Neuroengineering the Future: From Neural Interfaces to Creativity

When: Monday, October 14, 2019

Speaker: Dr. Jose Contreras-Vidal, University of Houston

Host: Dr. Thamar Solorio

In this talk, I will review our work on clinical brain-machine interfaces to prosthetic limbs, powered walking robots, and digital avatars. Then, I will provide an overview of how mobile brain-body imaging (MoBI) technology is being deployed to study creativity and neuroaesthetics in public settings. I will end my talk by discussing challenges at the human-technology frontier, which present opportunities for collaborative and convergent research engaging neuroscience, engineering, computer science and AI.

Bio:

Dr. Jose ‘Pepe’ Contreras-Vidal (IEEE Fellow) is a Cullen Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of the NSF Research Center for Building Reliable Advances and Innovations in Neurotechnology (IUCRC BRAIN) at the University of Houston. He is also a Full Affiliate of the Department of Neurosurgery at the Houston Methodist Hospital. He pioneered noninvasive brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) and the concept of the museum and the classroom as research laboratories to study the brain 'in action and in context' in natural settings outside the lab. His research has appeared in The Economist, Nature, Der Spiegel, and Wall Street Journal.