Maryam Shanechi, the Alexander A. Sawchuk Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Founding Director of the USC Center for Neurotechnology has been selected as a Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists Finalist for the second year in row – one of just 5 finalists across all areas of Physical Sciences and Engineering in the nation in 2024. The honorees were announced on Thursday by the Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences.
For this award, each institution gets to nominate just one faculty member in each of three disciplinary categories – Physical Sciences and Engineering, Chemical Sciences, and Life Sciences. The award then considers these nominees from institutions all over the U.S. to honor “America’s most innovative faculty-ranked scientists and engineers” who are under the age of 42, according to the Blavatnik National Awards website. “In 2024, the Blavatnik National Awards received 331 nominations from 172 institutions in 43 U.S. states,” representing this select group, each hand-picked as the top young scientist at their institution. Shanechi was the USC’s nominee in Physical Sciences and Engineering.
Shanechi was recognized by the Blavatnik National Awards for having “Pioneered research at the intersection of engineering, AI, and neuroscience to develop advanced neurotechnologies that decode and regulate brain activity for treating brain disorders.”
Shanechi, a professor in the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, develops novel AI-based neurotechnologies and brain-computer interfaces that can transform treatments for disabling brain disorders such as major depression, which are a leading cause of disability worldwide. She also uses these AI-based approaches to analyze complex brain signals and discover how the brain gives rise to our emotions and our behaviors such as movements.
Indeed, Shanechi has pioneered a new generation of brain-computer interfaces for mental health conditions. She and her team developed AI models that can decode mood states from brain signals for the first time and can map out where in the brain mood-predictive information lies. She has also built AI models that can predict the effect of therapies such as deep brain stimulation on brain signals and mood states. Combined, these advances can be used to optimize therapies in real-time, according to a patient’s personalized needs.
Furthermore, Shanechi and her team have developed AI models that can precisely decode someone’s intended behavior such as movement from their brain activity. This can allow paralyzed patients to move external devices, such as robotic arms, by just thinking about it. Her most recent research came out just the past week in a new breakthrough paper in Nature Neuroscience, where she introduced an AI algorithm that can not only improve brain-computer interfaces but also discover new brain patterns.
“We are excited about how AI innovations, guided with deep insight from neuroscience, can help us develop advanced neurotechnologies as potentially transformative treatments for neurological and mental health conditions such as depression, which are a leading cause of disability worldwide.” Shanechi said. “I am very honored to again be recognized by the Blavatnik National Awards this year.” She added.
All the finalists will be honored in a gala ceremony October 1, 2024 at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan.
Published on September 12th, 2024
Last updated on September 12th, 2024
