IHMC researcher using cognitive science, novel language understanding methods to harness AI’s power

Dr. Ian Perera started his research career by exploring the question of whether computers could become more intelligent and helpful assistants by learning the way children do.

If the IHMC Research Scientist can make it work, the implications could be wide-ranging and substantial.

Since joining IHMC in 2013, Perera has worked on numerous military and government projects using novel language understanding methods and cognitive science on problems from de-escalating heated social media conversations to improving trust between human and AI team members and more. His work is featured in the latest edition of the IHMC newsletter, available now.

The popular culture’s focus on headlines claiming AI can perform complicated tasks and will soon replace our workforce misses something critical, Perera says.

“This technology is uncritically learning associations between words and concepts, and mimicking behaviors of people online that isn’t always grounded in reality,” Perera says.

While there is some similarity to the powerful associative learning connections that children use when they encounter something new, imbuing AI with a more critical and exploratory approach could lead to a powerful capability with a transformative influence on human decision-making.

It could benefit warfighters in the heat of battle, cool the overheated world of social media commentary, and even improve the long-term health and well-being of military personnel.

While artificial intelligence has a fever-grip on the public imagination, Perera has delved into the true possibilities and limitations of this discipline. And here’s a hint: It’s not about supplanting human intellect.

“The goal is to take our knowledge about how we learn things and use it to inform our models so that they get a better understanding more quickly,” Perera said. “We are looking at strategies to augment associative learning that could be translated to artificial intelligence.”

Typical AI training involves a massive data dump into the system to “teach it,” but that creates an AI that is only as trustworthy as the data it has been fed. Perera has worked to find ways to use language to teach machine learning systems and minimize flaws such as implicit bias.

Having trust in an AI-teammate’s decision is critical to the successful integration of the technology into human decision-making, especially for military operators and others who could rely upon such data to make life-or-death decisions.

“What we were looking at is, can we make sure that an explanation is encoded into the system so that when it makes a decision, you can see if it seems like a logical consequence of what the system is deciding,” Perera says.

Perera’s current work includes a project for the U.S. Navy where AI is responsible not only for finding irregularities or unexpected events, but also for providing the user with multiple possible explanations given the context. For example, multiple ships may be stationary nearby because they are waiting out a storm, or aspects of their behavior may point to illicit activity.

The applications are wider ranging than warfighting, however.

One such project, Civil Sanctuary, had the goal of engaging in social media communities with automated dialogue agents to help with content moderation.

And if there is any place where there is room for improvement, it is the world of online discourse.

Civil Sanctuary aimed to spot language that would indicate when people in an online forum are crossing the line from disagreeing to becoming toxic.

“We wanted to see if we could say something about the emotions being conveyed or the moral foundation” of the comments, Perera said.

Keeping a human in the loop of content moderation is ideal, but the volume of content to moderate makes it nearly impossible for humans to keep up. AI could be helpful in this, especially if it can sense the tone and emotional meaning beneath the words.

Perera’s modeling took several things into account to try to gauge when a moderator gets involved in the interplay among commentors. He also worked on modeling how the community responds to certain emotions.

“We can pick up on it before the human would and before it can do more damage, and say to the human in the loop, ‘Hey, this may be something you want to look at,’” he said.

Countering implicit bias

In AI research, human judgement is seen as the “ground truth”or the “correct” answer. However, we know that everyone has implicit biases that affect how they take in and respond to information. Even if a belief is grounded in fact or good intentions, the nature of the expression of that belief can shut down constructive discourse.

Yet there may be a way forward, aided by AI.

“Sometimes, if you’re aware of the bias, then you can start to see what you might want to change about that,” Perera said.

Towards this end, Perera and his team developed an “echo-chamber burster” — a method to analyze language and suggest refinements that would make a user’s comment on social media more constructive, even de-escalating potentially toxic or insulting discourse.

“We wanted to see if we could change how a comment is phrased to come to some common ground and reduce the toxicity,” Perera said. “Can we make the sentiment less angry and generate language that people can just engage with that’s not highly emotionally charged.”

The work coming out of this project presents a new vision of the potential for generative AI – one that creates new opportunities for bridging ideological differences by reframing communication in terms of the beliefs and ideals of the person or group across that divide.

Studying trust calibration

Another of Perera’s efforts looked at a co-training methodology to calibrate trust building in human-machine teams. At its core, this method sees the human and the AI agent train together, each learning as they go along.

That has included building a user interface that allows the human and machine partners in a team to navigate tasks and avoid obstacles together.

This co-training model gives the human and the AI team members each more feedback about their performance than a traditional model.

“We see (it) as being open with your strengths and weaknesses,” Perera says.

The findings so far suggest that team performance improves with such an approach.

“It makes the AI aware of its limitations and then encourages the human user to consider where AI can be applied most effectively,” he said. “In fact, we found that in this task, having an AI that was open about its capabilities and suggested delegations created a more effectively performing team than simply improving the AI’s accuracy by 20 percent.

“When we talk about improving systems that are used by people in decision making, this result shows us we should be focusing more on the human element, rather than chasing percentage points of accuracy.”

Ongoing work that Perera is part of includes looking at virtual reality tools that may help identify the impacts of mild and sub concussive traumatic brain injury before the condition might be clinically diagnosed. These are instances in which symptoms are difficult for even humans to identify but can have long-term consequences.

“When I think about the potential of AI, I’m not as focused on how we can do tasks as well as humans. I instead look at opportunities for AI to tell us something about ourselves or the world that we might miss as humans,” Perera says. “To do that, we need to turn a critical eye to ourselves and teach AI to do the same for its judgement.”

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

STEM-Talk: Nick Norwitz on a keotogenic diet as metabolic medicine

It may have been a given that Nick Norwitz would become a doctor – he is the child of physicians.

“It was in some ways the default path,” Norwitz says. “Everything I’ve done in science and medicine has just been an absolute pleasure.”

