Dean’s Lecture Series
Next Dean's Lecture Series
Dr. Newton Howard, founder, Mind Machine Project at MIT
Talk title: From Battlefield to Brain Science: How a World-Renowned Scientist Went From Homeless Prodigy to Neurotech Visionary
When: Monday, March 6
Time: 2:30pm EST
Where: GOL-Auditorium
Dr. Howard’s journey began in the army saving soldiers with military technology. His theory ofIntention Awareness (IA) has been influential in the design of command-and-control systems and information exchange systems. For 11 years, Dr. Howard served as a military scientist and special advisor to the US Government until he was injured in Iraq, a life changing event that led him on a wild journey to discover the power of the human brain. In 2008, he founded the Mind Machine Project at MIT an effort to reform artificial intelligence (AI) to a level of practical importance for both research and technology. While a professor and running a lab at MIT, Dr. Howard went to medical school to study Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.
His background in mathematics and interdisciplinary approach to neuroscience led him to develop a brain code framework, which can decipher neuron communication. He boldly believes how we study and treat the brain is deeply flawed and is dedicated to revolutionizing the field with neurotechnology. His work today focuses on developing an artificial intelligence driven implantable neural chip. His novel nanotechnological approach pushes the scalability of computing to the limits and has the potential to not only cure neurodegenerative disease and brain disorders but could also have huge applications in BCI, IoT, virtual reality and other cognitive computing applications we never thought possible.
Past Speakers
2022 speaker
Ted Selker, CTO, AlphyCo presents "Voting and Usable Security"
2021 speaker
Susan Dumais, Technical Fellow, Microsoft presents "The Potential for Personalization in Search"
2018-2019 speakers
Brett Williams, Major General USAF (Retired) presents "Defending the Nation in Cyberspace"
Mike Regelski '89, '93, Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, Electrical Sector, EATON Corp. presents "Cybersecurity and Industrial Internet of Things"
Ruthe Farmer, Chief Evangelist at CSforALL.org presents "Championing Change: Creating Diversity in Tech at Scale"
Suzet M. McKinney, CEO/Executive Director of the Illinois Medical District presents “Old Problems, New Solutions: Can Technology Offer Solutions to Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security Challenges?”
2017-2018 speakers
T.L. Taylor, Professor, Comparative Media Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology presents “Watch Me Play: Games, Live Streaming, and the Rise of Networked Broadcast
Mark Guzdial, Professor in the School of Interactive Computing in the College of Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology presents “Improving Computing Education with Learning Sciences: Predictions, Subgoals, and Parsons”
Sir Dermot Turing presents “Alan Turing – The Man Behind the Myth”
2016-2017 speakers
Dr. Jeremy Pickens, Chief Scientist, Catalyst Repository Systems presents “Challenges and Opportunities in eDiscovery and Information Governance: Not Everything is Big Data”
Vicki Hanson, ACM President and Distinguished Professor
2015-2016 speakers
Vint Cerf, Internet pioneer, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, Google presents “Digital Vellum: Preserving Digital Content for the Ages”
James D. Herbsleb, Professor, Institute for Software Research, Carnegie Mellon University
2014-2015 speakers
Kaitlin Thaney, Director, Mozilla Science Lab
John Resig '05, Creator of jQuery and Dean of Open Source, Khan Academy (2015 Golisano College Distinguished Alumnus)
Jennifer Lesser Henley, Director of Security Operations, Facebook
2013-2014 speakers
Alex “Sandy” Pentland, Director of MIT’s Human Dynamics Laboratory and the MIT Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program; co-leader of the World Economic Forum's Big Data and Personal Data Initiatives.
Linda Northrop, Director of the Research, Technology, and System Solutions Program, Software Engineering Institute Fellow, Carnegie Mellon University
Dr. Luis Von Ahn - CAPTCHA and Duolingo Creator; Professor, Carnegie Mellon University