Archive | CONQUER Collaborative

Dr. Hasan Ayaz is quoted in a Philly Voice story discussing how the brain processes information when immersed in virtual reality

August 23, 2016

Dr. Hasan Ayaz, Assistant Research Professor of Biomedical Engineering at 91��Ƭ��, CONQUER Collaborative, is quoted in a Philly Voice story discussing how the brain processes information when immersed in virtual reality.

Dr. Hasan Ayaz is Quoted in an Inc.com Story on Augmented Reality Wearable Displays during Outdoor Navigation with fNIRS

August 12, 2016

Dr. Hasan Ayaz, Assistant Research Professor of Biomedical Engineering at 91��Ƭ��, CONQUER Collaborative, was Quoted in an Inc.com Story on Augmented Reality Wearable Displays during Outdoor Navigation with Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy.

Drexel Researchers Bring fNIRS ‘Into the Wild’ to See How Our Brains React to Google Glass

August 10, 2016

“Smart” eyewear — that can integrate augmented reality with your own, feed you live information about your surroundings and even be used in the operating room — is no longer the stuff of science fiction.

Wearable displays also have the potential to enhance cognitive ergonomics, or more simply, make it less mentally taxing to complete certain tasks. But before technologies like Google Glass become a part of daily life, engineers need a way to monitor exactly how they affect the brain in everyday situations.

At 91��Ƭ��, researchers have developed a portable system that can do just that. The system uses functional near-infrared spectroscopy, or fNIRS, to measure a person’s brain activity.

The — from training air traffic controllers and drone operators, to studying how students with disabilities learn best, or why different people are more receptive to certain Super Bowl commercials.

“This is a new trend called neuroergonomics. It’s the study of the brain at work — cognitive neuroscience plus human factors,” said , associate research professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems and a member of Drexel’s CONQUER Collaborative. The phrase was coined by the late Raja Parasuraman, a former professor at George Mason University and study co-author.

Until now, most studies involving fNIRS took place indoors. Though participants wearing the system could move around freely while being monitored, they were still observed within laboratory confines.

A group of Drexel biomedical engineers, in collaboration with researchers at George Mason University, have now brought their portable fNIRS system “into the wild.” , published this summer in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, the researchers successfully measured the brain activity of participants navigating a college campus outdoors.

The researchers wanted to compare one group of participants navigating campus with Google Glass to another group using Google Maps on an iPhone. Their goal was to measure mental workload (how hard the brain is working) and situation awareness (the perception of environmental elements), in order to see which device was less mentally taxing.

They found that overall, users using Google Glass had a higher situation awareness and lower mental workload than their peers navigating with an iPhone.

However, the researchers also found that users wearing Google Glass fell victim to “cognitive tunneling,” meaning they focused so much more of their attention to the display itself, that they easily ignored other aspects of their surroundings.

“What we were able to see were the strengths and weaknesses of both. Now that we know we are able to capture that, we can now improve their design,” said Ayaz, the study’s principal investigator. “This opens up all new areas of applications. We will be able to analyze how the brain is functioning during all of these natural activities that you cannot replicate in artificial lab settings.”

fNIRS is a way to measure oxygenation levels in the prefrontal cortex — the part of the brain responsible for complex behaviors like decision making, cognitive expression and personality development. Greater activity in this area of the brain signals that a person is a novice, and therefore must work harder, at an activity. When someone masters a skill, the processing of information moves toward the back regions of the brain.

In the past, researchers had to use secondary tasks to measure the “user-friendliness” of an augmented reality product, like Google Glass. For instance, while a person was navigating with a maps application, they would be asked to recall a series of sounds played to them through headphones. If their responses were inaccurate, this implied that their brain had to work harder to pay attention to the primary task at hand.

For comparison, the Drexel researchers also used secondary tasks to measure mental workload and situation awareness. However, they found that these tasks were intrusive and ultimately unnecessary. The fNIRS system was able to accurately assess brain activity during the task and examine differences between a hand-held display and wearable display.

