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Matthew Kerr, a Graduate Student in the lab of Dr. Sridevi Sarma, Assistant Professor at the Institute for Computational Medicine, has been awarded the Johns Hopkins University’s 2012-2013 ARCS Foundation Scholarship. The graduate award of $15,000 may be used for education-related expenses such as tuition, books, supplies, travel to conferences, research activities as well as other needs. Matthew’s current research focuses on how the human motor system influences limb control. The military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the insurgents’ use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), have led to a dramatic increase in the number of otherwise healthy, adaptable individuals missing limbs. Prosthetic limbs that could respond to an individuals thoughts as naturally as their own body would greatly increase their quality of life. The ARCS funding will support him as he investigates how the motor system responds to unexpected perturbations in movement. By understanding and modeling how different parts of the brain influence upper-limb motor control, new insights will be gained that may greatly improve the next generation of brain-controled prosthetics.

Congratulations on your scholarship Matthew, and good luck with your research!

Dr. Sridevi V. Sarma of the Institute for Computational Medicine (ICM) has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant of $2,000,000 for support of the project entitled “EFRI-M3C: Robust Decoder-Compensator Architecture for Interactive Control of High-Speed and Loaded Movements”. The research involves developing a novel model-based Robust Decoder-Compensator (RDC) architecture for interactive control of fast movements in the presence of uncertainty. The RDC is a feedback interconnection that 1) decodes cortical signals to produce actuator commands that reflect motor intent, 2) corrects for spurious signals generated by the cerebellum in the absence of proprioceptive feedback, and 3) makes robust the interconnection to account for mismatches between models and reality. A unique experimental paradigm will be exploited wherein neural spike and local field potential data from patients with implantable electrodes admitted for epilepsy surgery will be collected.

Collaborators on the project John Thomas Gale, Munther A. Dahleh, and Nitish Thakor. The award is effective September 15, 2011 and expires August 31, 2015.

Congratulations to Dr. Sarma!

Matthew Kerr, a newly appointed PhD student in the lab of Dr. Sridevi Sarma, has been awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. The fellowship provides a stipend of $30,000 per year for three years and eligibility to apply for supercomputing time. Selection for the award was based on “outstanding abilities and accomplishments, as well as [the] potential to contribute to strengthening the vitality of the US science and engineering enterprise.”

Matthew’s research focuses on two aspects of neural decoding. “The first is understanding the brain as a network and using that knowledge to anticipate the onset of neural conditions such as seizures. The second is determining how the motor cortex encodes movement and applying that knowledge toward improving upper limb prostheses.”

Congratulations on your Fellowship award Matthew!

Sri Sarma, is the recipient of a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation. The CAREER award, given to faculty members at the beginning of their academic careers, is one of NSF’s most competitive awards and emphasizes high-quality research and novel education initiatives.

Sri’s CAREER research involves the modeling and control of neuronal networks in the brain with applications to the treatment of Parkinson’s disease using deep brain stimulation. Her project includes the construction of a general approach for modeling complex neuronal networks where interactions occur between different brain nuclei, the design of computationally efficient control strategies for such networks, and applying these methodologies to the problem of restoring pathological network dynamics arising from Parkinson’s disease with deep brain stimulation. This work has the potential to impact the interface between control systems and neuroscience and create new opportunities for medical treatment of neurological disorders.

The full details of the award can be found on the NSF website here.

The CAREER award is a terrific achievement for Sri and I invite you to you join me in congratulating her on this well-deserved honor.