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Leadership

Executive Director

Dr. Andrew Oxenham is a Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Otolaryngology. He is an expert in human auditory perception and neuroscience, bridging both the basic and applied branches of auditory science. His research has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 1998 and he has authored over 200 journal articles and book chapters. His focus has been on the perceptual consequences of hearing loss and on understanding and improving sound perception through cochlear implants. He is a past winner of the Troland Award from the National Academy of Sciences and of the R. Bruce Lindsay Award from the Acoustical Society of America.

Scientific Co-Directors

Dr. Gordon Legge is a Distinguished McKnight University Professor and former Chair of the University of Minnesota's Department of Psychology. He is a leading scientist in vision research and was the recent winner of the Helen Keller prize for vision research from the Helen Keller Foundation and the BrightFocus Foundation. Dr. Legge's research deals with visual perception and cognition. Currently, projects focus on the roles of vision in reading, object recognition, and spatial navigation. In all of these areas, there is a special focus on the problems encountered by people with low vision. The lab has been widely recognized for applying the principles and methods of basic visual science to explain the difficulties encountered by people with low vision. Other areas of include studies of binocular vision (including stereopsis) and contrast coding.

Dr. Peggy Nelson is a Dean's Medal Professor and former Chair of the Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences (SLHS). Her work bridges auditory psychophysics, speech perception, and sensory aids. She has had NIH funding since 1992, completing a K08 mentored scientist award, an R03 small grant, and two different R01 research grants. Her work originally focused on the psychophysics of hearing loss, but has moved into translational work on sensory aids, both hearing aids and cochlear implants. She has had a number of subcontract awards from small business grants, which have led to fruitful collaborations between her students and local industries. She has mentored a number of PhD and AuD students, as well as post-doctoral fellows. She has served as a mentor for other NIH K08 and K23 awards. She has also served as Chair of the Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, with her current term ending in Summer, 2015.

Dr. Steve Engel is a Professor in the Department of Psychology, studying visual perception and how it can change with experience. His early research pioneered the use of functional MRI for studying the visual system. His laboratory now focuses on challenges to seeing; this work includes developing new aids for people with low vision, developing diagnostic tests for people with visual snow syndrome, and understanding how people adjust (or fail to adjust) to new prescription lenses. His work is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, and he served as Associate Chair of the Psychology Department.

Principal Investigators

Meredith Adams
Otolaryngology, Head, and Neck Surgery (MED)

Mark Bee
Ecology, Evolution and Behavior (CBS)
Acoustic communication, auditory perception, auditory neuroscience.

Holly Boyer
Otolaryngology, Head, and Neck Surgery (MED)

Evelyn Davies-Venn
Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences (CLA)
Speech perception, psychoacoutics, hearing aids, and computational modeling.

Stephen Engel
Psychology (CLA)
Visual system plasticity.

Lizbeth Finestack
Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences (CLA)

Maria Gini
Computer Science (CSE)
Artificial Intelligence, distributed decision making for multi-agent and multi-robot systems.

Megan Gunnar
Institute of Child Development (CEHD)
Adolescents and youth, developmental neuroscience, early childhood, prenatal, stress and maltreatment

Rachel Hawe
Kinesiology (CEHD)
Neurorehabilitation, motor control and development, stroke, robotics, neuroimaging

Victoria Interrante
Computer Science (CSE)
Virtual reality and visualization, with an emphasis in user experience, perception and design.

Kendrick Kay
Radiology-CMRR (MED)
Visual neuroscience and related topics in cognition, reading.

Juergen Konczak
Kinesiology (CEHD)
Biomechanics, haptics, movement neuroscience, movement disorders, neurorehabilitation, proprioception, somatosensation.

Wilma Koutstaal
Psychology (CLA)

Vanessa Lee
Psychology (CLA)
Vision, attention, and spatial cognition.

Gordon Legge
Psychology (CLA)
Low vision, assistive technology, visual psychophysics.

Hubert Lim
Biomedical Engineering (CSE)

Shmuel Lissek
Psychology (CLA)

Jeffrey Marr
St. Anthony Falls Laboratory (CSE)
Associate Director of Engineering and Facilities

Jennifer McComas
Educational Psychology

Linda McLoon
Ophthalmology and Visual Neurosciences (MED)
Eye movement disorders, pharmacologic approaches to the treatment of eye disease.

Stephanie Misono
Otolaryngology (MED)
Voice quality, outcomes assessment, psychosocial distress, voice-related quality of life.

Sandra Montezuma
Ophthalmology and Visual Neurosciences (MED)
Retina prosthesis.

Benjamin Munson
Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences (CLA)
Speech sound development and sociolinguistics.

Peggy Nelson
Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences (CLA)

Jean-Paul Noel
Neuroscience

Cheryl Olman
Psychology (CLA)
Early vision, computational, and fMRI.

Andrew Oxenham
Psychology (CLA)

Melissa Polonenko
Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences (CLA)
Audiology, electrophysiology, auditory development, hearing loss, multi-sensory processing, cochlear implants and hearing aids, binaural and spatial hearing, behavioral measures, outcome measurements, objective measurements to naturalistic sounds (continuous speech)

Evan Suma Rosenberg
Computer Science & Engineering (CSE)
Virtual reality, human-computer interaction, and human perception.

Michael-Paul Schallmo
Psychiatry (MED)
Vision, fMRI, MR spectroscopy, EEG, schizophrenia, autism.

Jayanthi Sasisekaran
SLHS

Robert Schlauch
Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences (CLA)
Loudness, speech understanding in noise, and HPD assessment.

Ingrid Schneider
Forest Resources (CFANS)
Human dimensions of natural resources, visitor experiences, advanced information communication technology

Paul Schrater
Psychology (CLA)

Mark Stellmack
Psychology (CLA)
Psychology of hearing, psychoacoustics

Erik Van Kuijk
Ophthalmology (MED)
Laser tissue interaction, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy.

Iris Vilares
Psychology (CLA)
Decision-making, Bayesian behavior, neuroeconomics, computational psychiatry.

Matthew Winn
Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences (CLA)
Listening effort, speech perception, binaural hearing

Justin Yamanuha
Medical School, Ophthalmology & Visual Neurosciences

Chengyan Yue
Horticultural Science

Yang Zhang
Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences (CLA)
Speech perception, language acquisition, cognitive neuroscience, hearing science, autism.

Participating Scientists

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Executive Director

Scientific Co-Directors

Scientific Advisory Board Members

External Advisory Board Members

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