“We observed greater mental capacity reserves for head-mounted display users during ambulatory navigation based on behavioral and neuro-metabolic evidence. However, we also observed evidence that some of the advantages of head-mounted displays are overshadowed by their suboptimal display symbology, which can be overly attention grabbing,” said Ryan McKendrick, PhD, the study’s lead author and now a cognitive scientist at Northrop Grumman Corporation.

Since the research team found that Google Glass users experienced some cognitive tunneling while navigating, they suggest that future studies identify other brain biomarkers induced by this “blindness” to the outside world. By identifying cognitive tunneling biomarkers, engineers could “greatly advance display design for navigation, training and other tasks” that wearable displays are expected to enhance.

Drexel Professors Design Games For Cerebral Palsy Patients

February 22, 2016

While video games have often been saddled with the reputation of promoting a sedentary lifestyle, a group of 91��Ƭ�� professors see the digital diversions as a way of helping patients with cerebral palsy to keep on moving.

The professors, with expertise ranging from game design to movement science, physical therapy and biomedical engineering, recently formed a startup company called enAble Games, with the goal of making web-based active video games that can be used as part of therapy or rehabilitation exercise sessions.

Get Moving

Children with cerebral palsy often experience decreased physical activity, motor skills and functional mobility. One of the main physical therapy goals for CP patients, according to , an associate professor in the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences in Drexel’s who is one of enAble’s co-founders, is to keep them physically active in order to build physical stamina, strength and range of motion.

“As they age, children and youth should participate in longer periods of activity. The national physical activity guidelines recommend at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily,” O’Neil said. “Unfortunately, most youth show trends toward decreased physical activity and increased sedentary behavior as they enter adolescence. This trend is even more pronounced in children and youth with disabilities including CP. Therefore it is critical to identify or design activities for youth to increase the amount of time in physical activity and the intensity of the activity for a health benefit.”

To make a game that promotes physical activity, the team is availing itself of Microsoft’s Kinect technology. The system, which has been part of Microsoft’s Xbox gaming platforms since 2010, uses a series of motion sensing input devices –rather than a handheld controller – to let the user interact with the game through gestures and movements.

O’Neil, a licensed physical therapist, had previously used Kinect games as part of her research on physical activity in youth with cerebral palsy — but saw limitations in the games that existed at the time. But with co-founder , founder of Drexel’s in the ; and with Robert Gray, former associate director of Drexel’s ; enAble Games is making games that are tailored to the abilities of patients with CP.

Ready, Set, Play

The first of their games, called “Kollect,” looks a bit like the popular mobile game “Fruit Ninja” but with a reappearance of those pesky explosives from the 1980s computer classic “Minesweeper.” The player operates two hand icons (with the option of using two foot icons too) in a virtual environment with the goal of collecting floating objects that are arranged throughout the game environment, while dodging the spiked, red mines.

“While this game is not overly complex visually, due to perceptual and cognitive challenges of many of the players, the underlying architecture was designed to address both the needs of the players and their physical therapists” Diefenbach said. “We created a very elegant design that is user-appropriate and extremely versatile in adapting to the individual’s physical and cognitive abilities as well as the therapeutic goals.”

In addition to the standard geometric shapes, the game has several other themes—including sports, pets, fruit, space, cowboys, spooky, vehicles and fantasy—to appeal to a variety of players. The team is also developing a series of other games that will use similar strategies for promoting physical activity.

“Our goal is to make this something fun that they look forward to doing and that they will do,” O’Neil said. “This is a great way to meet these kids where they are and push them to do a bit more. The earlier you can get them engaged, building strength, endurance and confidence, the better chance they have of adopting an active, healthy lifestyle so they can continue to walk until later in life and for longer distances. And for wheelchair users, increasing activity in and out of the chair will help improve overall health and function too. The key is to improve function so youth will increase health and participation.”

Bonus Points

Flexibility of the gaming parameters is essential, according to O’Neil, who worked with the enAble Games team members including Hasan Ayaz, PhD, an associate research professor in Drexel’s ; and Patricia Shewokis, PhD, a professor who shares appointments in the College of Nursing and Health Professions, as well as the School of Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Surgery, to design games and measures of game performance to enhance physical activity and fitness to achieve physical therapy goals within the game environment.