In the latest episode of STEM-Talk, available now where you listen to podcasts, Norwitz shares how what may have seemed to be an inevitable journey has evolved — and how it led him into research aimed at unlocking the potential of a ketogenic diet to improve metabolic health, mental health, and more.

It is a search that he began in part when his own injuries from running led him ultimately to more serious consideration of metabolic health.

Norwitz is an Oxford Ph.D., and a Harvard Medical School student who has drawn a following in part from his work with “lean mass hyper responders,” people who have high LDL cholesterol levels while on a ketogenic diet who are otherwise metabolically healthy.

The conversation includes:

• The impact that his own medical journey as a young man had on his path and on his belief that we must incorporate metabolic health in our healthcare system.
• Nick’s “Oreos vs. Statins” study which showed that for Lean Mass Hyper Responders, the introduction of a carb — in this case Oreo cookies — reduced LDL cholesterol far more effectively than statin therapy. His point was not to advocate Oreo cookies to manage cholesterol but rather to draw attention to the heterogeneity in responses.
• Nick’s paper on the Lipid Energy Model, which proposes a mechanistic explanation for the lean mass hyper responder phenotype.

And much more.

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry, and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

 

 

Robotics Open House inspired students to imagine themselves in STEM fields

As a middle school teacher, Jen Reichwage believes that when it comes to the possibility of a career in science, for her students, seeing is believing.

“Students must be exposed to STEM-related professions,” she said. “If students cannot see what it means to be in (Science Technology Engineering and Math), they will likely not see themselves in a STEM field and not pursue one.”

That is why Reichwage led a field trip of her students to the April Open House at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC). The event drew hundreds of people, including Reichwage’s students from Creative Learning Academy, as staff welcomed families, students, and the public for tours, walk-throughs, and inspiration on the Pensacola campus on South Alcaniz Street.

The family-friendly event encourages scientific discovery through hands-on activities, challenges, and demonstrations while providing the opportunity to learn. Visitors met IHMC researchers and saw first-hand their work in drones, robotics, virtual reality experiences, human performance research projects, data visualization, and more. The story is featured in the latest edition of the IHMC newsletter, available now.

Debbie Garland was another teacher who led a field trip to Open House, which coincides with National Robotics Week. Garland’s students are fourth-graders at Sacred Heart Cathedral School.

Her students learn about simple machines and coding in fourth grade, so open house offered a great hands-on learning opportunity for them to explore in a creative way. This was the fifth year that Garland brought her students to IHMC. She keeps bringing them back because it offers a unique hands-on learning experience that’s not found anywhere else.

“I feel that the students have a better idea about what sort of job opportunities might be available to those students that love science, robotics, and coding,” she said.

Rechwage said the biggest takeaway for her students was the chance to interact with researchers.

“Students were able to see different aspects of research that utilize technology in creative and innovative ways. They were able to test some of them and interact with others,” Reichwage said.

The Levin Center for IHMC Research — which houses the robotics lab — was one of the main draws of the event, but all of IHMC’s research disciplines were represented at Open House. Dozens of researchers in roboticists, engineering, cognitive science, and human performance, shared their work — and their love of their careers in science-related fields.

“The IHMC is a shining star for the Pensacola community and students were captivated by speaking to faculty and interacting with the exhibits,” Reichwage said.

National Robotics Week was established by Congress in 2010 and aims to bring together students, educators, and influencers who share a passion for robots and technology.

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry, and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

Intelligent cognitive assistant leveraging NLP to support those with dementia

Researchers at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition are combining technology and healthcare to develop an application that uses natural language processing (NLP) to help dementia patients in real time with vocabulary recall.

Dr. Archna Bhatia, leading the project team, is focused on harnessing NLP to help seniors with Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias retrieve words in the course of daily life. The effort is being supported by funding from the Massachusetts AI and Technology Center, a member of the a2Collective, which represents the Artificial Intelligence and Technology Collaboratories for Aging Research (AITC). The AITC program is funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health.

The project’s goal is to develop an assistant that learns from the user and builds a personalized database utilizing natural language processing that can help users in real time by retrieving difficult words, and ultimately could identify the areas of memory where a person is having more difficulty. It could then provide feedback to strengthen the connections in areas where they are weaker.

The IHMC team working on the app development includes Dr. Bhatia, Dr. Peter Pirolli, Roger Carff and William de Beaumont, and collaborates with esteemed colleagues, Dr. George Sperling  from University of California Irvine (UCI), and Dr. Misha Pavel from Northeastern University, alongside a research assistant, Lingyu Gan, from UCI. The app is now in development.

It will identify users’ associative networks, the intricate web of connections woven between the words in each person’s memory, based on the way that person uses them. It then will tailor the feedback it offers “because each individual connects words differently based on their own knowledge and past experiences,” Bhatia said.

By way of example, Bhatia notes that in the brain, the names of all of a person’s neighbors are built in one associative network. The list of all of your medications, instructions from your healthcare providers are built in another. There could be, and there would be connections in between these different sub regions as well, but all of those connections are highly individualized.

Even in the typical pattern of aging, “these connections become weaker and that’s when we start to forget,” Bhatia said. Fatigue, distraction, among other things also play a role in weakening these connections and negatively impact the processing capabilities of these systems.

However, when neurodegenerative disorders and dementias are present, these disorders add yet another layer of disruption to the capacity of these systems to recall the words and phrases we may need to communicate.

This application, it is hoped, will keep collecting data from users as they input it. For example, whenever a user remembers something, they could note it with the assistant at a time when that memory and connection are strong and at the forefront.

Each time the user asks the assistant about something, behind the scenes, the assistant is learning about the associative networks that user relies upon. Ultimately, it could spot patterns in the queries from the user. For example, if a person is increasingly asking questions about medications, or about the names of people, the assistant could send that user games, puzzles or other stimulations to strengthen the connections that are weakening.

