My Work and Thoughts.
By dmodha
By dmodha
I am privileged to serve as the Principal Investigator with the following amazing Team.
IBM |
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Dr. Stuart Parkin, Physicist and Materials Scientist |
Ph.D. Physics, Cambridge (1982); World renowned leader in spintronics materials and devices; inventor of spin-valve sensor and magnetic tunnel junction magnetic random access memory; ~70 issued patents and >350 published papers; Member, National Academy of Sciences; IBM Fellow; Fellow Royal Society (London), Fellow American Physical Society, AAAS, IEEE and MRS awardee, many major international prizes; Director IBM-Stanford SpinAps Center. |
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Dr. Paul P. Maglio, Cognitive Scientist: |
PhD, Cognitive Science, UCSD (1995); Senior Manager of Service Systems Research at IBM, responsible for service science world-wide; 13 issued patents and >90 published papers in computer science, cognitive science, and business; serves on many university and society advisory boards, and has chaired numerous international conferences; Associate Adjunct Professor of Cognitive Science, UC Merced. |
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Dr. Chung Lam, Technologist |
Ph. D., Electrical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1988 on the IBM Resident Study Program. Dr. Lam has published more than 50 papers and holds more than 70 US patents. He is a Distinguished Engineer at IBM Research and manages the Phase-Change Memory Project since 2003. |
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Dr. Bülent Kurdi, Technologist |
Ph.D. Optics, The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester (1989); a technical professional who combines broad expertise from variety of complimentary technical disciplines with a proven track record of turning research projects into cost-effective manufacturing technologies while minimizing risk. |
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Dr. J. Campbell Scott, Physicist |
Ph.D. Physics, Univ. of Pennsylvania (1975); World renowned leader in organic electronic materials and devices; inventor in the areas of organic photoconductors, electrophotography, organic photorefractive materials, biochemical sensors, organic light-emitting diodes, and nonvolatile memory; > 17 patents and > 160 scientific and technical publications; Fellow American Physical Society, member Materials Research Society. |
Stanford University |
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Prof. Kwabena Boahen, Neuromorphic Engineer |
Ph.D. Computation and Neural Systems, Caltech (1997). Nationally recognized pioneer in neuromorphic engineering; innovations include chips that emulate the retina, thalamus, hippocampus, visual cortex, and retinotectal map formation; >60 publications, including a Scientific American cover story; several distinguished honors, including Packard Fellowship, NSF CAREER Award, ONR Young Investigator Award, and NIH Director’s Pioneer Award; Director, Stanford Brains in Silicon Lab. |
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Prof. Brian Wandell, Stein Family Professor |
Chair of Psychology, and member of Electrical Engineering and Radiology (by courtesy); co-director of Initiative on Human Health; ~10 patents, ~130 published papers; and textbook Foundations of Vision. Troland Award (NAS), Electronic Imaging Scientist of the Year (SPIE), Tillyer Award (OSA), Edridge Green Medal in Ophthalmology, NAS member since 2003. |
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Prof. H.-S. Phillip Wong, |
At Stanford since September, 2004 after 16 years at IBM Research. IEEE Fellow, IEEE EDS AdCom member (2001 – 2006). IEDM committee member (1998 – 2007), Technical Program Chair (2006) and General Chair (2007). ISSCC committee member (1998 – 2004), Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology (2005 – 2006). Member of the Emerging Research Devices Working Group of ITRS. |
University of Wisconsin-Madison |
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Prof. Gulio Tononi, Neuroscientist |
MD 1985, PhD Neurobiology 1989, Psychiatry 1989 (Pisa); Professor of Psychiatry, Distinguished Chair in Consciousness Science, U. Wisconsin, Madison. Developed the Integrated Information Theory of Consciousness (2004); the Synaptic Homeostasis Hypothesis of sleep function (2003). Published several times in Nature, Science, etc. Authored 3 books on consciousness. NIH Director Pioneer Award, Honorary Doctor, U. Zurich, International Prizes; Many Patents. |
Columbia University Medical Center |
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Prof. Stefano Fusi, Physicist and Theoretical Neuroscientist
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Ph.D. Physics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1999); Professor at ETH, Zurich, from 2005. Since 2007, is also Assistant Professor at Columbia University, NY. He discovered and solved the fundamental problem of memory forgetting in electronic synapses. He is the author of 38 journal papers, some of them published on Nature Neuroscience and Neuron. |
Cornell University |
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Prof. Rajit Manohar, Computer Scientist |
Ph.D. Computer Science, Caltech (1998); Leader in asynchronous VLSI design; inventor of GHz-speed FPGA technology and ultra low power processors; ~10 issued patents and >50 published papers; MIT Technology Review TR35 awardee; Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Achronix Semiconductor |
University of California at Merced |
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Prof. Christopher Kello, Cognitive Scientist |
Ph.D. Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz (1996); Associate Professor of Cognitive Science, University of California, Merced; Internationally recognized leader in neural network modeling of high-level cognition (i.e. human language); 2 patents and >35 published papers; NSF Director’s Award recipient; Member, Psychonomics, Sigma Xi, Cognitive Science Societies; Member, NSF committees on Complexity, Neuroscience, and Cyberinfrastructure. |
By dmodha
My colleague, Anthony Ndirango, pointed out a very interesting document that proposes to synthesize complete brainwide neuroanatomical connectivity in mouse at a mesoscopic scale within 5 years and at a cost of less than 20 million dollars.
