Bio

Melody Moore Jackson is  an associate professor in the School of Interactive Computing in the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is director of the Animal-Computer Interaction (ACL) Lab and Georgia Tech BrainLab. The Animal-Computer Interaction Lab team is investigating ways that technology can enhance communication between humans and animals. Through wearable technology and environmental devices, they are creating ways for working dogs to impart critical information, or even summon help for their handlers. The ACI lab also studies sensors for horses, to detect gait quality and possibly lameness. The Georgia Tech BrainLab’s primary mission is to research innovative human-computer interaction for people with severe physical disabilities such as “locked-in” syndrome. Jackson’s work focuses on studying real-world applications for direct brain interfaces as well as other biometric interfaces. She participated in the first team to implant a human brain with a chronic recording electrode in 1998, and since then has extensively explored noninvasive brain-computer interfaces with technologies such as an electroencephalogram (EEG), functional Near Infrared (fNIR) imaging, and functional MRI (fMRI).  Her recent work focuses on direct brain interfaces for stroke rehabilitation as well as assistive technologies. Jackson’s work has been funded by a variety of sponsors including the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the Veteran’s Administration, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, and DARPA, as well as industry sponsors Hitachi and Google.