A longer-term goal Bhatia said, is that the database built across all of the app’s users could provide insights into what regions of the associative networks are impacted more often as Alzheimer’s disease progresses. Such an insight could help support targeted therapies and further research into these areas.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that in 2020, nearly 5.8 million people are living with Alzheimer’s and related dementia. That figure is estimated to reach 14 million people by 2060. The prevalence of dementia-related disorders is a growing challenge for those diagnosed with it and their friends and family member who care for them.

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry, and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

STEM-Talk: Dr. Vyvyane Loh on atherosclerotic heart disease

Atherosclerotic heart disease (ASCVD) affects some 26 million people in the U.S., and annually leads 2 million hospitalizations and more than 400,000 deaths.

In this episode of STEM-Talk, Dr. Vyvyane Loh returns for her second appearance for a conversation about this disease. The episode is available now wherever you listen to podcasts.

Loh is a board-certified physician in obesity and internal medicine who spoke with us last time about her Boston-based preventative-care practice that specializes in weight management and the treatment of chronic metabolic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemia.

In Episode 166, Vyvyane and host Dr. Ken Ford talk about ASCVD and the gap between clinical treatment and the advances in biological science research about risk factors, including updates to the anatomical aspects of the disease model itself.

“We’re focused on cholesterol because that’s what statins target,” Loh says. “The idea has been… this is the main way to prevent atherosclerotic disease. We’ve seen that hasn’t really been that effective.”

The substantial variability in individual response to statin therapy is just one component of this discussion. Loh notes that more attention should be paid to glycocalyces, a border that line every cell, including those of blood vessels.

“Like moss covering the rocks in a stream. It can act as a protective layer in your cells.,” she says. “It acts as a communication bridge between inside and outside of a cell.”

Loh says the focus should be on talking to patients about reducing the substances that can damage glycocalyces.

“We should be looking at atherosclerotic heart disease as an inflammatory process rather than just focusing on cholesterol,” she says.

The full conversation is fascinating and includes:

• Loh’s pet peeve that the current knowledge base informing clinical practice is far behind the advances in biological science.
• Where Loh believes the conversation about preventing ASCVD should be focused. “I think the behavioral and environmental components of risks of heart disease have been under emphasized.”
• What you should think of when you hear the word “metabolism”: “You should immediately be thinking about your immune system because they are intricately linked. We use metabolic pathways to turn on immune pathways.”
• What she has learned about herself through her passion for competitive dance.

 

STEM-Talk: Dr. John Edwards on ketamine treatment for depression and suicide prevention

Dr. Johnathan Edwards, an anesthesiologist, joins STEM-Talk for a frank conversation about the problem that suicide presents in American life, and the role ketamine could have in countering that.

Episode 165, featuring Edwards, is available now on IHMC’s website and other podcast platforms.

Ketamine was developed in 1960s in the search for an anesthetic that did not cause post-operative delirium. It became the most used anesthetic in the world. In the 1990s, researchers found that in low doses it had a huge effect on eating-disorder patients. It was tried in treatment-resistant depression patients, then in the prevention of suicidal ideation.

While ketamine has been found to be safe in therapeutic settings, a dark side of it is the way it has become adopted as a drug of abuse.

Our conversation with Edwards also covers the benefits that psychedelics — including ketamine and MDMA — show in treatment of depression, suicidal ideation, post-traumatic stress disorder and more.

“MDMA could be the drug of choice for treatment of PTSD,” given its effectiveness in relieving the symptoms of PTSD, Edwards said.  Ketamine is similarly effective in relieving the depression.

The conversation also includes:

• The potential adverse effects of ketamine, especially in light of the October 2023 death of “Friends” actor Matthew Perry, who had used ketamine as apart of treatment for depression and addiction.
• How ketamine and traditional psychotherapy should be paired together.
• The role of isolation in the prevalence of drug overdoses and overdose deaths.
• Groups for whom ketamine should not be used.
• The role that MDMA could have in the treatment of PTSD, particularly in veterans. “At least we’ve gotten over the fact that there is PTSD,” Edwards said. “Even after as much study has been done, I still feel like we haven’t arrived at a place where we are going to see legislation to support veterans in the way they need to be supported.”

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

Register now for IHMC Summer Robotics Camp 2024 sessions

It’s time to register for IHMC Summer Robotics Camp.

For the student who loves robots and programming — and the student who is curious about it but has never gotten the chance to develop STEM skills in these fields — Robotics Camp is one of IHMC’s signature community outreach efforts.

Registration opens March 1 for Pensacola sessions in June 2024. Camp is in two sessions: June 17-20 for rising eighth graders; and June 24-27 for rising ninth and 10^th graders. Visit https://www.ihmc.us/life/robotics-camp/ to register.

“Students don’t need prior experience in programming or prior knowledge about robots to enjoy this camp,” said Dr. Ursula Schwuttke, director of educational outreach for IHMC’s Pensacola and Ocala campuses. “Students who are interested in STEM fields in general will enjoy themselves. There’s no better way to introduce these concepts to your child — while also providing them with a fun summer experience that will increase their self-confidence in STEM.”

In 2023, 66 middle- and high-schoolers participated in these hands-on experiences, designing their own LEGO robots, learning the basics of coding, and increasing their problem-solving skills.

“Camp allows us to reach the next generation of scientists, helping them to discover what their future might look like,” Schwuttke said.

Ocala camp dates are July 8-11 for rising eighth graders, and July 15-18 for rising ninth and 10^th graders. Registration for those sessions opens March 11. There is financial assistance, based on need, available for those who qualify.

While assembling and programming the robots is of course fun, Schwuttke says another highlight of camp is the chance to meet and mingle with researchers on the IHMC team and to see the IHMC robotics lab.

“Opportunity is vitally important for kids,” says Schwuttke. “Without the opportunity to discover an interest coding or robotics, they can’t know that it’s something they might want to pursue.”

