, all the specs of the system, everything, totally public so that other people can try it themselves. We designed this to use in our study of the visual brain, but it can potentially be used to study other brain areas in a way that allows researchers to do long-term experiments while keeping the brain stable and healthy.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis work was supported by the Whitehall Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the National Institutes of Health (grant Nos. NS107968 and NS109978), and a grant from the Simons Foundation (SFARI 600343). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of any funding agency.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECITATION:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;A. Nsiangani, J. Del Rosario, A.C. Yeh, D. Shin, S. Wells, T. Lev-Ari, B. Williams, B. Haider, \u0026ldquo;Optimizing intact skull intrinsic signal imaging for subsequent targeted electrophysiology across mouse visual cortex.\u0026rdquo; (Scientific Reports, Feb. 2022)\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41598-022-05932-2\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41598-022-05932-2\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELINKS\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/news\/haider-studying-neural-traffic-jams-autism\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/news\/haider-studying-neural-traffic-jams-autism\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/haider.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/haider.gatech.edu\/\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Bilal-Haider\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Bilal-Haider\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EHaider lab develops tools to study neural traffic jams\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Haider lab develops tools to study neural traffic jams"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2022-03-09 18:19:33","changed_gmt":"2022-04-21 15:57:10","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-03-09T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2022-03-09T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"656155":{"id":"656155","type":"image","title":"Haider window closeup","body":null,"created":"1646849623","gmt_created":"2022-03-09 18:13:43","changed":"1646849623","gmt_changed":"2022-03-09 18:13:43","alt":"","file":{"fid":"248747","name":"window closeup.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/window%20closeup.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/window%20closeup.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":529589,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/window%20closeup.jpg?itok=r55t-RZ6"}}},"media_ids":["656155"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"6053","name":"Autism"},{"id":"5443","name":"Neuroengineering"},{"id":"190136","name":"simon\u0027s foundation"},{"id":"109","name":"Georgia Tech"},{"id":"188422","name":"Bilal Haider"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWriter: \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"655075":{"#nid":"655075","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Major Gift to Strengthen Tech-Emory Neurorehabilitation Research","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESince it was founded in 2002, the Applied Physiology Ph.D. program at Georgia Tech has had close ties to rehabilitation science. Now, thanks to the generosity of a Georgia Tech and Emory University alum\u0026rsquo;s family foundation, Applied Physiology will work with the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.med.emory.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EEmory University School of Medicine\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.shepherd.org\/patient-programs\/brain-injury\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EShepherd Center\u0026rsquo;s\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;Crawford Research Institute to create a new training program for Applied Physiology doctoral students focused on neurorehabilitation.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/graduate\/phd-applied-physiology\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EApplied Physiology\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;Ph.D.\u0026nbsp;program, part of the Georgia Tech\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E, focuses primarily on the physical and neural function of the human motor system. \u0026ldquo;Because of that,\u0026rdquo; explains\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/richard-nichols\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ET. Richard Nichols\u003C\/a\u003E, Biological Sciences professor and head of Applied Physiology, \u0026ldquo;rehabilitation has always been a very strong theme in our program.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThat deeper focus on rehabilitation sciences is now formalized by the creation of the Jack and Dana McCallum Neurorehabilitation Training Program. The new initiative is the result of a $1 million gift from Dana and Jack McCallum (BIO \u0026rsquo;66) that will be used over the next four years to support graduate student and faculty research, as well as train new scientists in neurorehabilitation.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEmory University School of Medicine, where Jack McCallum received his M.D., will be a close partner in developing the program. A course designed to train graduate students in clinical neurorehabilitation will be taught at the school in addition to collaborating closely in research funded by the investment.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This gift is really going to strengthen the tie between specifically Biological Sciences and the Emory University School of Medicine, which was the intention of the gift,\u0026rdquo; explains Biological Sciences professor and associate chair of faculty development\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bioengineering.gatech.edu\/people\/young-hui-chang\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EYoung-Hui Chang\u003C\/a\u003E. \u0026ldquo;I think it\u0026rsquo;s going to provide one more, but very strong, avenue for collaboration between the two institutions.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERefocusing on rehabilitation\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWith a clinical focus, research funded through the program will target aspects of rehabilitation for people who have neurological diseases like Parkinson disease \u0026mdash; or trauma, such as a spinal cord or brain injury.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe investment will also drive new major research focused on\u0026nbsp;understanding the neurophysiological basis for injury and recovery related to central and peripheral nervous system trauma, and on the preclinical development of potential therapies.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;As people survive and live longer with acquired conditions such as stroke and Parkinson disease, and with traumatic injuries such as brain and spinal cord injury, there is a tremendous demand for rehabilitation researchers to meet needs of the large and growing population of persons with neurologic conditions,\u0026rdquo; explains\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/rehabmed.emory.edu\/faculty.bios\/fieldfote-edelle.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EEdelle Field-Fote\u003C\/a\u003E, a professor with joint appointments in the Emory University School of Medicine and Applied Physiology at Georgia Tech, who also serves as director of spinal cord injury research at the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.shepherd.org\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EShepherd Center\u003C\/a\u003E. \u0026ldquo;The goal of the McCallum Neurorehabilitation Training Program is to help address this need. The program will develop rehabilitation scientists with the training to advance knowledge underlying clinical care and the skills to develop interventions that can reduce disability, thereby improving functioning and quality of life for persons with neurologic conditions.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch and practice in motion\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Applied Physiology graduate program is no stranger to clinical research and development, having served as home of a clinical master\u0026rsquo;s degree in prosthetics and orthotics, which migrated to\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/graduate.kennesaw.edu\/graduate-admissions\/graduate-programs\/prosthetics-orthotics.php\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EKennesaw State University\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;in 2020, and also hosting a training grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH), funding students whose research focused on rehabilitation for persons with limb loss. In 2018, Applied Physiology launched a dual Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Physical Therapy\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/graduate\/dual-doctor-physical-therapydoctor-philosophy\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Edegree program\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;in collaboration with the Division of Physical Therapy at Emory University, with Field-Fote as its director.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026quot;Emory University\u0026rsquo;s Division of Physical Therapy greatly values our collaborations with Georgia Tech and its Applied Physiology program,\u0026rdquo; shares\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.rehabmed.emory.edu\/faculty\/physical_therapy\/phillips_tambre.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ETami Phillips\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor and interim program director of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.emorydpt.org\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EDivision of Physical Therapy\u003C\/a\u003E. \u0026ldquo;The opportunity for Ph.D. students to work in research labs across institutions and D.P.T\/Ph.D. students to bridge the gap between clinical neurorehabilitation practice and research will lead to innovations that will benefit individuals with neurologic conditions.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAs Nichols points out, these ties between research and the clinic build a solid foundation for the new training program. \u0026ldquo;Our faculty in Applied Physiology are used to dealing with clinical collaborators and clinical problems, but we\u0026#39;re working more at a fundamental level in terms of the science. It really provides a nice environment for this training program and will help move us into a new area of neurorehabilitation.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENew funding for current graduate students in Applied Physiology, as well as those enrolling in the dual Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Physical Therapy program, is set to begin this year. Targeted toward advanced students, the efforts are expected to allow the Applied Physiology program to admit more new students and to award competitive McCallum Research Fellowships to help fund thesis research after they reach Ph.D. candidacy.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I am so grateful to Dana and Jack McCallum for their foresight and generosity,\u0026rdquo; shares Field-Fote. \u0026ldquo;I am most excited by the great potential that this program has for advancing the clinical care and foundational sciences related to neurorehabilitation.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EFor more information on the Applied Physiology program or the Jack and Dana McCallum Neurorehabilitation Training Program, contact Young-Hui Chang at\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:yh.chang@ap.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Eyh.chang@ap.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EFor more information on how to support the School of Biological Sciences or the Applied Physiology Program, contact Leslie Roberts at\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:leslie.roberts@cos.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Eleslie.roberts@cos.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u0026nbsp;a\u003C\/em\u003End visit: \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/giving\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ecos.gatech.edu\/giving\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Alum\u2019s family gift of $1 million to Applied Physiology marks the initiation of The Jack and Dana McCallum Neurorehabilitation Training Program across Georgia Tech, Emory University, and the Shepherd Center."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESince it was founded in 2002, the Applied Physiology Ph.D. program at Georgia Tech has had close ties to rehabilitation science. Now, thanks to the generosity of a Georgia Tech and Emory University alum\u0026rsquo;s family foundation, Applied Physiology will work with the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.med.emory.edu\/\u0022\u003EEmory University School of Medicine\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.shepherd.org\/patient-programs\/brain-injury\u0022\u003EShepherd Center\u0026rsquo;s\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;Crawford Research Institute to create a new training program for Applied Physiology doctoral students focused on neurorehabilitation.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Thanks to the generosity of a Georgia Tech and Emory University alum, the Applied Physiology Ph.D. program at Georgia Tech will work with the Emory University School of Medicine and Shepherd Center to create a new neurorehabilitation training program."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2022-02-02 17:05:32","changed_gmt":"2022-03-24 16:15:28","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-02-02T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2022-02-02T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"655099":{"id":"655099","type":"image","title":"The new Jack and Dana McCallum Neurorehabilitation Training Program will\u00a0drive major research focused on understanding the neurophysiological basis for neurological injuries, and on the preclinical development of potential therapies. Photo: CDC.","body":null,"created":"1643833664","gmt_created":"2022-02-02 20:27:44","changed":"1643836041","gmt_changed":"2022-02-02 21:07:21","alt":"","file":{"fid":"248386","name":"DoctorBrainTech-large.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/DoctorBrainTech-large.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/DoctorBrainTech-large.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":92753,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/DoctorBrainTech-large.jpg?itok=VRwT0Ql7"}},"655071":{"id":"655071","type":"image","title":"T. Richard Nichols, Biological Sciences professor and head of Applied Physiology.","body":null,"created":"1643820420","gmt_created":"2022-02-02 16:47:00","changed":"1643820420","gmt_changed":"2022-02-02 16:47:00","alt":"","file":{"fid":"248373","name":"T RICHARD NICHOLS.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/T%20RICHARD%20NICHOLS_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/T%20RICHARD%20NICHOLS_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":167775,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/T%20RICHARD%20NICHOLS_0.jpg?itok=C9xU8V_K"}},"655074":{"id":"655074","type":"image","title":"Young-Hui Chang, Biological Sciences professor and associate chair of faculty development.","body":null,"created":"1643820822","gmt_created":"2022-02-02 16:53:42","changed":"1643821751","gmt_changed":"2022-02-02 17:09:11","alt":"","file":{"fid":"248377","name":"YHChang_2015.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/YHChang_2015.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/YHChang_2015.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":315473,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/YHChang_2015.jpg?itok=C_E_TS1r"}},"655072":{"id":"655072","type":"image","title":"Edelle Field-Fote, a professor with joint appointments in the Emory University School of Medicine and Applied Physiology at Georgia Tech.","body":null,"created":"1643820594","gmt_created":"2022-02-02 16:49:54","changed":"1643820594","gmt_changed":"2022-02-02 16:49:54","alt":"","file":{"fid":"248374","name":"EFieldFote_2015.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/EFieldFote_2015.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/EFieldFote_2015.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":912472,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/EFieldFote_2015.jpg?itok=bisvNhJ-"}},"655073":{"id":"655073","type":"image","title":"Tami Phillips, associate professor and interim program director of the Division of Physical Therapy in the Emory University School of Medicine.","body":null,"created":"1643820681","gmt_created":"2022-02-02 16:51:21","changed":"1643820681","gmt_changed":"2022-02-02 16:51:21","alt":"","file":{"fid":"248375","name":"phillips.tami_.coat_.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/phillips.tami_.coat_.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/phillips.tami_.coat_.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":45345,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/phillips.tami_.coat_.jpg?itok=qkJmUhEL"}}},"media_ids":["655099","655071","655074","655072","655073"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/graduate\/phd-applied-physiology","title":"Learn more about the Applied Physiology Ph.D. program"},{"url":"https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/graduate\/dual-doctor-physical-therapydoctor-philosophy","title":"More about the dual Ph.D.\/D.P.T. program"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"115461","name":"Applied Physiology"},{"id":"189888","name":"Neurorehabilitation"},{"id":"2305","name":"Emory University"},{"id":"189889","name":"Major gift"},{"id":"554","name":"rehabilitation"},{"id":"506","name":"alumni"},{"id":"166882","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAudra Davidson\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences at Georgia Tech\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\ndavidson.audra@gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["davidson.audra@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"655645":{"#nid":"655645","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Hannah Choi Named A Sloan Fellow","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hannahchoi.math.gatech.edu\/people\/about-hannah-choi\/\u0022\u003EHannah Choi\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/math.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Mathematics\u003C\/a\u003E has joined the ranks of Georgia Tech early career scientists selected to receive prestigious Sloan Research Fellowships.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hannahchoi.math.gatech.edu\/people\/about-hannah-choi\/\u0022\u003EChoi\u003C\/a\u003E and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\/people\/la%20pierre\/henry\u0022\u003EHenry S. \u0026ldquo;Pete\u0026rdquo; La Pierre\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Chemistry and Biochemistry\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;are among 118 early career researchers across the United States and Canada named as\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sloan.org\/fellowships\/2022-Fellows\u0022\u003E2022 Sloan Fellows\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026quot;Today\u0026#39;s Sloan Research Fellows represent the scientific leaders of tomorrow,\u0026quot;\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sloan.org\/storage\/app\/media\/files\/press_releases\/Announcing-the-2022-Sloan-Research-Fellows.pdf\u0022\u003Esays Adam F. Falk\u003C\/a\u003E, president of the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sloan.org\/\u0022\u003EAlfred P. Sloan Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E. \u0026quot;As formidable young scholars, they are already shaping the research agenda within their respective fields \u0026mdash; and their trailblazing won\u0026#39;t end here.\u0026quot;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESloan Research Fellowships are some of the most competitive and prestigious awards available to early career researchers. They are also often seen as a marker of the quality of an institution\u0026rsquo;s science faculty \u0026mdash; and proof of an institution\u0026rsquo;s success in attracting the most promising junior researchers to its ranks. Since the first Fellowships were awarded in 1955, nearly 50 faculty from Georgia Institute of Technology have received the honor.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I am extremely excited and honored to be named a Sloan Fellow,\u0026rdquo; Choi says. \u0026ldquo;I am deeply grateful to my research group members, mentors, colleagues and collaborators who made this possible, and I appreciate support from the School of Mathematics and the College of Sciences very much.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EChoi plans to use the grant to expand on current research projects on biological neural networks. \u0026ldquo;Specifically, with this grant, I hope to investigate computational roles of network complexities manifested by diverse neural dynamics and intricate connectivity among different types of neurons, in data-driven, functional neural networks across multiple scales, modalities, and systems. This study, therefore, will help us better understand how robust and efficient computation emerges from the unique complexity of biological neural networks, which then can be applied to innovate neuromorphic computing.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hannahchoi.math.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EChoi Research Group in Mathematical Neuroscience\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026rsquo;s primary goal \u0026ldquo;is to understand how efficient and adaptable neural coding emerges from complex connectivity structure and rich neural dynamics in both biological and artificial neural networks at multiple scales.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESeveral current and former College of Sciences researchers \u0026mdash; along with\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sloan.org\/fellows-database\u0022\u003Ea number of College of Engineering faculty\u003C\/a\u003E \u0026mdash; are also recent recipients of Sloan Fellowships:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E2020:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/math.gatech.edu\/news\/yao-yao-selected-sloan-fellow-2020\u0022\u003EYao Yao\u003C\/a\u003E, School of Mathematics\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E2019:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/sloan-foundation-awards-fellowships-four-georgia-tech-emory-faculty\u0022\u003EKonstantin Tikhomirov\u003C\/a\u003E, School of Mathematics\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E2018:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/agarwal-warnke-named-2018-sloan-research-fellows\u0022\u003EVinayak Agarwal\u003C\/a\u003E, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E2018:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/agarwal-warnke-named-2018-sloan-research-fellows\u0022\u003ELutz Warnke\u003C\/a\u003E, School of Mathematics\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Hannah Choi is one of the latest Georgia Tech professors to receive a coveted Sloan Research Fellowship, bestowed upon \u201cscientific leaders of tomorrow\u201d for research excellence."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EHannah Choi of the School of Mathematics has won a Sloan Fellowship, one of the most prestigious awards presented to early career scientists.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Hannah Choi is one of the latest Georgia Tech professors to receive a coveted Sloan Research Fellowship, bestowed upon \u201cscientific leaders of tomorrow\u201d for research excellence."}],"uid":"27446","created_gmt":"2022-02-21 19:49:02","changed_gmt":"2022-02-21 19:57:13","author":"Joshua Stewart","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-02-16T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2022-02-16T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"655644":{"id":"655644","type":"image","title":"Hannah Choi","body":null,"created":"1645472912","gmt_created":"2022-02-21 19:48:32","changed":"1645472912","gmt_changed":"2022-02-21 19:48:32","alt":"Hannah Choi headshot","file":{"fid":"248570","name":"choi-hannah-193x300.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/choi-hannah-193x300.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/choi-hannah-193x300.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":10845,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/choi-hannah-193x300.jpg?itok=3TyVPUrr"}},"655524":{"id":"655524","type":"image","title":"2022 Sloan Research Fellowships","body":null,"created":"1645035228","gmt_created":"2022-02-16 18:13:48","changed":"1680031570","gmt_changed":"2023-03-28 19:26:10","alt":"","file":{"fid":"248518","name":"Sloan Research logo.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Sloan%20Research%20logo.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Sloan%20Research%20logo.png","mime":"image\/png","size":285536,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Sloan%20Research%20logo.png?itok=QxQamdEF"}}},"media_ids":["655644","655524"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/hannahchoi.math.gatech.edu","title":"Hannah Choi Research Group in Mathematical Neuroscience"}],"groups":[{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"141","name":"Chemistry and Chemical Engineering"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"168854","name":"School of Mathematics"},{"id":"171073","name":"Sloan Fellowships"},{"id":"189151","name":"Hannah Choi"},{"id":"189984","name":"Sloan Grants"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWriter: Renay San Miguel\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\/Science Writer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n404-894-5209\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEditor: Jess Hunt-Ralston\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nDirector of Communiations\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["renay.san@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"655145":{"#nid":"655145","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Exploring the Signals that Underlie Learning","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen you start learning how to do something new, like swinging a tennis racket or playing a musical instrument, the simplest tasks can feel difficult. Shifting from one chord to another on a guitar can require a lot of thought and concentration at first.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EYour brain is processing new sensations from the outside world \u0026mdash; how the instrument feels, sounds, looks \u0026mdash; and making decisions, based on those sensory signals, on what your muscles should do next. But practice makes perfect, right? As you gain experience, you hear the subtleties of the music and feel the strings with less effort; your fingers start moving around the fretboard with ease and seemingly without conscious thought.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We get better at something, more experienced, and it becomes more like a reflex rather than something we think about,\u0026rdquo; said neuroengineer \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Garrett-B.-Stanley\u0022\u003EGarrett Stanley\u003C\/a\u003E, who does play music but is more interested in the neuronal processes underlying this adaptive behavior, whether that means effortlessly playing a guitar, or getting dressed, or avoiding danger, or any useful behavior learned from experience.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Adaptive behavior in a constantly changing sensory environment is not only useful when you\u0026rsquo;re learning a new hobby,\u0026rdquo; added Stanley, professor and McCamish Foundation Distinguished Chair in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s crucial to survival.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWith that in mind, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/stanley.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EStanley\u0026rsquo;s lab\u003C\/a\u003E closely studied the neural signaling that correlates with adaptive behavior in mice, and what they found could be the first step toward new strategies to improve and speed up learning. The research, published Jan. 27 in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-022-28193-z\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ENature Communications\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, suggests that an area of the brain traditionally thought to be a basic sensory signaling center \u0026ndash; the primary somatosensory cortex \u0026ndash; plays a deeper role in decision making, and is part of an adaptive framework in the brain that facilitates flexible behavior as individuals gain experience.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EChristian Waiblinger, postdoctoral researcher and lead author of the study, described the primary somatosensory cortex, or S1, as an \u0026ldquo;earlier\u0026rdquo; region of the brain, where tactile stimulus from the outside world arrives. \u0026ldquo;S1 is specifically thought to pre-process stimuli in a basic way,\u0026rdquo; Waiblinger said. \u0026ldquo;It hasn\u0026rsquo;t traditionally been associated with more complex neural processes that relate to long-term adaptive strategies.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBut scientists have long speculated that this earlier region might play a key role in higher-level functions, and that it is part of a larger framework spanning different brain structures. It\u0026rsquo;s an idea that remained mostly conceptual and theoretical, with little experimental evidence to back it up. The Stanley lab now has some evidence.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETo measure brain activity in highly trained mice that are learning tasks in response to changing stimuli, the team used genetically encoded voltage imaging \u003Cem\u003Ein vivo\u003C\/em\u003E. That allows researchers to non-invasively record brain signals, tracking voltage-sensitive fluorescent proteins in the brain.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers designed a series of psychophysical experiments to evaluate the mice, looking at how the animals operated in a changing environment \u0026mdash; responding to whisker stimuli, being rewarded, adapting to shifting stimuli. And they measured the animals\u0026rsquo; associated underlying neuronal signals.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;What we found is, [the S1] brain area actually changes its activity over time,\u0026rdquo; Waiblinger said. \u0026ldquo;We just kept recording and training and recording, and over weeks and months, we saw an experience-dependent effect in the mice. The more experienced the animal got with the changing sensory landscape, the more this brain area changed and adapted.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ES1 was not only pre-processing tactile stimulus and producing the primary neuronal signals associated with that basic task \u0026mdash; it also was transmitting more complex signals necessary for adaptive behavior in a dynamically changing environment.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This area is the first part of the cortex that receives these signals, so it\u0026rsquo;s like everything is getting routed there,\u0026rdquo; Stanley said. \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s just the tip of the iceberg \u0026ndash; further into the cortex is where the higher-level stuff is supposed to happen, the cognitive stuff requiring decision making.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELike the primary somatosensory cortex, this study is also just the tip of the iceberg. But it\u0026rsquo;s given the team a new hypothesis, Waiblinger said: \u0026ldquo;As you become more experienced at a certain thing, those higher-level functions can occur a bit earlier \u0026mdash; they shift down in the hierarchy of the brain.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENext, said Stanley, is further investigation of other brain areas. He\u0026rsquo;d like to understand the flow of information that originates outside of our bodies and moves across the hierarchy of our brains as we gain experience.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;If we can tap into this and manipulate it in some way, we might be able to enhance learning,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;If we can understand this phenomenon, we might be able to influence the way that people learn and make it faster and better.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Stanley lab discovers expanded role for brain\u2019s sensory processing center"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EStanley lab discovers expanded role for brain\u0026rsquo;s sensory processing center\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Stanley lab discovers expanded role for brain\u2019s sensory processing center"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2022-02-03 18:34:10","changed_gmt":"2022-02-04 16:46:01","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-02-03T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2022-02-03T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"655143":{"id":"655143","type":"image","title":"Stanley and Waiblinger","body":null,"created":"1643912910","gmt_created":"2022-02-03 18:28:30","changed":"1643912910","gmt_changed":"2022-02-03 18:28:30","alt":"","file":{"fid":"248397","name":"StanleyLab.