People | SPEECH NEUROENGINEERING and CYBERNETICS LAB

Principal Investigator

Lee M. Miller

Professor – Dept. of Neurobiology, Physiology & BehaviorProfessor – Dept. of Otolaryngology | Head and Neck Surgery

Technical Director: UC Davis Center for Mind & Brain

UC Davis

leemiller@ucdavis.edu : (530) 297-4474

Lee Miller received his doctorate in Bioengineering from the University of California, San Francisco and Berkeley. His academic training includes quantum physics, single-cell neurophysiology, and cognitive neuroscience. He is a Professor at UC Davis in the Department of Neurobiology, Physiology, & Behavior and the Department of Otolaryngology / Head and Neck Surgery. He serves as Technical Director of the UC Davis Center for Mind & Brain, where his lab investigates the neural bases of communication. His neuroengineering research uses techniques such as EEG, functional MRI, and machine learning to translate fundamental scientific results into real-world solutions for people with hearing loss, speech disorders, and motor impairments.

Graduate Students

Brett Bormann Brett is a Neuroscience PhD Candidate who is using EEG to investigate sensory and attentional processing in children with ADHD. When not in lab, he enjoys riding his bike along with spending time relaxing at home reading and watching movies with his cats.
Suvi Varshney (jointly with Prof. Sergey Stavisky and Dr. David Brandman). Suvi is an MS Computer Science student. His research interests lie in the amalgamation of Computer Vision and Natural Language Processing, specifically in smart personal assistants. At the Neuroprosthetics Lab and the Miller lab, he is working on automated metrics for assessing neurally-synthesized speech quality.
Tanya Matyushkina (member of Prof. David Corina’s lab). Tanya is a graduate student in Psychology, broadly interested in speech perception. Her current project is dedicated to investigation of effects of cross-modal plasticity on speech perception in children with cochlear implants.
Naresh Kaushal I am an MS in Computer Science student with a strong passion for leveraging cutting-edge technology to advance healthcare. My research focus revolves around the intersection of machine learning and signal processing within the medical domain. Currently at Miller Lab I am actively engaged in a pioneering project aimed at the restoration of speech communication. This endeavor harnesses the power of sEMG signals and a state-of-the-art multimodal decoder-synthesizer, marking my contribution to the exciting frontier of assistive technologies in healthcare.	Ada Kanapskytė Ada is a Biomedical Engineering Graduate Group PhD Student interested in the interface between humans and robotic devices, specifically human learning, behavior, and performance. In her free time, Ada can be found biking/running/walking around Davis with her energetic pup, partaking in STEM outreach, or if it’s summer – gardening!	Harsha Gowda Harshavardhana is a master’s student in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department. He is interested in learning the inherent mathematical structures of biosignals. His current work includes designing algorithms to translate hand gestures into computer controls and to translate facial motions into speech using surface electromyogram signals. He is also developing an AI Listener to analyze acoustic, semantic, and lexical patterns of speech and act as a reinforcement to algorithms that generate speech using signals from the brain’s speech cortex or facial muscles. In pursuit of these problems, he is focusing on multivariate time series analysis on Riemannian manifolds and computational linguistics.

Postdoctoral Scholars

Daniel Comstock
Daniel earned his PhD in Cognitive and Information Sciences from the University of California – Merced, and his Bachelors in Cognitive Science from the University of Wisconsin – Stout. He is broadly interested in the role of higher cognitive systems in auditory and visual perception, the neural mechanisms of timing, and EEG data processing and analysis methods. His previous work includes investigations into the role of the motor system in auditory and visual rhythm cognition and timing, the role of the motor system in audiovisual speech integration, and the effects of repetitive non-concussive head-impacts on neural processing.