Title: A proposal for a coordinated effort for the determination of brainwide neuroanatomical connectivity in model organisms at a mesoscopic scale
Authors: Jason W. Bohland, Caizhi Wu, Helen Barbas, Hemant Bokil, Mihail Bota, Hans C. Breiter, Hollis T. Cline, John C. Doyle, Peter J. Freed, Ralph J. Greenspan, Suzanne N. Haber, Michael Hawrylycz, Daniel G. Herrera, Claus C. Hilgetag, Z. Josh Huang, Allan Jones, Edward G. Jones, Harvey J. Karten, David Kleinfeld, Rolf Kotter, Henry A. Lester, John M. Lin, Brett D. Mensh, Shawn Mikula, Jaak Panksepp, Joseph L. Price, Joseph Safdieh, Clifford B. Saper, Nicholas D. Schiff, Jeremy D. Schmahmann, Bruce W. Stillman, Karel Svoboda, Larry W. Swanson, Arthur W. Toga, David C. Van Essen, James D. Watson and Partha P. Mitra
Abstract: In this era of complete genomes, our knowledge of neuroanatomical circuitry remains surprisingly sparse. Such knowledge is however critical both for basic and clinical research into brain function. Here we advocate for a concerted effort to fill this gap, through systematic, experimental mapping of neural circuits at a mesoscopic scale of resolution suitable for comprehensive, brain-wide coverage, using injections of tracers or viral vectors. We detail the scientific and medical rationale and briefly review existing knowledge and experimental techniques. We define a set of desiderata, including brain-wide coverage; validated and extensible experimental techniques suitable for standardization and automation; centralized, open access data repository; compatibility with existing resources, and tractability with current informatics technology. We discuss a hypothetical but tractable plan for mouse, additional efforts for the macaque, and technique development for human. We estimate that the mouse connectivity project could be completed within five years with a comparatively modest budget.
By dmodha
Last Friday, we enjoyed a visit by Dr. Martin Rehn.
Title: Cell assemblies and computation in cortical networks
Abstract: Recurrent neural networks are powerful computational structures. Intractable in the general case, their power is yet to be harnessed, both for practical applications and as a model for the brain. One class of recurrent networks that is theoretically well understood is attractor memory networks. Starting from this idea, we explore extensions that have non-trivial temporal dynamics, and how they apply to sensory coding. It will also be shown how an attractor memory can operate on top of a fairly realistic cortical circuitry, with some conclusions for cortical modelling.
Bio: Martin Rehn is a postdoctoral fellow at the Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, UC Berkeley, and a Research Scientist at Google. He received a PhD in Computer Science from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm in 2006 and an MSc in Engineering Physics from the same institution in 1999. He is interested in representation and computation in early sensory cortices, associative memory models, and cortical simulations.
On Dec 4, 2008, we had a spirited and wonderful talk by Dr. Dileep George who is Co-Founder and CTO of Numenta. You can find his thesis here.
Title: Towards a Mathematical Model of Cortical Circuits Based on Hierarchical Temporal Learning in the Brain
Abstract: It is well known that the neocortex is organized as a hierarchy. Hierarchical Temporal Memory is a theory of the neocortex that models the necortex using a spatio-temporal hierarchy. The HTM hierarchy is organized in such a way that the higher levels of the hierarchy incorporate larger amounts of space and longer durations of time. The states at the higher levels of the hierarchy vary at a slower rate compared to the lower levels. It is speculated that this kind of organization leads to efficient learning and generalization because it mirrors the organization of the world.
I will start this talk by demonstrating the recent advances at Numenta in using HTM for object recognition. We are able to recognize objects in clutter with a high degree of accuracy. Top-down attention based feedback is used to recognize multiple objects in a scene. Feedback is used to segment out objects from clutter.
I will then describe how the assumptions of hierarchical temporal learning can lead to a mathematical model for cortical circuits. An HTM node is abstracted using a coincidence detector and a mixture of variable memory Markov chains. Bayesian belief propagation equations on this HTM node gives a set of operation related constraints for the cortical circuits. Anatomical and physiological data provide a second set of constraints related to organization of the circuits. The combination of these two constraints can be used to derive a set of cortical circuits that explain many anatomical and physiological features and predict several other. I will then demonstrate the application of these circuits in the modeling of the subjective contour effect.