Robotics Camp is sponsored in Pensacola by Cox and in Ocala by Lockheed Martin, Cox, Career Source Citrus  /Levy / Marion, and the Ocala Mac User’s Group.

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

 

 

 

Peek behind the curtain at IHMC’s April 2024 Open House

For Dr. Robert Griffin, the question isn’t why he came to Pensacola to work in the robotics lab at Florida IHMC.

It’s why he stays.

“I stayed because we have a phenomenal team, and we try and remove the formality from work to allow us to focus on the things to be done, and how to enjoy that process,” he said. “We also place a high value on intellectual freedom that we enjoy here. Basically, if we can convince someone to fund it, we can pursue it. That’s a tremendous opportunity.”

On April 11, 2024, Griffin will be among dozens of researchers, roboticists, engineers, cognitive scientists, and human performance experts who will share what they love about IHMC during Open House for National Robotics Week.

From 3 to 7 p.m., Institute for Human and Machine Cognition staff will welcome families, students, and the public for tours, walk-throughs, and inspiration on the Pensacola campus on South Alcaniz Street. The final tour begins at 6:30 p.m.

The family-friendly event encourages scientific discovery through hands-on activities, challenges, and demonstrations while providing the opportunity to learn. Visitors will meet IHMC researchers and see first-hand their work in drones, robotics, virtual reality experiences, human performance research projects, data visualization, and more.

In 2017, when Griffin was graduating with a Ph.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, he had two choices for pursuing his work researching mobility control for humanoid robots and exoskeletons: Pensacola or Boston.

There is no question he has made the most of his choice.

“We have one of the best facilities for legged robots in the world and have been very fortunate to be able to pursue that,” he said. “We are a major part of the community here, and we can tell that Pensacola loves us and has been good to us.”

Open House is a way for the IHMC team to return that love.

National Robotics Week was established by Congress in 2010 and aims to bring together students, educators, and influencers who share a passion for robots and technology.

While the robotics lab at the Levin Center for IHMC Research is an open-house highlight, the event also features the Healthspan, Resilience, and Performance (HRP) team.

Dr. Marcas Bamman, the senior research scientist who leads the HRP team, was director of a world-leading research center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In 2020, he joined IHMC to help build an exciting and innovative research program spanning numerous disciplines including physiology, molecular biology, neuroscience, rehabilitation, psychology, environmental stress, and regenerative medicine.

“I was drawn here by IHMC’s vision to establish a capstone research program focused on advancing knowledge in human healthspan, resilience and performance in a truly interdisciplinary manner,” said Bamman. “We are bringing together everything from clinical and applied research to rehabilitation to molecular and biological analysis. Our research leverages knowledge gained from the level of a molecule to the performance of a whole human.”

Later this year, the HRP team will move into a nearly completed $40 million research complex that will exponentially expand research capacity and have a tremendous impact on Northwest Florida’s regional economy.

“IHMC fosters a unique environment in which scientists can walk across the hall and tap into the expertise of leaders in AI, computer science, robotics and the many subdisciplines of HRP. Our best days in science are those in which we learn from one another, and our goal at IHMC is to learn without limits,” Bamman says.

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

STEM-Talk: Dr. Michael Leon on the power of olfaction enrichment to ameliorate dementia symptoms

What if the path to delaying the onset of dementia symptoms begins at the nose?

It is a doorway that the research of Dr. Michael Leon opened with a 2023 study on the power of olfaction enrichment to influence memory function and brain health. The findings attracted wide interest by finding that stimulation of our sense of smell with essential oils had a profound impact on memory, cognition, and language recall.

Our conversation with Leon on STEM-Talk Episode 164 is available now on the STEM-Talk webpage as well as popular podcast platforms.

Olfaction can be considered a kind of “canary in the coal mine” for serious consequences.

“Olfactory loss accompanies virtually all neurological and psychiatric disorders,” Leon says. “I’ve counted about 70 of them. It also is associated with all of the things that will eventually kill you. Heart disease, kidney disease, cancer, lung disease, liver disease – all the things that will eventually kill you — all are associated with olfactory loss. It may be that loss of olfaction puts your brain and body at elevated risk for expressing these.”

Leon’s long research career has focused on the influence of environmental enrichment on neurological function, disease, and disorders. He has studied the benefits of sensory-motor stimulation for children with autism spectrum disorder, for the treatment of anorexia and for those with dementia and neurological conditions.

He is a professor emeritus in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at the University of California Irvine, where his Leon Lab has focused on studying the benefits of increased sensory-motor activity in children with autism spectrum disorder.

Our conversation includes:

• The beginnings of Leon’s interest in science, when he traded in his summer job as a lifeguard at Rockaway Beach for a summer job indoors at Brooklyn College cleaning out rat cages.
• His early work in endocrinology, and his path into studying the way environmental stimulation influenced outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorder.
• The 2023 paper showing a powerful link between the olfactory stimulation older people received from essential oils overnight and their brain function.
• The applications this olfaction stimulation study could have across other disciplines.
• The influence these findings could have on a larger study population, mild traumatic brain injury patients, as well as children with a high level of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES), and other groups.

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

 

 

IHMC hosts Dynamic Walking Conference in May 2024 drawing robotics experts from across the world

In late May, IHMC will host the 20^th annual Dynamic Walking Conference, a premier gathering of engineers and roboticists working in the realm of robotics.

The conference, set for May 27-30 at Pensacola Beach, includes experts and researchers in biomechanics, human and animal locomotion, prosthetics and orthotics, robot design and control, wearable robotics, and exoskeletons. It is one of several gatherings of subject-matter experts IHMC is part of each year.

It has been six years since IHMC previously hosted the conference, which rotates between the United States and Europe. The 2023 conference was hosted in Munich by DLR, the German Space Agency.

Dr. Robert Griffin, the IHMC research scientist who leads the robotics team, looks forward to the opportunity to showcase his team and their work. The conference typically attracts some 200 researchers from around the world, Griffin said.

