Malony and Stevens Recognized for Research Innovation
Professors Allen Malony and Kent Stevens were recognized by the University of Oregon 2006 Research Innovation Award for the creation of new spin-off companies based on their respective areas of research in computational science.
Professor Allen Malony recently co-founded Eugene-based Cerebral Data Systems with Professor Don Tucker of Psychology. CDS will market newly developed procedures for brain imaging analysis that can be used in the diagnosis of brain disorders. The new process uses high-performance computing to eliminate the distortion caused by the skull. An innovative computational algorithm to translate data generated by an EEG into a three-dimensional model has resulted in a breakthrough in the precision of localizing the brain's electrical activity.
The high performance computations were made possible by a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation in 2003 to UO's Neuroinformatics Center for research in neuroinformatics. With the grant, NIC founders Allen Malony and Don Tucker established the Integrated Cognitive Neuroscience, Informatics and Computation (ICONIC) Grid, a high-performance computing system dedicated to the analysis of imaging data on brain structure and function.
Professor Kent Stevens has pioneered a means to digitally reconstruct dinosaurs (and other extinct creatures), assembling complete skeletons based on actual specimens while avoiding the problems of dealing with incomplete, damaged, and distorted specimens. Over a decade of research in the field of paleontology prompted the UO to spin out a technology-based company, Kaibridge, Inc., to seek commercial applications for this technology. Contracts with the BBC, the American Museum of Natural History, and recently the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and others, provide means to hone a new technology for creating spontaneously reactive, dinosaurs with movements and postures derived ‘from the bones out’. The technology generalizes naturally to capture ‘how creatures move’ in general. Please visit Professor Stevens' website for more information on his research in computational paleontology.