User:Trentlarge
About Me
I am a Freshman at Duke University hailing from the small town of Campobello in South Carolina. Right now, I aspire to obtain a BSE in BME, with at least a minor in neuroscience. I'm very excited about biology's part in the future of technology, particularly aspects such as BCI(brain-computer interfacing). In my spare time, I like to program and watch/read fiction. At Duke, I plan to get involved in a variety of clubs, ranging from theatre groups to the molecular gastronomy club!
Grand Challenges for Engineering
As previously stated, I'm very interested in using engineering to better understand and emulate the brain. IBM is also interested in this, as they're addressing the goal of reverse engineering the processes brain:
- New IBM SyNAPSE Chip Could Open Era of Vast Neural Networks, Ari Entin, IBM, Created August 07, 2014, Accessed September 2, 2014 (Grand Challenge)
Duke is also actively attempting to defeat these challenges. Dr. Miguel Nicolelis is working to both reverse engineer the brain and to create a better virtual reality:
- Rats Communicate Through Brain Chips, Susan Young Rojahn, MIT Technology Review, Created Feb. 28, 2014, Accessed Sept. 2, 2014 (Grand Challenge)
Favorite MatLab Demonstration
So far, my favorite MatLab demonstration has been Basic Matrix Operations. While this may sound quite simple, I've had very little experience with matrices previously and have never used MatLab, so having the ability to run through the basics taught me quite a lot. I particularly enjoyed how the demonstration explained matrices, but then went to give examples of their uses, such as with graphing. It also taught me many tips for formatting graphs, which has come in handy during lab work. While a simple introduction, this demonstration taught me the most and, I believe, was most valuable to my education.
