Hearing Aid Research Advisor: Dr. Arlene Neuman Dept. of Speech and Hearing Sciences, City University of New York January 2001 – July 2001 A significant challenge in the design of hearing aids is satisfying the requirement that a single device operate in a number different environments. In the city, for example, a hearing aid must function similarly in the noisy subway tunnels and in the quiet home. As a research engineer, I was responsible for designing a prototype portable data acquisition device to collect acoustic recordings along with patient feedback. This information will be helpful for evaluating new hearing aids. As I worked toward this goal, I acquired experience in instrumentation design, signal processing algorithms, and computer programming.
	Cerebellar Neuroscience Research Advisor: Dr. John Welsh Dept. of Physiology, New York University Medical Center June 2000 – December 2000 The Marr-Albus theory of motor learning implicates a specific network of neurons in the cerebellum and inferior olive. To assess the validity of various aspects of their model (and other work based on their model), I conducted a behavioral study by training rats on a nictitating membrane motor learning task. Following the completion of my work, another graduate student in the lab performed electrophysiology experiments on the trained animals to correlate the behavioral data with single-neuron data. During my tenure in the lab, I became proficient in the biological preparations as well as the algorithms required to interpret the motor learning task results. I also learned techniques and designed instrumentation for generating and collecting EMG data as part of my experimental protocol.
	USB Device Design Advisor: Robert Moore Dept. of Psychology, Brown University October 1999 – May 2000 For my senior engineering project, I designed and implemented a general-purpose data acquisition device using the Universal Serial Bus (USB) hardware architecture. The device was constructed according to specifications provided by the senior engineers in the Neuroscience and Psychology departments at Brown University so that it could be used in a wide variety of psychophysics experiments. After researching and purchasing discrete integrated circuit (IC) components, I created a prototype circuitboard to test my design. I also wrote assembly-level firmware to control the microchips and an end-user graphical interface in the Windows operating system.
	Visual Neuroscience Research Advisor: Dr. Ehud Kaplan Dept. of Physiology and Biophysics, Mount Sinai School of Medicine Summer 1999 Optical imaging of the brain is used to examine patterns of neural activity generated during the execution of a specific task. Students in the Kaplan lab image the cortex of cats while the animals observe visual grating patterns. The purpose of these experiments is to understand neural processing in area V1. To correlate the imaging data with the activity of single cells, I designed and conducted an experiment combining microelectrode stimulation of the cortex with optical imaging. Additionally, I created software instrumentation in LabVIEW to collect, analyze, and correlate visual evoked potential data with optical imaging data. This experience taught me new experimental techniques and provided excellent training for the animal-based neuroscience work that I subsequently performed.
	Cortical Visual Prosthesis Project Advisor: Dr. Gislin Dagnelie Lions Vision Center, Johns Hopkins Medical Institute Summer/Fall 1998 One approach to restoring vision in blind individuals is to electrically stimulate regions of their visual cortex: upon application of a current pulse, a small spot of light (known as a phosphene) appears at some location in the visual field. However, to make use of these phosphenes, a strategy must be employed to precisely identify their position. With this knowledge, they can be activated at the appropriate times during reconstruction of a visual image. To assess the efficacy of various algorithms proposed for this task, I created a simulation of phosphene vision for sighted volunteers, and conducted a human study to select the most effective method. This research introduced me to the field of neuroprostheses, and provided my first opportunity to conduct significant biomedical research.