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/StanleyLab.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/StanleyLab.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":497156,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/StanleyLab.jpg?itok=BSRYZLfN"}},"655144":{"id":"655144","type":"image","title":"Stanley and Waiblinger 2","body":null,"created":"1643913003","gmt_created":"2022-02-03 18:30:03","changed":"1643913003","gmt_changed":"2022-02-03 18:30:03","alt":"","file":{"fid":"248398","name":"StanleyLab5.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/StanleyLab5.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/StanleyLab5.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":954737,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/StanleyLab5.jpg?itok=-KVhgtCD"}}},"media_ids":["655143","655144"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"5443","name":"Neuroengineering"},{"id":"189892","name":"adaptive behavior"},{"id":"189893","name":"sensory cortex"},{"id":"26461","name":"neurology"},{"id":"1304","name":"neuroscience"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWriter: \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"633573":{"#nid":"633573","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Lena Ting on Creative Thinking and Bridging Disciplines to Study Movement Disorders","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ELena Ting is in the liminal space between computation and neurophysiology, illumining how the brain works with the nervous and musculoskeletal systems to move the body. In this interview she explains how her diverse training experiences allow her to make waves in a new discipline, as director of the Neuromechanics Lab at Emory University, and to bring together researchers from different scientific backgrounds to study movement disorders. She also offers advice for embracing nonlinear thinking and charting your own path.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis article is part of Neuronline\u0026rsquo;s interview series \u0026ldquo;Entrepreneurial Women Combining Neuroscience, Engineering, and Tech,\u0026rdquo; which highlights the career paths and scientific accomplishments of female leaders and role models who are creatively bridging disciplines to improve lives.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat sparked your interest in mechanical engineering, and how did you decide to apply your training to neuroscience?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u0026rsquo;d always loved biology but did not like how it was taught, so I decided to go into a quantitative science. In the mechanical engineering program at Berkeley, I discovered I was interested in robotics and felt like we could design and control machines to understand how animals move.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI looked at labs that were using biology and engineering, and I actually worked in a neuroscience lab, looking at human movement control, but I found my love of science in a lab studying insect walking biomechanics. It occurred to me that I needed to know what the neurons tell the body to do, so I went to graduate school at Stanford to do simulations of movement from a biomechanical perspective.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EUntil then, I never thought I\u0026rsquo;d be a neuroscientist. It was so complicated, and I\u0026rsquo;d gone in to do computation, after all. After doing experiments, though, I decided I would like to go into neuroscience, and I did two postdocs \u0026mdash; one in Paris in spinal cord electrophysiology, and the other a behavioral neurophysiology postdoc in Oregon.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThroughout my training, I walked around the problem of locomotion, looking at many different fields and how they contribute to our understanding of how we move. In my lab now, we integrate all those different methods.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow would you describe your work?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn all of my work, my perspective is: What is that fundamental, scientific understanding we\u0026#39;re missing that would enable us to better understand movement disorders?\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u0026#39;m most well-known for muscle synergies or motor modules, which is the idea that we can observe the habitual patterns of muscle activity used to construct movements. I think of it as a library of biomechanical actions, and when I perform a new action, it\u0026rsquo;s based on that library of actions. We all have similar ones, but mine are unique to me.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor example, we\u0026rsquo;ve shown that dancers might have slightly different habitual patterns of movement that allow them to achieve a broader repertoire of movements. When they learn to do challenging tasks, they\u0026#39;re refining the motor modules they use in walking, so it also changes the way they walk. Instead of having to develop a whole new pattern, you\u0026#39;re sculpting your habitual one so that it can do more.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe reason we\u0026#39;re interested in it actually has to do with rehabilitation. My colleague Madeleine Hackney has people with Parkinson\u0026#39;s dance an adapted tango that affects how they walk every day.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EYou\u0026rsquo;ve taken inspiration from electrophysiology, neurophysiology, how dancers move, and the world around you, connecting many seemingly unrelated things. How did you develop this type of creative thinking?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy way of thinking naturally tends to be more integrative and holistic \u0026mdash; trying to look at how a principle integrates across different fields and how it might apply to patient populations. I\u0026rsquo;ve noticed other women in science think similarly.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn graduate school, however, you\u0026rsquo;re trained to follow the literature, which can be very linear.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESome of the arguments I saw in the literature seemed very one-or-the-other, and I thought, \u0026quot;They both make sense, and maybe they would work together.\u0026quot; I felt I wasn\u0026rsquo;t a good scientist because I didn\u0026rsquo;t understand why these ideas were at odds with each other.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThat hurt my confidence as a grad student, and I think it\u0026#39;s the reason I felt like each field I went to wasn\u0026#39;t quite right. I was moving from humans to animals to computation, trying to find my place. It wasn\u0026#39;t until I got my own lab when I was able to put it all together and make it work.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow did you learn to use your way of thinking to your advantage?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt was a challenge. In the meritocracy of science, that can be seen as lacking focus.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA lot of times, linear thinking causes hyper-specialization of fields. When you start integrating ideas across areas, then you have to get yourself into fields you may not be the world expert in. That can be very uncomfortable, and it makes it easy for people not to place stock in your ideas.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESo in mostly male-driven fields, if a woman comes in, she may be taken to sound like she doesn\u0026#39;t know what she\u0026#39;s talking about. I felt that, but I also felt the onus was on me to become confident enough in that field that I could explain myself.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow did you become more confident owning your work and sharing its impact?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt was scary at first. I didn\u0026#39;t know if I would get a faculty position. It\u0026#39;s a doubt a lot of people have, especially women. I needed encouragement to apply because I wasn\u0026#39;t sure I was ready.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen my dream job opened, I knew if I didn\u0026#39;t at least try, I would regret it. That really served as a catalyst for me to ask myself, \u0026ldquo;What am I scared of?\u0026rdquo; and, \u0026ldquo;If I could have that dream job, wasn\u0026#39;t it worth putting myself out there?\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThen, early in my assistant professor years, my postdoctoral mentor \u0026ldquo;made\u0026rdquo; me run a workshop at a conference. I was scared, but it was an extremely important experience. I had to speak to other colleagues whom, honestly, I was intimidated by, but the panel was really well-received, and I started to feel like I could be part of this community.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESince then I\u0026rsquo;ve realized people have different ways of thinking, and it doesn\u0026#39;t mean they\u0026#39;re smarter than or not as smart as me. People come to the table with different experiences, training, and ideas. Finding a way to communicate them is important for science, and it\u0026rsquo;s important to me. I found my place as a translator between different areas, bridging the differences in assumptions and ways of thinking across fields.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAs we work with roboticists and neurologists, I\u0026rsquo;ve continued to try to understand the lens by which different fields and people see the world and show them connections where they don\u0026#39;t think they exist. My lab\u0026rsquo;s culture reflects that.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIf we approach each other as equals, rather than from a place of thinking one field is better than another, it goes a lot farther toward having a fruitful collaboration.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat advice do you have for other women considering a similar career?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe advice I give to anyone looking to take the next step in their training is to think about what do you want to do in another field, and then challenge yourself to go beyond that and immerse yourself in that other field, so that the field that you create is in the in-between.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIf you\u0026rsquo;re a nonlinear thinker, it can take much longer to find what you\u0026#39;re looking for. I see that a lot with people who are more of a creative, scattered type like me. When I was kid I always wondered how people could know the one thing they wanted to spend all of their time doing. I felt like I had to know early on what it was that I wanted to do forever. I didn\u0026#39;t find that until after I\u0026rsquo;d gone through undergrad, grad school, two postdocs, and a faculty position, and honestly, it keeps changing. I now know that\u0026#39;s okay. That\u0026#39;s my way of discovering the world.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout Lena Ting, Ph.D.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELena Ting is codirector of the Georgia Tech and Emory Neural Engineering Centers and the John and Jan Portman Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Emory and Georgia Tech, and a professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Division of Physical Therapy at Emory University. She is director of the Neuromechanics Lab, which draws from neuroscience, biomechanics, rehabilitation, robotics, and physiology to study how movement intention translates to action. Focusing on complex, whole body human movements such as bipedal walking and standing balance, which have strong clinical relevance, as well as skilled movements seen in dancers and athletes, she uses computational and experimental methods to understand both normal and impaired movement control. She has discovered principles of human movement and, in collaboration with physical therapy researchers, is developing novel interventions for Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s disease, stroke, and spinal cord injury.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis article was originally published on\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neuronline.sfn.org\/career-paths\/lena-ting-on-creative-thinking-and-bridging-disciplines-to-study-movement-disorders?fbclid=IwAR3hySigU2vLQSEop3pJotsZYfWx9u-A7YSgldGZS-pYOecapnbz9FenH2U\u0022\u003ENEURONLINE\u003C\/a\u003E, March 9, 2020, by the Society for Neuroscience.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Ting is illuminating how the brain works with the nervous and musculoskeletal systems"}],"uid":"27349","created_gmt":"2020-03-12 18:33:38","changed_gmt":"2020-03-12 18:35:56","author":"Floyd Wood","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2020-03-12T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2020-03-12T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"625694":{"id":"625694","type":"image","title":"Lena Ting","body":null,"created":"1567705364","gmt_created":"2019-09-05 17:42:44","changed":"1567705364","gmt_changed":"2019-09-05 17:42:44","alt":"","file":{"fid":"238206","name":"Lena Ting-cropped (1).jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Lena%20Ting-cropped%20%281%29.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Lena%20Ting-cropped%20%281%29.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":467333,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Lena%20Ting-cropped%20%281%29.jpg?itok=RAO2e43f"}}},"media_ids":["625694"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/neuronline.sfn.org\/career-paths\/lena-ting-on-creative-thinking-and-bridging-disciplines-to-study-movement-disorders","title":"Read the Full Story"},{"url":"https:\/\/neuronline.sfn.org\/career-paths\/introducing-entrepreneurial-women-combining-neuroscience-engineering-and-tech","title":"Read More"}],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"632147":{"#nid":"632147","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Paying Attention to Attention\t","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESpatial attention is what happens when we selectively focus on a region in our visual field and quickly extract information from the scene. When you look for your friend with the yellow hat in the upper deck of the arena, and you filter out all the other yellow caps to find him, you\u0026rsquo;re utilizing spatial attention.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAt least, that\u0026rsquo;s how it works in a healthy brain. For people with a range of disparate ailments \u0026ndash; autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit disorders, or schizophrenia, for example \u0026ndash; finding the friend in the yellow hat isn\u0026rsquo;t all that simple. And so, understanding the role of attention in sensory perception is a critical component of neuro research, and ultimately, in the future development of better diagnostic tests or treatments, and also for the enhancement of normal attention.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWith all of that in mind, Georgia Institute of Technology researcher \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/haider.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EBilal Haider \u003C\/a\u003Eand his team are meticulously investigating the brain circuits and mechanisms underlying visual spatial attention, utilizing transgenic mice, publishing their most recent findings in the online journal, \u003Cem\u003ENature Communications\u003C\/em\u003E, with an article entitled, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-020-14355-4\u0022\u003E\u0026ldquo;Spatial attention enhances network, cellular and subthreshold responses in mouse visual cortex.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We figured out how to control and measure visual attention in the mouse brain,\u0026rdquo; said Haider, assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at Georgia Tech and Emory University (BME), and a researcher in the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We then found that attention to a point in space quickly causes widespread enhancement of neural responses to both faint and bright visual stimuli at that location \u0026ndash; just like increasing the volume amplifies all the details in the music, not just the vocals,\u0026rdquo; explained Haider.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe latest work builds on his lab\u0026rsquo;s previous research, which showed that mice are an excellent model system for studying how neural circuits mediate visual behavior, providing a useful platform for studying what happens when humans make fast decisions \u0026ndash; or when they don\u0026rsquo;t \u0026ndash; about visual information.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This paper sets us up to identify the neural circuits underlying these attentional effects using genetic technologies easily exploitable in mice, and also to investigate attention deficits in mouse models of neurological disease,\u0026rdquo; said Haider, whose collaborators\/co-writers were lead author Anderson Speed (BME graduate student), Joseph Del Rosario (BME grad student), and Navid Mikail (former BME undergraduate researcher in Haider\u0026rsquo;s lab).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe research was funded by \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003Ethe Whitehall Foundation, Sloan Foundation, GT Neural Engineering Center, NIH NINDS (1R01NS107968), and NIH BRAIN Initiative (1R01NS109978).\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"BME researcher Bilal Haider investigates the mechanisms of how we process what we see"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBME researcher Bilal Haider investigates the mechanisms of how we process what we see\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"BME researcher Bilal Haider investigates the mechanisms of how we process what we see"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2020-02-06 02:43:26","changed_gmt":"2020-02-06 02:43:26","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2020-02-05T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2020-02-05T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"632145":{"id":"632145","type":"image","title":"Speed and Haider","body":null,"created":"1580956477","gmt_created":"2020-02-06 02:34:37","changed":"1580956477","gmt_changed":"2020-02-06 02:34:37","alt":"","file":{"fid":"240521","name":"Anderson and Bilal.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Anderson%20and%20Bilal.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Anderson%20and%20Bilal.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":347250,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Anderson%20and%20Bilal.jpg?itok=fG6RhdaW"}},"632146":{"id":"632146","type":"image","title":"Mouse Brain","body":null,"created":"1580956641","gmt_created":"2020-02-06 02:37:21","changed":"1580956641","gmt_changed":"2020-02-06 02:37:21","alt":"","file":{"fid":"240522","name":"Speed_Haider_Attention_Image.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Speed_Haider_Attention_Image.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Speed_Haider_Attention_Image.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":873738,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Speed_Haider_Attention_Image.jpg?itok=8lMa9ij0"}}},"media_ids":["632145","632146"],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"},{"id":"126201","name":"go-neural"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"126591","name":"go-NeuralEngineering"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"629728":{"#nid":"629728","#data":{"type":"news","title":"New Levels of Brain Understanding","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThere is a growing national community of researchers taking our understanding of brain function to the next level, and some of them recently gathered at the Georgia Institute of Technology to share their vision at the Intelligent Interactions with the Brain (I2B) Workshop.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EInvestigators and students from Georgia Tech, Emory University, Carnegie Mellon, the University of Pittsburgh, Rice University, and Florida International University came together to explore research in areas such as computational engineering, computational neuroscience, and the clinical use of emerging neurotechnologies.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;With this great community of faculty and students, we have unique opportunities to do cutting-edge research using sophisticated computational methods to understand neural activity and their relationship to behaviors in health and disease,\u0026rdquo; said Lena Ting, professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Tech and Emory, and a researcher in the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We need new theories and technologies to understand brain as a dynamic and adaptive system that changes moment-by-moment, and in individual specific ways,\u0026rdquo; said Ting, who co-directed the event with fellow Coulter Department\/Petit Institute investigators, Chris Rozell and Garrett Stanley. \u0026ldquo;Ultimately such research can lead to smart neural technologies that adapt and change with us and which could treat neurological and psychiatric disorders.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe workshop evolved over two days (Nov. 6-7), starting at the Petit Institute, and concluding at the new Kendeda Building, the most sustainable building in the Southeast, one designed to generate more on-site electricity than it uses. An event like I2B injected its own kind of energy, covering a range of issues, including a few that aren\u0026rsquo;t typically part of neurotech development, including neuroethics (the impact of technologies on the human experience), \u0026ldquo;and the challenges of getting the technologies into humans in the first place,\u0026rdquo; Ting said. \u0026ldquo;We wanted to have public discussion that could seed these ideas in the next generation of students who will be advancing these technologies so they could think about these challenges at the beginning of their research careers.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAs a field, neuro research is exploding, according to Stanley, making interfaces between technology and the brain and nervous system inevitable \u0026ndash; and making the resulting technical, educational, and ethical challenges also inevitable.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;As neurotechnology starts to move from the lab to the clinic and industry, there are a lot of issues for our community to tackle,\u0026rdquo; Stanley said. \u0026ldquo;And I think we brought in a good team of people from different areas within neuro research to talk about these high-level issues, people who can help us move forward.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe research enterprise is on the cusp of understanding the brain well enough now to consider what could be a robust commercial venture around neurotechnologies, including investigators engaged in basic research. \u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;re certainly motivated by the idea that basic discoveries can have an impact on people down the road,\u0026rdquo; said Rozell, who is also a professor in Tech\u0026rsquo;s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. And we\u0026rsquo;ve got some powerful things to think about as we shape the future of the field.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAs the leadership team looks ahead to the next I2B workshop (there will be another, Stanley said), they remain committed to an inclusive, collaborative approach within the current six-university consortium, and beyond.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Neural engineering has to be a highly collaborative endeavor to be successful, reflecting the many perspectives and values of society,\u0026rdquo; said Ting, reflecting on her takeaways from the November workshop.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe effort she envisions would include not only the usual participants \u0026ndash; research engineers, scientists, and clinicians \u0026ndash; but also government, industry, patients, ethicists, the general public, \u0026ldquo;even artists,\u0026rdquo; Ting said. \u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s a tall order, but we are hoping to influence how we educate students and go about our research and be more inclusive of diverse perspectives and approaches.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"First-time neuro-workshop at Georgia Tech brings together consortium of universities to focus on research, technology, education, and ethics"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFirst-time neuro-workshop at Georgia Tech brings together consortium of universities to focus on research, technology, education, and ethics\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"First-time neuro-workshop at Georgia Tech brings together consortium of universities to focus on research, technology, education, and ethics"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2019-12-05 18:04:26","changed_gmt":"2019-12-20 17:13:45","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2019-12-05T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2019-12-05T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"629721":{"id":"629721","type":"image","title":"Chris Rozell presiding","body":null,"created":"1575567389","gmt_created":"2019-12-05 17:36:29","changed":"1575567631","gmt_changed":"2019-12-05 17:40:31","alt":"","file":{"fid":"239798","name":"Chris presiding.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Chris%20presiding.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Chris%20presiding.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3481224,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Chris%20presiding.jpg?itok=EATW5hio"}},"629725":{"id":"629725","type":"image","title":"Cope and Ting","body":null,"created":"1575568547","gmt_created":"2019-12-05 17:55:47","changed":"1575568547","gmt_changed":"2019-12-05 17:55:47","alt":"","file":{"fid":"239802","name":"Tim and Lena.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Tim%20and%20Lena.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Tim%20and%20Lena.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1053494,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Tim%20and%20Lena.jpg?itok=JwEMgNDj"}},"629727":{"id":"629727","type":"image","title":"Garrett Stanley","body":null,"created":"1575568677","gmt_created":"2019-12-05 17:57:57","changed":"1575568677","gmt_changed":"2019-12-05 17:57:57","alt":"","file":{"fid":"239804","name":"Garrett.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Garrett_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Garrett_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":807500,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Garrett_0.jpg?itok=c0njWqev"}},"629724":{"id":"629724","type":"image","title":"Annabelle presentation","body":null,"created":"1575567937","gmt_created":"2019-12-05 17:45:37","changed":"1575567937","gmt_changed":"2019-12-05 17:45:37","alt":"","file":{"fid":"239801","name":"Annabelle Singer.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Annabelle%20Singer.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Annabelle%20Singer.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2004063,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Annabelle%20Singer.jpg?itok=-ropPesV"}},"629723":{"id":"629723","type":"image","title":"Chethan Pandarinath","body":null,"created":"1575567851","gmt_created":"2019-12-05 17:44:11","changed":"1575567851","gmt_changed":"2019-12-05 17:44:11","alt":"","file":{"fid":"239800","name":"Chethan.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Chethan.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Chethan.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2648158,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Chethan.jpg?itok=28stKhkM"}},"629726":{"id":"629726","type":"image","title":"I2B group","body":null,"created":"1575568618","gmt_created":"2019-12-05 17:56:58","changed":"1575568618","gmt_changed":"2019-12-05 17:56:58","alt":"","file":{"fid":"239803","name":"Group shot.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Group%20shot.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Group%20shot.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":490296,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Group%20shot.jpg?itok=2LsbaR8k"}}},"media_ids":["629721","629725","629727","629724","629723","629726"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"},{"id":"126201","name":"go-neural"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"183370","name":"go-nec"},{"id":"126591","name":"go-NeuralEngineering"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"622140":{"#nid":"622140","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Using Brain Wave Stimulation to Treat Alzheimer\u2019s","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENeuroscientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have demonstrated that by exposing mice to a unique combination of light and sound, they can improve cognitive and memory impairments similar to those seen in Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s patients.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe noninvasive treatment, which induces brain waves known as gamma oscillations, also greatly reduced the number of amyloid plaques found in the brains of these mice \u0026ndash; in Alzheimer patients, abnormal levels of amyloid (a naturally occurring protein) form plaques that gather between neurons and disrupt cell function.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers published their work, entitled \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cell.com\/cell\/fulltext\/S0092-8674(19)30163-1\u0022\u003E\u0026ldquo;Multi-sensory Gamma Stimulation Ameliorates Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s-Associated Pathology and Improves Cognition,\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/a\u003E earlier this spring in the journal \u003Cem\u003ECell\u003C\/em\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This research builds on our prior work by introducing multi-modal stimulation \u0026ndash; light and sound pulses together, as opposed to light alone \u0026ndash; which is able to affect neural activity in the memory centers of the brain,\u0026rdquo; said Abigail Paulson, co-lead author of the paper, and a graduate student in the lab of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/singer.gatech.edu\/lab\/\u0022\u003EAnnabelle Singer\u003C\/a\u003E, a researcher in the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at Georgia Tech, and assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Tech and Emory University.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This is really interesting to us as these brain regions are some of the first to be affected in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s disease,\u0026rdquo; added Paulson.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe other lead author was Anthony Martorell, a graduate student in the lab of Li-Huei Tsai, director of MIT\u0026rsquo;s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and the senior author of the study. Singer, a co-author of the study who is developing a non-invasive means to drive precision neural activity while drafting the brain\u0026rsquo;s immune system to treat disease, was awarded an R01 grant ($2 million over five years) from the NIH last year to support further efforts in this arena.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Traditionally, stimulation methods have been invasive or they usually don\u0026rsquo;t reach deep brain structures,\u0026rdquo; Singer said. \u0026ldquo;There\u0026rsquo;s been some work in this area, but there aren\u0026rsquo;t many options \u0026ndash; for one thing, they\u0026rsquo;re not very fast, they don\u0026rsquo;t have millisecond precision.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis latest research with her former colleagues at MIT (where Singer was a postdoctoral researcher) proves, in mice, that the noninvasive treatment works not only in the visual cortex (as an earlier study demonstrated), \u0026ldquo;but also in hippocampus, in the brain\u0026rsquo;s memory centers,\u0026rdquo; said Singer, who believes the novel approach will spur new therapeutic approaches to Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s and other neurological diseases, \u0026ldquo;and galvanize new basic science research with wide-ranging impact.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the future, Paulson said, \u0026ldquo;we are planning to investigate how this sensory stimulation affects neural activity during behavior and memory processes.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFurther study will be needed to determine if the treatment will work in human patients. Along those lines, Singer\u0026rsquo;s lab is collaborating with Emory physician researchers Jim Lah (who directs Emory\u0026rsquo;s Cognitive Neurology Program) and Allan Levey (director of the Emory Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s Disease Research Center).