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Department: Neurobiology and Behavior More Information
Dr. Bruce LandDr. Bruce Land, a senior research associate in the Neurobiology and Behavior department, has a wide range of interests, which has allowed him to continually evolve and change his career focus. He has the unique distinction of being one of the few Cornell staff members who has switched departments twice, from Neurobiology to Engineering and then back to Neuorbiology, illustrating his broad and dynamic abilities as a researcher and scientist. He currently teaches in both Neurobiology (BioNB 440 and 441, Electronics for Neurobiology and Computers for Neurobiology) and in Electrical Engineering (ECE 476 Microcontroller design).Dr. Land grew up in Los Angeles, CA, where his interest in the physical sciences began early. He attended Harvey Mudd College in California, where he earned a Bachelors degree in Physics. During the summer between his junior and senior year in college he read a book which captured his interest, “Perceptrons” by Frank Rosenblatt and professor at Cornell, which discussed artificial intelligence. He decided to come to Cornell for graduate school and study AI in Dr. Rosenblatt’s lab. While at Cornell earning his PhD, he studied memory in the brain and then eventually switched to cell biology, studying the biophysics of electrical production in muscle cells. After graduation he worked as a Post-Doc at Cornell, studying Acetylcholine receptors, and then became a Neurobiology staff member. As a staff member he worked on modeling synaptic currents using computers, and was seduced. He became more interested in computers and moved to the Theory Center, where he became the manager of a graphics group. There he worked on many interesting projects, mostly turning massive amounts of data into computerized visualizations that humans could easily understand, for example, a ground breaking simulation of a crystal shattering: After 10 years at the Theory Center, Dr. Land moved back to the Neurobiology department, where he now focuses mainly on computation and hardware building. Currently, Dr. Land is working in conjunction with eight other researchers on several different projects. These projects have involved mostly animal motion, specifically mice, larvae, and spider mating behavior. His role involves developing both software and hardware for automatic data acquisition, extracting measures, and statistical modeling. He works to find some pattern in the motion and then convert it into a picture, like the one below, analogous to the way sound can be viewed as a sonogram. Dr. Land has also done extensive research into developing inexpensive and simple hardware for studying neurobiology that could be used in high schools and junior colleges, including instruments that could be used on people safely and easily. He is also working on information analysis of action potential data. Dr. Land enjoys working with undergraduates because it allows him to be involved in so many different and creative projects. He works mainly with electrical engineering undergrads and masters of engineering candidates, but is open to working with any undergraduate interested in programming and building things. He also works to assist many biology undergraduates in other labs, to help them develop ways to do data acquisition and analysis for their projects. In his spare time, Dr. Land enjoys forestry, gardening, and many other outdoor activities. If you are interested in his work, please visit his website at http://www.nbb.cornell.edu/neurobio/land/ |