Bio: Dileep George is the Chief Technology Officer of Numenta — a company he co-founded with Jeff Hawkins and Donna Dubinsky. His primary research interests are in understanding the organizational properties of the world and in linking that to the cortical architecture and micro-circuitry.
Dileep joined the Redwood Neuroscience Institute as a Graduate Research Fellow and began working closely with Jeff Hawkins in extending and expressing Jeff’s neuroscience theories in mathematical terms. He created the first proof-of-concept program to illustrate these concepts, which triggered the launch of Numenta in 2005. Within five months of Numenta¹s founding, Dileep and his team created the first prototype of HTM technology. Prior to his graduate studies, Dileep worked on developing algorithms for 3G wireless modems.
Dileep holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and Master’s and Ph.D degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. Dileep’s PhD thesis provides a detailed study of the hierarchical temporal learning in the neocortex.
By dmodha
I am grateful to my IBM communications colleagues Sara Delekta-Galligan and Jenny Hunter for compiling the following list, and to Shyamal Chandra for painstakingly and conscientiously organizing.
To not overwhelm the reader, I have decided not to include 1,000s of blogs.
BBC News, 11/21/2008, IBM plans ‘brain-like’ computers. PDF
BusinessWeek, 11/20/2008, Making Computers Based on the Human Brain. PDF
Bloomberg, 11/20/2008, IBM Gets Funds for Computers Modeled After Brains. PDF
CNET, 11/19/2008, IBM gets DARPA cognitive computing contract. PDF
Defense News, 11/26/2008, DARPA seeks to mimic in silicon the mammalian brain. PDF
EDN.com, 11/21/2008, IBM seeks to simulate brain. PDF
eWEEK, 11/20/2008, IBM Researchers Looks to Bring ‘Brain Power` to Computers. PDF
Forbes, 12/8/2008, Metadata: Speaking Of IBM: What can you invent with $6 billion a year? PDF
InformationWeek, 11/20/2008, Big Blue hopes to use silicon and transistors to recreate neurons and synapses. PDF
InfoWorld, 11/20/2008, IBM Tries to Brain Brain Power to Computers. PDF
International Hearld Tribune, 11/20/2008, IBM wins funding for ‘brainy’ computer. PDF
New York Times, 11/20/2008, Hunting for a Brainy Computer. PDF
PCWorld, 11/19/2008, IBM Tries to Bring Brain Power to Computers. PDF
San Francisco Business Times, 11/20/2008, IBM, Stanford looking to build brainlike computer. PDF
San Francisco Chronicle, 11/20/2008, Artificial brain project gets boost – $4.9 million grant. PDF
ScienceDaily, 12/23/2008, Cognitive Computing: Building A Machine That Can Learn From Experience. PDF
The Guardian (UK), 11/6/2008, Will machines outsmart man? PDF
Abo-Szene (Germany), 11/20/2008, IBM developed with universities computer systems modeled after the human brain. PDF
Absolute Gadget.com, 11/21/2008, IBM to make brain-like computer. PDF
AdNews (Brazil), 11/25/2008, IBM will create simulators for the human brain. PDF
ArabianBusiness.com, 11/23/2008, IBM to build computers based on human brain. PDF
BFM, 11/24/2008, I-Brain in ten years. PDF
BoerseGo.de (Germany), 11/20/2008, IBM developed with universities computer systems modeled after the human brain. PDF
Canal TI (Peru), 12/3/2008, Computer based on cognitive abilities of the brain. PDF
Clubic.com, 11/24/2008, IBM is working on cognitive computing. PDF
ComputerWeekly (UK), 11/20/2008, IBM is seeking to build the computer of the future based on the efficient way the brain works. PDF
Computerwoche (Germany), 11/21/2008, Cognitive computing uses the brain as a model. PDF
Custompc.co.uk (UK), 11/21/2008, IBM Plans to build virtual brain. PDF
Daily News & Analysis (India), 11/24/2008, Computers to mimic brain. PDF
Daycohost (Venezuela), 11/24/2008, The Future PC will be based on cognitive skills of the brain. PDF
Die News (Germany), 11/20/2008, IBM developed with universities computer systems modeled after the human brain. PDF
DigitalTrends.com, 11/24/2008, IBM Building Brain-Like Computer. PDF
El Heraldo (Columbia), 11/24/2008, The human brain comes to computers. PDF
El Universal on line, La crónica.com, Publimetro, Canal 22, Diario TI.com (Mexico), 11/24/08, Seeking to create artificial brain. PDF
Engadget, 11/21/2008, DARPA enlists IBM to build computer brain. PDF
