Dr. Roe received his Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis in 1999. His current research focuses on changes in microcolumnarity in the cerebral cortex. Microcolumns are vertical arrays of perhaps 100 cells that extend from layer 6 through layer 2 of the neocortex. Preliminary investigations indicate that changes in parameters such as the spacing and width of columns may be detectable in various disease states (e.g., Alzheimer's Disease, Lewy body dementia) in the absence of detectable neuron loss.

Another central focus of Dr. Roe's research is in trying to understand the network properties of brains, including their topology and dynamics. Recent advances in our basic understanding of networks have allowed us to identify and characterize many real-world examples of "small world networks," (e.g., web sites connected by links, authors in a citation network, social acquaintances) in which the elements are separated by far fewer "links" than one would expect. The brain is a network of this sort, and this understanding is leading to a profound re-examination of the way the brain works. This work has by far led to his deepest understanding of the brain. Neuroscientists frequently confuse this field with traditional neural network models, though the two are only peripherally related.

Finally, Dr. Roe has an interest in expressing his understanding of mind/brain in art and robotics. In this capacity, he is an internationally recognized artist who has shown his work in major exhibitions, and has been featured in magazines and other media in the U.S. and Europe. Much of his work in this capacity is in the field of cybernetics, which is concerned with control and communication in brains and machines. He has constructed a series of "Braitenberg creatures," after the work of the neuroscientist Valentino Braitenberg, that demonstrate that very simple control mechanisms can produce surprisingly complex behavior in a machine that is interacting with a complex environment.