“While CP is the most common physical disability of childhood,” O’Neil said. “It is a diagnosis that describes a rather broad group of neurodevelopmental disorders, including posture and movement disorders that cause activity limitations. For the game to be an effective form of therapy it must be adjustable to a variety of patients.”

Fortunately, the designers have built plenty of customizability into the game. Everything—from the placement of the mines, to the number and spacing of the cubes to the length of gameplay—can be changed by the physical therapist to adapt the game parameters and game difficulty so the patient can achieve the therapy goals.

Kollect game play

While controlling hand icons, players gather floating shapes while avoiding the red bombs.

“Any therapy that’s going to be effective has to be highly customized to consider each patient’s abilities and limitations,” O’Neil said. “If they can’t perform the task, or its too physically taxing, they’re not going to want to do it. The most effective physical therapy rehabilitation exercises are the ones that patients want to do, but that still challenge them --so that they have improved health outcomes. If they’re being active and having fun playing a game, and are also getting a health benefit from the activity, that’s a win.”

The game’s customizability allows the patient to play for varying lengths of time and at different levels of intensity. The goal of this is to meet the child’s ability and challenge them to improve their health and fitness, while also having a sense of success and achievement by advancing from level to level in the game.

“We want to make sure the players are meeting the challenge, rather than quitting the game because it is too difficult,” O’Neil said. “Experiencing success and building confidence is just as important as the physical goals we set in therapy.”

Next Level

Performance metrics built into the game allow physical therapists to see how long their patients have been playing and how successful they are at reaching their therapy goals. The web-based game also allows for remote access, so a physical therapist could adjust the setting of the game and monitor their patients’ progress between office visits.

“Because our games are all web-based and the only equipment needed is a laptop and a Kinect sensor, it’s easy to set up demonstrations at clinics and it will be just as easy for patients to play the games at home, as part of an exercise program which will augment the clinical therapy sessions,” O’Neil said. “The web-based element also allows the physical therapist to remotely monitor the game play and progress toward therapy goals.”

The group has been developing its games with support from the and a grant from Drexel’s . And it was able to launch enAble in the fall of 2015 with help from an angel investor, funding from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeast Pennsylvania and under the guidance of the entrepreneurship accelerator program at .

The researchers are currently gathering user feedback from partner clinics along the East Coast, and from a cohort of more than a dozen school-age subjects who are coming to Drexel to play the game over several months. This data will guide the design of a suite of games or users with a variety of interests and ability levels.

“Once we can positively show that our active video games can promote increased physical activity for patients with cerebral palsy, we’d like to work an adapting games for other patients who could also benefit from this unique way to increase fitness, mobility and stay physically active.”

Intel Engineering Leadership Program Visit

October 02, 2015

The ELP is Intel’s flagship technical development program designed to prepare top engineering talent for Intel’s leadership positions. We are looking for individuals with a can-do attitude in the fields of embedded systems, machine learning, user experience, computer vision, bioengineering, security, and software engineering to join projects chosen by Intel’s CEO & executives. Please visit our website for more detailed information on the ELP, as well as all the backgrounds we are hiring. This is a full-time position, and we are looking for candidates to start with Intel no later than July 2015. I look forward to meeting with you and discussing a future with Intel!

Visit us at

Apply online at , req 774072

3:00 pm – Visit to CONQUER Collaborative

3508 Market Street, 1st Floor, Monell building, Room 114

Program Presentation
Q&A with students and faculty

4:00 pm – Interviews

3508 Market Street, 1st Floor, Monell building, Room 115A

Signup sheet at the lobby of CONQUER Collaborative

More information & Directions

Directions to *CONQUER CollabOrative
3508 Market Street, Monell Building, Suite 100, Philadelphia, PA

*CONQUER = Cognitive Neuroengineering and Quantitative Experimental Research;
CollabOrative = A place where all collaborators studying brain activation and function from diverse perspectives and different purposes join arOund the circle.

