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K-State Today

March 27, 2019

Jose Contreras-Vidal to present electrical and computer engineering seminar Mar. 28

Submitted by Michelle Keating

Jose Pepe Contreras-Vidal

Jose "Pepe" Luis Contreras-Vidal, professor at the University of Houston, will present an electrical and computer engineering seminar at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, March 28, in 1109 Engineering Hall Auditorium. The title of his presentation is "Clinical Brain-Machine Interfaces (BMI): Challenges and Opportunities."

Contreras-Vidal is the Cullen Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and director of the NSF Industry-University Collaborative Research Center on Building Reliable Advances and Innovations in Neurotechnologies, or IUCRC BRAIN, at the University of Houston. He also is a fellow of IEEE. He has pioneered the development of noninvasive brain-machine interfaces to control robots, exoskeletons, virtual avatars and prosthetic limbs to restore motor function in individuals with spinal cord injury, stroke and limb amputation. Contreras-Vidal has also pioneered the concept of "The Museum and the Classroom as Laboratories" to understand the brain in action and in context in free behaving individuals, with applications to biomedical engineering, art therapy, informal learning and regulatory science. His work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, VA, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Office of Naval Research, foundations, donors and industry.

Contreras-Vidal's research has been highlighted by The Economist, Nature, Science, Science News, Der Spiegel, NSF, Wall Street Journal, SFN, O&P, Scientific American, NPR's "Science Friday" and Neurology Today among others. His career development in biomedical engineering has been highlighted in the magazine Science. 

Abstract: In this seminar, Contreras-Vidal will review the state of the art of clinical BMI systems with emphasis on the challenges that need to be addressed to accelerate the translation of these systems to the endusers. Contreras-Vidal will also discuss the opportunities for convergent research in BMI systems required to improve reliability, fault-tolerance and performance while ensuring safety. Contreras-Vidal will conclude with a short review of emergent applications of noninvasive neural interfaces to the arts to investigate the brain in action and in context during creative and aesthetic experiences.

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