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People |
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The People of the Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Laboratory The Directors |
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James R. Lackner James R. Lackner received his undergraduate and graduate training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research interests concern human spatial orientation and movement control in unusual force conditions including weightless, high force, and artificial gravity environments. One feature of his work includes the recognition that exposure to non-terrestrial force environments helps reveal the nature of sensory-motor adaptation to the normal force background of earth. He is a member of the Center for Complex Systems and the Psychology Department at Brandeis, and is the Riklis Professor of Physiology. He has been Director of the Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Laboratory since its founding in 1982. |
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Paul DiZio Paul DiZio has worked in the Graybiel Laboratory since its founding in 1982. He received his graduate training there in experiment psychology and has been the Associate Director since 1986. In 1995, he became a faculty member in the Psychology Department and the Volen Center for Complex Systems. His major research interests are control of human posture and movement, multisensory influences on spatial orientation, sensory localization, and sensory-motor adaptation. Experimental approaches to these problems involve unusual force environments, such as space flight and virtual environments as well as clinical conditions, such as labyrinthine loss, congenital blindness, peripheral neuropathy, and cerebellar dysfunction. These approaches are important both for illuminating basic neural mechanisms and for achieving solutions to practical problems. |
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The Lab Members |
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Tim Aarset Tim Aarset, BioMechanical Engineer, designs and codes experiments for a range of instrumentation and project areas. Tim has worked in experimental apparatus design for ages, in areas such as avionics, cryogenics, spectroscopy, electronics, complex control systems, and biomedical engineering. Tim received his doctorate in Music from Stanford University and has taught at MIT and conducted independent research at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, developing computer models and simulation of musical cognition, auditory physiology, and auditory display of complex multivariate data streams. Currently, Tim is working on the software architecture for multi-modal experiments that integrate biophysical signals, haptics, robotics, graphics, and other modalities for the lab s ongoing research initiatives. |
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Janna Kaplan Janna Kaplan, M.S. is Senior Research Associate at the Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Laboratory at Brandeis University. A former refusenik from Leningrad, Russia, she came to the United States as a Jewish refugee in 1982 and became an American citizen in 1988. Janna grew up in Russia. She graduated from the University of Leningrad (now Saint-Petersburg) in 1975 with a joint B.S. and M.S. in Neurophysiology, Summa cum Laude. She worked as a research scientist at the University of Leningrad as well as with the Soviet Space program. Due to emigration-related hardship, she was not able to defend her doctoral dissertation in Russia. After immigration into the US, Janna continued her work in spatial orientation and, specifically, in Space research. She studies human adaptation to various conditions of space flight, such as weightlessness, macrogravity, artificial gravity, and virtual environments. In her "free" time, Janna frequently speaks in schools about her research, and about the science of space exploration. She also organizes science enrichment programs for children of various ages. Of special interest to her is the use of science, math, engineering and technology as means of empowerment for girls. Janna lives in Newton, MA with her husband and two children. |
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Arthur Larsen Art Larsen is the electrical / mechanical tech for the lab. He began work at the lab in 1983 as a summer job while a junior in high school. After he graduated from high school he returned to the lab to continue where he left off. He has since taken a course at Wentworth Technical School where he graduated in electronics. His father Arthur Larsen Jr., who ran the machine shop here at Brandeis University, was a great influence in his life. He taught him the fundamentals of machining, carpentry, and all the technical things that went along with his job. Art lives in Marlboro MA, where he was born and brought up, with his lovely wife Joanne and his two precious boys Ben and Todd. |
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Amy Lavallee Amy Lavallee, a Seattle native, works as a research specialist in the Graybiel Lab. She has a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a M.S. in biomechanical engineering from the University of Washington. As a member of the Graybiel Lab, Amy participates in many aspects of research including: equipment set-up, running experiments, data analysis, operating the Slow Rotation Room, and being the primary volunteer for all new experiments. She also enjoys joining the lab on their parabolic flight excursions to Houston, TX. |
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Lee Picard Lee Picard is the Administrator of the Graybiel Laboratory. She is an active member of The National Council of University Administrators. At the regional level, she has served on three program committees for regional meetings and is currently on the regional advisory committee. She is currently is co-chair of the Region I NCURA meeting for 2004. |