Research Assistants

	Karim Abou Najm Karim was an undergraduate double majoring in Computer Science and Cognitive Science, and minoring in Mathematics. He was a passionate student working towards an understanding of the brain and pushing the boundaries of what can be done with it through augmentation. This interest extended computationally to learning and emulating the mind, and neurologically to the biological interface on multiple levels. Outside of class, Karim enjoyed writing, usually composing creative pieces and critically reviewing novels.
	Aman Ganapathy Aman Ganapathy is a Computer Science and Engineering major. He is fascinated by data, more specifically the development of tools and abstract structures to better compartmentalize and utilize it. More specifically, he likes reading and developing algorithms geared towards those specific purposes. In his spare time, he likes to jog, play chess, and read.
	Ashley Bilbrey Ashley is a Computer Science major interested in cybersecurity. She also leads the Miller lab Augmented Reality (AR) efforts.
	Sarah Yuniar Sarah is a student pursuing a computer science and engineering major at UC Davis. She loves web programming and making sims in C++, as well as learning more computer and human languages than she needs to. She likes mac and cheese and coffee in unhealthy amounts, and her hobbies include reading, writing, coding, piano, and continuously failing latte art.
	Tiana Smith Tiana is a post-baccalaureate student with a fascination with hearing and speech mechanisms. She enjoys using her computational and bioinformatic skills to further understand auditory perception and deafness. In the near future, she hopes to pursue her interest in hearing loss in the medical field. Tiana loves riding her bike, reading books, french fries, and practicing the violin.
	Zach McNaughton Zach is an undergraduate student majoring in Cognitive Science. His interests lie in the neural mechanisms of learning and brain plasticity. After graduation he plans to pursue a PhD in neuroscience, hoping to study novel therapeutic techniques for mental health disorders, such as PTSD and substance abuse disorders. Outside of lab, he likes to spend time reading, playing sports, and spending time with friends and family.
	Tyler Statema Tyler is an undergraduate transfer student majoring in Psychology with a quantitative focus. He is interested in all things cognitive neuroscience, especially ERP methods and incorporating neural measures into statistical models in order to predict real-world outcomes. In his free time Tyler likes to ride his bike and watch YouTube!
	Sana Shehabi Sana is an undergraduate student majoring in Cognitive Neuroscience and Applied Statistics. She enjoys researching auditory perception and wants to pursue a PhD in Neuroscience after undergrad. In her free time she likes playing tennis, running, and playing with her cats.
	Elyse Ehlert Elyse is an undergraduate student majoring in Agricultural & Environmental Education. While she came to UC Davis as an NPB major, she likes to say she was “converted to an Aggie”. Elyse loves learning about geology, agriculture, and ecosystem interactions. While these are not directly related to hearing and speech, she finds that communication and learning are an integral part of all fields and enjoys making information more accessible. Elyse is also a proud daughter of a veteran and greatly enjoys being a part of a study that will help future service members and veterans. She spends her free time hiking with family and friends, bingeing Netflix, and taking her dog on walks.
	Alicia Dye Ali is an undergraduate Cognitive Science with a Neuroscience Emphasis and minoring in Neuroscience. She is interested in understanding the neural mechanisms underlying motivated behavior, emotion, and a variety of mental disorders, such as PTSD, anxiety disorders, and substance abuse disorders. She works mainly in the Fioravante Lab at the Center for Neuroscience. When Ali is not in lab, she enjoys being outdoors with her boyfriend, playing with her cat, and spending time with her family.
	Nina Wade Nina is an undergraduate student majoring in Cognitive Science on the Neuroscience emphasis with intended minors in Philosophy and Public Health Sciences. Her interests lie in the neural and behavioral mechanisms of perception, cognition and brain plasticity, as well as the ways in which our genetics, neurobiology and experiences interact. In the future, she hopes to attend medical school or graduate school for neuroscience. Nina enjoys traveling with family, spending time with animals (including dogs and horses) and reading in her free time.

Collaborators

	Kelsey Mankel Asst. Professor Univ. of Memphis, Institute for Intelligent Systems & School for Communication Sciences & Disorders
	Sergey Stavisky Asst. Professor of Neurological Surgery- UC Davis
	Dr. David Brandman Asst. Professor of Neurological Surgery- UC Davis
	Dr. Hilary Brodie Professor of Otolaryngology / Head and Neck Surgery – UC Davis
	Dr. Doron Sagiv Asst. Professor of Otolaryngology / Head and Neck Surgery – UC Davis
	Gregg Recanzone Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology, & Behavior – UC Davis
	Wilsaan Joiner Professor in Dept. of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior and Dept. of Neurology – UC Davis
	Jonathan Schofield Asst. Professor in Dept. of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering – UC Davis
	Elana Zion-Golumbic Professor, Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University
	Sanjay Joshi Professor of Engineering – Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering – UC Davis
	David Corina Prof. of Linguistics – Center for Mind & Brain, UC Davis
	Kristina Backer Assistant Professor – UC Merced
	Antoine (Tony) Shahin Assoc. Research Professor – UC Merced

Alumni


Jessica Cai	Kelsey Mankel

Jan Truong	Ian Chuang	Nandhini Sridhar

Akshita Sharma	Ralph Shehayed	Britt Yazel

Yinuo Qin	Luis El Srouji	Sonja Swanson

Matthew Stickle	Niranjana Jayakrishnan	Aashir Farooqi

Markham Anderson	Deepak Yadav	Fernando Espinosa-Iniguez

Nathaniel Guteirrez	Sam London	Bartlett Moore

Kristina Backer	Tom Campbell	Kevin Hill

Andrew Kessler	Jess Kerlin	Christopher Bishop