Thursday, April 24, 2025

AI-Driven Neurotechnology

9:00 AM

NCRC Building 10
Research Auditorium (001S010)

The Neural Engineering Training Program (NETP) seminar featuring Dr. Maryam Shanechi, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Computer Science at USC.

Dr. Shanechi will present our work at the interface of AI/ML and neuroscience to develop next-generation brain-computer interfaces that can model, decode, and modulate the activity of large populations of neurons in brain disorders such as major depression. First, I present a dynamical modeling framework that can decode brain states such as mood from human brain network activity. Then, I show how we can also predict the effect of external inputs, such as electrical stimulation, on brain network activity toward closed-loop modulation of neural states. I also develop a novel dynamical modeling framework to jointly describe neural-behavioral data and dissociate behaviorally relevant neural dynamics. I then extend these models to admit multiple neural modalities and enable multimodal fusion. Finally, I discuss the challenge of developing AI algorithms for real-time neurotechnology. I will present a framework that combines neural networks with stochastic state-space models to enable accurate yet flexible inference of brain states causally, non-causally, and even with missing neural samples. These AI-based neurotechnologies can help restore lost motor and emotional function in millions of patients with brain disorders.

Refreshments will be provided to in-person attendees. 

Maryam M. Shanechi, Ph.D.

Alexander A. Sawchuk Endowed Chair and Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science, and Biomedical Engineering
University of Southern California
Viterbi School of Engineering

Dr. Shanechi received her B.A.Sc. degree in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto and her S.M. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT. She conducts research at the intersection of engineering, AI, and neuroscience to develop closed-loop neurotechnology. Awards include the NIH Director’s New Innovator, NSF CAREER, ONR Young Investigator, ASEE’s Curtis W. McGraw Research Award, MIT TR35, Popular Science Brilliant 10, Science News SN10, One Mind Rising Star Award, and a DoD MURI. She is a fellow of IEEE and AIMBE and a two-time Blavatnik National Awards Finalist.