Dr. Stephen C. Jacobsen, President and CEO of Sarcos

Dr. Jacobsen received his B.S. degree in 1967 and his M.S. degree in 1970 from the University of Utah. He received his Ph.D. degree from MIT in 1973. He returned to Utah to establish the Center for Engineering Design (CED) where he is currently Director and a distinguished professor of Mechanical Engineering. He holds additional appointments in Bioengineering and Computer Science, and in years past in the Surgery Department, all at the University of Utah.

Dr. Jacobsen is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and of the National Institute of Medicine. He founded Sarcos Research Corporation (SRC) and is the President and Chairman of the Board. He has been a key innovative influence in CED and SRC activities, which include: (1) biomedical systems—high performance prosthetic limbs, improved catheters and guidewires, real-time health monitoring, iontophoretic drug delivery systems, artificial kidneys, and peritoneal access implants; (2) dexterous robots and unmanned ground vehicles; (3) entertainment robots; (4) teleoperation and exoskeleton systems; (5) micro-electro mechanical systems (MEMS); and (6) the development of new compact thermo-chemical hydraulic actuators for legged robots. He currently holds over 180 U.S. and over 80 foreign patents, has authored over 160 publications, and has received numerous awards for design and innovation.

Melody Moore Jackson, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Director, Georgia Tech BrainLab
School of Interactive Computing, College of Computing
Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Jackson is the director of the Georgia Tech BrainLab, whose mission is to research innovative human-computer interaction for people with severe disabilities. Dr. Jackson’s work focuses on studying real-world applications for direct brain interfaces as well as other biometric interfaces. Her work has been funded by a variety of sponsors including the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health (NINDS), NIDRR, and DARPA.

Prior to Georgia Tech, Dr. Jackson was a tenured associate professor at Georgia State University in the Computer Information Systems Department, where she originally created the BrainLab and directed it for seven years. Previous to that, she was a Senior Research Scientist in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech, creating and directing the Open Systems lab, and teaching Software Engineering. Before coming to academia, she worked for nine years in industry as a professional software engineer developing real-time embedded systems, secure operating systems, networking, and compilers. Companies included Texas Instruments, Sperry, and National Semiconductor.

Dr. Jackson holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology (1998). Her dissertation work in user interface reengineering combined the areas of Human-Computer Interface and Software Engineering, and her minor was Postsecondary Education. Dr. Jackson also holds a B.A. in Computer Science with a minor in Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin (1980), and the M.S. of Information and Computer Science from Georgia Tech (1988).

A Direct Brain-Computer Interface (DBI) is a system that detects minute electrophysiological changes in brain signals, and uses them to provide a channel to control computers and other devices. For people with severe physical disabilities, such as locked-in syndrome and strokes, DBIs can offer a channel of communication that does not depend on muscle movement. The Georgia Tech BrainLab is devoted to exploring the possibilities of real-world applications for DBI and other biometric interfaces, both for assistive technology and mainstream applications. Dr. Jackson will outline several approaches to both invasive (surgically implanted) and non-invasive (non-surgical) DBIs, and will present the assistive technologies that the BrainLab is currently researching.