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Pascale Pigeon Pascale Pigeon is a research scientist at the Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Laboratory. She holds a Ph.D. and Masters degree in biomedical engineering and an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal, in Montréal, Canada. During her education, she received numerous awards from Canadian research funding agencies. Her most recent award, a fellowship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, led to a position as a postdoctoral researcher in the Graybiel laboratory and in 2001, to her present position of research scientist. Dr. Pigeon has published 7 papers in refereed journals as well as numerous abstracts in the fields of biomechanics and motor control and has given several presentations at international conferences. She has served as a reviewer for the Journal of Biomechanics and the Journal of Vestibular Research. Her recent work focused on the planning and control of reaching movements involving trunk rotation (the “turn-and-reach” paradigm), specifically the compensation for self-generated Coriolis and interaction torques. Her current project examines turn-and-reach movements after motor adaptation to the rearrangement of the relationship between voluntary trunk rotation and inertial rotation. Dr. Pigeon also provides biomechanical expertise to other ongoing research projects at the Graybiel lab focusing on problems in motor control, posture and balance, and spatial orientation. Pascale is married to Dr. Michael McPartland and has a son, Tristan, and daughter, Brigitte. |
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Alberto Pierobon Alberto Pierobon received his Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering summa cum laude from the University of Padova (Italy). Graduating in April 2003, his thesis was on the elasto-plastic behaviour of the human spinal servo, developed at the Graybiel Spatial Orientation Lab under the supervision of professor Simone Bortolami. Currently, he is working on mechanical and control system models for analysis of control strategies during voluntary movements in perturbed force fields. Some of his additional interests include mountaineering, reading and enjoying life. |
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Ian Keville Schleifer Ian Schleifer is a Computer Programmer and Research Assistant at the Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Laboratory. His responsibilities include programming computers to control automated components of experiments with human subjects, writing software to perform analyses of collected data, and assisting with human subject testing. Prior to being hired by the Graybiel Lab, Ian worked for the Computational Memory Laboratory, also at Brandeis, with principle investigator Michael Kahana. When the Computational Memory Lab moved to the University of Pennsylvania in June of 2004, Ian chose to remain in the Boston area. Ian graduated from Ithaca College in 2002 with a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science and a minor in Mathematics. As an employee of Brandeis University he has enjoyed taking science courses offered by the school and intends to pursue a graduate degree in the future. |
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Joel Ventura Joel Ventura is a research scientist in the Graybiel Lab. He received his undergraduate degree in Physics from Carnegie Mellon University and his graduate degree in Experimental Psychology from Brandeis University. He helps design and set up equipment to run experiments, especially for the lab's 22 foot diameter Slow Rotation Room. His research interests include spatial orientation and he has a special interest in, and fondness for, motion sickness (in others). |
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The Graduate Students |
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Avijit Bakshi Avijit is a Ph.D candidate in the Department of Physics at Brandeis University. Due his rising interests in Biological application of Physics, he was attracted to the Graybiel Lab. Avijit is analysing and modelling human swaying (rocking) subjected to external forces (eg. Coriolis force). When the human body is subjected to various (foreign) force environments, it adapts to achieve its desired movement goals. To dissect out the simple biomechanics of the response from the influence of upper level (i.e. sensory/vestibular/CNS) control, Avijit is performing an experiment which involves a goal oriented rocking task, subjected to various force environments. This experiment may also hint at the interplay of various sensory modalities in this paradigm. Avijit received his Bachelor of Science (Physics) and Master of Science from the University of Calcutta, India. |
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Xiaolan Li Xiaolan is a graduate student in the Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Laboratory. Before joining the lab, she earned her BS degree in Psychology from Beijing Normal University, China (2007). Her current research interest mainly focuses on visual-haptic interactions. Aside from academic adventures, she enjoys playing the piano and other musical instruments, cooking, travelling and learning foreign languages. While searching for her thesis topic, she also hopes to pursue her growing interest in photography. personal homepage: http://people.brandeis.edu/~lan/ |
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The Visiting Scholars |
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The Undergraduate Students |
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Leora Cramer Leora is an undergrad studying neuroscience with a minor in math. She is conducting experiments on motor adaptation with the Phantom device. She hopes to attend medical school after Brandeis. |
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Benjamin Kramer Benjamin is in the process of completing his final semester at Brandeis University. In June 2009, he will graduate with a BA degree in psychology. Benjamin has worked in Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Laboratory at Brandeis University as a research assistant since June 2007 researching developmental sensory perception and human torso adaptation not novel forces. Currently, Benjamin is in the process of completing his Senior Honors Thesis on human weight discrimination. Upon completion of his tenure at Brandeis University, Benjamin plans to pursue a Doctorate in either clinical science or cognitive neuroscience. |
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Job Title: Machine Learning Engineer Job Summary: Work with realtime multi-channel data stream to develop and enhance feature extraction and pattern recognition algorithms, adaptive spatial filtering, and classifier modeling. B.S. or M.S. in CS/EE with 3-5 yrs experience; specialization in machine learning, statistical signal processing and numerical analysis. Must be proficient in C/C++, Matlab. Prior experience with using BCI2000 for EEG analysis helpful. Requires timely deliverables under direct supervision in a team environment. Apply online at http://www.brandeis.edu/humanresources/jobs/
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