Math & Cultural

Philip Sabes: Brain-Computer Interfaces

Wednesday, April 9, 2014, 7:00–8:15 pm
Berkeley City College Auditorium: 2050 Center Street, between Shattuck Ave. & Milvia St., in Berkeley (near the Downtown Berkeley BART station)

The Mathematical Sciences Research Institute and Berkeley City College cordially invite you to attend a lecture by Dr. Philip Sabes on “Brain-Computer Interfaces," which is part of the series Not on the Test: The Pleasures and Uses of Mathematics.  This lecture series is dedicated to engaging the public through speakers on mathematics whose expertise, passion, and ability to explain what they do with math can be understood by all.

Brain-machine interfaces offer the promise of helping disabled patients by allowing them to control prosthetic limbs, computer interfaces, or other devices directly from the neural signals in their brain. Two key challenges remain before these devices will be widely available in the clinic: the development of practical and reliable physical interfaces and the achievement of performance levels nearing those of natural movement control.  The second of these will require not only effective "read-out" of intended movements, but also "write-in" of sensory feedback.  Dr. Philip Sabes will talk about the basic science and recent technical advances in this field, including work from his own laboratory.

Dr. Philip Sabes is Professor of Physiology at the University of California, San Francisco.  He is also the director of the UCSF Swartz Center for Theoretical Neurobiology.  Dr. Sabes' laboratory works toward understanding how the brain controls movement, and in particular the role of sensory information and learning.  His lab is also using this understanding to develop Brain Machine Interfaces to help people with severe sensory and motor loss, such as spinal cord injury.  Dr. Sabes was a Marshall Scholar before earning his PhD in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT.  He was a Sloan Research Fellow and a McKnight Scholar.  He and two members of his lab were awarded the 2013 Annual BCI (Brain Computer Interface) Research Award for their work on the development of artificial somatosensory feedback. He currently holds the Jack D. and DeLoris Lange Endowed Chair in Cell Physiology.
 

Please RSVP:  Until the day of the event, please visit http://philipsabes.bpt.me/ in order to reserve your seat and be issued a ticket to the lecture.

Please note:  You must present a printed or electronic ticket at the doors to guarantee your seat in the auditorium.  Seating is limited and first come, first served.  Doors open at 6:00 pm.

Want to join the Archimedes Society?

To reserve premium seats in advance and attend a pre-event reception, we invite you to join the Archimedes Society, MSRI's supporting membership of individual donors.  To join the Archimedes Society, please visit https://tinyurl.com/msri-arch.  Please indicate the total number of tickets in the "Comments" field.  Archimedes Society members may bring one guest.  Please RSVP by Sunday, March 30 to reserve seating and attend the pre-event reception.  Food and drinks will be provided at the reception.

The generous support of the Simons Foundation has made possible the "Not on the Test" MSRI-BCC lecture series.

        Not on the Test: The Pleasures and Uses of Mathematics

        9/11/13 - Tony DeRose: "Math in the Movies"

        10/9/13 - Keith Devlin: "Video Games for Mathematics"

        11/6/13 - Inez Fung: "Verifying Greenhouse Gas Emissions"

        2/12/14 - Ge Wang: "Music, Computing, People"

        3/12/14 - Eugenie Scott: "Science Denialism"

        4/9/14 - Philip Sabes: Brain-Computer Interfaces