Kamal Sen Receives $2.96M NSF Award
Professor Kamal Sen, Associate BME professor and Director of the Natural Sounds and Neural Coding Laboratory, was recently granted an NSF Award of $2.96 million for the Integrative Strategies for Understanding Neural and Cognitive Systems (NCS) funding opportunity. Sen, serving as principal investigator, has advanced the study of complex scene analysis (CSA) in the hopes of improving upon modern hearing aids and similar medical technology.
“It is a great honor,” says Sen. “It is a recognition of decades of research which led to this.”
His project involves three “threads” of research. The first focuses on brain imaging in humans and machine learning processes to measure brain signals and better understand when CSA is taking place. The second relies on studying mice through electrophysiology, optogenetics, behavior and computational modeling to investigate cortical circuits. The third thread involves bringing together these studies to formulate an algorithm which keeps in mind the subject experiencing the CSA and under what circumstances, thereby evaluating the situation in ways which may carve the future of medical aid technology.
“The funds will enable a highly interdisciplinary and collaborative project on Complex Scene Analysis (CSA). The project will include integrated fNIRS and EEG measurements in humans performing CSA with Dr. David Boas’ groundbreaking wearable technologies for measuring brain signals in the everyday world, unraveling cortical circuits for CSA in mice (with Dr. Howard Gritton at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Dr. Xue Han at Boston University), and developing a brain inspired algorithm to help humans challenged with CSA, e.g., those with autism, ADHD and hearing impairments.”
The Integrative Strategies for Understanding Neural and Cognitive Systems funding opportunity focuses on four major areas of research: neuroengineering and brain-inspired designs; individuality and variation; cognitive and neural processes in complex environments; and data-intensive cognitive science and neuroscience. With only 10 to 15 awards granted every year in a cohesive total budget of $15 million, Professor Sen’s nearly $3-million award is no small feat.
Professors Kamal Sen and Xue Han were also recently published in “nature” for their relevant research: “Parvalbumin neurons enhance temporal coding and reduce cortical noise in complex auditory scenes.” To read that article, click here.
Sen wanted to be sure that all those who assisted him were properly thanked for their efforts. “My collaborators David Boas, Meryem Yucel, Xue Han, Howard Gritton, Virginia Best and Brian DePasquale. All my graduate students who contributed to the research that led to this award. My Ph.D. advisor Larry Abbott and my postdoctoral advisor Allison Doupe for inspiring me and showing me the creativity and joy in posing and solving scientific problems. My BME colleagues and mentors, especially Steve Colburn, John White and Ken Lutchen, and my family for their tremendous support throughout the years.”