Prof. Dr. José del R. Millán

Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, EPFL: Defitech Foundation Chair in Brain-Machine Interface

José del R. Millán is the Defitech Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) where he explores the use of brain signals for multimodal interaction and, in particular, the development of non-invasive brain-controlled robots and neuroprostheses. In this multidisciplinary research effort, Dr. Millán is bringing together his pioneering work on the two fields of brain-computer interfaces and adaptive intelligent robotics.

He received his Ph.D. in computer science from the Univ. Politècnica de Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain) in 1992, where he was an assistant professor for three years. He was also a research scientist at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Ispra (Italy), a senior researcher at the Idiap Research Institute in Martigny (Switzerland), and a visiting scholar at the Universities of Stanford and Berkeley as well as at the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley.

His research on brain-computer interfaces was nominated finalist of the European Descartes Prize 2001 and he has been named Research Leader 2004 by the journal Scientific American for his work on brain-controlled robots. He is the recipient of the IEEE Nobert Wiener Award 2011 for his seminal and pioneering contributions to non-invasive brain-computer interfaces. The journal Science has reviewed his work as one of the world’s key researchers in the field of brain-computer interfaces. Dr. Millán is the coordinator of a number of European projects on brain-computer interfaces and also is a frequent keynote speaker at international events. His work on brain-computer interfaces has received wide scientific and media coverage around the world.