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Georgia Tech and MIT researchers develop noninvasive treatment to improve memory and reduce amyloid plaques in mice"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech and MIT researchers develop noninvasive treatment to improve memory and reduce amyloid plaques in mice\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech and MIT researchers develop noninvasive treatment to improve memory and reduce amyloid plaques in mice"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2019-06-01 13:54:57","changed_gmt":"2019-06-01 13:54:57","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2019-06-01T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2019-06-01T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"622139":{"id":"622139","type":"image","title":"Abigail Paulson","body":null,"created":"1559396930","gmt_created":"2019-06-01 13:48:50","changed":"1559396930","gmt_changed":"2019-06-01 13:48:50","alt":"","file":{"fid":"236981","name":"ALP.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ALP.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ALP.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1055289,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/ALP.jpeg?itok=cCOgdG24"}},"597407":{"id":"597407","type":"image","title":"Annabelle Singer","body":null,"created":"1508155250","gmt_created":"2017-10-16 12:00:50","changed":"1508155250","gmt_changed":"2017-10-16 12:00:50","alt":"","file":{"fid":"227719","name":"Annabelle_Singer.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Annabelle_Singer.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Annabelle_Singer.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2098126,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Annabelle_Singer.jpg?itok=qrVTCINo"}}},"media_ids":["622139","597407"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"181421","name":"Annabelle Singer"},{"id":"181422","name":"Alzheimer\u0027s research"},{"id":"30791","name":"gamma ray"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"620250":{"#nid":"620250","#data":{"type":"news","title":"How to Influence Perception","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMice have a bad and undeserved reputation as an animal that can\u0026rsquo;t see very well, a characterization upheld most notably (and somewhat tragically) by the song \u003Cem\u003EThree Blind Mice\u003C\/em\u003E. And also by the fact that mice really can\u0026rsquo;t see very well (they resolve less detail in a visual scene than humans).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBut, they see well enough to quickly detect visual stimuli throughout their visual fields.\u0026nbsp; \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/haider.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EBilal Haider\u003C\/a\u003E says this makes mice an excellent model system, \u0026ldquo;for studying how neural circuits mediate rapid visual behaviors \u0026ndash; mice are a very good model for studying what can happen in humans making fast decisions about visual information.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHaider, assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, and his colleagues prove the value of mice while demonstrating how the brain visually detects and perceives visual stimuli in their latest research, entitled \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cell.com\/cell-reports\/pdf\/S2211-1247(19)30216-5.pdf\u0022\u003E\u0026ldquo;Cortical State Fluctuations across Layers of V1 during Visual Spatial Perception,\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/a\u003E published recently in the journal \u003Cem\u003ECell Reports\u003C\/em\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This paper shows that mice can detect a small, faint object appearing very briefly and unpredictably in the visual field, and they can respond to this stimuli in less than half a second, and make a precise motor response,\u0026rdquo; explains Haider, corresponding author of the paper, whose co-researchers on the project were lead authors Anderson Speed and co-author Joseph Del Rosario, grad students in his lab, and Christopher P. Burgess, a researcher at Google DeepMind in the UK.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Actually, mice have a very fast visual system to produce actions, not that much slower than ours,\u0026rdquo; Haider adds.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the paper, the authors explain that behavioral factors like sleep, wakefulness, and movement have strong effects on the state of cortical activity. And while Haider and others have previous established that cortical states have profound effects on sensory responses, there remain unresolved questions about cortical states and their effects on the speed and accuracy of sensory perception.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESo, to address the questions they trained mice to detect visual stimuli appearing in discrete portions of the visual field. And they simultaneously measured local field potentials (an electrophysiological signal generated by the electric current flowing from large populations of neurons) and excitatory and inhibitory neuron populations across layers of the primary visual cortex that receives visual information.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThrough their experiments, Haider\u0026rsquo;s team showed that changes in cortical activity states exert strong, widespread effects in a mouse\u0026rsquo;s primary visual cortex, and can play a prominent role for visual spatial behavior.\u0026nbsp; Haider\u0026rsquo;s team could use this neural activity to \u0026ldquo;mind read\u0026rdquo; and accurately predict perceptual outcomes.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBasically, the team figured out, Haider says, \u0026ldquo;that the properties of the visual system in mice, especially the way they use vision for behavior, and the neural activity that we see in their visual system, is remarkably similar to what\u0026rsquo;s seen in primates and humans.\u0026nbsp; This will allow us to use the mouse as a platform for studying neural circuits underlying visual dysfunctions in models of neurological diseases.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Research from Haider lab demonstrates that visual behavior is impacted by the moment-to-moment state of activity in the primary visual cortex"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EResearch from Haider lab demonstrates that visual behavior is impacted by the moment-to-moment state of activity in the primary visual cortex\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Research from Haider lab demonstrates that visual behavior is impacted by the moment-to-moment state of activity in the primary visual cortex"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2019-04-09 19:34:39","changed_gmt":"2019-04-09 19:34:39","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2019-04-09T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2019-04-09T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"620249":{"id":"620249","type":"image","title":"Haider lab","body":null,"created":"1554837939","gmt_created":"2019-04-09 19:25:39","changed":"1554837939","gmt_changed":"2019-04-09 19:25:39","alt":"","file":{"fid":"236157","name":"Haider lab.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Haider%20lab.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Haider%20lab.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":518503,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Haider%20lab.jpg?itok=BhMTK3MJ"}}},"media_ids":["620249"],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"180997","name":"cortical vision"},{"id":"180998","name":"visual cortex"},{"id":"1612","name":"BME"},{"id":"180999","name":"mice"},{"id":"181000","name":"visual field"},{"id":"181001","name":"cortical activity"},{"id":"181002","name":"motor response"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"617329":{"#nid":"617329","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Support for New Strategies to Restore Movement","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EChethan Pandarinath\u003C\/strong\u003E, assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory, has been awarded an Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation Engineering Research Career Development Grant (IREK12) through the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Pandarinath is also an assistant professor of neurosurgery at Emory University and a member of the Emory Neuromodulation Technology Innovation Center (ENTICe).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe grant, entitled \u0026ldquo;A novel brain-machine interface for rehabilitation,\u0026rdquo; aims to develop new strategies to help restore movement to people who are paralyzed, including those affected by spinal cord injury and stroke. Brain-machine interface systems interface directly with the brain to allow people with paralysis to control external assistive devices, such as robotic arms or exoskeletons, or to control the movement of their own limbs through direct electrical stimulation of muscles.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn previous work at Stanford, Pandarinath and colleagues developed brain-machine interfaces that focused on a particular portion of the brain known as the motor cortex. In the current study, Pandarinath, in collaboration with colleagues in the departments of Neurosurgery and Neurology at Emory, hopes to test whether multiple areas of the brain, which each control different aspects of movement, might provide complementary signals for controlling brain-machine interfaces.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe mission of the Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation Engineering Career Development program is to recruit and train scholars with engineering and other quantitative backgrounds to become successful rehabilitation scientists in basic, translational, and\/or clinical research. These rehabilitation scientists will have the ability to integrate knowledge from the various disciplines involved in Movement and Rehabilitation Science (MRS) research, including engineering, quantitative neuroscience and physiology, and affiliated clinical sciences.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe program is supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under award number K12HD073945.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"BME\/Petit Institute researcher Chethan Pandarinath awarded NIH Grant to develop brain-machine interfaces for rehabilitation"}],"uid":"27513","created_gmt":"2019-02-05 14:46:26","changed_gmt":"2019-02-05 19:30:26","author":"Walter Rich","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2019-02-05T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2019-02-05T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"617327":{"id":"617327","type":"image","title":"Chethan Pandarinath, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University","body":null,"created":"1549377889","gmt_created":"2019-02-05 14:44:49","changed":"1549377904","gmt_changed":"2019-02-05 14:45:04","alt":"Chethan Pandarinath, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University","file":{"fid":"234954","name":"pandarinath_520.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/pandarinath_520_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/pandarinath_520_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":127851,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/pandarinath_520_0.jpg?itok=e6YgBwh_"}}},"media_ids":["617327"],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1612","name":"BME"},{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"126201","name":"go-neural"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWalter Rich\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["wrich@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"617166":{"#nid":"617166","#data":{"type":"news","title":"PatcherBot Going to Market","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFor decades, a laboratory technique called patch clamping has been the gold standard for measuring the electrical properties of individual cells.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe process, which has been particularly useful in neuroscience, involves bringing a pipette filled with electrolyte solution and a recording electrode connected to an amplifier, into contact with the membrane of a single cell. So basically, researchers can eavesdrop on the furtive chattering of neurons in the ongoing effort to unlock the brain\u0026rsquo;s secrets.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Thousands of people practice this technique every day around the world,\u0026rdquo; says Craig Forest, a researcher in the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at Georgia Tech. \u0026ldquo;But it is painfully tedious and time consuming.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESo \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/pbl.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EForest and his colleagues\u003C\/a\u003E decided to speed things up a bit. And now, their automated patch clamping robot \u0026ndash; the \u0026lsquo;patcherBot\u0026rsquo; \u0026ndash; is being commercialized and will be made available to researchers worldwide with the signed licensing agreement between Georgia Tech Research Corporation (GTRC) and Sensapex, an electrophysiology device company based in Finland.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This is exciting, because this technology is going from the lab, from some research journal articles, into the real world,\u0026rdquo; says Forest, associate professor in Tech\u0026rsquo;s Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and in the Coulter Department for Biomedical Engineering at Tech and Emory University.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Our mission is to develop tools that make new science possible,\u0026rdquo; he adds.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EForest\u0026rsquo;s lab has been working on iterations of the patcherBot for at least six years, developing an image guidance version to target cells and automation technology to create a tight seal between the glass pipette (one micron in diameter) and the cell membrane, which provides a direct electrical connection to the inside of the cell.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn 2016 the research team overturned decades of dogma in the field, developing a \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.rh.gatech.edu\/news\/583105\/robotic-cleaning-technique-could-automate-neuroscience-research\u0022\u003Erobotic technique for reusing the pipettes\u003C\/a\u003E \u0026ndash; for years, went the assumption, these tiny glass tubes could only be used once and were then thrown away. Ilya Kolb, a former graduate student in Forest\u0026rsquo;s lab, questioned this and set out to find a cleaning method, now patent pending, that could adequately sterilize the pipettes.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Traditionally, a researcher could do five to 10 recordings a day, and that\u0026rsquo;s if they\u0026rsquo;re really good,\u0026rdquo; Forest says. \u0026ldquo;Our idea was to clean the pipette automatically after each recording, so we could tell the robot to go back to cells over and over. You don\u0026rsquo;t even have to be in the room, just set it up and leave, and when you come back to the lab, you\u0026rsquo;ve recorded about 100 cells.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENow, a researcher in a biology lab doesn\u0026rsquo;t have to be an expert in pipette pulling or patch clamping, says Forest, who has talked about the technology \u0026ldquo;democratizing this area of research,\u0026rdquo; and sees the potential of patch clamping becoming as commonplace as PCR (polymerase chain reaction), a common biology technique to make many copies of DNA.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESensapex already has a customer \u0026ndash; the first patcherBot will be delivered in April 2019 to Janelia Research Campus, one of the world\u0026rsquo;s leading neuroscience research centers, part of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. And Forest\u0026rsquo;s former grad student, Kolb, is now a researcher at Janelia, which has been on a 10-year optogenetic mission to develop fluorescent molecules \u0026ndash; optogenetics uses light to control neurons that have been genetically modified to express light-sensitive ion channels.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAt the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in October, where 30,000 neuro-researchers will gather in Chicago, Sensapex will have the patcherBot on display.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?time_continue=4\u0026amp;v=OfhXAxIpsuA\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESee the patcherBot in action\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Automation technology developed in lab of Georgia Tech researcher Craig Forest being commercialized"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAutomation technology developed in lab of Georgia Tech researcher Craig Forest being commercialized\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Automation technology developed in lab of Georgia Tech researcher Craig Forest being commercialized"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2019-02-01 17:32:18","changed_gmt":"2019-02-01 17:32:18","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2019-02-01T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2019-02-01T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"617163":{"id":"617163","type":"image","title":"Craig Forest and Ilya Kolb","body":null,"created":"1549041850","gmt_created":"2019-02-01 17:24:10","changed":"1549041850","gmt_changed":"2019-02-01 17:24:10","alt":"","file":{"fid":"234888","name":"patch-clamp4296 copy.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/patch-clamp4296%20copy.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/patch-clamp4296%20copy.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":324970,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/patch-clamp4296%20copy.jpg?itok=8U6p9q-9"}},"617162":{"id":"617162","type":"image","title":"Craig Forest","body":null,"created":"1549041790","gmt_created":"2019-02-01 17:23:10","changed":"1549041790","gmt_changed":"2019-02-01 17:23:10","alt":"","file":{"fid":"234887","name":"Craig and Bot.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Craig%20and%20Bot.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Craig%20and%20Bot.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2725826,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Craig%20and%20Bot.jpg?itok=XCEMXngF"}},"617161":{"id":"617161","type":"image","title":"Ilya","body":null,"created":"1549041744","gmt_created":"2019-02-01 17:22:24","changed":"1549041744","gmt_changed":"2019-02-01 17:22:24","alt":"","file":{"fid":"234886","name":"ilyak.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ilyak.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ilyak.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":299339,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/ilyak.jpg?itok=qViI4Ipl"}},"617164":{"id":"617164","type":"image","title":"patcherBot","body":null,"created":"1549041889","gmt_created":"2019-02-01 17:24:49","changed":"1549041889","gmt_changed":"2019-02-01 17:24:49","alt":"","file":{"fid":"234889","name":"patch-clamp4251 copy.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/patch-clamp4251%20copy.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/patch-clamp4251%20copy.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":277038,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/patch-clamp4251%20copy.jpg?itok=yGa4h2wU"}}},"media_ids":["617163","617162","617161","617164"],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"},{"id":"126591","name":"go-NeuralEngineering"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"126201","name":"go-neural"},{"id":"180366","name":"patch clamping"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"616679":{"#nid":"616679","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Haider Receives BRAIN Award","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EYou want to find a friend in a crowded sports stadium because he has your cell phone. He\u0026rsquo;s wearing a yellow ballcap and sitting in the upper deck, so your eyes scan the scene like a camera, filtering out all of the visual clutter and you quickly zero in on the bobbing yellow ballcaps at the top of the stadium. This kind of sensory perception is called spatial attention, and it allows you to selectively process visual information by prioritizing areas within your visual field.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s a well-studied cognitive phenomenon \u0026ndash; we anticipate a certain color or a certain feature in a particular region of the visual scene,\u0026rdquo; says Bilal Haider, assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at Georgia Tech and Emory University, and a researcher in the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at Tech. \u0026ldquo;Attention allows your brain to focus and extract information from the scene very quickly.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHaider and his team are investigating, at a very detailed level, the circuits and mechanisms involved in visual spatial attention, and they recently received a BRAIN Award through the NIH to support their research.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPresident Barack Obama launched the BRAIN Initiative (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) in 2013, an international public-private research collaborative supporting the development and application of innovative technologies in an effort to produce a new dynamic picture of the brain that will show how individual cells and complex neural circuits interact in time and space.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe goal is to fill the gaps in our current knowledge and provide opportunities to investigate how the brain allows the human body to record, process, utilize, store, and retrieve massive amounts of information at the speed of thought. And Haider\u0026rsquo;s $2.1 million, five-year award, administered through the NIH NINDS, is the latest BRAIN Award granted to Georgia Tech researchers every year since the program\u0026rsquo;s launch.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHaider\u0026rsquo;s project is entitled, \u0026ldquo;Circuit and synaptic mechanisms of visual spatial attention.\u0026rdquo; Haider and his team, \u0026ldquo;are basically going to investigate in a very detailed way the circuits and mechanisms involved in visual spatial attention,\u0026rdquo; he says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe role of attention in sensory perception is an important question in neuroscience, especially when trying to understand and create better treatments for disorders like schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders, and attention deficit disorders. Haider and his team will utilize transgenic mice and combine high-density local field potential and neural activity recordings in the visual cortex, patch-clamp recordings from cortical and thalamic synaptic connections, cell-type specific optogenetics, and a well-characterized spatial attention task to elucidate the neural mechanisms of attention at multiple levels: specific cells, synapses, and circuits.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHaider\u0026rsquo;s BRAIN Award, which launched officially in the fall, will run for five years, through July 2023, and is valued at $2.1 million.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We want to understand how circuits rapidly move attention this way or that way, turn it on and turn it off,\u0026rdquo; says Haider. \u0026ldquo;Once we can get a handle on that, we can really start to understand how we might be able to enhance normal attention and remedy attention deficits.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis is just the latest NIH BRAIN Award for BME researchers. Haider\u0026rsquo;s department colleagues Garrett Stanley and Lena Ting are currently engaged in active BRAIN Initiative projects. Stanley\u0026rsquo;s third BRAIN Initiative project, entitled \u0026ldquo;Thalamocortical state control of tactile sensing: Mechanisms, Models, and Behavior,\u0026rdquo; was launched in January 2018 and runs through 2022. Ting\u0026rsquo;s project, \u0026ldquo;CRCNS: Multi-scale models of proprioceptive encoding for sensorimotor control,\u0026rdquo; began in 2016 and runs through May 2021.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"BME\/Petit Institute researcher exploring the role of attention in sensory perception"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBME\/Petit Institute researcher exploring the role of attention in sensory perception\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"BME\/Petit Institute researcher exploring the role of attention in sensory perception"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2019-01-22 15:56:08","changed_gmt":"2019-01-30 17:11:47","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2019-01-22T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2019-01-22T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"616678":{"id":"616678","type":"image","title":"Bilal Haider","body":null,"created":"1548172395","gmt_created":"2019-01-22 15:53:15","changed":"1548172395","gmt_changed":"2019-01-22 15:53:15","alt":"","file":{"fid":"234711","name":"HaiderPhoto2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/HaiderPhoto2.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/HaiderPhoto2.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":591080,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/HaiderPhoto2.jpg?itok=4BL2Nppa"}}},"media_ids":["616678"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"},{"id":"1612","name":"BME"},{"id":"111361","name":"BRAIN initiative"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"602394":{"#nid":"602394","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Two Petit Institute Researchers Named Sloan Fellows","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETwo researchers with the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at the Georgia Institute of Technology \u0026ndash; Vinayak Agarwal and Bilal Haider \u0026ndash; are among the 126 outstanding U.S. and Canadian researchers receiving 2018 Sloan Research Fellowships.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe fellowships, awarded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation since 1955, honor early-career scholars who, \u0026ldquo;represent the very best science has to offer,\u0026rdquo; says Sloan President Adam Falk. \u0026ldquo;The brightest minds, tackling the hardest problems, and succeeding brilliantly\u0026mdash;Fellows are quite literally the future of twenty-first century science.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAgarwal, assistant professor in the School of Chemistry, is interested in studying small organic molecules called \u0026lsquo;natural products,\u0026rsquo; from which a majority of antibiotics and other drugs are derived. As biochemists, his research team asks some simple questions: how and why are natural products made in nature, what can be learned from their biosynthetic processes, and how nature\u0026rsquo;s synthetic capabilities be exploited for interesting applications?\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHaider, is assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. His research goal is to identify cellular and circuit mechanisms that modulate neural responsiveness in the cerebral cortex, using a variety of advanced electrical and optical techniques to record, stimulate, and the interpret the activity of specific neuronal sub-types.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBut the two-year, $65,000 Sloan award doesn\u0026rsquo;t support a specific research project effort, according to Haider says. It supports the individual.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s very exciting because it\u0026rsquo;s different from a traditional kind of grant. This is more about the research direction you have envisioned as a young investigator,\u0026rdquo; he says. \u0026ldquo;This is about funding the person. It\u0026rsquo;s a real vote of confidence.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESloan also recognized a third Georgia Tech researcher, Lutz Warnke, assistant professor in the School of Mathematics. A full list of the 2018 Fellows is available at the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sloan.org\/fellowships\/2018-Fellows\u0022\u003ESloan Foundation website\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAvailable to tenure track faculty in eight scientific fields, the Fellowships are awarded at a key moment in a researcher\u0026rsquo;s career. Past Sloan Research Fellows include towering figures in the history of science, including physicists Richard Feynman and Murray Gell-Mann, and game theorist John Nash. Forty-five fellows have received a Nobel Prize in their respective field, 16 have won the Fields Medal in mathematics, 69 have received the National Medal of Science, and 17 have won the John Bates Clark Medal in economics, including every winner since 2007.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDrawn this year from 53 colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada, the 2018 Sloan Research Fellows represent a diverse array of institutions and backgrounds. This year\u0026rsquo;s Fellows include:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EA molecular biologist who studies how birds perceive color;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EA chemist who has developed molecular \u0026ldquo;printing\u0026rdquo; techniques that can make flexible solar cells that are twice as efficient as current models;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EA computer scientist who is constructing robots for the home that users can program themselves;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EAn environmental economist who is exposing the hidden costs of pollution;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EA mathematician who is trying to explain the remarkable success of neural networks in performing complicated tasks like recognizing faces;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EA neuroscientist whose work is revealing that best friends don\u0026rsquo;t just think alike; they have similar brains;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EAn ocean scientist that has shown how warming currents are leading many marine species to breed early, bringing them out of sync with the plankton blooms on which they feed;\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EA physicist who says the structure of the outer solar system makes sense only if there is an undiscovered ninth planet.\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOpen to scholars in eight scientific and technical fields\u0026mdash;chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, neuroscience, ocean sciences, and physics\u0026mdash;the Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded in close coordination with the scientific community. Candidates must be nominated by their fellow scientists and winning fellows are selected by an independent panel of senior scholars in their field on the basis of a candidate\u0026rsquo;s research accomplishments, creativity, and potential to become a leader in his or her field.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E###\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sloan.org\/\u0022\u003EAlfred P. Sloan Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E is a philanthropic, not-for-profit grant making institution based in New York City. Established in 1934 by Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr., then-President and Chief Executive Officer of the General Motors Corporation, the Foundation makes grants in support of original research and education in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and economics.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Vinayak Agarwal and Bilal Haider among 126 outstanding early-career researchers honored by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EVinayak Agarwal and Bilal Haider among 126 outstanding early-career researchers honored by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Vinayak Agarwal and Bilal Haider among 126 outstanding early-career researchers honored by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2018-02-15 15:05:33","changed_gmt":"2018-04-19 12:59:47","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2018-02-15T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2018-02-15T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"602392":{"id":"602392","type":"image","title":"Bilal Haider","body":null,"created":"1518706829","gmt_created":"2018-02-15 15:00:29","changed":"1518706829","gmt_changed":"2018-02-15 15:00:29","alt":"","file":{"fid":"229588","name":"Haider2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Haider2.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Haider2.