Brain-Computer Interfaces

Nick Ramsey has a degree in Psychology and a PhD in neuro-psychopharmacology, both from the university of Utrecht (Netherlands). He became a specialist in cognitive neuroimaging in the US (National Institutes of Health), and applies modern techniques, including fMRI and intracranial EEG, to questions on working memory, language, and sensorimotor function. His primary goal is to acquire and translate neuro-scientific insights to patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders, with a focus on brain-computer interfacing. He is full professor in cognitive neuroscience at the department of neurology and neurosurgery of the UMC Utrecht since 2007. He has been awarded several personal grants including a VIDI (NWO, 2002) for elucidating working memory, a VICI (NWO, 2006) and later a European ERC Advanced grant for developing intracranial BCI concepts for paralyzed people. The BCI research resulted in an implantable prototype for locked-in patients the first of who has now been using the implant for over 3 years for communication. He also was awarded several Valorisation grants and started a spin-off company to provide Clinical fMRI reports to clinicians. He has supervised over 20 PhD students and has (co)authored over 190 peer-reviewed publications.

José del R. Millán is with the Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering and in the Dept. of Neurology of the University of Texas at Austin since September 2019, where he holds the Motorola Regents Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering #2. Dr. Millán held the Defitech Foundation Chair at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) from 2009 to 2019, where he helped establish the Center for Neuroprosthetics. He received a PhD in computer science from the Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona, in 1992. Dr. Millán has made several seminal contributions to the field of brain-computer interfaces (BCI), especially based on electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. Most of his achievements revolve around the design of brain-controlled robots. He has received several recognitions for these seminal and pioneering achievements, notably the IEEE-SMC Nobert Wiener Award in 2011 and elevation to IEEE Fellow in 2017. In addition to his work on the fundamentals of BCI and design of neuroprosthetics, Dr. Millán is prioritizing the translation of BCI to end-users suffering from motor and cognitive disabilities. In parallel, he is designing BCI technology to offer new interaction modalities for able-bodied people.