Video Game Physical Therapy

February 17, 2015

A new responsive videogame from Drexel’s RePlay Lab for game research might change the way patients with Cerebral Palsy undergo physical therapy. The game, called Kollect, recently received funding of $130,000 through the Coulter-Drexel Translational Research Partnership Program, which helps researchers commercialize discoveries that improve human health. Kollect utilizes motion sensor technology and adaptive gameplay to make physical therapy a more engaging experience, especially for children, in addition to improving patient data collection and analysis for physical therapists.

Dr. Maggie O’Neill, a faculty member in the College of Nursing and Health Professions and a physical therapist, launched the project more than a year ago with Westphal Digital Media professor and RePlay Lab director, Paul Diefenbach, with seed funding from the ExCITE Center. A small group of Digital Media students have worked to develop the game under the supervision of Professors Diefenbach and Dave Mauriello, with five students currently working on the project.

With the use of Microsoft’s Kinect motion sensor technology—which allows users to interact with the game via gestures instead of a controller—the game adapts to players’ unique physical abilities. Cerebral Palsy (CP) is the most common physical disability of childhood that causes decreased motor skills and physical activity, and it is especially difficult to keep young patients interested in traditional rehabilitative approaches. With Kollect, they’re able to play an entertaining video game that supports muscular endurance, mobility, and the development of cognitive and sensory capabilities. Click to watch a video of the game in action.

Therapists can control the game’s settings remotely, so it can be played at home. “Getting to a therapist’s office can be difficult for many people. This way, the therapist can remotely access data that tracks the patient’s movements in space. They’re able to see where the patient might be having difficulty and adjust the game for the next play session,” said Diefenbach. The remote real-time patient treatment allows therapists to track metrics like range of motion and joint rotation.

Kollect is currently entering a rigorous patient study phase with children who have Cerebral Palsy. Dr. Trish Shewokis, a professor in the College of Nursing and Health Professions and Dr. Hasan Ayaz, a professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering, are assisting with brain monitoring during the testing and data analysis of brain activity, which will be used to help improve the game.

The hope for Kollect, as for all projects funded by the Coulter program, is that it will eventually become commercially available. Professor Diefenbach also notes a potential class for Digital Media students to exclusively develop healthcare games, so that Kollect might be the first of many games that would address neuromuscular conditions, such as patients of MS or strokes.

Established by the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, the Coulter-Drexel Translational Research Partnership Program is in its ninth year at Drexel and exists at only 16 universities across the country. The programs have funded 280 products nationally with a total of $70 million. More than 40 Drexel products, from devices to diagnostics to drugs, have received a total of $5.54 million.

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Dr. Banu Onaral: Global Innovation Partnership Forum

November 25, 2013

The second annual Global Innovation Partnership Forum organized at Drexel was dedicated to the centennial celebration of the late Wallace H. Coulter’s birth, and his impact on the development of life-saving solutions. The organizing team leaded by Dr. Onaral aimed for two days of learning, sharing and collaboration. The event provided a platform for local and international partners to share experiences and ideas about academic innovation ecosystem.
More info about the event and agenda are available at www.drexel.edu/gipforum

CONQUER Collaborative in Philadelphia Inquirer

November 03, 2013

A news piece in Philadelphia Inquirer described various applications of fNIR: optical brain imaging technique. The article features the eating disorder study and also discusses roots and the wide range of applications of fNIR brain imaging.

Visit by Dr. Brian Litt

July 31, 2013

CONQUER Collaborative hosted a visit by Dr. Brian Litt, M.D. Professor of Neurology, Professor of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Litt discussed the translational research his lab has been working on.

CONQUER Collaborative was featured in Exel Magazine

June 28, 2013

Researchers at CONQUER Collaborative has been developing portable and safe optical brain imaging tools that can be used in a variety of application areas.