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3569812,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Haider2.jpg?itok=bMJXD1bo"}},"602393":{"id":"602393","type":"image","title":"Vinayak Agarwal","body":null,"created":"1518706912","gmt_created":"2018-02-15 15:01:52","changed":"1518706912","gmt_changed":"2018-02-15 15:01:52","alt":"","file":{"fid":"229589","name":"Vinayak Agarwal.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Vinayak%20Agarwal_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Vinayak%20Agarwal_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":476665,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Vinayak%20Agarwal_0.jpg?itok=IuHJMGwW"}}},"media_ids":["602392","602393"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"604516":{"#nid":"604516","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Kim Gets NIH Support","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EYongTae Kim, a researcher in the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has been awarded an R21 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EKim, who is an assistant professor in both the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory, will use the two-year, $424,000 grant to leverage his team\u0026rsquo;s research, which is focused on mitigating Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s disease.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Our study outcomes will serve as a foundation for translating the basic research and technology to the clinics, accelerating advanced central nervous system delivery of therapeutic and diagnostic agents,\u0026rdquo; says Kim, who is collaborating with Srikant Rangaraju, a physician-scientist who is an assistant professor in the Emory School of Medicine\u0026rsquo;s Department of neurology.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERangaraju, a board-certified neurologist, is a trainee of Alan Levey, director of Emory\u0026rsquo;s Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s Disease Research Center, who will serve as consultant and advisor on the grant.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECurrently, the disease-modifying effects of therapeutics on Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s disease is hindered by poor central nervous system penetration across the blood-brain barrier (BBB). But Kim and his fellow researchers believe they can overcome that obstacle with a better system of delivering precious therapeutic payloads.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The goal is to leverage our engineered nano-carrier, enabling sufficient penetration of a small molecule inhibiting microglial Kv1.3, thus attenuating neuro-inflammation for Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s disease treatment,\u0026rdquo; Kim says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Georgia Tech researcher working on a better way to deliver therapeutics for Alzheimer\u2019s disease"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech researcher working on a better way to deliver therapeutics for Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s disease\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech researcher working on a better way to deliver therapeutics for Alzheimer\u2019s disease"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2018-03-30 15:20:43","changed_gmt":"2018-04-19 12:53:24","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2018-03-30T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2018-03-30T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"604514":{"id":"604514","type":"image","title":"Tony Kim","body":null,"created":"1522422912","gmt_created":"2018-03-30 15:15:12","changed":"1522422912","gmt_changed":"2018-03-30 15:15:12","alt":"","file":{"fid":"230454","name":"TonyKim.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/TonyKim.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/TonyKim.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2632383,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/TonyKim.jpg?itok=VDd2OTU5"}}},"media_ids":["604514"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"602405":{"#nid":"602405","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Stanley Wins Third BRAIN Award","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe human brain, with its 100 billion chattering neurons, remains one of the great mysteries in medical science. Because that three-pound mass of tissue inside our skulls is so misunderstood, disorders like Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s disease, Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s disease, autism, depression, traumatic brain injury, and a rogues\u0026rsquo; gallery of other of other maladies continue to take a devastating toll on people and society.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESo, in 2013 President Barack Obama launched the BRAIN Initiative (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies), an international public-private research collaborative that proactively supports researchers who are accelerating the development and application of innovative technologies \u0026ndash; researchers like Garrett Stanley at the Georgia Institute of Technology.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EStanley, who is the Carol Ann and David D. Flanagan Professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, recently won his third BRAIN award in three years from the NIH (National Institutes of Health).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This puts us in a good place nationally and internationally,\u0026rdquo; says Stanley, a neuroengineer in the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience. \u0026ldquo;On a very practical level, these awards are being given to scientists in the top neuroscience programs at top universities in the country, so it says a lot about what\u0026rsquo;s happening here to Georgia and Emory.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe grant, which builds upon the work of previous BRAIN grants, invests $1.9 million over five years for a project called \u0026ldquo;Thalmocortical state control of tactile sensing: Mechanisms, Models, and Behavior\u0026rdquo;. Stanley is the principal investigator on the project, along with the co-investigator Bilal Haider, an assistant professor in the Coulter Department. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBRAIN Building Blocks\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn 2014, Stanley and fellow Petit Institute researcher Craig Forest, associate professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, won a BRAIN Award from NIH for a project entitled, \u0026ldquo;In-vivo circuit activity measurement at single cell, sub-threshold resolution.\u0026rdquo; In 2015, Stanley and Emory neuroscientist Dieter Jaeger won a BRAIN grant for a project called, \u0026ldquo;Multiscale Analysis of Sensory-Motor Cortical Gating in Behaving Mice.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEarly projects in the sprawling BRAIN Initiative were focused heavily on the development of new technology, but the mission is shifting a little, according to Stanley.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The first phase was all about developing the tools,\u0026rdquo; Stanley says. \u0026ldquo;Now we\u0026rsquo;re focused more on doing science with those tools, which are enabling us to target different areas of the brain like we\u0026rsquo;ve never done before.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the project with Forest\u0026rsquo;s lab, the idea was to use an \u003Cem\u003Ein vivo\u003C\/em\u003E robotic patch clamping system (developed by Forest with collaborators at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) to measure changes in electrical activity from individual neurons, with the goal of recording intracellular neural communication, to better understand how long-distance neural connections change when our brains go into different states, such as sleeping and waking.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the project with Jaeger, the aim was to use genetically expressed voltage sensors to optically image brain activity during sensory-motor tasks \u0026ndash; to capture the flow of information as the human brain senses and perceives the outside world, and to better understand that information.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFocus on Circuits\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis time, Stanley\u0026rsquo;s team plans to use an array of electrophysiological tools to determine the role of the thalamus in dynamically gating information flow to the rest of the brain during changes in states of arousal. And they\u0026rsquo;re targeting the thalamus, which is basically the central relay station for incoming and outgoing messages between the brain to the body.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It controls what information makes it into the brain, what you can feel and perceive,\u0026rdquo; says Stanley. \u0026ldquo;There are things we often take for granted, like sitting there and falling asleep. What does that mean when your brain disconnects from the rest of the world, or reconnects.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe funding mechanism being utilized for Stanley\u0026rsquo;s BRAIN project comes through the NIH\u0026rsquo;s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) specifically targets brain circuitry, which fits neatly within Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s wheelhouse.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The brain is made up of circuits, and who better to work on circuits than a bunch of engineers,\u0026rdquo; says Stanley. \u0026ldquo;Most disorders in the brain are not just the mutation of a gene, and they\u0026rsquo;re not always associated with cell death. They\u0026rsquo;re diseases of the circuits.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt turns out that circuit dysfunction is common to most neurological and psychiatric disorders, so understanding how the circuitry works is a key step on the way to developing a new age of therapeutics.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;re getting better at pulling the switches and levers of the brain,\u0026rdquo; Stanley says. \u0026ldquo;I think that what we\u0026rsquo;re going to find is, the ability to probe and manipulate in specific ways at the circuit level is one of the keys to treating neurological disorders that currently have no cure.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"BME professor, Petit Institute researcher tapped again for national initiative"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBME professor, Petit Institute researcher tapped again for national initiative\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"BME professor, Petit Institute researcher tapped again for national initiative"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2018-02-15 15:47:08","changed_gmt":"2018-02-15 16:42:28","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2018-02-15T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2018-02-15T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"602402":{"id":"602402","type":"image","title":"Garrett Stanley","body":null,"created":"1518709131","gmt_created":"2018-02-15 15:38:51","changed":"1518709131","gmt_changed":"2018-02-15 15:38:51","alt":"","file":{"fid":"229593","name":"stanley in lab.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/stanley%20in%20lab.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/stanley%20in%20lab.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2248340,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/stanley%20in%20lab.jpg?itok=sXwXx7A4"}}},"media_ids":["602402"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"126591","name":"go-NeuralEngineering"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"597409":{"#nid":"597409","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Annabelle Singer Named Packard Fellow","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAnnabelle Singer, assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, was named today by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation one of 18 recipients of the prestigious \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.packard.org\/what-we-fund\/science\/packard-fellowships-for-science-and-engineering\/fellows-highlights\/2017-packard-fellowships-science-engineering-awarded-18-researchers\/\u0022\u003E2017 Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFellows, who are considered among the most innovative\u0026nbsp;early-career scientists in the nation, will each receive $875,000 over five years to pursue their research.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The expectation with this fellowship is that you will tackle big problems,\u0026rdquo; said Singer, also a researcher with the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at Georgia Tech. \u0026ldquo;This gives us the freedom to pursue some outside-the-box projects that could be really impactful. Unlike most grants, there are very few funding restrictions, meaning we can go wherever the science takes us.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Packard Fellowships are among the nation\u0026rsquo;s largest nongovernmental fellowships, designed to allow maximum flexibility in how the funding is used. Packard Fellows have gone on to achieve significant accomplishments, receiving additional awards and honors that include the Nobel Prize in Physics, the Fields Medal, the Alan T. Waterman Award, MacArthur Fellowships, and elections to the National Academies. Their work has led to impressive research outcomes, including the development of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technique, sequencing the Ebola virus genome, the creation of Bose-Einstein condensates, and pioneering research on glaciology and abrupt climate change.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;These scientists and engineers are tackling unanswered questions and pushing the boundaries of their fields,\u0026rdquo; said Frances Arnold, Chair of the Packard Fellowships Advisory Panel and former Packard Fellow, of this year\u0026rsquo;s class. \u0026ldquo;Their innovations could lead to breakthroughs in how we live our lives and our understanding of nature. Is there another planet in our solar system? Can we find a way to predict earthquakes? Can learning more about how we make memories help us preserve them? If past fellowships are any indication, the possibilities are boundless.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESinger sees the fellowship as validation for her research, which employs novel techniques to identify and restore failures in brain activity that lead to memory impairment.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Ultimately our goal is to understand how neural activity both produces memories and protects brain health and then use this knowledge to engineer neural activity to repair brain function,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;Using non-invasive approaches, we\u0026rsquo;re working to develop new ways to treat diseases that affect memory, like Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s, for which there are no effective therapies.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESince 1988, the foundation has awarded $394 million to support \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.packard.org\/what-we-fund\/conservation-and-science\/science\/packard-fellowships-for-science-and-engineering\/fellowship-directory\/?keyword=\u0026amp;display=grid\u0022\u003E577 scientists and engineers\u003C\/a\u003E from 54 universities.\u0026nbsp; The fellowships program was inspired by David Packard\u0026rsquo;s commitment to strengthen university-based science and engineering programs in the United States, recognizing that the success of the Hewlett-Packard Company, which he cofounded, was derived in large measure from research and development in university laboratories.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis year, the foundation \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.packard.org\/2017\/06\/challenging-times-call-deeper-commitments\/\u0022\u003Eincreased its overall grant budget in response to new challenges\u003C\/a\u003E to promote stronger national support for science and greater reliance on evidence-based decision-making. The Packard Foundation\u0026rsquo;s work is grounded in science and research to ensure its investments have lasting impact.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;David Packard was passionate about investing in our country\u0026rsquo;s scientists and engineers because he believed philanthropy could play a unique role in sparking discovery,\u0026rdquo; said Lynn Orr, Packard Fellows Advisory Panel member and former Foundation Trustee. \u0026ldquo;Unrestricted, flexible funding, coupled with support from universities, the public sector, industry, and nonprofit organizations provides scientists and engineers creative space to unearth new knowledge.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEach year, the foundation invites 50 universities to nominate two faculty members for consideration. The \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.packard.org\/what-we-fund\/conservation-and-science\/science\/packard-fellowships-for-science-and-engineering\/about-the-packard-fellowship-awards\/packard-fellowships-advisory-panel\/\u0022\u003EPackard Fellowships Advisory Panel\u003C\/a\u003E, a group of 12 internationally-recognized scientists and engineers, evaluates the nominations and recommends fellows for approval by the Packard Foundation Board of Trustees.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s great to know that some really smart people think our research plans are worth supporting,\u0026rdquo; said Singer. \u0026ldquo;Current and former Packard Fellows are a very impressive group so it\u0026rsquo;s an honor to be among them.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFaculty members across the Georgia Tech campus read Singer\u0026rsquo;s application and, she said, gave excellent feedback. Particularly helpful was the advice she received from Petit Institute researchers Greg Gibson (professor in the School of Biological Sciences) and Will Ratcliff (assistant professor in the School of Biological Sciences), both former Packard Fellows.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESinger believes the fellowship is a reflection on the work being done at Emory and Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;re in the midst of a big plan to expand neuroscience, and I hope this will help get the word out that it\u0026#39;s a great place to do cutting edge neuroscience and neuroengineering,\u0026rdquo; she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPackard Fellows must be faculty members who are eligible to serve as principal investigators on research in the natural and physical sciences or engineering, and must be within the first three years of their faculty careers. Disciplines that are considered include physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, astronomy, computer science, earth science, ocean science, and all branches of engineering.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMeet the recipients of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.packard.org\/what-we-fund\/science\/packard-fellowships-for-science-and-engineering\/fellows-highlights\/2017-packard-fellowships-science-engineering-awarded-18-researchers\/\u0022\u003E2017 Packard Fellowships in Science and Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJonathan C. Barnes\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDepartment of Chemistry, Washington University, St. Louis\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDiscipline: Chemistry \u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe human musculature consists of tightly bundled fibers that are capable of changing their size, shape, and mechanical properties. Barnes\u0026rsquo; lab explores the design and synthesis of functional polymer-based materials, for the development of non-toxic combination drug delivery systems, stimuli-responsive materials, new polymer architectures, and templates for biomacromolecules. They hope to find macromolecular solutions to major challenges in chemistry, medicine, and materials science.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EKonstantin Batygin\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDivision of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDiscipline: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe most distant bodies within an expansive field of icy debris beyond Neptune\u0026rsquo;s orbit have a peculiar orbital alignment, and collectively point to the existence of an additional, Neptune-like planet in the solar system. Batygin plans to conduct an extensive suite of theoretical and numerical calculations that will identify the distant planet\u0026rsquo;s location, and discover it observationally, seeking to unravel the dramatic narrative of the formation and evolution of planetary systems.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMichael Birnbaum\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDepartment of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDiscipline: Biological Sciences \u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBirnbaum\u0026rsquo;s research group combines mechanistic immunology, protein engineering, and computational methods to better understand and manipulate immune recognition and signaling. By identifying the determinants of successful immunity, his research group works to create safer, more effective treatments for infectious diseases, autoimmunity, and cancer.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIlana\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EBrito\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ESchool of Biomedical Engineering, \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003ECornell University\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDiscipline: Biological Sciences\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBacteria can rapidly adapt to changing environmental conditions by incorporating novel DNA into their genomes. This process of gene transfer underlies the spread of antibiotic resistance among the world\u0026rsquo;s most notorious pathogens. Brito\u0026rsquo;s lab is developing new tools to better predict the spread of genes in natural microbial communities.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMarine\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003EA.\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003EDenolle\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDepartment of Earth and Planetary Sciences, \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003EHarvard University\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDiscipline: Geosciences\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMajor urban areas are often developed on soft soils and subject to strong seismic amplification during earthquakes. Exploiting underground natural resources alters the structure and may affect our understanding of seismic hazard. Denolle\u0026rsquo;s research characterizes the evolution of seismic hazard due to earthquake ground motions and natural resource exploitation, and seeks to predict the evolution of seismic hazard in urban areas.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EElaine\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EHsiao\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDepartment of Integrative Biology and Physiology\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003E, \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003EUniversity of California, Los Angeles\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDiscipline: Biological Sciences \u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EInspired by the amazing and complex interactions between organ systems, the Hsiao lab is studying how changes in the microbiome and immunity impact brain function and behavior. They aim to uncover mechanisms for communication between gut bacteria, immune cells, and neurons, toward understanding how these signaling pathways impact neurological disease.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPinshane\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003EHuang\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003E, \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003EUniversity of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDiscipline: Materials Science, Nanotechnology \u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHuang\u0026rsquo;s research develops techniques that use electron microscopes to characterize matter with single atom precision, with the ultimate goal of enabling an era in which materials can be designed and perfected at the level of individual atoms.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EChristoph\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003EM.\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003EKeplinger\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003EUniversity of Colorado, Boulder\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDiscipline: Engineering \u0026ndash; Civil or Mechanical \u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Keplinger Research Group aims to synergize concepts from soft matter physics and polymer chemistry with advanced engineering technologies in order to solve problems that impede human progress. Their current research is focused on the development of high-performance, self-healing artificial muscles, as well as on generating sustainable energy from untapped sources of renewable energy, such as ocean waves.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAlexie\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003ES.\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003ELeauthaud-Harnett\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDepartment of Astronomy and Astrophysics, \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003EUniversity of California, Santa Cruz\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDiscipline: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EUnderstanding the nature of dark energy and dark matter, which together make up 95% of the mass-energy density of the current-day universe, are two of the most fundamental questions in modern physics. Leauthaud-Harnett\u0026rsquo;s group specializes in the design, analysis, and theoretical interpretation of maps of the sky containing millions of galaxies, in order to characterize dark energy and understand how galaxies and dark matter structures grow with time.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENir\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003EM.\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003ENavon\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDepartment of Physics, \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003EYale University\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDiscipline: Physics \u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETurbulence is among the most mysterious phenomena in nature, with extensive ramifications in biology, mathematics, and physics. Using a novel experimental approach, Navon\u0026rsquo;s research group synthesizes highly-controllable quantum matter to explore complex many-body phenomena in extremely pure conditions: from the production of new quantum phases of matter, to the study of turbulence in dilute quantum fluids.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHosea\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003EM.\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003ENelson\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDepartment of Chemistry and Biochemistry, \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003EUniversity of California, Los Angeles\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDiscipline: Chemistry \u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENelson\u0026rsquo;s lab is focused on discovering new chemical reactions that will enable the efficient and environmentally-benign syntheses of fuels, materials, and medicines. They take an interdisciplinary approach, exploring novel concepts in chemical catalysis that lie at the interface of organic synthesis, inorganic chemistry, and molecular biology.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMagdalena\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003ER.\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003EOsburn\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDepartment of Earth and Planetary Sciences, \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003ENorthwestern University\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDiscipline: Geosciences \u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMicrobes are the catalysts and engines that drive major element cycles on Earth, yet the vast majority of microbes are known only as DNA sequences. The Osburn Lab seeks to cultivate environmental microbes from deep underground to better understand both the microbes and their role in shaping the Earth.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJohn\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003EV.\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003EPardon\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDepartment of Mathematics, \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003EPrinceton University\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDiscipline: Mathematics\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPardon\u0026rsquo;s research explores problems in geometry and topology (the study of shapes up to continuous deformation) and related fields. Although topological problems are insensitive to the geometry of objects in question, geometric structures often play an unexpected role in the answer to topological questions.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMikael\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003EC.\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003ERechtsman\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDepartment of Physics, \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003EPennsylvania State University\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDiscipline: Physics \u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERechtsman\u0026rsquo;s lab studies the physics of light propagating through complex structures, combining experiments and theory to study the interplay between structure and function. They seek to demonstrate new fundamental physics, as well as device designs that have potential application in medical imaging, high-power lasers, and solar energy.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAmir\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003ESafavi-Naeini\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDepartment of Applied Physics, \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003EStanford University\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDiscipline: Physics\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECurrent electronic circuits are ill-suited for the emergence of quantum information. Safavi-Naeini\u0026rsquo;s group develops chips that process photons (light and microwaves) and phonons (mechanical motion) in the quantum regime, enabling fundamentally new functionality. His research seeks to form the basis of future quantum networks, sensors, and distributed quantum computers.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAnnabelle\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003EC.\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003ESinger\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDiscipline: Neuroscience \u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESinger\u0026rsquo;s research uses novel techniques to identify and restore failures in brain activity that lead to memory impairment. Using non-invasive approaches, she is translating her discoveries from rodents to develop radically new ways to treat diseases that affect memory in humans, like Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMichael\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EYartsev\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDepartment of Bioengineering, \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003EUniversity of California, Berkeley\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDiscipline: Neuroscience\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhat is it about the human mammalian brain that allows us to learn our language? The Yartsev lab studies the neural basis of complex spatial and acoustic behaviors, and uses cutting-edge technologies to examine one of the only known vocal learning mammals: the bat. Yartsev\u0026rsquo;s lab hopes to uncover the mysterious neurobiological underpinning of language learning in the mammalian brain.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELaurence\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EYeung\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDepartment of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003ERice University\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDiscipline: Geosciences \u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhat can the atmosphere tell us about the state of a planet? Using the Earth as a test case, Yeung is developing a toolkit for uncovering how a planet\u0026rsquo;s atmosphere can broadcast its geological, biological, and climatic machinery through patterns in its chemical and isotopic composition.