Your brain as the ultimate controller, Prof. Bin He
The field of non-invasive Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) is gaining massive momentum as startups, companies and researchers are pushing hard. The race on BCI research is on improvement of the efficiency and the accuracy of the systems, while some of the first commercial efforts are testing the waters with several affordable devices already available to consumers. Professor Bin He, a pioneer in the field of Biomedical Engineering, talks about the ground-breaking research currently being done at the University of Minnesota in decoding brainwaves more accurately and reliably using non-invasive interfaces. We discuss the already impressive results of a brain-controlled helicopter experiment, some of the present challenges and the upcoming breakthroughs in the field of Brain Computer Interfaces. Interviewed by George Voulgaris for Tech Talks central.
Bin He, Prof.
Distinguished McKnight University Professor & Medtronic-Bakken Endowed Chair & Director, Institute for Engineering in Medicine & Director, Center for Neuroengineering at University of Minnesota
Dr. Bin He received his BS in Electrical Engineering from Zhejiang University in 1982, and PhD in Bioelectrical Engineering from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, a Nobel Prize winning campus in 1988, both with the highest honors. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Biomedical Engineering at Harvard University - M.I.T. After working as a Research Scientist at M.I.T., he was on the faculty of Electrical Engineering and Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he was named a University Scholar by the President of the University of Illinois. From January 2004, he has been a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director of Biomedical Functional Imaging and Neuroengineering Laboratory at the University of Minnesota. Later he was appointed as a Distinguished McKnight University Professor and Medtronic-Bakken Chair for Engineering in Medicine. He serves as Director of the Institute for Engineering in Medicine, Director of the Center for Neuroengineering, Director of the NSF IGERT Neuroengineering Training Program, as well as Director of the NIH Neuroimaging Training Program, at the University of Minnesota. Dr. He's research interests include neuroengineering, functional biomedical imaging, cardiovascular engineering, and medical devices. He has published over 190 articles in peer-reviewed core international journals including Neuron, Brain, Journal of Neuroscience, NeuroImage, Human Brain Mapping, Heart Rhythm, PLoS ONE, Epilepsia, Applied Physics Letters, American Journal of Physiology, Journal of Neural Engineering, and various IEEE Transactions, including IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, and IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering. He has also delivered over 300 plenary, keynote and invited talks in various international conferences and in a number of institutions world-wide. Dr. He’s research has been featured by Nature, New York Times, BBC, CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, Washington Post, Scientific American, Economist, New Scientist, US News, Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, NPR, among others. A video describing his work on mind controlled flying robot has been viewed more than 700,000 times. Dr. He is a recipient of the Outstanding Research Award from the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology, the Established Investigator Award from the American Heart Association, and the CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation among others. He is an elected Fellow of the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering, IEEE, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the Institute of Physics. Dr. He serves as an Associate Editor or Editorial Board Member of several international journals in the field of biomedical engineering, and is the Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering. He has served as the General Chair of the International Annual Conference of IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (2009), Chair of the IEEE EMBS Forum on Grand Challenges in Neuroengineering (2010), Co-Chair of Scientific Committee of the World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering (2012), Chair of IEEE Life Sciences Grand Challenges Conference (2012), and Chair of IEEE EMBS International Conference on Neural Engineering (2013). He is a past president of the International Society of Bioelectromagnetism and of the International Society for Functional Source Imaging, and was the 2009-2010 President of IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Dr. He has been fortunate to be associated with talented graduate and undergraduate students, and postdoctoral associates, many of whom have taken faculty positions in academia in the US, Canada, Japan, China and Korea (including Purdue University, Yale University, Northwestern University, University of Minnesota, University of Oklahoma, University of Tennessee, Ryerson University, Niigata University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Yonsei University), and in major corporations (including Medtronic, Inc., Boston Scientific Corp, Philips, Baxter, Motorola, and Morningstar, Inc.). Many of his PhD students received competitive fellowship awards from various funding agencies or the University, or paper competition awards in international conferences.
Specialties: Biomedical Imaging and Neuroengineering
Interviewed at the MOBIHEALTH 2014, the 4th International Conference on Wireless Mobile Communication and Healthcare - "Transforming healthcare through innovations in mobile and wireless technologies", that took place in Athens, Greece, November 3–5, 2014