Visit by Dr. Dylan Schmorrow and Dr. Jill McQuade

April 11, 2013

CONQUER Collaborative hosted a visit by Dr. Dylan Schmorrow, Captain, Medical Service Corps, US Navy Deputy Director, Human Performance, Training and BioSystems at Office of the Secretary of Defense; and Dr. Jill McQuade, Assistant Director, Human Performance at Assistant Secretary of Defense (Research and Engineering). Dr. Schmorrow presented a special seminar titled “Human Performance and Human-Machine Systems"

Recent Optical Brain Imaging Applications showcased in Exel Magazine

August 01, 2014

The published in Exel provides an overview of the interdisciplinary innovation partnerships across 91��Ƭ�� and illustrates few of the deployment opportunities of the fNIR technology by giving examples of collaborators from different academic units who have joined forces to push the fNIR frontier in neuroimaging said Dr. Banu Onaral, director of School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems and founder of CONQUER Collaborative. And, ended with wishing all the teams best success in translating the functional optical brain monitoring technology into lifesaving and life changing solutions. The article is available .

Grace Varughese won state science fair first place award for her project ‘Smart Play’ advised by Dr. Hasan Ayaz

June 23, 2014

Grace Varughese, a senior at Philadelphia Central High School, accepted into the science program called Advanced Research, where high-achiever students get a chance to volunteer at different university research labs to encourage interest in the science field. During the summer of 2013, Grace worked under the supervision of Dr. Hasan Ayaz, Assistant Research Professor of Biomedical Engineering at 91��Ƭ��, CONQUER Collaborative for an opportunity to learn about the various research projects.

“Observing ongoing research projects first hand was a great experience; and helped me realize my interest to pursue a possible career in biomedical engineering.”
- Grace Varughese

Over the past school year, Grace has been working on her science fair project for the (PJAS) competition which is held annually every May. Through online literature search and Dr Ayaz’s guidance, Grace set out to determine a correlation between gaming and cognitive abilities, specifically problem-solving skills.
The project, named “Smart Play”, aimed to test two different game-play (strategy game and mindless-fun game) over a three week period with pre- and post-training cognitive task performance. The “strategy” game (Wooden Path 2) required the gamer to fit different pieces of a wooden path into one straight path along a river in order to abridge any gaps. The “fun” game (Run 2) only required the gamer to move (using the different arrow keys) through space. The subjects would be able to access these two games through the Grace created. Before and after the 3-week gaming period, 14 subjects were asked to complete Tangram puzzles. Half of the participant group was randomly asked to play the “strategy” game, while the other half played the mindless “fun” game.
After the experimentation period, Tangram puzzle log data from pre- and post-gaming period were analyzed to extract performance metrics such as success or failure, response time, number of movements, etc. Results indicated that the “strategy” group had a higher success rate compared to the fun group (approximately 15%). In addition, the “fun” group required more number of movements to solve puzzle, whereas strategy group solved more efficiently. After receiving first place at the PJAS regional level competition, Grace participated in the state level competition held at Penn State University, where she was awarded first place.

A Personal Trainer For Learning To Read

January 21, 2014

One of the challenges of teaching children to read is knowing when to push them and when to be patient as they slowly acquire their linguistic knowledge. Skilled teachers are able to read the body language and verbal cues of their students and shepherd them accordingly through this often arduous, but seminal, part of the education process.

But for the more than one million students with a learning disability, such as dyslexia, this process brings with it an entirely different set of challenges that require a more individualized approach to teaching and learning. A Drexel researcher is trying to shed new light on the learning process -literally- by using near-infrared light to study the brain function of students with learning disabilities in hopes of making a tool that can help guide them along the way.

As a CONQUER Collaborative project, , a research professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering, is teaming up with experts in reading disabilities and software developers at Haifa University in Israel to gain a better understanding of brain function in people with learning disabilities. They will create a reading tutorial program that can adapt to their learning pace. The study monitors brain activity of students using tutorial software called the developed at Haifa. This program’s Hebrew, German and Arabic versions have proven to be effective for teaching youngsters who have difficulty reading or have been diagnosed with a learning disability. Izzetoglu’s research will guide the development of the first English version of the software.