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor more detailed information on each of the Fellows, please visit the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.packard.org\/what-we-fund\/science\/packard-fellowships-for-science-and-engineering\/fellowship-directory\/?keyword\u0026amp;fellowship-year%5B0%5D=2017\u0026amp;display\u0022\u003EFellowship Directory\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout the Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor 29 years, the Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering program has awarded $394 million to support 577 scientists from 54 top national universities. It is among the nation\u0026#39;s largest nongovernmental fellowships, designed with minimal constraints on how the funding is used to give the Fellows freedom to think big and look at complex issues with a fresh perspective. Packard Fellows have gone on to receive additional awards and honors, including the Nobel Prize in Physics, the Fields Medal, the MacArthur Fellowships, and elections to the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. Visit the Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.packard.org\/what-we-fund\/conservation-and-science\/science\/packard-fellowships-for-science-and-engineering\/\u0022\u003Ewebpage\u003C\/a\u003E to learn more about the program and watch a video about the Fellowships.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout the David and Lucile Packard Foundation\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDavid and Lucile Packard Foundation is a private family foundation created in 1964 by David Packard (1912\u0026ndash;1996), cofounder of the Hewlett-Packard Company, and Lucile Salter Packard (1914\u0026ndash;1987). The Foundation provides grants to nonprofit organizations in the following program areas: Conservation and Science; Population and Reproductive Health; Children, Families, and Communities; and Local Grantmaking. The Foundation makes national and international grants and also has a special focus on the Northern California counties of San Benito, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Monterey. Foundation grantmaking includes support for a wide variety of activities including direct services, research and policy development, and public information and education. Learn more at \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.packard.org\u0022\u003Ewww.packard.org\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Georgia Tech researcher one of 18 innovative young scientists in the nation to receive prestigious honor"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech researcher one of 18 innovative young scientists in the nation to receive prestigious honor\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech researcher one of 18 innovative young scientists in the nation to receive prestigious honor"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2017-10-16 12:21:51","changed_gmt":"2017-12-07 17:38:56","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-10-16T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2017-10-16T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"597407":{"id":"597407","type":"image","title":"Annabelle Singer","body":null,"created":"1508155250","gmt_created":"2017-10-16 12:00:50","changed":"1508155250","gmt_changed":"2017-10-16 12:00:50","alt":"","file":{"fid":"227719","name":"Annabelle_Singer.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Annabelle_Singer.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Annabelle_Singer.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2098126,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Annabelle_Singer.jpg?itok=qrVTCINo"}}},"media_ids":["597407"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"167058","name":"Student"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"},{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"},{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"598580":{"#nid":"598580","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Dyer Tapped by Allen Institute for Brain Science","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESEATTLE, WASH.\u003C\/strong\u003E \u0026mdash; \u003Cstrong\u003ENovember 9, 2017\u003C\/strong\u003E \u0026mdash;\u0026nbsp; Eva Dyer, assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, is part of the newest cohort of Next Generation Leaders, the Allen Institute for Brain Science announced today.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDyer is one of six distinguished young researchers who will provide feedback in both formal and informal settings to young scientists at the Allen Institute. The program recognizes the outstanding and innovative contributions from emerging scientific leaders and fosters professional development by providing opportunities and informal training on how to serve as scientific advisors.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We are very pleased to welcome this group of impressive researchers as advisors to the Allen Institute,\u0026rdquo; says Christof Koch, President and Chief Scientific Officer of the Allen Institute for Brain Science. \u0026ldquo;Their caliber and fresh perspectives make them invaluable to our team. We look forward to hearing their feedback as well as providing guidance as they build their own careers.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENext Generation Leaders are selected each year through a competitive application process from a pool of international applicants. This fourth cohort of Next Generation Leaders includes members from institutions around the country, each of whom will serve a three-year term on the council.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHere\u0026rsquo;s a complete list of the newly appointed Next Generation Leaders Advisory Council members:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERenata Batista Brito, Ph.D.\u003C\/strong\u003E, Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale University; Assistant Professor, Albert Einstein School of Medicine in 2018\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAndre Berndt, Ph.D.\u003C\/strong\u003E, Assistant Professor, University of Washington\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDenise Cai, Ph.D.\u003C\/strong\u003E, Assistant Professor, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEva Dyer, Ph.D.\u003C\/strong\u003E, Assistant Professor, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory Univesity\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAndrew Miri, Ph.D.\u003C\/strong\u003E, Postdoctoral Fellow, Columbia University; Assistant Professor, Northwestern University in January 2018\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJohn Tuthill, Ph.D.\u003C\/strong\u003E, Assistant Professor, University of Washington\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDyer\u0026rsquo;s research interests lie at the intersection of machine learning, optimization, and neuroscience. She develops computational methods for discovering principles that govern the organization and structure of the brain, as well as methods for integrating multi-modal datasets to reveal the link between neural structure and function.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;As a computational neuroscientist, I see the Allen Institute for Brian Science\u0026rsquo;s open access datasets as a literal treasure trove,\u0026rdquo; says Dyer. \u0026ldquo;In my role as a Next Generation Leader, I look forward to building a strong and lasting relationship with the Allen Institute. I believe that our collaborative relationship will help facilitate the development of large-scale and open neural data analysis methods so greatly needed by the neuroscience community.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Next Generation Leaders council will convene at this year\u0026rsquo;s Showcase Symposium, held in Seattle Dec. 13-14, 2017. The new members will give presentations on their work and meet with Allen Institute researchers. Additional responsibilities of the Next Generation Leaders include attending a primary advisory council meeting at the Allen Institute in Seattle once per year, to provide feedback on Institute research projects that helps the Allen Institute plan and adopt the best methods for meeting its scientific goals.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout the Allen Institute for Brain Science: \u003C\/strong\u003EThe Allen Institute for Brain Science is a division of the Allen Institute (\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.alleninstitute.org\/\u0022\u003Ealleninstitute.org\u003C\/a\u003E), an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit medical research organization, and is dedicated to accelerating the understanding of how the human brain works in health and disease. Using a big science approach, the Allen Institute generates useful public resources used by researchers and organizations around the globe, drives technological and analytical advances, and discovers fundamental brain properties through integration of experiments, modeling and theory. Launched in 2003 with a seed contribution from founder and philanthropist Paul G. Allen, the Allen Institute is supported by a diversity of government, foundation and private funds to enable its projects. The Allen Institute for Brain Science\u0026rsquo;s data and tools are publicly available online at \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/brain-map.org\/\u0022\u003Ebrain-map.org\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EContact:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"BME assistant professor named Next Generation Leader, invited to participate in advisory council "}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBME assistant professor named to Next Generation, invited to participate in advisory council\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"BME assistant professor named Next Generation Leader, invited to participate in advisory council "}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2017-11-09 13:47:05","changed_gmt":"2017-11-27 13:46:20","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-11-09T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2017-11-09T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"598576":{"id":"598576","type":"image","title":"Eva Dyer","body":null,"created":"1510232966","gmt_created":"2017-11-09 13:09:26","changed":"1510232966","gmt_changed":"2017-11-09 13:09:26","alt":"","file":{"fid":"228194","name":"Eva Dyer.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Eva%20Dyer.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Eva%20Dyer.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3920389,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Eva%20Dyer.jpg?itok=lE-aV2wr"}}},"media_ids":["598576"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"598939":{"#nid":"598939","#data":{"type":"news","title":"The Force is with Muscle Spindles","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen you respond to something automatically, without thinking, it\u0026rsquo;s called a \u0026ldquo;knee-jerk reaction.\u0026rdquo; It\u0026rsquo;s an old idiom based on what happens when the doctor uses his little hammer to strike your patellar tendon, just below the knee. Your knee jerks suddenly. That\u0026rsquo;s called a patellar reflex, and it\u0026rsquo;s caused by the muscle spindles in your quadriceps.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMuscle spindles are skeletal muscle sensory receptors \u0026ndash; a type of proprioceptor, which is a sensor that lets you do things like touch your finger to your nose when your eyes are closed, or play guitar without looking at the fretboard. Proprioceptors basically tell the brain where your body is and what it\u0026rsquo;s doing, and the brain analyzes the information, providing awareness of where your body is in space.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;They give rise to reflexes that help stabilize the body \u0026ndash; this is what is tested when the doctor tests the knee-jerk response,\u0026rdquo; says Lena Ting, professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Emory and Georgia Tech, and a researcher in the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETing is very interested in muscle spindles, and the study of them fits squarely within her lab\u0026rsquo;s goal of understanding how the musculoskeletal system interacts with the nervous system to produce movement. \u0026ldquo;Specifically, we are interested in balance control and how the system degrades in conditions that make people prone to falling,\u0026rdquo; she says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETo that end, her lab has produced some cutting-edge research, published recently in Public Library of Science (PLOS) journal, \u003Cem\u003EComputational Biology\u003C\/em\u003E. The work may alter long-established views of muscle spindles, how they work, and how they affect people with neurological challenges and other movement issues.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The prevailing hypotheses about muscle spindles have been in place a long time \u0026ndash; some of the research that has relied on these hypotheses may need to be reexamined in light of our study,\u0026rdquo; says Kyle Blum, a graduate student in Ting\u0026rsquo;s lab and lead author of the paper, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/journals.plos.org\/ploscompbiol\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pcbi.1005767\u0022\u003E\u0026ldquo;Force encoding in muscle spindles during stretch of passive muscle.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAn Old Idea\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn general, the idea established over the past 50 years or so, according to Ting, is that muscle spindles fire in response to, or encode, the length and velocity of the muscle.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;But we found that they fire in response to muscle force instead,\u0026rdquo; Ting says. \u0026ldquo;Time will tell, but I think this could ultimately be groundbreaking in how we understand movements and their disorders.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPrior work by Ting\u0026rsquo;s group involved experimentally \u0026ldquo;pulling the rug out from under people,\u0026rdquo; which showed that the most rapid balance correcting response generated by the nervous system was related to acceleration signals originating from proprioceptive sensors in the muscles.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This was puzzling, because this is not the standard description of proprioceptive sensory signals,\u0026rdquo; says Ting. \u0026ldquo;There had been some evidence of acceleration signals in muscle spindles, but it was not rigorously tested or broadly accepted.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETo see if human balance behavior could be explained by acceleration coding in muscle spindle sensors, Ting\u0026rsquo;s lab collaborated with investigators in Paris (where she\u0026rsquo;d been a postdoctoral researcher) who were doing advanced electrophysiological research, directly recording from sensory neurons as they fire during carefully imposed accelerations while stretching a muscle. In order to gather the right data, Ting developed customized computer programs to change the way standard muscle testing equipment generates experimental stretches.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThere are two main aspects of sensory coding. The first, \u0026ldquo;is the mechanical signals being transformed into neural signals by the receptors themselves. The second is how the brain interprets these signals, giving rise to perception,\u0026rdquo; says Ting, whose team looked specifically at the first aspect.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn many cases, she notes, the muscle\u0026rsquo;s force and length are very similar. \u0026ldquo;However, we took advantage of special situations in which a muscle\u0026rsquo;s force and length diverge significantly, and our data showed the firing patterns follow force and not length or velocity,\u0026rdquo; says Ting, pointing out the implication of these findings on our understanding of perception.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;These special conditions are also analogous to conditions causing perceptual illusions or error in limb position and movement,\u0026quot; Ting adds. \u0026quot;Therefore, our brains are interpreting a muscle force-dependent signal as joint position and velocity. This works well most of the time, but other times it can cause incorrect or illusory sensations.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EImagine standing in an open doorway and moving your arms outward to press the door frame. You push as hard as you can for about a minute. Then leave the doorway, and though you may feel like your arms are at your side, they are actually floating effortlessly upward, pressing against a door frame that is no longer there.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EUsually, these \u0026ldquo;illusory sensations\u0026rdquo; do not affect our movements very much, \u0026ldquo;but where it really matters is when there is abnormal muscle force or reflexes in neurological disorders, which underlies a number of poorly-understood motor disorders, such as spasticity, rigidity, and dystonia,\u0026rdquo; says Ting. \u0026ldquo;The findings have implications in the study of impaired reflexes. Shifting how we understand the function of muscle proprioceptors can give us insight into these debilitating conditions.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Next Phase\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETing\u0026rsquo;s team is now developing computational simulations that would allow them to predict the firing of muscle spindles during measured behaviors, such as balance control in humans.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We want to develop methods that allow us to predict what is happening in the nervous system when we measure someone\u0026rsquo;s balance, or perform a knee-jerk response,\u0026rdquo; says Ting, whose co-authors included (in addition to lead-author Blum), Boris Lamonte D\u0026rsquo;Incamps and Daniel Zytnicki, both based at Universit\u0026eacute; Paris Descartes.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETing set out to understand how balance is impaired in sensory neuropathy, and she believes the research will help clarify how balance is impaired in Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s disease and other neurological disorders. She wants to develop simulation of the fundamental stretch reflex response underlying those knee-jerk reactions, something that has always been difficult because of the long-held hypothesis about muscle spindles being sensitive to the length and velocity of muscles.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;But we now believe they are sensitive to the force and the rate change in force of muscle spindle fibers,\u0026rdquo; she says. \u0026ldquo;This finding may explain a lot of previously unexplained phenomena we see in sensorimotor behaviors and impairments.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Groundbreaking research from Ting lab could shed new light on movement disorders"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGroundbreaking research from Ting lab could shed new light on movement disorders\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Groundbreaking research from Ting lab could shed new light on movement disorders"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2017-11-17 19:36:21","changed_gmt":"2017-11-17 20:58:31","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-11-17T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2017-11-17T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"598937":{"id":"598937","type":"image","title":"Ting and Blum","body":null,"created":"1510946538","gmt_created":"2017-11-17 19:22:18","changed":"1510946538","gmt_changed":"2017-11-17 19:22:18","alt":"","file":{"fid":"228357","name":"Lena and Kyle.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Lena%20and%20Kyle.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Lena%20and%20Kyle.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":5186678,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Lena%20and%20Kyle.jpg?itok=PZYtLmeL"}}},"media_ids":["598937"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126571","name":"go-PetitInstitute"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"126591","name":"go-NeuralEngineering"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"595392":{"#nid":"595392","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Lu Wins NSF NeuroNex Award","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EHang Lu, the Love Family Professor of Chemical \u0026amp; Biomolecular Engineering, is co-principal investigator of a project that won an NSF Next Generation Networks Neuroscience (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/news\/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=242652\u0026amp;org=NSF\u0026amp;from=news\u0022\u003ENeuroNex\u003C\/a\u003E)\u0026nbsp;award, designed to aid the research community as it pursues one of its greatest challenges: understanding the brain.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELu\u0026rsquo;s project, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/nsf.gov\/awardsearch\/showAward?AWD_ID=1707401\u0022\u003E\u0026ldquo;Live imaging of the C. elegans connectome,\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/a\u003E with Oliver Hobert of Columbia University,\u0026nbsp;entails the development and dissemination of tools that empower the\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EC.elegans\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;neuroscience community to study the connectome of this nematode, which was the first multicellular organism to have its whole genome sequenced.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENSF\u0026rsquo;s NeuroNex awards bring together researchers across disciplines with new technologies and approaches, with the aim of yielding novel ways to tackle the mysteries of the brain.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Through the development of advanced instrumentation to observe and model the brain, we\u0026#39;re closer to our goal of building a more complete knowledge base about how neural activity produces behavior,\u0026rdquo; said Jim Olds, NSF assistant director for Biological Sciences.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;NeuroNex seeks to take that progress forward, by creating an ecosystem of new tools, resources, and theories,\u0026rdquo; Olds added. \u0026ldquo;Most importantly, NeuroNex aims to ensure their broad dissemination to the neuroscience community. With these awards, NSF is building a foundation for the next generation of research into the brain.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELu and Hobert, whose project is one of 17 to receive a NeuroNex award, have been awarded $739,277 for three years, starting September 1.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENeuroNex is part of NSF\u0026rsquo;s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/news\/special_reports\/brain\/\u0022\u003EUnderstanding the Brain\u003C\/a\u003E program, which is the avenue through which the foundation participates in the national Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.braininitiative.nih.gov\/\u0022\u003EBRAIN\u003C\/a\u003E) initiative, an ambitious alliance formed by the Obama Administration, bringing together federal agencies and other partners to enhance our understanding of the brain.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Petit Institute researcher contributing to ambitious BRAIN Initiative"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPetit Institute researcher contributing to ambitious BRAIN Initiative\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Petit Institute researcher contributing to ambitious BRAIN Initiative"}],"uid":"27271","created_gmt":"2017-08-31 20:44:40","changed_gmt":"2017-08-31 20:46:55","author":"Brad Dixon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-08-17T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2017-08-17T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"584223":{"id":"584223","type":"image","title":"Hang Lu C. elegans chip","body":null,"created":"1479912939","gmt_created":"2016-11-23 14:55:39","changed":"1479913883","gmt_changed":"2016-11-23 15:11:23","alt":"","file":{"fid":"222735","name":"Lu.worm_.chips_.smallfile.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Lu.worm_.chips_.smallfile.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Lu.worm_.chips_.smallfile.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":337537,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Lu.worm_.chips_.smallfile.jpg?itok=0hSJtVCx"}}},"media_ids":["584223"],"groups":[{"id":"1240","name":"School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"111361","name":"BRAIN initiative"},{"id":"1304","name":"neuroscience"},{"id":"175227","name":"Understanding the Brain"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"594575":{"#nid":"594575","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Lu Wins NSF NeuroNex Award","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EHang Lu, researcher in the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience and professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, is co-principal investigator of a project that won an NSF Next Generation Networks Neuroscience (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/news\/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=242652\u0026amp;org=NSF\u0026amp;from=news\u0022\u003ENeuroNex\u003C\/a\u003E)\u0026nbsp;award, designed to aid the research community as it pursues one of its greatest challenges: understanding the brain.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELu\u0026rsquo;s project, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/nsf.gov\/awardsearch\/showAward?AWD_ID=1707401\u0022\u003E\u0026ldquo;Live imaging of the C. elegans connectome,\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/a\u003E with Oliver Hobert of Columbia University,\u0026nbsp;entails the development and dissemination of tools that empower the\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EC.elegans\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;neuroscience community to study the connectome of this nematode, which was the first multicellular organism to have its whole genome sequenced.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENSF\u0026rsquo;s NeuroNex awards bring together researchers across disciplines with new technologies and approaches, with the aim of yielding novel ways to tackle the mysteries of the brain.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Through the development of advanced instrumentation to observe and model the brain, we\u0026#39;re closer to our goal of building a more complete knowledge base about how neural activity produces behavior,\u0026rdquo; said Jim Olds, NSF assistant director for Biological Sciences.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;NeuroNex seeks to take that progress forward, by creating an ecosystem of new tools, resources, and theories,\u0026rdquo; Olds added. \u0026ldquo;Most importantly, NeuroNex aims to ensure their broad dissemination to the neuroscience community. With these awards, NSF is building a foundation for the next generation of research into the brain.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELu and Hobert, whose project is one of 17 to receive a NeuroNex award, have been awarded $739,277 for three years, starting September 1.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENeuroNex is part of NSF\u0026rsquo;s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/news\/special_reports\/brain\/\u0022\u003EUnderstanding the Brain\u003C\/a\u003E program, which is the avenue through which the foundation participates in the national Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.braininitiative.nih.gov\/\u0022\u003EBRAIN\u003C\/a\u003E) initiative, an ambitious alliance formed by the Obama Administration, bringing together federal agencies and other partners to enhance our understanding of the brain.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Petit Institute researcher contributing to ambitious BRAIN Initiative"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPetit Institute researcher contributing to ambitious BRAIN Initiative\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Petit Institute researcher contributing to ambitious BRAIN Initiative"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2017-08-17 15:22:21","changed_gmt":"2017-08-28 13:44:00","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-08-17T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2017-08-17T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"584223":{"id":"584223","type":"image","title":"Hang Lu C. elegans chip","body":null,"created":"1479912939","gmt_created":"2016-11-23 14:55:39","changed":"1479913883","gmt_changed":"2016-11-23 15:11:23","alt":"","file":{"fid":"222735","name":"Lu.worm_.chips_.smallfile.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Lu.worm_.chips_.smallfile.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Lu.worm_.chips_.smallfile.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":337537,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Lu.worm_.chips_.smallfile.jpg?itok=0hSJtVCx"}}},"media_ids":["584223"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"111361","name":"BRAIN initiative"},{"id":"1304","name":"neuroscience"},{"id":"175227","name":"Understanding the Brain"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"587966":{"#nid":"587966","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Making Sense of the Neural Network","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EImagine trying to eavesdrop on the human brain, with its complex, chattering galaxy of 86 billion neurons, each one connected to thousands of other neurons, holding cellular conversations through more than 100 trillion synaptic connections.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt is a dense and noisy communication network, wrapped and hidden deep within precious tissue. We\u0026rsquo;ve pondered over, poked, and prodded the brain for centuries. But so much of what goes on inside our skulls is a mystery and\u0026nbsp;neuro-research is still closer to the starting line than the finish.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAt the Georgia Institute of Technology, scientists and engineers from different backgrounds have formed an interdisciplinary research community called \u0026lsquo;GTNeuro.\u0026rsquo; They\u0026rsquo;re out to improve our understanding of the brain and the entire nervous system, and they\u0026rsquo;re seeking and creating the means to treat neurological diseases and injuries, even boost neural function, bringing the mysteries of the human brain into clearer focus.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;There\u0026rsquo;s a large and growing community here, of people focused on basic science, translation, and technology related to a range of neurological diseases and disorders, and all of this is bolstered by a vibrant educational and training environment,\u0026rdquo; says Garrett Stanley, a researcher in the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience and professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME, a joint department of Emory and Georgia Tech).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBusy Intersection\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECurrently, there are more than 60 faculty researchers from Georgia Tech and Emory under the GTNeuro umbrella, and they come from the schools of Biological Sciences, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical \u0026amp; Computer Engineering (ECE), Psychology, and Physics at Georgia Tech, in addition to BME and multiple departments and divisions at Emory.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The activities at Georgia Tech represent an intersection of basic neuroscience, and engineering-driven neuro-technology, a synergy which is necessary to drive the field forward,\u0026rdquo; says Stanley, who co-chairs the faculty steering committee for GTNeuro (with Petit Institute researcher Todd Streelman, professor and chair in the School of Biological Sciences).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;GTNeuro is just a very organic, faculty-driven kind of thing,\u0026rdquo; says Stanley, who also co-chairs the Neural Engineering Center (one of the research centers based at the Petit Institute, which also houses the Neuro Design Suite, a core lab facility) with Lena Ting, a professor who joined the Coulter Department 15 years ago.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We were a small but tightly integrated group in the Laboratory for Neuroengineering, which occupied the third floor of the Whikater Building,\u0026rdquo; says Ting.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe small neuro-community of six neuro-researchers (two ECE faculty members, and four from BME) included, in addition to Ting, current Petit Institute researchers Rob Butera and Michelle LaPlaca.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We pooled resources and had an internal seminar series, shared a lab manager. It was a very tight knit community,\u0026rdquo; says Ting. \u0026ldquo;Back then, we were about the only neuroscience research on the Georgia Tech campus. Slowly, over the last 12 years or so, that has changed dramatically.