Work that Griffin’s team has completed recently on the humanoid robot Nadia is likely to be a topic of discussion, as well as IHMC’s work on exoskeletons with Eva. Throughout late 2023 and early 2024, the team has been testing new designs for Nadia’s arms, as well as changes in the mixed-reality teleoperation assistance environment that controllers use to direct the robot.

In December, the team presented at the 2023 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Robotics and Automation Society’s 22nd International Conference on Humanoid Robots in Austin, Texas.

“The opportunity to present and exchange ideas at conferences like Dynamic Walking is a highlight of every year for our team and a unique opportunity for collaboration,” Griffin said. “We are excited to hear about the many other research areas that are essential to the performance of legged systems.”

During the conference, IHMC’s team will present highlights from its work on locomotion in humanoid robots, a burgeoning research area on reinforcement learning on quadrupeds, as well as work with both assistive and augmentative exoskeletons.

The conference will include plenaries, keynotes, small-group discussions, and social and after-hours networking opportunities. Its audience will include startup founders and workers, academic and research institute principal investigators, graduate and undergraduate researchers, and industry research and development teams.

Conference and program assistance is coming from the Georgia Tech PoWeR lab under Dr. Greg Sawicki, who is also an IHMC Senior Research Scientist, and the Florida State Optimal Robotics Lab, RTHM Lab, and CISCOR Lab, under Christian Hubicki, Taylor Higgins, and Jonathan Clark.

While the intellectual exchanges are clearly a highlight of the conference, there are other benefits. Griffin notes past conferences were enlivened by hiking and rock climbing in Madison, Wisc., and country tours in Munich that included visits to castles.

In 2018, the last time IHMC hosted, extracurriculars included sailing, playing kickball in Pensacola Blue Wahoos stadium, and Evening Lecture at the historic Saenger Theatre. This time around, the IHMC team once again looks forward to having the chance to share what Pensacola has to offer visitors.

“We are thrilled to host our colleagues, collaborators, contributors, and like-minded experts in their fields and look forward to showing them all that our community has to offer,” Griffin said. “We think a good time will be had by all.”

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

 

Dr. Tom Jones Evening Lecture on March 14 includes book signing by Bodacious Bookstore

It’s been some 12 years since the Space Shuttles retired, but the lessons America learned from its signature space program still reverberate.

What we know how to do well today in space, we learned on the shuttle. Those lessons are the foundation of work on the International Space Station and plans to return to the Moon.

Nobody knows that better than Dr. Tom Jones. Jones spent 53 days living and working in space. A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, he is an author, pilot, and speaker whose career includes 11 years at NASA.

He flew on four Space Shuttle missions and led three spacewalks to install the centerpiece of the International Space Station. On March 14, 2024, he will share “Space Shuttle Stories,” an IHMC Evening Lecture inspired by his book of the same title.

The lecture begins at 6 p.m., but locally owned Bodacious Bookstore will host an onsite book signing with Jones from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at IHMC. 40 S. Alcaniz St. Jones will be available to sign his new book “Space Shuttle Stories” from 4-5:30pm at IHMC, 40 South Alcaniz Street.

“We are so pleased to partner with Bodacious Bookstore to host a book signing for this Evening Lecture,” said Michelle Bowers, Senior Event Specialist at IHMC. “The subtitle of Tom’s book is ‘Capturing the Human Element of America’s Iconic Spaceship.’ Tom is an IHMC colleague and we can’t wait for the opportunity to share his ’Space Shuttle Stories’ with the community.”

Mentioning this story will earn you 10 percent off the purchase of Jones’ book the night of the event, according to store manager Melissa Smith.

In collecting the stories of more than 135 astronauts who flew the shuttle, Jones heard how the orbiter crews and the launch and Mission Control teams coped with and overcame the inevitable, unexpected, and sometimes frightening challenges that threatened their missions.

“Brain surgery” on Hubble by space-suited astronauts. The most improbable satellite rescues in space history. How the shuttles helped us win the Cold War.

Those are just some of the stories you’ll hear. Reserve your spot today.

Jones piloted B-52D strategic bombers, earned a doctorate in planetary sciences from the University of Arizona, studied asteroids and robotic exploration missions for NASA, and engineered intelligence-gathering systems for the CIA.

He is the author of seven books.

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

 

STEM-Talk: Mark Mattson on the brain’s most important neurotransmitter

The Godfather of Intermittent Fasting is back on STEM-Talk.

Dr. Mark Mattson is back for a third appearance on STEM-Talk. His first two interviews focused on the many ways that fasting optimizes healthspan and lifespan.

This time we shift gears to talk about Mattson’s work on glutamate following the publication of his new book, “Sculptor and Destroyer: Tales of Glutamate – The Brain’s Most Important Neurotransmitter.” The episode is available now on our website and wherever you listen to podcasts.

More than 90 percent of the neurons in the brain deploy the little-known molecule glutamate as their neurotransmitter. Glutamate also controls the structure and function of the brain’s neuronal networks and mediates many of our human capabilities, such as learning and memory, creativity and imagination.

But there’s also a dark side to glutamate.

Mattson shares how subtle aberrancies in the activity of neurons can deploy glutamate in such a way that it can cause disorders such as autism and schizophrenia and epilepsy as well as diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and ALS.

You won’t want to miss this conversation with includes:

• Why Mattson feels his research on glutamate is his most important, given his substantial contributions in other areas such as intermittent fasting.
• His motivation to understand how the pieces of the ‘brain puzzle’ fit together and how that desire has fueled his broad scope of research.
• Why historically, researchers largely ignored the possibility that glutamate was a neurotransmitter and how a Japanese professor during World War II demonstrated that glutamate could excite neurons.
• And much, much more.