Visit by Dr. Angelika Dimoka

December 05, 2012

CONQUER Collaborative hosted Dr. Angelika Dimoka, Director of the Center for Neural Decision Making (CNDM), Associate Profesor, Departments of Marketing and Managing Information Systems, Fox School Of Business, Temple University in a lab meeting.

Visit by Dr. Tomas Ward

August 21, 2012

CONQUER Collaborative hosted a visit by Dr Tomás Ward, Senior Lecturer, Department of Electronic Engineering, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Ireland. Dr. Ward gave a presentation on SensorMonkey, an online service for streaming real-time sensor data live over the internet.

Seminar by Dr. Larry Rosen

August 15, 2012

CONQUER Collaborative hosted a seminar by Dr. Larry Rosen titled “The "Psychology of Technology": What I Have Learned Over the Past 30 Years”.

Dr. Rosen is Professor and Past Chair of Psychology at California State University, Dominguez Hills. He is a research psychologist, computer educator, keynote speaker and is recognized as an international expert in the “Psychology of Technology.”

Visit by Serkan Akgul

June 11, 2012

CONQUER Collaborative hosted Serkan Akgül and Guests from Turkish Air Force Academy in a lab meeting. Mr. Akgul presented their research in unmanned aerial systems.

Visit by Tolga Erkmen

March 30, 2012

CONQUER Collaborative hosted Tolga Erkmen, President, ICCE Systems in a weekly lab meeting.

Visit by Dr. David Gefen

March 28, 2012

CONQUER Collaborative hosted Dr. David Gefen, Professor of MIS, Management Department, LeBow College of Business, 91��Ƭ�� in a lab meeting

Dr. Banu Onaral: Inaugural Global Innovation Partnership Forum Meeting

January 29, 2012

The first global innovation Partnership Forum (GIP) 2012 meetings was held on October 29 – November 2, 2012. The meeting was hosted by Coulter - Drexel Translational Research Partnership Program organized under the leadership of Dr. Onaral, School of Biomedical Engineering, Science & Health System, 91��Ƭ��. The meeting focused on the academic innovation and translational research with the participation of local and international partners. The meeting program and more information about the event can be found .

Shewokis on Science on NHL Hockey

January 25, 2012

Dr. Patricia Shewokis was featured in a series of educational videos about hockey, motion science and sports. The videos were created by NBC Learn and NBC Sports, in partnership with the National Science Foundation and the National Hockey League, in an effort to explore the science and math behind professional hockey.

Seminar by Yanliu Huang

January 23, 2012

CONQUER Collaborative hosted a seminar by Dr. Yanliu Huang, Assistant Professor, Department of Marketing, LeBow School Of Business, 91��Ƭ��.

Visit by Drs. Adam Fontecchio and Youngmoo Kim

January 18, 2012

CONQUER Collaborative hosted Dr. Youngmoo E. Kim, Associate Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Assistant Dean of Media Technologies, 91��Ƭ�� College of Engineering and Dr. Adam Fontecchio, Associate Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Affairs 91��Ƭ�� College of Engineering. Drs. Kim and Fontecchio presented ExCITe: Expressive & Creative Interaction Technologies initiative.

Visit by Dr. Paul Crawford

January 11, 2012

CONQUER Collaborative hosted Dr. Paul Crawford, Senior Research Scientist, Intel Corporation. Lab tour and fNIR demonstrations followed introductions. Dr Crawford presented recent work at Interaction and Experience Research at Intel Labs.

Visit by Dr. Leigh Stevens and Gaetano Valenza

December 14, 2011

Dr. Leigh Stevens, Anesthesiology - 91��Ƭ�� presented a seminar on The use of Functional Near-Infrared (fNIR) in detecting cognitive brain activity in patients who are in a persistent vegetative or minimally conscious.

Gaetano Valenza, PhD Student, University of Pisa, Italy gave a presention on “Investigation on mental and consciousness disorders through autonomic nervous system activity”

Visit by Dr. Ze Wang

December 07, 2011

CONQUER Collaborative hosted a visit by Dr. Ze Wang, Research Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, Department of Bioengineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Wang presented a special seminar titled Advanced signal processing for Arterial Spin Labeled Perfusion MRI.

