Rahul Sarpeshkar of MIT will speak on Thursday, April 19, at 9:30 a.m. in Bell Engineering Center, Room 2268.
(Photo: Submitted)
The Ralph E. Martin Department of Chemical Engineering
Distinguished Lecture Series will host Rahul Sarpeshkar of Massachusetts
Institute of Technology who will present “Bio-electronics” on Thursday, April 19,
at 9:30 a.m. in BELL 2268.
Nature is a great analog and digital circuit designer, with
innovated circuits in the biochemical, biomechanical, and bio-electronic
domains that operate very robustly with highly imprecise parts and with
incredibly low levels of power. Sarpeshkar’s lecture will discuss how analog, radio
frequency (RF), and bio-inspired circuits and architectures continue to drive
the development of novel systems for biomedical, ultra-low-power, and
bio-molecular applications. Examples from bionic ear processors for the deaf,
brain–machine interfaces for the blind and paralyzed, and bacterial circuits
for systems biology and synthetic biology will be presented.
Sarpeshkar received
his doctorate in computation and neural systems at California Institute of Technology
and is currently an associate professor in the department of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, where he heads a research group on analog circuits and biological systems (http://www.rle.mit.edu/acbs/). His work on the RF Cochlea, a rapid
radio-frequency spectrum analyzer inspired by the human ear, established an important
bridge between radio-frequency circuit design and hearing. His recent book, Ultra
Low Power Bioelectronics: Fundamentals, Biomedical Applications, and
Bio-inspired Systems, pioneered a unique cytomorphic electronic approach for
advancing systems biology and synthetic biology through the universal
language of analog circuits. It
contains an exhaustive treatment of ultra-energy efficient systems in biology,
engineering and medicine with applications to implantable medical devices for
the deaf, blind and paralyzed.
Sarpeshkar
has received a National Science Foundation Career Award, an ONR Young
Investigator Award, a Packard Fellows Award and the Indus Technovator Award for
his interdisciplinary bioengineering research. He was a recent speaker
at the 2011 Frontiers of Engineering Conference, hosted by the National Academy
of Engineering. Sarpeshkar
holds over 25 patents and has authored more than 100 publications, including
one that was featured on the cover of Nature.
For more information, see the Distinguished Lecture Series, or
contact seminar chair Jamie Hestekin, jhesteki@uark.edu.
This event is free and open to the public.