After receiving his doctorate from the University of Iowa, Mark did his postdoc research at Colorado State University and then took position at the University of Kentucky to establish his own lab and independent research program. In 2000, the National Institute of Aging recruited Mark to head its neuroscience laboratory. He spent almost 20 years there and today and is on the neuroscience faculty at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Review Mark’s previous STEM-Talks here in Episode 7, and here in Episode 133.

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

 

 

 

IHMC Newsletter highlights human-machine teaming research and more

The latest edition of IHMC’s newsletter is now available, highlighting the work of our incredibly talented team.

Among the features in this issue is the work of Senior Research Scientist Dr. Matt Johnson, one of IHMC’s leaders in the human-machine teaming, working on technologies that can be applied in domains including disaster response, space applications, aviation, and military operations.

Johnson’s research into making human-machine teams more flexible, resilient, and effective also falls under this umbrella. Projects such as those Johnson is currently leading include using virtually reality, simulations and other tools to build training platforms to improve collaboration between humans and their machine partners.

“AI comes in a lot of flavors,” Johnson says. “It’s very broad, and IHMC’s been involved from the beginning with the different approaches.”

The newsletter, available here, also features:

• Research on how the Internet of Things could be applied to benefit military operators, disaster response and the like.
• An IHMC-designed haptic sensor in flight gloves that could make it easier for flight crew to operate safely in extreme environments.
• Our partnership with the American Magic yacht racing team.
• An update on construction of the $40 million Healthspan, Resilience, and Performance research complex, due to be completed later this year.
• Recaps of Science Saturdays, Robots Camp and other community outreach efforts.
• And much more.

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

STEM-Talk: Marc Hamilton on the metabolic power behind the soleus push-up

Dr. Marc Hamilton has published pioneering work on the soleus push-up, a potent physiological method with the ability to elevate metabolism for hours, even while sitting.

Hamilton is well-known for a string of papers beginning in early 2000’s that found excessive sitting should be viewed as a serious health hazard.

In Episode 161 of STEM-Talk, available now on all podcast platforms, Hamilton shares his scientific evolution during a conversation with IHMC’s founder Dr. Ken Ford and Dr. Marcas Bamman, IHMC’s Director of Healthspan, Resilience, and Performance Research. Hamilton is a a professor of Health and Human Performance at the University of Houston.

Today’s interview is wide-ranging and covers:

• The inspiration his childhood history of hunting and studying animal biology had for his affinity for the real-world scientific problems he works on today.
• His work beginning in the early 2000s about how long periods of inactivity impact lipoprotein lipase regulation.
• How he came to the conclusion that excessive sitting should be considered a serious health hazard.
• How the study of the soleus muscle and its function evolved.
• What proper activation of the soleus muscle looks like and what it’s impacts can be.
• What’s next for Hamilton and his team.

Learn more about the soleus push-up, the science behind it, Hamilton and his lab.

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

Science Saturdays welcome students with new sessions in 2024

Science Saturdays are back and ready to turn on new scientific minds in 2024.

These 90-minute educational enrichment sessions are a cornerstone piece of community outreach at Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC). Topics in 2024 will include balloon cars, secret codes, genetics, the science of design, and more. The sessions are free to the families who attend, thanks to the support of community partners.

Science Saturdays is entering its 16^th year, and in the 2022-2023 school, more than 300 students attended the series, said Dr. Ursula Schwuttke, director of educational outreach for IHMC.

“Science Saturdays is one of the original community outreach efforts IHMC undertook,” Schwuttke said. “Our commitment to helping build future scientists, engineers and critical thinkers is integral to who we are as an organization. We have a great lineup of sessions coming to round out the 2023-2024 school year and we can’t wait to get to work.”

Sponsors for the 2023-2024 series in Pensacola include NextEra Energy Foundation/Florida Power & Light, Florida Blue Foundation, the Escambia County Sherriff’s Office (with Law Enforcement Trust Fund monies), and Cox.

Ocala supporters also include Lockheed Martin, Florida Blue Foundation, Cox, Ron and Phyllis Ewers, Eleanor and Gary Simons, and Ocala Electric Utility.

SCIENCE SATURDAY SPRING SCHEDULE

Use this link to stay up to date on dates and topics for these sessions. And share the link with friends with children in grades 3-6 https://www.ihmc.us/life/science_saturdays/

Pensacola Sessions

Jan. 20: Dr. Gwen Bryan, Balloon Cars.

Feb. 24: Dr. Jeff Phillips, Secret Codes.

March 23: Dr. Marcas Bamman, What Genes Are You Wearing?

April 27: Teresa Dos Santos and Blu Salmon, Science of Design.

Ocala Sessions

Jan. 6: Scott Weeks, Florida Engineering Society, Bridges.

Feb. 10: Dr. Archna Bhatia, More Computer Game Design.

March 9: Dr. Peter Polack, Ocala Eye, Vision and Optical Illusions.

April 6: TBA.

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry, and academia to conduct ground-breaking science and develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

Evening Lecture series kicks off 2024 highlighting power of Internet of Things

You used the Internet of Things (IoT) today even if you didn’t realize it.

The GPS mapping tools that guided your commute, the traffic cameras that alerted you to a traffic delay or nabbed a red-light-runner, the smart-home devices that locked your front door, turned off the lights, and told you the weather — all are part of the IoT.

It’s likely that any errand you ran this week used these networked sensors to communicate and share data as part of a wide array of everyday things that exchange information, sense the environment, and act upon the environment.

The data gathered and analyzed by IoT has a range of applications for both military and civilian life, and IHMC’s Associate Director Dr. Niranjan Suri is among the leaders researching how this data trove could be leveraged. He kicks off the 2024 IHMC Evening Lecture Series with a talk highlighting this research area on Jan. 18. Reserve your seat here.

Throughout his career, Suri’s research has focused on networking, communications, distributed systems, information management, interoperability, Internet of Things (IoT), and the application of machine learning to all of those domains.

“They can essentially create a smarter thing, a smarter home, a smarter military — even a smarter city,” Suri said.

