Industrial Engineering Professor Recipient of NSF Grant to Study the Brain

University Relations

W. Art Chaovalitwongse

W. Art Chaovalitwongse, professor, holder of the 21st Century Research Leadership Chair in Industrial Engineering and co-director of the Institute for Advanced Data Analytics, has been awarded a National Science Foundation grant under the Integrative Strategies for Understanding Neural and Cognitive Systems program to push the frontiers of brain science on individuality and variation of cognitive systems.

Nineteen awards were distributed to cross-disciplinary teams from across the United States to conduct innovative research focused on neural and cognitive systems. Chaovalitwongse, and his collaborative team at the University of Washington, was awarded $1 million over four years to undertake this innovative project. The awards will contribute to NSF's investments in support of Understanding the Brain and the BRAIN Initiative, a coordinated research effort that seeks to accelerate the development of new neuro-technologies.

"It takes insight and courage to tackle these problems," said Ken Whang, NSF program director in the Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate. "These teams are combining their expertise to try to forge new paths forward on some of the most complex and important challenges of understanding the brain. They are posing problems in new ways, taking intellectual and technical risks that have huge potential payoff."