Entornointeligente.com (Venezuela), 12/18/2008, PC’s of the future are based cognitive abilities. PDF
Heise-Online (UK), 11/21/2008, IBM Plans to copy the brain. PDF
Heisse (Germany), 11/20/2008, Researchers to built human brain-like computers. PDF
Il Sole Nòva (Italy), 12/4/2008, The computer with the human thought. PDF
Information.de (Germany), 11/20/2008, IBM developed with universities computer systems modeled after the human brain. PDF
IT Pro (UK), 11/24/2008, IBM and academia work on human brain simulation. PDF
IT Sitio (Argentina), 11/21/2008, IBM launches “cognitive computing”. PDF
ITWeb.com (South Africa), 11/20/2008, IBM gets cognitive computing contract. PDF
Jakarta News, 11/22/2008, IBM to build computer circuits that mimic brains. PDF
La crónica de hoy.com, Tech:consumer.com, compuguía.com, Publimetro, Terra, W
Radio (Mexico), 11/27/08, Seeking to create artificial brain. PDF
La Cuarta Newspaper (Chile), 11/30/2008, Computers are ready to learn and manage data just like I Robot movie. PDF
La Nación (Argentina), 12/5/2008, A computer that emulates human brains. PDF
La Repubblica (Italy), 11/24/2008, Here is the supercomputer that reasons. PDF
Lemondeinformatique.fr, 11/20/2008, IBM works on a synaptic computer under the aegis of the Darpa. PDF
Manufacturing Computer Solutions (UK), 11/21/2008, IBM to build brain-based computer of the future. PDF
Nanotechnology Now, 11/22/2008, IBM to Build “Thinking” Computers Modeled on the Brain. PDF
NetworkWorld, 11/20/2008, IBM Tries to Bring Brain Power to Computers. PDF
New Factor Network, 11/21/2008, IBM, Partners Aim To Build Brain-Like Computer Systems. PDF
O-Sul (Brazil), 11/21/2008, I, Robot. PDF
Premiumpresse.de (Germany), 11/20/2008, IBM developed with universities computer systems modeled after the human brain. PDF
PresseEcho.de (Germany), 11/20/2008, IBM developed with universities computer systems modeled after the human brain. PDF
Pressetext Schweiz (Germany), 11/21/2008, Cognitive computing uses the brain as a model. PDF
Pressrelations (Germany), 11/20/2008, IBM developed with universities computer systems modeled after the human brain. PDF
R&D magazine, 11/21/2008, IBM aims to harness human brain architecture. PDF
RedOrbit.com, 11/21/2008, IBM To Develop Computer With Brain-Like Tendencies. PDF
ReportYou.com (Germany), 11/20/2008, IBM developed with universities computer systems modeled after the human brain. PDF
Revista da Semana (Brazil), 12/1/2008, Electronic brain wants to think. PDF
Silicon.com (UK), 11/12/2008, IBM lands Darpa ‘build a brain’ contract. PDF
SupercompuingOnline.com, 12/18/2008, Cognitive computing: Building a machine that can learn from experience. PDF
Tech:consumer.com, 12/2/2008, IBM’s computer of the future. PDF
TechNewsWorld, 11/20/2008, IBM, Academics Seek to Create a Computer That’s More Like Us. PDF
Technogadge, 11/23/2008, IBM to build Smart Computers that functions like Human Brain. PDF
TechRadar.com, 11/24/2008, IBM building ‘brain simulator’ computer. PDF
The Inquirer (UK), 11/20/2008, IBM wants to build a computer based on the brain. PDF
TheFutureofThings.com, 11/22/2008, IBM to Build Cat-like Brain. PDF
Time Herald Record, 11/24/2008, Big Blue teaming up with universities. PDF
Valor Econômico (Brazil), 11/25/2008, New computers seek to reproduce brain functions. PDF
VentureBeat.com, 11/19/2008, IBM aims to replicate the brain with cognitive computing project. PDF
VNUnet.com, 11/22/2008, IBM to develop super-brainy computer. PDF
Vnunet.fr, 11/24/2008, IBM is going to invent a new sort of computer. PDF
Washington Technology, 11/21/2008, IBM gets funding for cognitive computing research. PDF
Winfuture (Germany), 11/20/2008, Researchers want to build brain-like computer. PDF
Yahoo! News India, 12/26/2008, Indian Origin researcher making computer that thinks like mammalian brain. PDF
Italy, Radio BIT, 11/30/2008, Giorgio Richelli on "cognitive computing".
NRM Comunicaciones Radio (Mexico), 12/15/2008, IBM develops cognitive computing. PDF
Discover magazine blog, 11/21/2008, IBM to Build “Thinking” Computers Modeled on the Brain. PDF
Reuters (UK) MediaFile Blog, 11/20/2008, IBM-led computing effort seeks to mimic brain’s ability. PDF
ZDNet blog, 11/22/2008, Thoughts and Theories From Roger Andre. PDF