2013 RESEARCH YEARBOOK Dr. Robert Scheidt professor, biomedical engineering What’s new? Scheidt’s lab developed technology that uses functional magnetic resonance imaging, a simple video game and a robotic joystick handle to visualize sensorimotor information processing in brain regions involved in acquiring new movement skills. Supported by the National Science Foundation and other agencies, this work has demonstrated that essential intelligent behaviors — predictive compensation of a changing environment — rely on the coordination and integration of neural activities within multiple distributed brain regions.
Photo by John Sibilski
What’s next? Scheidt and his students recognized that their neuroimaging techniques are sensitive to neural activity changes in many brain regions demonstrating structural and functional abnormalities in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). He has obtained preliminary findings which reveal deficits in the way children with ASD process sensory information, encode it into memories and use those memories to influence upcoming actions. In collaboration with Dr. Amy Van Hecke, assistant professor of psychology, he aims to determine whether individual differences in sensorimotor memory processing can predict deficits in social and linguistic skills in children with ASD. Drs. Scheidt and Van Hecke are actively seeking funding to continue their study. What are the expected benefits? By providing insights into how neural mechanisms responsible for impaired representation and integration of sensorimotor memories contribute to deficits in motor learning in the ASD child, the project aims to provide clinicians with the knowledge needed to better treat their patients and to optimize their integration into society.
grants continued... Fabien Josse, Ph.D.
Susan Schneider, Ph.D.
professor
associate professor
$400,000, “Guided SH-Surface Acoustic Wave Chemical Sensor for Monitoring BTEX and TPH Contaminants in Aqueous Environments,” Chevron Corporation.
See entry for Dr. Edwin Yaz, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
$60,000, “Array Chemical Sensing Microsystems with Novel Signal Processing,” National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center.
$133,266, “Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need: Smart Sensor Systems in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,” U.S. Department of Education, with Dr. Fabien Josse, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Dr. Susan Schneider, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
See entry for Dr. Edwin Yaz, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
28 // 2013
Edwin Yaz, Ph.D., P.E. professor and chair
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING John Borg, Ph.D., P.E. associate professor
$149,923, “Penetration of Granular Earth Materials: A Multi-scale Physics-based Approach Toward Developing a Greater Understanding of Dynamically Loaded Heterogeneous Systems,” U.S. Department of Defense. $125,000, “Dynamic Highpressure Behavior of Hierarchical Heterogeneous Geological Materials,” U.S. Department of Defense.