The URI Brain Fair is a free, family-friendly event featuring creative, hands-on demonstrations and activities that are meant to entertain, inspire and educate the public about brain health and brain science.

The fair will be held on March 18, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm in Avedesian Hall.

Professors and students from the engineering labs listed below will introduce visitors to the interactive technology that is being used on their respective research projects.

Neuro Rehabilitation Lab

Professor Walter Besio

Using electroencephalography tripolar concentric ring electrodes (TCREs), participants will move a ball on a screen to hit a target on the left or right by thinking about it.

“This technology could be used by people who are not able to control their body due to a spinal cord injury, ALS, cerebral palsy, etc.,” said Besio. “It could also be used for military applications or even gaming. If we had enough channels, it could be a new interface for Facebook or controlling a computer.”

Prof. Besio’s students will also be recruiting subjects for a transcranial stimulation study.

Participants

• Jason Mercier, senior undergraduate, Biomedical Engineering
• Brandon Williams junior undergraduate, Biomedical Engineering
• Lynn McCane, Ph.D. student, Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program

Neural Processing and Control Lab

Assistant Professor Yalda Shahriari

The NeuralPC lab will present one of the applications of Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) systems called P300-speller, which enables the person to spell words by using only their brain signals.

“Based on our previous experience of the speller BCIs, people of all ages get fascinated by the power of the computer to read their minds,” said Shahriari.

Participants

• Sarah Ismail Hosni, Ph.D. student, Biomedical Engineering
• Roohollah Jafari Deligani, Ph.D. student, Biomedical Engineering
• Bahram Borgheai, research scholar

Wearable Biosensing Lab

Assistant Professor Kunal Mankodiya

“The Brain Fair is an important event to educate the younger generation about the human brain,” said Mankodiya. “Because the brain is so complex, it’s essential to provide visual examples and demonstrations to increase the understanding and curiosity. Who knows, some of these young visitors may turn into brain researchers in the future.”

Projects and Participants

Giant Neuron
The research team is developing a giant neuron that will go onto the staircase. This is an interactive neuron with LED lights. The interaction involves foot pressure sensors which are connected to a neuron software that decides if the neuron would fire or not.

• Dylan Kennedy, junior undergraduate, Biomedical Engineering
• Josh Gyllinsky, graduate student, Computer Science
• Noah Ligouri, high school student

Brain Monitoring
This interactive brain monitor showcases the brain activity in real-time.

• Manob Saikia, Ph.D. student, Electrical Engineering

Smart Shoes
A pair of smart shoes tracks gait/walking patterns.

• Nick Constant, Ph.D. student, Electrical Engineering

Gloves with Brain Monitoring
An interactive technology showcases how the finger movement is activated in the brain.

• Debanjan Borthakur, graduate student, Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program
• Sawyer Nichols, senior undergraduate, Biomedical Engineering

Smart Prosthetics
A muscular controlled prosthetics hand.

• Josh Gyllinsky, graduate student, Computer Science

Paper Circuits
Elementary students are designing paper circuits to provide a LED-based presentation of the parts of the brain.

• Wenjing Wang, second grader
• Mohan Wang, kindergartener

The URI Brain Fair is sponsored by the George & Anne Ryan Institute for Neuroscience and is one of the many events taking place across the state as part of Brain Week Rhode Island.