For several years, Suri and his team have investigated the ways the military community could utilize this publicly available, free data from the civilian IoT. Suri and his team also have considered how the military version of the IoT— the Internet of Military Things (IoMT) — could be maximized to improve logistics and protect the safety of our nation’s warfighters.

Public data treasure chest

Civilian IoT is a rich source of data with wide applications, some currently in use, some still in the idea phase:

— Cities increasingly are offering services that can tell you things like where you can park your car, when the next public bus, train, or subway is coming, or if there are delays and suggest alternate routes.

— Cities are using IoT sensors to create a real-time picture of the environment by tracking air quality, temperature, noise pollution, and ultraviolet radiation.

— Electrical grids can use IoT to monitor power consumption, balance uploads, and anticipate where there might be problems upcoming.

— Connected cars could use IoT so that the car in front of you talks to the car behind you about roadway conditions, so maybe your car can avoid the bump or the road hazard that the car in front of you went over.

“Sometimes it is behind the scenes. Sometimes you actually interact with it,” Suri said.

Networked sensors are part of a wide array of everyday things that exchange information, sense the environment, and act upon the environment. The data gathered and analyzed by the IOT has a range of applications for both military and civilian life.

“They can essentially create a smarter thing, a smarter home, a smarter military, even a smarter city,” Suri said.

For several years, Suri and his team have investigated the ways that the military community could tap into this trove of civilian data, much of which is free, and publicly available. Suri and his team also have considered how the military version of the IOT — the Internet of Military Things (IOMT) — could be maximized to improve logistics and protect the safety of our nation’s warfighters.

Military applications of IOT

Suri also has worked for several years on projects with IOT for military applications.

Beginning in 2014, Suri co-chaired a North Atltantic Treaty Organization (NATO) coalition of subject matter experts and thought leaders looking at all the military domains — logistics, automatic monitoring of equipment, health and wellness of soldiers, information gathering and sensing of the environment of cities — with an eye toward how to make civilian IoT data available to warfighters conducting humanitarian or military missions.

One exercise leveraged a real-world smart city’s IoT infrastructure to model a scenario in which the military has been called in to aid in disaster recovery.

Another exercise tackled finding the quickest route from an embassy to a train station with an injured person using IoT infused with edge computing to process video feeds to distinguish between military and civilian vehicles, people, and other hazards along the route.

“All of this information can come very quickly and helps you improve your situation awareness,” Suri said. “One of the major thrusts of our goal is to improve the situation awareness of these operators.”

The Internet of Battlefield Things

IHMC also supports a program with the U.S. Army that for the last six years has funded basic research into understanding how the Internet of Battlefield Things (IoBT) can be maximized to manage resources and keep servicemembers out of harm’s way.

One COVID-19-era innovation from this program — the Distributed Virtual Proving Ground — is having impact well beyond its origins as a workaround to travel restrictions in the pandemic era.

What was once limited to an annual in-person gathering of experts to test new ideas is now, with IHMC as a hub, a virtual testing network that supports distributed experimentation year-round, Suri said.

“Now we experiment year-round, just continuously doing this kind of testing and evaluation,” he said. “It has improved outcomes in every way imaginable.”

Daniel Duran is a Senior Research Associate who began his IHMC career as an intern in 2011. His past work has included developing computer vision algorithms to autonomously detect from high altitudes downed human pilots in the Australian Outback. He also designed and built a GPS-guided system used to deliver an emergency response payload to the pilots autonomously.

About a year and a half ago, he and the IHMC team began work on a threat detection system that could provide a lower-cost initial line of defense for critical infrastructure as well as for military personnel.

These networked sensors have five to 10 different sensing modalities, including tracking light, temperature, motion, even the ability to track chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) exposures.

“You can imagine how you might these around critical infrastructure like a military base or power plants or an airport, so that you can very quickly assess a situation,” Duran said.

This entirely autonomous system feeds data to the command center and to a warfighter in the field.

“So you can have a first-responder like a police officer, firefighter, or a warfighter simply attaching this to (their person) and they’re good to go,” Duran said. “And you can monitor their health and the threats around them very carefully from different distances.”

The wearable version of the device has additional applications in the field that are still being explored, Duran said. It is an innovation that could save time, money, and potentially lives.

Existing sensor technology in use is complicated and expensive — anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 per sensor. These devices can sense anywhere from five to 10 different modalities in a single sensor for less than $100 each.

“The whole point of this technology is to complement already existing technologies,” Duran said. “We want not just to develop the framework itself, but also to miniaturize and develop the sensor technology to make it cheaper and more effective for usage on the field.”

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry, and academia to conduct ground-breaking science and develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

STEM-Talk: Sten Stray-Gundersen on blood-flow restriction training and cardiovascular exercise physiology

This episode of STEM-Talk has a generational twist.

Dr. Sten Stray-Gundersen is our guest on Episode 161 which is now available on all podcast platforms and on our website. The conversation covers Sten’s research on blood-flow restriction training and cardiovascular exercise physiology. It’s a subject that Sten’s father, the late Jim Stray-Gundersen, pioneered in the United States. Jim was our guest on Episode 34 of STEM-Talk.

Sten is a post-doctoral research associate at the University of South Carolina and is an adjunct instructor at the university’s Arnold School of Public Health. Prior to his position at South Carolina, Sten was a teaching assistant at the University of Texas, where he earned his Ph.D.

The conversation with Dr. Ken Ford, IHMC’s founder and CEO, and Dr. Marcas Bamman, Senior Research Scientist at IHMC, includes the documented benefits of blood-flow restriction and how it not only increases muscle strength, but also improves endurance and reduces the risk of injury. Sten also talks about his research into hypoxia and endothelial function.

