Not that long ago, brain-computer interface (BCI)—harnessing brainwaves to control external devices remotely, with a computer serving as intermediary—was the stuff of science fiction. Today, however, thanks to advances in neuroscience, computer science and engineering, BCI is an established field of investigation, at the frontiers of research. And the promise it holds to augment human capabilities could restore vision, hearing and normal functionality to the physically impaired.
This past summer, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, in collaboration with Olive View–UCLA Medical Center, embarked on an ambitious BCI research project designed to make ambulation easier for people confined to wheelchairs. [Read more…]
There are many exceptional career opportunities awaiting science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) majors, but not enough students are getting the message. For over two decades, declining enrollments and graduation rates in most STEM fields have been an issue of national concern.
Q: What do a company that makes watches, a company that makes handheld devices to steady camcorders and a business that provides after-school educational activities for children have in common?
Picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) have been hailed as the state of the art in storage, retrieval and access to digital medical images and are a critical part of the effort to convert the nation to electronic medical records. Because they archive the images from CT and PET scans, X-rays, MRI exams, etc. on computers and allow practitioners at multiple sites to access them remotely, PACS are a boon to physicians and are being phased in at medical centers and practices throughout the country. But like any technology, they are subject to human and computer error. Just as we sometimes accidentally save a file to the wrong folder on our computers, hospitals are finding that the PACS images sometimes go missing, with potentially catastrophic results.