Visit by Dr. Zhigong Wang and Dr. Xiaoyin Lu from Southeast University

November 10, 2011

CONQUER Collaborative hosted a visit by Professors Zhigong Wang and Xiaoyin Lu from Southeast University.

Dr. Shewokis Featured on WHYY

September 20, 2011

Movement scientist Professor Patricia Shewokis leads 91��Ƭ��’s Cognitive Neuroengineering and Quantitative Experimental Research lab. She says brain imaging could lead to the development of “smart” prosthetics, artificial limbs controlled directly by the brain.

Visit by Italian and Chinese delegations

August 29, 2011

CONQUER Collaborative hosted delegations including Dr. Ting Zhao, Associate Professor, Xinxin Lou, PhD student, Dong Wang, PhD student, Jicai Zhang, PhD student, Zhejiang University, China. Dr. Pasquale Scilingo, Assistant Professor, Gaetano Valenza, PhD Student, University of Pisa, Italy.

Dr. Zhao presented a seminar titled “Brain Machine Interface Studies at QAAS” and Dr. Scilingo presented a seminar titled “Investigation on mental and consciousness disorders through autonomic nervous system activity”. Lab tours followed the seminars.

Visit by ETC/NASTAR

August 17, 2011

CONQUER Collaborative hosted a visit by William F. Mitchell, CEO and President, Environmental Tectonics Corporation (ETC), Husnu Onus, Director International Sales and Vanessa Vardon, Business Development.

Dr. Shewokis on Drexel News

August 02, 2011

Engineering researchers at four U.S. universities are embarking on a four-year project to design a prosthetic arm that amputees can control directly with their brains and that will allow them to feel what they touch. While it may sound like science fiction, the researchers say much of the technology has already been proven in small-scale demonstrations. -

Dr. Hasan Ayaz Received DMD Award

May 16, 2011

Hasan Ayaz, PhD, Research Assistant Professor in 91��Ƭ�� has won the Design of Medical Devices (DMD) Three-in-Five award at a premier medical device design competition held at the Design of Medical Devices Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His winning entry described the design of Infrascanner, a hand-held, point-of-care device to detect bleeding in traumatic brain injury. Dr. Ayaz is leading the development of the Infrascanner software in collaboration with InfraScan, Inc.

Visit by Dr. Jose Leon Carrion

February 17, 2011

CONQUER Collaborative hosted a visit by Dr. Jose Leon Carrion. Dr. Carrion presented on Cognitive Performance Indices Project and with a technical and administrative progress update meeting followed the seminar.

Visit by FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center - Human Factors Team

December 20, 2010

CONQUER Collaborative hosted a visit by Fred Snyder, Ben Willems, Eric Neiderman, FAA William J. Hughes Tech Center.

Visit by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

December 13, 2010

Visit by Drs. Paula Cohen and Uri Hasson

December 08, 2010

CONQUER Collaborative hosted a visit by Dr. Uri Hasson, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Princeton University; and Dr. Paula Cohen, Distinguished Professor of English, 91��Ƭ�� in a lab meeting.

Visit by Dr. Cardin

November 18, 2010

CONQUER Collaborative hosted a visit by Dr. Cardin

New Hitachi ETG4000 in CoNQuER

October 25, 2010

The Conquer Collaborative is proud to announce that a new full-head fNIR system has been added to its array of investigational capabilities. The system is an Hitachi EGT4000, a fiber-based continuous-wave system, with multiple channels that can be arranged in a variety of configurations: this allows the monitoring of different cortical areas, including temporal, parietal and occipital.

Visit by Drs. Zvia Breznitz and Shlomo Breznitz

September 29, 2010

CONQUER Collaborative hosted a visit by Professors Zvia Breznitz and Shlomo Breznitz. Dr. Zvia Breznitz is the Director of Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa and Dr. Shlomo Breznitz is the Psychology Professor and Former President of University of Haifa, Founder & President of CogniFit. A lively discussion on Neuro-Education and Learning Disability followed the presentation and lab meeting.