News

Posted: Apr 04, 2024 - 12:00pm

Principal Investigator Mubarak Syed will receive a $600,000 grant from the Department of Defense (DoD), a grant which is part of $17.6 million in grants the DoD is awarding to 27 academic teams under the Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR). DEPSCoR is a capacity-building program designed to strengthen the basic research infrastructure at institutions of higher education in underutilized states and territories. Dr. Syed's mentor and collaborator on the project is Francesco Sorrentino, a professor in the UNM Department of Mechanical Engineering, who specializes in Control Theory and Machine Learning.

“We will use these funds for our collaborative studies that aim to build insect-inspired neuromorphic computing and intelligent machines using information from the fruit fly central complex circuits,” Syed explained. “With all the neurons mapped and genetic tools available, the fruit fly provides an excellent model system to advance basic research relevant to the mission of many funding agencies, including the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Defense.”

Read the full story at UNM Newsroom