We also discuss:

• The influence of family on Sten’s athletic and career path.
• Sten’s experience trying blood-flow restriction (BFR) for the first time with his father.
• How blood flow restriction (BFR) training impacts training, muscle response, fitness, and endurance.
• How BFR’s different protocols of BFR can be implemented to yield different effects in the contexts of resistance training and aerobic training.
• A detailed discussion of the different approaches to BFR, each with tradeoffs. We also explore the differences in BFR for an elite athlete looking to gain a fractional advantage, versus a middle-aged or older person aiming to incorporate BFR to improve their health and functionality.
• Kaatsu, the original version of BFR, has been practiced in Japan for more than 30 years with a very low rate of serious complications. Ken mentions that for those listeners interested in Kaatsu, they should listen to Sten’s father’s interview on STEM-Talk episode 34.

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

 

STEM-Talk: Euan Ashley on precision medicine’s potential to predict, prevent and diagnose diseases

STEM-Talk episode 160 featuring a conversation with a pioneer in the use of genomic sequencing is now available on IHMC’s website, podcast apps and YouTube.

Dr. Euan Ashley is a professor of cardiology and genetics at Stanford University in California who
is developing new technologies to solve some of the most puzzling medical mysteries that people face today. He is helping pioneer medical genomics, as well as the precision medicine that it will enable, that has the potential to predict, prevent, and diagnose many common (and uncommon) diseases.

In today’s interview, Dr. Ken Ford and his co-host Dr. Dawn Kernagis talk to Euan about:

— His work with a colleague who was just the fifth person in the world to have his genome sequenced.
— Precision medicine and how Euan has helped establish medical genomics.
— How Euan and his colleagues set the Guinness World Record for the fastest genomic diagnosis.
— Technological advances that made sequencing cost-effective for individuals.
— How pathogenic labels will transform healthcare.
— The Undiagnosed Disease Network, which includes physicians from across the country who work with patients and families to solve medical mysteries.
— Research coming out of Euan’s lab that shows how all forms of exercise, particularly endurance exercise, confer benefits across all domains of health and function.

Euan, who was born and raised in Scotland, led the team that conducted the first clinical interpretation of the human genome. He is associate dean of Stanford’s School of Medicine and the author of The Genome Odyssey: Medical Mysteries and the Incredible Quest to Solve Them.

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

 

IHMC earns HIRE Vets award for commitment to hiring veterans

U.S. Acting Secretary of Labor Julie A. Su recognized the Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition as a recipient of the 2023 HIRE Vets Medallion Award during a virtual award ceremony on Nov. 8, 2023.

The Honoring Investments in Recruiting and Employing American Military Veterans Act (HIRE Vets Act) Medallion Program is the only federal award program that recognizes employers who successfully recruit, hire, and retain veterans. IHMC also won the award in 2021.

IHMC joins a select group of companies and organizations across the country recognized for hiring veterans and providing them with career opportunities that take advantage of the diverse skills they acquired during military service.

“We know very well the commitment to excellence and dedication that members of our military community bring to everything they do,” said IHMC founder and CEO Ken Ford.

Between its Pensacola and Ocala branches, nearly 14.8% of IHMC’s new hires last year were veterans, according to Associate General Counsel Stephanie Tillery Rothfeder, who coordinated IHMC’s submission for the award.

“We are honored to win this prestigious award for the second time in three years,” Rothfeder said.

To be considered for the award, an entity must meet a 7% hiring requirement, and we greatly exceeded that high standard,” she said. IHMC’s hiring and retention percentages demonstrate that the institute values veterans and provides them ample support and resources.

Recipients of the 2023 HIRE Vets Medallion Award meet rigorous employment and veteran integration assistance criteria, including veteran hiring and retention percentages; availability of veteran-specific resources; leadership programming for veterans; dedicated human resource efforts; pay compensation and tuition assistance programs for veterans.

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry, and academia to conduct ground-breaking science and develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.

STEM-Talk: An “Ask Me Anything” episode that covers AI, therapeutic ketosis, and more

STEM-Talk covers a wide array of topics, but there is a theme that our podcast returns to often — the role that mentorship plays in the lives of our guests. And our hosts.

Episode 159 of STEM-Talk — an “Ask Me Anything” episode where listeners ask Ken and Dawn to weigh in on a number of topics — brought up the question from a listener for Dr. Ken Ford, host and IHMC’s founder and CEO, about the mentors who have most profoundly influenced him. The episode is available now on podcast apps, YouTube and on IHMC’s website.

Dozens of STEM-Talk guests have spoken about a teacher, a coach, parent, or professor whose advice and support were critical to their development and career. Ken shared that his parents and his wife, Nancy, are his most profound influences. He also shares a little about another figure whose advice still rings true for him: Arthur Kershaw, legendary wrestling coach at East Greenwich High School, in East Greenwich, R.I.

“He was in a class by himself as builder of character in young men,” Ken says. “In many ways he was the best teacher of all. His lessons were important and they have lasted a lifetime. Coach Kershaw’s counsel often boomed across the gym in simple language. ‘Don’t be a knucklehead.’ ‘Don’t be a dumbbell.’ Or the classic, ‘Get off your back.'”

“Life gives us each many opportunities to be a knucklehead. Or not. And many opportunities to get off our backs. Or not. Though I had great mentors as a scientist and throughout my life, some of these early experiences shape a person in a way the latter ones really can’t. Some lessons last longer than others. Coach Kershaw’s lessons lasted the longest.”

It’s nice note upon which to close the episode, which covers a lot of ground on topics from AI, chat bots, therapeutic ketosis, kratom, and much more.

Ken, who is Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, answered several questions about the future of AI, Chat GPT, and whether AI might one day be able to do a better job of writing fact-based news stories than humans.

Other questions included:

• The competing recommendations for the daily intake of protein for healthy aging.
• The future of therapeutic ketosis.
• What it means for Chat GPT to “hallucinate.”
• Whether we’ll discover the existence of other life in the universe in the next 20 to 50 years.
• The potential of kratom to help relieve joint and arthritic pain.
• And much, much more.