T&C Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center: Call for Proposals FY2025
T&C Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center: Call for Proposals FY2025
The T&C Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center seeks proposals for scientific studies and technical developments in the area of brain-machine interfaces.
This call is for novel and groundbreaking research on brain control of machines. The field is rapidly advancing resulting in new opportunities for scientific and technological study. Machine learning allows for better decoding algorithms, advanced neural feature extraction, and rapid analysis of large volumes of data for real-time control of neural prosthetics. Advances in speech decoding lead to challenges in understanding the neural mechanisms of linguistics and semantics. With the impressive success of BMI demonstrations in the laboratory, a next step is developing killer applications for participants with motor impairments. These may include assisted driving interfaces for automobiles, robotics for upper limb functions, exoskeletons for ambulation, and interfaces for photoshop and other commonly used software applications. Better interfacing with neural tissue is another open area of research that goes beyond standard electrode recording technologies. These are examples of some of the many opportunities for advancing BMIs and other topics are appropriate. Proposed brain-machine interface experiments can be performed in human or non-human animal models.
Two awards, $70,000 each.
Eligibility, terms and review criteria
The full proposal must include:
1) A completed Application Form. Download the fillable PDF form here
Please provide the following information in the dedicated fields on the application form:
a) RFP applying for
b) Lead PI name and division
c) Co-PI name(s) and division(s), if applicable
d) Proposal Title
e) Project Summary, 3 - 4 sentences.
f) Proposal questions, answer in 2 - 3 sentences.
- How does it engage other members from the Caltech community?
- What is a successful outcome, and what would it allow you to do that is currently not possible?
- To your knowledge, is anything similar being done by colleagues at other universities? If so, by who and where and how does it differ from what you propose.
2) Additional Documents: to be attached separately from the application form.
a) What do you propose to do? Description of your project, 500 words max, 12-point font. One page of figures with legends, 4 figures max (use 10 or 11-point font for figure legends, these are not counted in the 500 word limit) and list of references (no page limit).
b) Simple budget (no page limit): Outline how you propose to use the funds, each with a short (1-2 sentence) justification.
Budget may include:
- Equipment, equipment usage (e.g. fMRI hourly fees)
- Reasonable consumable supplies
- Travel for dissemination of research findings
- Budget may NOT include: faculty salary
c) Document listing other support: title of grant, amount of money, and brief one sentence description, (no page limit).
d) Signed Division Approval Form (DAF): Please note that if you are submitting a proposal with collaboration between labs in different divisions then the DAF must be signed by all Division Chairs.
Submission
Email your completed application form, project description, budget, list of support, and DAF as a single PDF file to: 2025_Re.6nqx1g0dtl97wpzf@u.box.com
Name your attached PDF file as follows: Last Name_2025
Your proposal will be uploaded to Box and you will receive a confirmation email from Box within a few hours of submission. If you do not receive a confirmation email after 24 hours, please contact us directly at Chen.Inst@caltech.edu
