Engage and Enable Blog

The aim of this blog is to show what’s happening at the Center for Neurotechnology among its faculty, student and staff members. To learn more about the center and its work, visit our Feature Stories page.

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“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

This creed from the United States Postal Service is fitting for the students who recently participated in MIT Momentum, a design class for first and second year students sponsored by the Office of Minority Education. Boston’s recent Snowmaggedon caused a slight change-up in the Momentum schedule, but the engineering competition took place nevertheless on Friday, January 30.

Alberto Perez, Jr, at the Space Needle in SeattleStarting college is exciting and frightening at the same time, especially if you’re the first in your family to attend. You are not really sure of what to expect or know exactly what college has in store for you.

San Diego State University (SDSU) offers several summer programs for incoming freshmen, especially for first generation and minority students. The programs help incoming freshmen get an idea of what college is like, such as taking a college course, living in the dorms and meeting new people.

To better understand what is happening with neural signals in the brain, scientists continue to develop ways to simultaneously probe and manipulate neurons during simple tasks, like moving a cursor on a screen.

Now, a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology led by Polina Anikeeva, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering, have created polymer probes that will enable a more detailed manipulation and analysis of neural circuits deep in the brain than achievable before.

There’s a lot to see each year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), billed as the largest trade show in the world. If you’re interested in drones, the latest in 3D printing (a drum kit and guitar, clothing), a new car or a fitness tracker, you’ll find it at the CES.

Last summer, a group of Seattle-area high school teachers developed an “Introduction to Neural Engineering Neuroprosthetics & Brain-Computer Interfaces” curriculum as part of the Research Experience for Teachers program at the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering.

Over the course of seven weeks, the teachers wrote 11 lesson plans and corresponding lab work to help students better understand the basics of neural engineering.  The curriculum was designed to support science teachers in meeting the engineering design standards featured in the Next Generation Science Standards.

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