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe burgeoning interest in neuro-research (across disciplines and department boundaries) was exemplified\u0026nbsp;recently in the 25\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E edition of the Suddath Symposium at the Petit Institute (Feb. 21-22). The focus was neuroscience.\u0026nbsp;Thought leaders from across the country and overseas spent two days discussing their research at the symposium, where the theme was \u0026ldquo;Neuromodulation and Synaptic Control: Modern Tools and Applications.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAccelerating Progress\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEvery Monday in the Engineered Biosystems Building (EBB), a packed room takes in the GTNeuro Seminar Series, in which\u0026nbsp;a wide range of experts \u0026ndash; from Georgia Tech, Emory, and beyond \u0026ndash; present cutting edge research.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThese popular seminars, which start at 11 a.m. in EBB Room 1005, are video-conferenced to Emory, and recorded (and made available through the Georgia Tech Library).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERecent speakers have come from Case Western, Princeton, Harvard, in addition to brain experts from right here. Most recently, Audrey Duarte from Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s School of Psychology presented a talk entitled, \u0026ldquo;What can neuroimaging tell us about age-related memory changes?\u0026rdquo; In two weeks, Mark Frye from UCLA will discuss how flies see the world. And later in March, Machelle Pardue of the Coulter Department will talk about how to improve detection and treatment of diabetic retinopathy.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;re attracting 80, 100 people on a weekly basis,\u0026rdquo; says Ting, who is based at Emory, where she now heads up the Neuromechanics Lab. \u0026ldquo;That really suggests that no matter what kind of topic we\u0026rsquo;re presenting, and it\u0026rsquo;s been diverse, people are hungry to learn about neuroscience.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EModern neuroscience is about a century old, but research has really hastened over the past 20 years, mostly due to the development of new tools and technology, according to\u0026nbsp;Stanley.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Neuroscience has always pivoted around advances in techniques and technologies that enable us to better measure and manipulate different aspects of the networks of the tens of billions of neurons in the brain and the rest of the nervous system,\u0026quot; he says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAlso, federal government support through programs like the BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) Initiative are helping to drive\u0026nbsp;research, \u0026ldquo;accelerating our understanding of both normal brain function, and function related to a range of neurological disorders,\u0026rdquo; says Stanley, whose own research is all about making sense of what all of those neurons are saying to each other.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EExploring the Network\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers who form GTNeuro are approaching the problem of understanding the brain and the nervous system from many directions\u0026nbsp;with a diverse toolbox.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETing\u0026rsquo;s work, for example, draws from neuroscience, biomechanics, rehabilitation, robotics, and physiology, which has led to discoveries of new principles of human movement. Her research is used by other researchers across the planet, to understand both normal and impaired movement control in humans and animals, and to develop better robotic devices.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMeanwhile, the lab of Petit Institute researcher Craig Forest is perfecting a robotic cleaning technique to automate and improve neuroscience research, and looking for ways to record what\u0026rsquo;s happening deep inside the brain.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Our mission is to develop the tools that make new science possible,\u0026rdquo; says Forest, associate professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHis lab developed a technique that will allow the pipettes used in patch-clamping to be reused over and over again. Patch-camping, the method used to stimulate and record neuron activity, involves touching the cell membrane with a glass pipette \u0026ndash; a painstaking, prolonged\u0026nbsp;process, and these pipettes are typically\u0026nbsp;used only once.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe new cleaning process, integrated with the Autopatcher (robotic patch-clamping technology from the Forest lab), saves money on pipettes while gathering more data, faster.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe lab of Hang Lu, Petit Institute researcher and professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, also is in the business of gathering large-scale data, through\u0026nbsp;engineering BioMEMS (Bio Miro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) and microfluidic devices. These \u0026lsquo;Lab-on-a-chip\u0026rsquo; tools are used to study how the nervous system develops and functions, and how genes and environment influence behavior.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;re a little different in terms of the space we occupy in neuro-research on campus,\u0026rdquo; says Lu, who was co-director with Stanley of the neuro-focused Suddath Symposium. \u0026ldquo;Functional researchers like Garrett or Rob Butera are very much down to the neurons and circuits. My lab\u0026rsquo;s approach is complementary.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EButera (who holds a joint appointment in BME and ECE) and his lab colleagues have developed an implanted device that stimulates the vagus nerve to treat chronic inflammation, while also targeting and inhibiting unwanted nerve activity.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHigh Aspirations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EButera was principal investigator of the vagus nerve study, but the lead researcher was grad student Yogi Patel, who represents the next generation of neuroengineering.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;re actually working with a clinician at Emory to try and push this into some human evaluation,\u0026rdquo; says Patel, a fifth-year Ph.D. student. \u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s the key thing, to get this approved so it can be used in patients. It\u0026rsquo;s very promising.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESo is his future in neuroscience research. He already has a postdoctoral position lined up at Johns Hopkins University.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s a fundamental neuroscience lab, more science than engineering,\u0026rdquo; says Patel, who is also serving as a consultant to industry on the side. \u0026ldquo;Long term, I still want to have my own research lab one day.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt\u0026rsquo;s an aspiration that became a reality for Annabelle Singer less than a year ago, when she joined the Coulter Department at Georgia Tech and Emory, where her lab is exploring how neural activity guides behavior in health and disease. She was a lead author of recently published research demonstrating a non-invasive, flickering light treatment that reduces the build-up of plaques closely associated with Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s disease.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis radically different approach has lots of\u0026nbsp;promise, she says, but like so much else in a relatively nascent field like neuroscience, there are flights of steps to go before it can be translated into therapeutics for humans. Singer believes she\u0026rsquo;s in the right place to take those steps.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;There\u0026rsquo;s a culture of collaboration here, a kind of unity of purpose,\u0026rdquo; says Singer, who also recently joined the Petit Institute. \u0026ldquo;That was a big appeal for me.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESo was Emory\u0026rsquo;s Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s Disease Research Center, and the Neuro Design Suite at the Petit institute, and the complementary research of colleagues who are all trying to make better sense of the brain, like Stanley, who wants to read and write the neural code.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Patterns of activity in the brain are a language of sorts, but a language we don\u0026rsquo;t yet understand,\u0026rdquo; he says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt only weighs about 3.3 pounds, but the human brain is still mostly unexplored or virtually inaccessible. Stanley and his GTNeuro colleagues are out there, making their way and charting new paths in a gray matter frontier.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;How cells interact within the complex networks in our brain and nervous system underlies many diseases and disorders,\u0026rdquo; Stanley says. \u0026ldquo;The advent of new tools for dissecting circuits within the nervous system gives us, for the first time, the ability to actually \u0026lsquo;see\u0026rsquo; and interact with the networks in a very specific and precise manner, perhaps leading to new insights and discoveries for treating a range of neurological disorders and diseases.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELINKS:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGTNeuro\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/neural-engineering-center\u0022\u003ENeural Design Suite\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/neural-engineering-center\u0022\u003ENeural Engineering Center\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/neuromechanicslab.emory.edu\/\u0022\u003ENeuromechanics Lab at Emory\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.cabiatl.com\/CABI\/\u0022\u003ECenter for Advanced Brain Imaging\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECONTACT:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"GTNeuro researchers on the cutting edge are exploring the frontier between our ears"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGTNeuro researchers on the cutting edge are exploring the frontier between our ears\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"GTNeuro researchers on the cutting edge are exploring the frontier between our ears"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2017-02-27 13:15:19","changed_gmt":"2017-02-28 01:26:58","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-02-27T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2017-02-27T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"587963":{"id":"587963","type":"image","title":"Neurons","body":null,"created":"1488200235","gmt_created":"2017-02-27 12:57:15","changed":"1488200235","gmt_changed":"2017-02-27 12:57:15","alt":"","file":{"fid":"224076","name":"Neurons.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Neurons.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Neurons.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":4107642,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Neurons.jpg?itok=nk796xH2"}},"587964":{"id":"587964","type":"image","title":"Lu and Stanley","body":null,"created":"1488200355","gmt_created":"2017-02-27 12:59:15","changed":"1488200355","gmt_changed":"2017-02-27 12:59:15","alt":"","file":{"fid":"224077","name":"Hang and Garrett.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Hang%20and%20Garrett_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Hang%20and%20Garrett_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":4416494,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Hang%20and%20Garrett_0.jpg?itok=BnkA6VWC"}},"587965":{"id":"587965","type":"image","title":"Lena Ting","body":null,"created":"1488200587","gmt_created":"2017-02-27 13:03:07","changed":"1488200587","gmt_changed":"2017-02-27 13:03:07","alt":"","file":{"fid":"224078","name":"Lena bio page.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Lena%20bio%20page.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Lena%20bio%20page.png","mime":"image\/png","size":105084,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Lena%20bio%20page.png?itok=FkUU-XXi"}}},"media_ids":["587963","587964","587965"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"248","name":"IBB"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"587911":{"#nid":"587911","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Suddath Symposium gets into the Brain","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe 25\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E annual Suddath Symposium was devoted, for the first time, to neuroscience research. The two-day event (Feb. 21-22) featured speakers from across the country and both sides of the Atlantic \u0026ndash; some of the world\u0026rsquo;s thought-leaders in the budding field.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBut it was a young, recently-minted Ph.D. in the area of chemical and biomolecular engineering who took center stage as the event unfolded. Suddath Award winner Christine He, from the lab of Petit Institute researcher Martha Grover, and with one foot out the door, delivered the first presentation of the symposium, and it had nothing to do with neuroscience.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESuch is the nature of this well-attended, wide-ranging event. At the end of every calendar year, a doctoral student is selected as the Suddath Award winner, for having demonstrated a significant research achievement in biology, biochemistry, or biomedical engineering. In addition to the $1,000 first prize, the winner also is invited to present his or her research at the annual Suddath Symposium, regardless of whether or not it matches with the symposium\u0026rsquo;s selected theme.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHe, the seventh woman in a row to earn the honor, presented her research project (entitled, \u0026ldquo;Building a Model Prebiotic Nucleic Acid Replication Cycle in Viscous Enivornments.\u0026rdquo;). And even though it was not about neuroscience, her presentation \u0026ndash; delivered with the calmness of a seasoned pro \u0026ndash; drew a packed room.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I wasn\u0026rsquo;t really sure what to expect, so I was very pleased with the turnout,\u0026rdquo; said He, who opened the two-day symposium on Tuesday, then caught a plane Wednesday morning for her new assignment as a post-doc at the University of California-Berkeley, where she\u0026rsquo;ll be working in the lab of Jennifer Doudna, the scientist who co-invented pioneering new technology for editing genes, called CRISPR-Cas9.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This is going to be exciting,\u0026rdquo; He said Tuesday evening, shortly before leaving for the next phase of her life.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMeanwhile, the neuroscientists and neuro-engineers kept packing the Suddath Room on the ground floor of the Petit Institute.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;This is an exciting time in neuroscience. Things are rapidly expanding in the field, especially here at Georgia Tech,\u0026rdquo; said Garrett Stanley, co-director of this year\u0026rsquo;s symposium with Hang Lu. Both are Petit Institute researchers.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EStanley is professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory, and Lu is a professor in Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s School of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering), both of them busily engaged in neuroscience research and members of the GTNeuro steering committee (GTNeuro is the umbrella organization of Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s neuro-community).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFeatured researchers from out of town were Eve Marder (Brandeis University), Gero Miesenb\u0026ouml;ck (University of Oxford, England), Vincent Pieribone (Yale University), William Shafer (Cambridge University, England), and Mark Schnitzer (Stanford University).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EResearchers from the Atlanta area were Gordon Berman (Emory University), Bilal Haider (Coulter Department at Emory\/Georgia Tech), Liang Han (Georgia Tech), Ravi Kane (Georgia Tech), Paul Katz (Georgia State University), Robert Liu (Emory), Patrick McGrath (Georgia Tech), Annabelle Singer (Coulter Department at Emory\/Georgia Tech), Sam Sober (Emory), Zhexing Wen (Emory), and Larry Young (Emory).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The goal is to highlight some of the excitement of neuroscience and neuro-technology from our community, but also to talk to non-neuroscientists and get them excited,\u0026rdquo; said Stanley. \u0026ldquo;So we brought in people from across the U.S. and abroad, an exciting array of speakers. I think the interest and attendance at this symposium is a reflection of the growing interest in the field. And really, we\u0026rsquo;re just getting started.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELINKS:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/petitinstitute.gatech.edu\/suddath-symposium\u0022\u003E2017 Suddath Symposium program\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/petitinstitute.gatech.edu\/2017-suddath-award-presentation\u0022\u003ESuddath Award\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGTNeuro\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECONTACT:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"25th annual gathering at the Petit Institute featured ground-breaking research in neuroscience"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E25\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E annual gathering at the Petit Institute featured ground-breaking research in neuroscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"25th annual gathering at the Petit Institute featured ground-breaking research in neuroscience"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2017-02-24 15:57:19","changed_gmt":"2017-02-24 17:49:47","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-02-24T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2017-02-24T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"587901":{"id":"587901","type":"image","title":"Christine He","body":null,"created":"1487950930","gmt_created":"2017-02-24 15:42:10","changed":"1487950930","gmt_changed":"2017-02-24 15:42:10","alt":"","file":{"fid":"224047","name":"Christine He.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Christine%20He.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Christine%20He.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":4386948,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Christine%20He.jpg?itok=pl2pui4z"}},"587925":{"id":"587925","type":"image","title":"Garrett Stanley and Hang Lu","body":null,"created":"1487956488","gmt_created":"2017-02-24 17:14:48","changed":"1487956488","gmt_changed":"2017-02-24 17:14:48","alt":"","file":{"fid":"224055","name":"GarrettHang.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/GarrettHang.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/GarrettHang.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1472165,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/GarrettHang.jpg?itok=0noDUjXk"}},"587907":{"id":"587907","type":"image","title":"Steve Cross","body":null,"created":"1487951293","gmt_created":"2017-02-24 15:48:13","changed":"1487951293","gmt_changed":"2017-02-24 15:48:13","alt":"","file":{"fid":"224050","name":"steve cross.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/steve%20cross.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/steve%20cross.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2818842,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/steve%20cross.jpg?itok=kGVD8M2u"}},"587908":{"id":"587908","type":"image","title":"Vincent Pieribone","body":null,"created":"1487951383","gmt_created":"2017-02-24 15:49:43","changed":"1487951383","gmt_changed":"2017-02-24 15:49:43","alt":"","file":{"fid":"224051","name":"VincentPieribone.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/VincentPieribone.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/VincentPieribone.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3437770,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/VincentPieribone.jpg?itok=5gpYMA7B"}}},"media_ids":["587901","587925","587907","587908"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"1612","name":"BME"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"},{"id":"173581","name":"go-COS"},{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"587761":{"#nid":"587761","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Brain-computer Interface Allows Fast, Accurate Typing by People with Paralysis","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA new research report from Stanford University highlights a high performance brain-to-computer interface that can enable people with paralysis to type words and messages with much higher performance than has previously been demonstrated.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOne of the first authors of the report, published today in\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EeLife\u003C\/em\u003E, is Chethan Pandarinath, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. Pandarinath helped lead the research at Stanford before his recent move to Emory and Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026quot;The performance is really exciting,\u0026quot; said Pandarinath, in a\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/med.stanford.edu\/news\/all-news\/2017\/02\/brain-computer-interface-allows-fast-accurate-typing-by-people-with-paralysis.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EStanford news release\u003C\/a\u003E. \u0026quot;We\u0026#39;re achieving communication rates that many people with arm and hand paralysis would find useful. That\u0026#39;s a critical step for making devices that could be suitable for real-world use.\u0026quot;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe research team worked with two people with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and one person with spinal cord injury. They each had small, pill-sized electrode arrays implanted into their brains, allowing the researchers to read out electrical activity as the individuals thought about moving. The researchers then decoded this activity to allow the participants to control a cursor on a computer screen and type out words and messages.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026quot;Here at Emory, we will follow-up on this work in several ways,\u0026quot; says Pandarinath. \u0026quot;First, while this is a promising proof-of-concept, in the long-term we want to be able to restore much more function, for instance, being able to control a robotic arm with this same level of performance, to enable reaching and grasping of objects.\u0026quot;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOver the next few years Pandarinath and his Atlanta biomedical engineering team plan to bring a clinical trial of brain-machine interfaces to Emory and Georgia Tech, where they can further push the performance of these devices by leveraging partnerships with world-class\u0026nbsp;clinical resources and engineering across both communities. That includes neurosurgery and neurology at Emory and engineering at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026quot;Second, ultimately we want brain-machine interfaces that restore more natural control of external devices. To do so we want to be able to restore sensation as well -- providing the user with sensory feedback so they can \u0026#39;feel\u0026#39; when they grasp objects. To do this we need to \u0026#39;write\u0026#39; that information into the brain (rather than just reading information out),\u0026quot; says Pandarinath.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn order to do that, he explains, the team will need a better understanding of what natural sensory responses look like and develop new technologies for interfacing with the brain. His laboratory is developing new techniques in animal models, and they hope to eventually translate those techniques into human subjects.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResources:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003ELink to published\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.7554\/eLife.18554\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ejournal paper\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;or abstract.\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003ELink to Stanford\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/med.stanford.edu\/news\/all-news\/2017\/02\/brain-computer-interface-allows-fast-accurate-typing-by-people-with-paralysis.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Enews release\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003ELink to Stanford\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9oka8hqsOzg\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Evideo\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Contact:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:wrich@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EWalter Rich\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Manager\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"High performance brain-to-computer interface"}],"uid":"27513","created_gmt":"2017-02-22 14:37:13","changed_gmt":"2017-02-22 15:07:29","author":"Walter Rich","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-02-22T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2017-02-22T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"587758":{"id":"587758","type":"image","title":"Chethan Pandarinath, Ph.D.","body":null,"created":"1487773802","gmt_created":"2017-02-22 14:30:02","changed":"1487773802","gmt_changed":"2017-02-22 14:30:02","alt":"Chethan Pandarinath, Ph.D.","file":{"fid":"224006","name":"pandarinath_520.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/pandarinath_520.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/pandarinath_520.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":127851,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/pandarinath_520.jpg?itok=CZLjm1zB"}}},"media_ids":["587758"],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1612","name":"BME"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWalter Rich\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["wrich@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"585555":{"#nid":"585555","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Buzzing the Vagus Nerve Just Right to Fight Inflammatory Disease","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIs a treatment only making things better or maybe also making some things a little worse?\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThat can be a nagging question in some medical decisions, where side effects are possible. But researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have figured out a way to keep what helps, while blocking what harms, in a type of therapy to fight serious chronic inflammatory diseases.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt\u0026rsquo;s simple and works a little like a pacemaker: An implanted device electrically stimulates the vagus nerve, but, in addition, inhibits unwanted nerve activity in a targeted manner.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EForms of vagus nerve stimulation treatment against chronic inflammation have already been \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.eurekalert.org\/pub_releases\/2016-07\/nh-ssv070116.php\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Esuccessfully tested in humans by private industry\u003C\/a\u003E with the intent to make them available to patients. But the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/srep39810\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Einnovation by Georgia Tech researchers\u003C\/a\u003E of adding an inhibiting signal could increase the clinical efficacy and therapeutic benefit of existing treatments.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETemporarily snipping a nerve\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We use an electrode with a kilohertz frequency that blocks unwanted nerve conduction in addition to the electrode that stimulates nerve activity,\u0026rdquo; said principal investigator \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ece.gatech.edu\/faculty-staff-directory\/robert-j-butera\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ERobert Butera, a professor jointly appointed in Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.bme.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;ve arranged the two near each other, so the blocking electrode forces the stimulation from the stimulating electrode to only go in one direction.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers\u0026rsquo; innovation could theoretically by implemented relatively quickly by augmenting \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.eurekalert.org\/pub_releases\/2016-07\/nh-ssv070116.php\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Eexisting clinical devices\u003C\/a\u003E. So far, tests in rats have returned very encouraging results, and they have been achieved without taking more drastic measures notable in other experiments to optimize this kind of treatment \u0026ndash; such as a vagotomy, the cutting of part of the vagus.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The original studies in animals on the anti-inflammatory benefits of vagus nerve stimulation resorted to nerve transections to achieve directional stimulation as well as boost effectiveness of nerve stimulation. But cutting the vagus is not clinically viable, due to the multitude of vital bodily functions it monitors and regulates. Our approach provides the same therapeutic benefit, but is also immediately reversible, controllable, and clinically feasible,\u0026rdquo; said \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.bioengineering.gatech.edu\/people\/yogi-patel\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Elead researcher Yogi Patel\u003C\/a\u003E, a bioengineering graduate student.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We call it a virtual vagotomy,\u0026rdquo; Butera said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPatel, Butera and former Georgia Tech researchers \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/tasaxena\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ETarun Saxena\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/today.duke.edu\/2016\/01\/prattdean\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ERavi V. Bellamkonda\u003C\/a\u003E, published the results of \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/srep39810\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Etheir study in the journal \u003Cem\u003EScientific Reports\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, which is published by Nature Publishing Group,\u0026nbsp;on Thursday, January 5, 2017. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Ian\u0026rsquo;s Friends Foundation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EVagus nerve: What is it?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETo understand how this new bioelectronic fine-tuning works, let\u0026rsquo;s start with the vagus nerve itself.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt lies outside the spinal column and runs in two parts down the front of your neck on either side. It\u0026rsquo;s easy to forget about because, though it does help you feel some limited sensations like pain and heat from a handful of internal organs, those sensations are not as blatant and common as when you reach out and touch something with your hand.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EYour voluntary, or somatic, nervous system is responsible for the reaching, touching, and feeling, and the vagus nerve belongs to your \u003Cem\u003Ein\u003C\/em\u003Evoluntary nervous system \u0026ndash; actually called the autonomic nervous system. Though you may experience the effects less consciously, you couldn\u0026rsquo;t survive without a vagus.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The vagus nerve conveys an incredible amount of information related to the state and function of the visceral organs \u0026ndash; your digestive tract, your heart, your lungs, information about the nutrients you eat \u0026ndash; anything required for homeostasis (physiological balance),\u0026rdquo; Patel said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe vagus nerve is the lifeline between the vital function control centers of your brain and your visceral organs, passing messages constantly between your hypothalamus and organs to control things like pulse and respiration, certain secretions, and the limiting of immune response.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EInflammation: What role does the vagus nerve play?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThat last one is where inflammation comes in, because it\u0026#39;s part of the body\u0026#39;s natural immune response. But when the immune system becomes hyperactive, it can attack not just pathogens but also uninfected tissue, as with patients suffering from diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome or Crohn\u0026rsquo;s disease. Drug-based therapies often fail to significantly benefit them.