The following blog post was written by Dr. Martin Wiener, AAAS Fellow Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering Division of Information and Intelligent Systems at the National Science Foundation (NSF).   Comparisons of the brain to a computer have been around since Alan Turing first described the Automatic Computing Engine in 1936. However, decades of research have now shown that the brain is nothing like a computer; at least, nothing like one that currently exists. Plasticity, flexibility and redundancy in neural circuits have led us to understand that the human brain operates with greater efficiency than the most powerful supercomputers today. However, as the field of neuroscience advances, the field of […]

Computer science and brain science share deep intellectual roots. Today, understanding the structure and function of the human brain is one of the greatest scientific challenges of our generation. Decades of study and continued progress in our knowledge of neural function and brain architecture have led to important advances in brain science, but a comprehensive understanding of the brain still lies well beyond the horizon. How might computer science and brain science benefit from one another? The CCC BRAIN two-day workshop, sponsored by the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) and National Science Foundation (NSF), brings together brain researchers and computer scientists for a scientific dialogue aimed at exposing new opportunities for joint […]

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has three new announcements today related to the BRAIN Initiative and NSF’s Understanding the Brain activities:   NSF 14-611  Integrative Strategies for Understanding Neural and Cognitive Systems (NSF-NCS) This solicitation describes the first phase of a new NSF program to support transformative and integrative research that will accelerate understanding of neural and cognitive systems. INTEGRATIVE FOUNDATIONS awards will support projects that develop foundational advances that are deeply connected to a broad scope of important research questions in cognitive and neural systems, and have significant potential for transformative advances in one or more of the FY 2015 thematic areas. CORE+ EXTENSIONS will provide additional support to projects selected for […]

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced its first wave of investments totaling $46 million to support the goals of the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative. President Obama launched the BRAIN Initiative in April 2013 as a new research effort to revolutionize our understanding of the human mind and uncover new ways to treat, prevent, and cure brain disorders. The initiative is a joint program with funding through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). This first wave of investments through NIH will fund more than 100 investigators so they can develop new tools and technologies to understand neural circuit […]

The following is a special contribution to this blog by by CCC Executive Council Member Mark Hill and workshop organizers Hanspeter Pfister, An Wang Professor of Computer Science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and  Georg Seelig, Assistant Professor of Computer Science & Engineering and Electrical Engineering at the University of Washington. Hanspeter Pfister and Georg Seelig organized a two-day DARPA ISAT workshop on Brain Analysis, Synthesis, and Computation (BASC) in August, 2013. The workshop focused on the state of the art in the areas of brain analysis (structural and functional), brain synthesis, and how they affect the future of computation. The workshop was well attended by over 60 experts in the […]