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe two parts of the autonomic (involuntary) nervous system -- the sympathetic and the parasympathetic -- strongly influence your immune system. The vagus nerve belongs to the parasympathetic.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s like a seesaw system. Your sympathetic nervous system helps kick the immune system on, and the parasympathetic nervous system tempers it,\u0026rdquo; Patel said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EElectrical stimulation is good: Any downsides?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EStimulating the vagus nerve supports that tempering effect, but it can also somewhat excite the part of the nervous system that stimulates the immune response, which is counterproductive\u0026nbsp;if you\u0026#39;re looking to calm it.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Every circuit has a path coming from the brain and one going to the brain, and when you stimulate electrically, you usually have no control over which one you get. You usually get both.\u0026rdquo; Patel said. These paths are often in the same nerve being stimulated.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe path leaving the brain and going toward other organs, called the efferent pathway, is the one to stimulate to temper the immune system and help relieve chronic inflammatory conditions. The one going to the brain, called the afferent pathway, if stimulated, leads eventually to the hypothalamus, a pea-sized region in the center of the brain. That triggers a chain of hormonal responses, eventually releasing cytokines, messaging molecules that promote inflammation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;You get a heightened inflammatory response when you stimulate the afferent pathways, which are actively conveying information about your internal state and trigger the immune system when necessary,\u0026rdquo; Patel said. \u0026ldquo;And if a patient is already in a hyperactive immune state, you don\u0026rsquo;t want to push that even more.\u0026quot;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EStimulating downward (efferent), while blocking upward (afferent) vagus nerve activity keeps the good effect while preventing possible bad effects. In animals that received this treatment, blood tests showed that inflammation markedly decreased. Most importantly, this treatment can be turned on or off, and be tuned to the needs of each patient.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ENo additional authors were involved in the study, which was performed at Georgia Tech. Two of the authors, Saxena and Bellamkonda, are now at Duke University. Research was funded by the National Institutes of Health (grant 2R01EB016407) and Ian\u0026rsquo;s Friends Foundation. All findings, conclusions, and opinions are those of the authors and do not represent views of the funding agencies.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Science synopsis: Kilohertz frequency electrical block of afferent vagus nerve pathways allows targeted stimulation to reduce inflammation in vivo"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThis innovation can reduce side effects in a novel implantable device to fight chronic inflammation. A\u0026nbsp;buzz from an electrode to the vagus, a nerve on the front of the neck, can tamp down an overactive immune response at the root of diseases like Crohn\u0026#39;s syndrome or rheumatoid arthritis. But, at the same time, it can\u0026nbsp;somewhat boost that immune response inadvertently. Adding a second electrode with the right electrical frequency cancels the unwanted side effect.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"An electric buzz to the vagus can fight chronic inflammation -- this fine-tune makes it even better."}],"uid":"31759","created_gmt":"2017-01-05 17:29:57","changed_gmt":"2017-01-13 19:46:12","author":"Ben Brumfield","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-01-05T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2017-01-05T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"585547":{"id":"585547","type":"image","title":"Implantable device to stimulate vagus and modulate stimulation","body":null,"created":"1483634151","gmt_created":"2017-01-05 16:35:51","changed":"1483635749","gmt_changed":"2017-01-05 17:02:29","alt":"","file":{"fid":"223209","name":"interior.electrode.small_.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/interior.electrode.small_.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/interior.electrode.small_.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3030885,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/interior.electrode.small_.jpg?itok=xDT58wrK"}},"585550":{"id":"585550","type":"image","title":"Lead researcher Yogi Patel and principal investigator Robert Butera","body":null,"created":"1483634598","gmt_created":"2017-01-05 16:43:18","changed":"1483635711","gmt_changed":"2017-01-05 17:01:51","alt":"","file":{"fid":"223213","name":"patel.butera.micro_.small_.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/patel.butera.micro_.small_.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/patel.butera.micro_.small_.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3387835,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/patel.butera.micro_.small_.jpg?itok=jy7BPGWp"}},"585554":{"id":"585554","type":"image","title":"Nerve implant electrodes","body":null,"created":"1483635608","gmt_created":"2017-01-05 17:00:08","changed":"1483635631","gmt_changed":"2017-01-05 17:00:31","alt":"","file":{"fid":"223217","name":"three.electrodes.small_.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/three.electrodes.small_.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/three.electrodes.small_.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3013072,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/three.electrodes.small_.jpg?itok=doH6_zgf"}},"585553":{"id":"585553","type":"image","title":"Butera lab at Coulter","body":null,"created":"1483635093","gmt_created":"2017-01-05 16:51:33","changed":"1483635686","gmt_changed":"2017-01-05 17:01:26","alt":"","file":{"fid":"223214","name":"Patel.Butera.small_.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Patel.Butera.small_.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Patel.Butera.small_.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3994456,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Patel.Butera.small_.jpg?itok=NIBLgleT"}}},"media_ids":["585547","585550","585554","585553"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"}],"keywords":[{"id":"173136","name":"vagus nerve"},{"id":"1961","name":"anti-inflammatory"},{"id":"7243","name":"inflammatory"},{"id":"3201","name":"inflammation"},{"id":"10895","name":"Inflammatory Bowel Disease"},{"id":"173137","name":"Crohn\u0027s Syndrome"},{"id":"108101","name":"chronic disease"},{"id":"87781","name":"autoimmune"},{"id":"45231","name":"immune response"},{"id":"9316","name":"immune system"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"},{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWriter and media contact: Ben Brumfield\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E404-660-1408\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003Eben.brumfield@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["ben.brumfield@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"584229":{"#nid":"584229","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Secret Phenotypes: Disease Devils in Invisible Details","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen a microscopic lab worm grows an eye-popping oddity, scientists locate the mutated gene that caused it. It\u0026rsquo;s truly interesting. Yet, more important findings,\u0026nbsp;medically relevant ones,\u0026nbsp;may be hiding in traits invisible to the\u0026nbsp;eye, even with the best\u0026nbsp;microscope.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EResearchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are exposing these secrets --\u0026nbsp;micron-sized bumps and grooves -- and the intricate web of gene mutations possibly behind them in high detail. Their computational genetics\u0026nbsp;work using digital optics could prove useful to understanding debilitating disorders.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;When these faint mutations come together, it gives you a ginormous boost in disease risk,\u0026rdquo; said \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/faculty\/lu\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EHang Lu, a professor\u003C\/a\u003E who applies engineering and data science to the study of neurology.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENeurological\u0026nbsp;disorder: Brain often\u0026nbsp;looks\u0026nbsp;normal\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;If you look at psychiatric diseases, anything that is relevant to humans, what you see is not that dramatic,\u0026rdquo; Lu said. \u0026ldquo;Brains of people who had \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.rh.gatech.edu\/features\/schizophrenia-simulator-when-chemistry-upends-sanitys-balance\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Eschizophrenia\u003C\/a\u003E, bipolar disorder, or autism don\u0026rsquo;t look physically very different from healthy brains. It\u0026rsquo;s not like they\u0026rsquo;re missing a chunk.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EResearchers led by Lu at Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESchool of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E have developed algorithms and special microscope slide\u0026nbsp;to expose previously unseen neurological nuances and intricate mutations that may be behind them. But their findings could apply as well to\u0026nbsp;computational genetics research pursuing\u0026nbsp;other \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/2016\/09\/20\/inflammatory-autoimmune-disease-research-georgia-tech-awarded-23-million-nih-grant\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ediseases such as\u0026nbsp;autoimmune disorders\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELu and former Georgia Tech researcher \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.engr.ncsu.edu\/faculty-staff\/new-faculty\/2015\/sanmiguel2015.php\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EAdrianna San-Miguel\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;published their latest results on Wednesday, November 23, 2016, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/ncomms12990\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ein the journal \u003Cem\u003ENature Communications\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E. Their research was funded by the National Institute of General Medicine, and the National Institute on Aging, both agencies of the National Institutes of Health.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESeeing dots: Computers spot subtleties \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELu has replaced the fallible human eye with a\u0026nbsp;proficient computer to pin down faintest phenotypes, the geneticist\u0026rsquo;s term for physical traits based on genes.\u0026nbsp;In the latest experiment, nerve proteins were marked to appear as dots on\u0026nbsp;roundworms\u0026#39; undersides for the computer to scan.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen mutations occur, the dots can change ever so slightly.\u0026nbsp;\u0026ldquo;To the naked eye, they\u0026rsquo;re just dots on a dark background,\u0026rdquo; Lu said. But the computer sees in them phenotypical shifts.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERoundworm \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.devbio.biology.gatech.edu\/?page_id=41\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ECaenorbabditis elegans\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E,\u003C\/em\u003E used in the experiment, helps scientists understand what may be\u0026nbsp;going on in humans, because its nerves share strong\u0026nbsp;similarities with ours.\u0026nbsp;Ultimately, Lu wants the insights gained in studying them to lead to localizing\u0026nbsp;genetic biomarkers for diseases in humans.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESynaptic puncta: Glowing green tags\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Tech scientists narrowed their focus to \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/faculty.washington.edu\/chudler\/synapse.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Esynapses on a single neuron\u003C\/a\u003E where it connects to muscles. These \u0026ldquo;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/post\/What_is_the_meaning_of_synaptic_puncta\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Esynaptic puncta\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026rdquo; were tagged with a glowing green protein to form the dots.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESome mutations did cause big shifts\u0026nbsp;in dot position and size that the naked eye could actually pick up. And traditionally, forward geneticists -- geneticists who follow changes in phenotypes to see if they can find genes that cause them -- have used their eyes and microscopes to pick out such really obvious changes.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBut natural limitations on human perception have introduced a bias, Lu said. Her research aims to reduce it\u0026nbsp;to boost\u0026nbsp;the amount of data scientists can gather.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMutant bias: It looks funny\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHere\u0026rsquo;s how the bias roughly works. Sorting mutants from non-mutants in the lab is usually tedious with the tiny worms, and that has consequences for science.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The normal way of doing it would be to take a little platinum wire and literally go under the microscope, pick up a worm, drug it, mount it on a slide, and then you have to recover it alive, if you think it\u0026#39;s interesting,\u0026rdquo; Lu said.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe tedium plus the limited abilities of the human eye lead researchers looking for mutations to single out worms that are markedly odd. Eye-popping phenotypes are namely likely to be caused by genotypic changes, i.e. mutations, so finding a clear phenotype is likely to lead to a successful research outcome.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EStochasticity: Not a mutant \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAs a result, researchers might overlook subtle samples. In addition, amassing enough of them to determine important nuances may prove too difficult to do, and quirks can get in the way, too. For example, a single weird-looking worm might not be a mutant at all.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;You can always find a \u0026lsquo;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.differencebetween.com\/difference-between-wild-type-and-vs-mutant-type\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ewildtype\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026rsquo; (basically normal worm) that looks nothing at all like a wildtype,\u0026rdquo; Lu said.\u0026nbsp;\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s just a crazy wildtype. Genotypically, it looks like everybody else, but phenotypically it\u0026rsquo;s so different.\u0026quot;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhy? Because nature can be stochastic \u0026ndash; sort of random -- and mess up an individual worm, even when there\u0026rsquo;s no mutated gene.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPhenospace: A world revealed\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELooks can deceive the eye, but they\u0026rsquo;re less likely to fool a high-resolution camera connected to a computer and an \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/biosci.gatech.edu\/graduate\/computational-biology-and-bioinformatics\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ealgorithm that statistically examines\u003C\/a\u003E faint variations in order to sort mutants from non-mutants.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ELu\u0026rsquo;s technique works via a transparent slide with tiny tubes that suck in one worm at a time under the computer\u0026#39;s microscope. \u0026ldquo;Then we freeze the worm for a moment, so we can take its picture,\u0026rdquo; Lu said. \u0026ldquo;Then it unfreezes, and it\u0026rsquo;s totally okay.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThere\u0026rsquo;s a fork in the tube holding the worm. If the algorithm detects a mutant based on its synaptic puncta pattern in the image \u0026ndash; even if this is not visible to the eye \u0026ndash; the worm gets sucked down the first\u0026nbsp;path for further study. If it isn\u0026rsquo;t a mutant, it gets sucked down the second\u0026nbsp;path.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the latest experiment, the algorithm analyzed phenotypic variations in the synaptic\u0026nbsp;puncta of large worm populations. Parallel to that, the worms\u0026#39; genomes were analyzed to determine which phenotypical differences may be connected to mutated genes.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThen the researchers mapped out genotypes in relation to the differences in phenotypes they underpinned. What was so nuanced before that it was virtually invisible, turned out to be a large, filigree web.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESilent affliction: Poor little worm\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThen there was a particularly lucky find that made for a good metaphor for the study and its potential to advance research. The scientists stumbled upon a very subtle allele \u0026ndash; a variation of a gene caused by mutation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe worms that had the allele\u0026nbsp;were real mutants, but no one would have guessed it, because to the eye, they were\u0026nbsp;completely\u0026nbsp;neat and normal. They even behaved normally at first glance, and the researchers thought the computer may have sorted them out as mutants by mistake -- until a hitch turned up.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;After they swam for about 40 minutes, they got really, really weak and couldn\u0026rsquo;t swim well anymore,\u0026rdquo; Lu said. The allele\u0026nbsp;seemed to be associated with some kind of neurological disorder.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Seen as a metaphor, this is an example of how you might identify something that is relevant to a disease but incredibly subtle,\u0026rdquo; she said, \u0026ldquo;and you would never\u0026nbsp;have found it using eyes and a microscope.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe research paper was coauthored by Matthew M. Crane, Yuehui Zhao, and Patrick McGrath of Georgia Tech, and Peri Kurshan and Kang Shen of Stanford University. The research was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health (numbers R01GM088333 and K99AG046911) Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsoring agency.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Science synopsis: Algorithmic deep phenotyping exposes masses of hidden traits and possible subtle genetic connections relevant to unseen influences on disease"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe human eye often falls short in the hunt\u0026nbsp;for\u0026nbsp;faint genetic drivers\u0026nbsp;that raise the risk of\u0026nbsp;devastating neurological diseases such as\u0026nbsp;autism and schizophrenia. But little\u0026nbsp;eludes a microscope optic\u0026nbsp;attached to a\u0026nbsp;computer, and\u0026nbsp;algorythms that can relate\u0026nbsp;previously hidden phenotypes to\u0026nbsp;subtle genetic\u0026nbsp;mutations. The computational screening developed by Georgia Tech researchers\u0026nbsp;has\u0026nbsp;the potential to\u0026nbsp;reveal\u0026nbsp;webs of\u0026nbsp;genetic dangers that produce\u0026nbsp;disease risk by\u0026nbsp;compounding\u0026nbsp;tiny traits that, when take alone, may appear trivial and\u0026nbsp;harmless.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Computers viewing tiny traits could reveal previously invisible underpinnings of horrible diseases."}],"uid":"31759","created_gmt":"2016-11-23 16:17:08","changed_gmt":"2016-12-21 14:49:44","author":"Ben Brumfield","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-11-23T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2016-11-23T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"584223":{"id":"584223","type":"image","title":"Hang Lu C. elegans chip","body":null,"created":"1479912939","gmt_created":"2016-11-23 14:55:39","changed":"1479913883","gmt_changed":"2016-11-23 15:11:23","alt":"","file":{"fid":"222735","name":"Lu.worm_.chips_.smallfile.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Lu.worm_.chips_.smallfile.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Lu.worm_.chips_.smallfile.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":337537,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Lu.worm_.chips_.smallfile.jpg?itok=0hSJtVCx"}},"584225":{"id":"584225","type":"image","title":"C. elegans worm sorting chip","body":null,"created":"1479913689","gmt_created":"2016-11-23 15:08:09","changed":"1479913769","gmt_changed":"2016-11-23 15:09:29","alt":"","file":{"fid":"222737","name":"Worm.selection.chip_.smfl_.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Worm.selection.chip_.smfl_.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Worm.selection.chip_.smfl_.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":666162,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Worm.selection.chip_.smfl_.jpg?itok=Hwjn61GH"}},"584226":{"id":"584226","type":"image","title":"C. elegans sorting chip size","body":null,"created":"1479914083","gmt_created":"2016-11-23 15:14:43","changed":"1479914083","gmt_changed":"2016-11-23 15:14:43","alt":"","file":{"fid":"222738","name":"wormchip.penny_.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/wormchip.penny_.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/wormchip.penny_.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":30537,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/wormchip.penny_.jpeg?itok=pDyv_jIp"}},"584232":{"id":"584232","type":"image","title":"Alleles and phenotypical distances Hang Lu","body":null,"created":"1479922761","gmt_created":"2016-11-23 17:39:21","changed":"1479922761","gmt_changed":"2016-11-23 17:39:21","alt":"","file":{"fid":"222741","name":"geno.pheno_.web_.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/geno.pheno_.web_.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/geno.pheno_.web_.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":148439,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/geno.pheno_.web_.jpg?itok=dyQYl-Ep"}},"584227":{"id":"584227","type":"image","title":"Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Professor Hang Lu","body":null,"created":"1479914362","gmt_created":"2016-11-23 15:19:22","changed":"1479914362","gmt_changed":"2016-11-23 15:19:22","alt":"","file":{"fid":"222739","name":"Lu.portrait.full_.smfl_.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Lu.portrait.full_.smfl_.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Lu.portrait.full_.smfl_.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":686288,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Lu.portrait.full_.smfl_.jpg?itok=TDwBTh7a"}},"584224":{"id":"584224","type":"image","title":"C. elegans roundworm cartoon gif","body":null,"created":"1479913309","gmt_created":"2016-11-23 15:01:49","changed":"1479913812","gmt_changed":"2016-11-23 15:10:12","alt":"","file":{"fid":"222736","name":"vid_21_vAll2.gif","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/vid_21_vAll2.gif","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/vid_21_vAll2.gif","mime":"image\/gif","size":2483617,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/vid_21_vAll2.gif?itok=OEHbl-QE"}}},"media_ids":["584223","584225","584226","584232","584227","584224"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"141","name":"Chemistry and Chemical Engineering"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"}],"keywords":[{"id":"5807","name":"Phenotyping"},{"id":"7086","name":"genotype"},{"id":"26461","name":"neurology"},{"id":"172791","name":"disease risk"},{"id":"11638","name":"C. elegans"},{"id":"172790","name":"Professor Hang Lu"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39431","name":"Data Engineering and Science"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"},{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWriter and media contact: Ben Brumfield\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECell: (404) 660-1408\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EResearch Communications\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["ben.brumfield@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"584845":{"#nid":"584845","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Noninvasive Visual Stimulation May Illuminate a Path for Alzheimer\u2019s Disease Treatment","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA new breakthrough discovery by a team of scientists, which includes Annabelle Singer, assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory, has found that modifying oscillating gamma brain waves substantially reduces the build-up of beta amyloid plaques which are closely associated with Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s disease. Singer was the co-lead author of the MIT research team that recently published its findings in the journal \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nature.com\/nature\/journal\/v540\/n7632\/full\/nature20587.html\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ENature\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E this December.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EScientists have known that certain diseases negatively affect normal brain wave activity, particularly the type known as gamma oscillations which are in the range of 30-90 Hz. These oscillations are associated with neural processes that include learning and memory; the disruption of these oscillations is associated with Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s disease, brain trauma, and schizophrenia. This disruption may be contributing to the build-up of beta amyloid proteins (plaques) \u0026mdash; a common hallmark of Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s disease.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESuccess with a series of biochemical, neural modifications to improve gamma activity and reduce beta amyloid build up in mice transitioned to the idea of using a noninvasive light technique to induce the same brain wave modification. Previous research showed that flickering light at specific frequencies induced gamma oscillations in the brain.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETo the delight of researchers, this noninvasive flickering light treatment delivered at a specific frequency to induce gamma oscillation brain waves suppressed beta amyloid production and invigorated microglia \u0026mdash; immune cells responsible for eliminating plaque buildup.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We found that gamma brain waves were weaker in mice programmed to develop Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s, even before plaques built up and mice had memory problems,\u0026rdquo; said Singer. \u0026ldquo;That led us to wonder if we could drive gamma brain waves to alter amyloid, the protein that accumulates in Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s and forms plaques.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen the researchers drove gamma, using both optogenetics and non-invasive light flicker, they found amyloid levels were drastically reduced.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We found that driving gamma had two beneficial effects,\u0026rdquo; Singer said. \u0026ldquo;First, amyloid production slowed down. And second microglia, immune cells that act like trash collectors in the brain, changed so that they collected more amyloid.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAlzheimer\u0026rsquo;s disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and, eventually, the ability to carry out the simplest tasks. More than five million Americans have Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s disease and unless it can be effectively treated or prevented, the number of people affected will increase significantly as current population growth continues. Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s is currently ranked as the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;While there are many steps to go to translate these discoveries in mice to a therapy for humans with Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s, we think this radically different, non-invasive approach is very promising,\u0026rdquo; Singer said. \u0026ldquo;We are working hard on the next steps: Figuring out the most effective way to non-invasively drive gamma in brain regions essential for learning and memory and testing out this approach in humans.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Contact:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:wrich@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EWalter Rich\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Manager\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Successful reduction of beta amyloid plaques achieved by using flickering light to modulate brain activity and energize immune cells  "}],"uid":"27513","created_gmt":"2016-12-08 19:35:59","changed_gmt":"2016-12-21 14:34:29","author":"Walter Rich","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-12-08T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2016-12-08T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"584844":{"id":"584844","type":"image","title":"Gamma oscillation brain waves suppressed beta amyloid production and invigorated microglia","body":null,"created":"1481225541","gmt_created":"2016-12-08 19:32:21","changed":"1481225541","gmt_changed":"2016-12-08 19:32:21","alt":"Gamma oscillation brain waves suppressed beta amyloid production and invigorated microglia","file":{"fid":"222993","name":"Microglia-beta amyloid cleanup-v2-01.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Microglia-beta%20amyloid%20cleanup-v2-01.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Microglia-beta%20amyloid%20cleanup-v2-01.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":277053,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Microglia-beta%20amyloid%20cleanup-v2-01.jpg?itok=eGPo57At"}},"584848":{"id":"584848","type":"image","title":"Annabelle Singer, Ph.D.","body":null,"created":"1481225948","gmt_created":"2016-12-08 19:39:08","changed":"1481225948","gmt_changed":"2016-12-08 19:39:08","alt":"Annabelle Singer, Ph.D.","file":{"fid":"222998","name":"Annabelle Singer_smaller.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Annabelle%20Singer_smaller.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Annabelle%20Singer_smaller.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":135926,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Annabelle%20Singer_smaller.jpg?itok=B7lK6rjr"}}},"media_ids":["584844","584848"],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1612","name":"BME"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Contact:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:wrich@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EWalter Rich\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Manager\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["wrich@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"547401":{"#nid":"547401","#data":{"type":"news","title":"NeuroDay 2016 at Georgia Tech","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Institute of Technology\u2019s neuroscience and neurotechnology community assembled recently for NeuroDay 2016, bringing together dozens of faculty members from the College of Sciences, College of Engineering, and College of Computing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey gathered to deliver a collective \u201cstate of the union\u201d for neuro activities on campus, and to introduce GTNeuro as the umbrella campus effort covering a wide range of research, education, and outreach activities related to neuroscience and neurotechnology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EServing as a kind of community association, GTNeuro\u2019s partner efforts are based in different units, like the Neural Engineering Center and the Center for Advanced Brain Imaging (CABI), both at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cGeorgia Tech has enduring strength at the interface\u0026nbsp;between basic neuroscience and neurotechnology and innovation, and is well-positioned to significantly strengthen efforts through key strategic moves,\u201d said Garrett Stanley, professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, and co-chair of the GT Neuro steering committee.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe other co-chair is Todd Streelman, professor in the School of Biology and, like Stanley, a member of the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAdditional partner efforts were introduced, such as the Emory Neuromodulation and Technology Innovation Center and the Emory\/Georgia Tech Computational Neuroscience Training Program. The neuro-group also outlined plans for future events, including a campus-wide GTNeuro seminar series.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENeuroDay 2016 was sponsored by the Joyce M. and Warren K. Wells Endowment for Neuroengineering.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELINKS:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EGTNeuro\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/petitinstitute.gatech.edu\/core-facilities\/neuroscience-core\u0022\u003ENeuroscience Core\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.cabiatl.com\/CABI\/\u0022\u003ECenter for Advanced Brain Imaging\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(CABI)\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/neuralengineering.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ENeural Engineering Center\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECONTACT:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Neuroscience and neurotechnology community gather for \u201cstate of the union\u201d"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENeuroscience and neurotechnology community gather for \u201cstate of the union\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Neuroscience and neurotechnology community gather for \u201cstate of the union\u201d"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2016-06-23 13:15:55","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:21:57","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-06-23T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-06-23T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"547391":{"id":"547391","type":"image","title":"Neuro activity","body":null,"created":"1466704800","gmt_created":"2016-06-23 18:00:00","changed":"1475895341","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:55:41","alt":"Neuro activity","file":{"fid":"92377","name":"neural.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/neural.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/neural.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2532272,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/neural.jpg?itok=IIClteRG"}}},"media_ids":["547391"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126591","name":"go-NeuralEngineering"},{"id":"17641","name":"gtneuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"469111":{"#nid":"469111","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Ballet May Improve Balance","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EHow does long-term training to enhance physical coordination affect the neural control of movements? How does it affect how we do everyday tasks?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EA team of collaborative researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University set out to find the answers. Their study, from the lab of Petit Institute researcher Lena Ting and published in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EJournal of Neurophysiology\u003C\/em\u003E, compares the movements of professional ballet dancers to individuals with no training.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EThe research showed that years of ballet training changed how the nervous system coordinated muscles for walking and balancing behavior. The team\u2019s discoveries may also implications for rehabilitation medicine.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/news.emory.edu\/stories\/2015\/11\/ting_ballet_and_neural_control\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ERead more about the research from the Ting lab.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Petit Institute researcher Lena Ting studies how long-term training affects motor modules"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EPetit Institute researcher Lena Ting studies how long-term training affects motor modules\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Petit Institute researcher Lena Ting studies how long-term training affects motor modules"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2015-11-11 21:32:58","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:19:58","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-11-11T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2015-11-11T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"466031":{"id":"466031","type":"image","title":"Professor Lena Ting collecting data","body":null,"created":"1449256395","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 19:13:15","changed":"1475895213","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:53:33","alt":"Professor Lena Ting collecting data","file":{"fid":"203745","name":"dsc_0274.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dsc_0274_0.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dsc_0274_0.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":212234,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/dsc_0274_0.jpeg?itok=U1HxtBuU"}}},"media_ids":["466031"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126591","name":"go-NeuralEngineering"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/node\/jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"460471":{"#nid":"460471","#data":{"type":"news","title":"BRAIN Initiative Taps Two Labs from Georgia Tech","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003ETwo researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology are riding a second wave of grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EChristine Payne and Garrett Stanley, both faculty members of the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, are among the 131 investigators working at 125 institutions in the U.S. and eight other countries receiving 67 new awards, totaling more than $38 million.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EPayne, Stanley and their collaborators are part of a new round of projects for visualizing the brain in action. It\u2019s all part of the initiative launched by President Obama in 2014 as a wide-spread effort to equip researchers with fundamental insights for treating a range of brain disorders, like Alzheimer\u2019s, schizophrenia, autism, epilepsy and traumatic brain injury.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EStanley and Dieter Jaeger, professor in Emory University\u2019s Department of Biology, are principal investigators of a project titled, \u201cMultiscale Analysis of Sensory-Motor Cortical Gating in Behaving Mice.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003ETheir overall goal is better understand and capture the flow of information as we sense and perceive the outside world, \u201cso that we can take action,\u201d says Stanley, professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME), a joint department of Emory and Georgia Tech. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EThe Stanley lab provides expertise on tactile sensing and information processing, while the Jaeger lab provides expertise on motor\/muscle coordination and control.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cWe are developing approaches to using genetically expressed voltage sensors to optically image brain activity during a sensory-motor task,\u201d Stanley says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EThe new technology would let the researchers monitor brain activity at high spatial and temporal resolution over long periods of time.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cIt allows us to address questions related to the circuits involved in coordinating the relationship between sensing and action for the first time,\u201d Stanley says.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EThe project grew out of another collaboration between Jaeger and Stanley. They are co-principal investigators of an NIH-sponsored training grant in computational neuroscience, which targets a new generation of scientists bound together through questions about how the brain computes.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cThrough this interaction, Dieter and I got to know each other better, started to talk more science, and eventually cooked up this project,\u201d Stanley says.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u201cThe research is relevant to public health because it provides an impactful and innovative study of the circuitry underlying the output from the basal ganglia to the motor cortex and the integration of basal ganglia output with sensory information.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EDebilitating and difficult to treat neurological disorders like Parkinson\u2019s disease, Huntington\u2019s disease and dystonia are caused by dysfunction of this circuitry.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cThe proposed research is expected to provide basic insights into motor circuit function and may reveal new possibilities for treatment of these diseases as well as a better understanding of deep brain stimulation treatments already in use,\u201d says Stanley, who was part of the first round of BRAIN Initiative funding last year with fellow Georgia Tech researcher Craig Forest.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EPeter Borden, a Ph.D. student in Stanley\u2019s lab, and Christian Waiblinger, a postdoctoral researcher in Stanley\u2019s lab, will also be contributing to the research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EMeanwhile, Payne is principal investigator for a project titled, \u201cConducting polymer nanowires for neural modulation.\u201d She\u2019s collaborating with Bret Flanders, a professor at Kansas State whose lab is working on new ways to insulate nanowires. Georgia Tech students Scott Thourson (a Bioengineering Ph.D. candidate) and Rohan Kadambi (undergrad in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering) are helping to lead the effort.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cUnderstanding how the brain functions requires fundamentally new tools to probe individual neurons without damaging the surrounding tissue,\u201d says Payne, associate professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cThis research will develop a prototype device that uses biocompatible conducting polymer nanowires to interface with individual neurons,\u201d says Payne. \u201cThe use of flexible conducting polymers in place of traditional metal, silicon, and carbon electrodes is expected to minimize disruption to the surrounding tissue.\u201d \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EThe new round of funding brings the NIH investment for BRAIN Initiative research to $85 million in fiscal year 2015. Last year NIH awarded $46 million to the effort, designed to ultimately catalyze new treatments and cures for devastating brain disorders and diseases that are estimated by the World Health Organization to affect more than one billion people on the planet.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cGeorgia Tech is proud to play a role in this important global effort,\u201d says Steve Cross, Tech\u0027s executive vice president for research. \u201cThese grants are further evidence of Tech\u2019s reputation for conducting world-class bioengineering and bioscience research.\u201d\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECONTACT:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/node\/jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering and Bioscience\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Petit Institute researchers Christine Payne and Garrett Stanley contributing to global effort"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EPetit Institute researchers Christine Payne and Garrett Stanley contributing to global effort\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Petit Institute researchers Christine Payne and Garrett Stanley contributing to global effort"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2015-10-19 11:42:38","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:19:47","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-10-19T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2015-10-19T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"460431":{"id":"460431","type":"image","title":"Neural activity","body":null,"created":"1449256361","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 19:12:41","changed":"1475895206","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:53:26","alt":"Neural activity","file":{"fid":"203590","name":"neuron_pic.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/neuron_pic_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/neuron_pic_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":669703,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/neuron_pic_0.jpg?itok=4oM-Wbdy"}},"391851":{"id":"391851","type":"image","title":"Garrett Stanley","body":null,"created":"1449246332","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:25:32","changed":"1475894406","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:40:06","alt":"Garrett Stanley","file":{"fid":"75568","name":"garrett_stanley_0.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/garrett_stanley_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/garrett_stanley_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":42109,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/garrett_stanley_0.jpg?itok=PyacPT-C"}},"293571":{"id":"293571","type":"image","title":"Christine Payne, PhD - School of Chemistry \u0026 Biochemistry","body":null,"created":"1449244313","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:51:53","changed":"1475894991","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:49:51","alt":"Christine Payne, PhD - School of Chemistry \u0026 Biochemistry","file":{"fid":"199309","name":"paynechristine.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/paynechristine_0.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/paynechristine_0.png","mime":"image\/png","size":111877,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/paynechristine_0.png?itok=TlsVCby5"}}},"media_ids":["460431","391851","293571"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"111361","name":"BRAIN initiative"},{"id":"126591","name":"go-NeuralEngineering"},{"id":"138191","name":"go-qbios"},{"id":"147931","name":"go_neuralengineering"},{"id":"147941","name":"go_qbios"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/node\/jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"407701":{"#nid":"407701","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Neuro Design Suite Open for Business","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Parker H. Petit Department of Bioengineering and Bioscience recently unveiled its newest core facility. But even before its official grand opening earlier this year, the Neuro Design Suite (NDS) was having an important impact on the work of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELast year, when Craig Forest and Garrett Stanley applied for grant funding through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for President Obama\u2019s BRAIN Initiative (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies), they made sure to include the Neuro Design Suite in their description of available facilities. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIt\u2019s because facilities were among the important five criteria on which these grant proposals were scored by NIH, who awarded the Forest\/Stanley research team $1.5 million as part of the first wave of BRAIN Initiative funding. Part of NIH\u2019s reasoning on this score is that the NDS is a state-of-the-art facility with some of the best research tools available.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cThey want to know, \u2018does your team have adequate facilities to conduct this research?\u2019 So, it made a great impression,\u201d says Forest, associate professor of bioengineering in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. \u201cThe modern tools of neuroscience are allowing researchers unprecedented access to the living brain at work. These tools allow measurements at the level of single cells, and the connections between them.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELike all core facilities, the Neuro Design Suite are shared resources, a high-tech \u201csandbox\u201d for engineers and scientists to try out their novel inventions in a controlled setting with all the necessary equipment at hand. So far, a number of different researchers from different disciplines have utilized the tools.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u201cHaving a shared facility that can support multiple grants and multiple [principal investigators] is absolutely essential,\u201d Forest says. \u201cWe\u2019re excited that these tools invented for neuroscience could be brought to bear on entirely different problems.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIn other words, you don\u2019t have to be a neuroscientist to reap the research benefits of the Neuro Design Suite. Assisting researchers who use the facility is lab manager Bo Yang, who can sit down with a scientist and help design experiments suitable to their needs or discipline.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cBo has recorded the electrical activity of 2,500 brain cells,\u201d says Forest. \u201cWe\u2019re fortunate to have one of the world\u2019s experts working with researchers.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe suite features three major rigs that allow researchers to perform manual and\/or automated \u003Cem\u003Ein vitro, in vivo\u003C\/em\u003E patch clamping and \u003Cem\u003Ein vivo\u003C\/em\u003E extracellular electrophysiology recordings. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe Q-Scientifica SliceScope within\u0026nbsp;the \u003Cem\u003Ein vitro\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;patch clamping rig is a compact upright microscope equipped with a fully-motorized fixed stage, various electrode manipulators, a wide range of Olympus objectives and an LED system to meet the demands of electrophysiology study.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe electromagnetically shielded\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003Ein vivo\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;extracellular electrophysiology rig is constructed with various elements, including Zesis surgical microscopes, a 128-channel Tucker Davis Technologies data acquisition system (RZ2), Kopf stereotaxic frames, and DC temperature controllers to enable stable, reliable and high-quality recordings. Also, a complete LED driver system (Thorlabs) was equipped to this rig to facilitate optogenetic \u003Cem\u003Ein vivo\u003C\/em\u003E experiments.\u003Cbr \/\u003EAutomatic patch clamping devices (autopatchers) are also attached to both\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003Ein vitro\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;and\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003Ein vivo\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;patch clamping rigs to obtain high yield and high quality whole cell recordings. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EForest and Stanley, professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME), were awarded BRAIN Initiative funding from the NIH for their project entitled, \u201c\u003Cem\u003EIn-vivo\u003C\/em\u003E circuit activity measurement at single cell, sub-threshold resolution,\u201d research that could only happen with the best tools available.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cWe can use these tools not only to record what\u2019s happening in cells, at the level of a single cell, but also in cells that are in two different brain regions simultaneously,\u201d says Forest. \u201cIn each region we can record activity within a single cell, at the sub-threshold resolution of a single cell. No one\u2019s been able to do that before. We can record cells talking to each other in a living brain.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECONTACT:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/node\/jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Newest core facility giving researchers unprecedented access to the brain"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENewest core facility giving researchers unprecedented access to the brain\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Newest core facility giving researchers unprecedented access to the brain"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2015-05-28 00:36:49","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:18:21","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-05-28T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2015-05-28T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"407691":{"id":"407691","type":"image","title":"Neurons","body":null,"created":"1449254168","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 18:36:08","changed":"1475895132","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:52:12","alt":"Neurons","file":{"fid":"202154","name":"-1_8.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/-1_8_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/-1_8_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1274734,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/-1_8_0.jpg?itok=8aFZ1JFP"}},"407681":{"id":"407681","type":"image","title":"neuro design ribbon cutting","body":null,"created":"1449254168","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 18:36:08","changed":"1475895132","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:52:12","alt":"neuro design ribbon cutting","file":{"fid":"202153","name":"ribbon_2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ribbon_2_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ribbon_2_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":524259,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/ribbon_2_0.jpg?itok=4MQQCsY3"}}},"media_ids":["407691","407681"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126591","name":"go-NeuralEngineering"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/node\/jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}},"334161":{"#nid":"334161","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Planting Brain Seeds","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERobert Butera and Lena Ting were there at the beginning, when neuroengineering started becoming a serious thing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. They were part of what began as a loose affiliation of faculty from diverse disciplines who made it a thing, researchers and educators with a common interest in the myriad workings of the human brain. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cWhat we started with over 10 years ago, the Laboratory for Neuroengineering (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/neurolab.gatech.edu\/\u0022 title=\u0022https:\/\/neurolab.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/neurolab.gatech.edu\/\u003C\/a\u003E), was a self-organized collection of faculty, and we sort of built a neuroengineering community,\u201d says Ting, professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering. \u201cWhen we started, there was really nothing else here. But over the last 10 years there\u2019s been a lot of growth and interest in the area, through different units across campus.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe fledgling Neural Engineering Center (\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.neuro.gatech.edu\/neural-engineering-center\u0022 title=\u0022http:\/\/www.neuro.gatech.edu\/neural-engineering-center\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.neuro.gatech.edu\/neural-engineering-center\u003C\/a\u003E) at the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience was established with a mission to develop novel science and technology for measuring, understanding, modifying, and stimulating neural activity. The aim is for both clinical and scientific applications. Bottom line, says Butera: \u201cmodulating nervous system function requires new tools and new science, and our goal is to facilitate both.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThis new research center is the latest phase in a continuing Georgia Tech neuroscience evolution, which includes the aggregation and evaluation of all campus neuro-activities. \u201cWe noticed there were people all over campus doing neuroscience related research and helped launch a web site to try to identify who on campus was affiliated with neuroscience in general,\u201d Ting says. People from all over responded. They\u2019re from Applied Physiology, Biology, Physics, Psychology, and throughout the College of Engineering. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cThe neuro initiative is a big tent,\u201d says Butera, professor of Electrical and Computer engineering and jointly appointed in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, and co-director (with Ting) of the Neural Engineering Center (NEC). \u201cWith this center, we are narrowing our focus.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EInterest in the kind of mission the new center is pursuing has only ramped up since President Barack Obama announced his Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative in April 2013, promising more than $300 million in public and private funds to support groundbreaking research that can lead to a better understanding of human brain function and new treatments or cures for a wide range of neurological disorders. Georgia Tech researchers Craig Forest and Garrett Stanley recently won $1.5 million BRAIN Initiative award when the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced its first wave of investments to support the program. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAnd it turns out, Ting says, \u201cAtlanta has one of the largest neuroscience communities of any city. I think Boston\u2019s chapter of the Society of Neuroscience might be the only one bigger than Atlanta\u2019s. Emory has a very large neuroscience program. So does Georgia State.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe Neural Engineering Center collaborates with the Emory Neuromodulation Technology Innovation Center (ENTICe), founded by Emory researchers and clinicians who are leaders in a therapeutic procedure known as deep brain stimulation (DBS), which involves sending electrical impulses through implanted electrodes to specific parts of the brain, and treats a variety of disorders, such as Parkinson\u2019s disease, tremors, dystonia, and depression. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cThe clinical devices used older neural stimulation technology, and the doctors are directly facing scientific and engineering challenges in improving their procedures,\u201d Ting says. \u201cThrough engagement with ENTICe we decided that we should really start pulling people together to establish a research center at Georgia Tech, where we could focus on the science and engineering issues around how you stimulate and modify neural activity and brain activity.\u201d \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe Neural Engineering Center will announce its ceremonial launch on October 28, 2014 with a seminar speaker in the Whitaker Building. In collaboration with the Young Innovators in Biomedical Engineering Seminar Series, the NEC will present Sridevi V. Sarma from Johns Hopkins University (11 a.m. to noon in Whitaker 1103), whose presentation is entitled, \u201cOn the Therapeutic Mechanisms of Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson\u0027s Disease: Why High Frequency?\u201d The talk will be immediately followed by a reception in the Whitaker Atrium to celebrate the NEC\u2019s opening. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EBut the center already has begun fine-tuning its focus, which includes the support of smart people and early-phase research that will help the NEC accomplish its mission. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cWe\u2019re going with a very different seed grant model,\u201d says Butera. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s kind of an experiment. We call it the rapid-fire seed grant,\u201d adds Ting. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u201cWe want people to move fast and fail quickly,\u201d Butera quips, the basic premise being to show some research progress sooner rather than later. And there\u2019s a backstory to the grants (\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/neuro-seed-grant-call\u0022 title=\u0022http:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/neuro-seed-grant-call\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/neuro.gatech.edu\/neuro-seed-grant-call\u003C\/a\u003E). \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe idea is for researchers to initiate projects and use that activity as a catalyst to reach for something bigger. The bulk of the center\u2019s initial funding supports the rapid-fire seed grant program. The grants are limited to $5,000-$10,000, covering short-term (three months) exploratory projects that are intended to test new ideas and generate preliminary data, with an emphasis on collaborative research. The deadline for applying is November 1, 2014. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EWhat they\u2019d really like is to become a Science and Technology Center (STC, a National Science Foundation program). \u201cThe Neural Engineering Center is focused on a particular area in which we think we have a lot of strength. The idea is that we move forward with a coherent research program, and then we can seek large, externally funded grants,\u201d says Ting. That was the idea when they wrote a proposal to Steve Cross, Georgia Tech\u2019s executive vice president for research, outlining their goals and establishing NEC as a Petit Institute research center. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EBut, even before they were calling for rapid-fire proposals, Butera and Ting were taking the long view, planning to leverage what\u2019s been more than 10 years of concentrated growth in neurotechnology research at Georgia Tech. Over the summer they submitted a proposal for a National Science Foundation (NSF) National Research Training Grant which would fund graduate students at Georgia Tech and Emory in the development of neuromodulation technologies.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Neural Engineering Center becomes official, launches new seed grant program"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENeural Engineering Center becomes official, launches new seed grant program\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Neural Engineering Center becomes official, launches new seed grant program"}],"uid":"27195","created_gmt":"2014-10-15 09:32:19","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:17:15","author":"Colly Mitchell","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-10-15T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-10-15T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"334121":{"id":"334121","type":"image","title":"Robert Butera - professor of Electrical and Computer engineering and jointly appointed in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, and co-director of the Neural Engineering Center (NEC)","body":null,"created":"1449245133","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:05:33","changed":"1475895046","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:46","alt":"Robert Butera - professor of Electrical and Computer engineering and jointly appointed in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, and co-director of the Neural Engineering Center (NEC)","file":{"fid":"200446","name":"butera2-square.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/butera2-square_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/butera2-square_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":753843,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/butera2-square_0.jpg?itok=3AjUDeTV"}},"334151":{"id":"334151","type":"image","title":"Lena Ting - professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering and co-director of Neural Engineering Center (NEC)","body":null,"created":"1449245133","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:05:33","changed":"1475895046","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:46","alt":"Lena Ting - professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering and co-director of Neural Engineering Center (NEC)","file":{"fid":"200447","name":"tinglena-headshot2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tinglena-headshot2_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tinglena-headshot2_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":41507,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tinglena-headshot2_0.jpg?itok=l6re-pfr"}}},"media_ids":["334121","334151"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.neuro.gatech.edu\/","title":"Neuro@Tech website"},{"url":"https:\/\/neurolab.gatech.edu\/labs\/ting","title":"Ting lab"},{"url":"https:\/\/neurolab.gatech.edu\/labs\/butera","title":"Butera lab website"},{"url":"http:\/\/petitinstitute.gatech.edu\/","title":"Petit Institute website"},{"url":"https:\/\/www.bme.gatech.edu\/","title":"Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering"}],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"126591","name":"go-NeuralEngineering"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering \u0026amp; Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}