Biography

Bin He’s major research interests include electrophysiological neuroimaging, brain-computer interface and neuromodulation. He has made significant contributions to the field of neuroengineering at a systems level, which aims to deepen our understanding of the brain using novel sensing, modeling and imaging approaches, as well as interface with the brain. He’s innovations have contributed to transforming electroencephalography (EEG) from a 1-dimensional sensing technology into a modern 3-dimensional dynamic brain imaging modality for imaging of spatio-temporal brain activity and functional connectivity. He’s work has a significant impact on a better understanding of brain function and dysfunction as well as reducing healthcare cost. His work on EEG-based brain-computer interface has led to major advancements. His team was the first to enable a human to fly a drone as well as the first to control a robotic arm to continuously move, reach and grasp an object in 3-dimensional space, using “thoughts” alone decoded from noninvasive EEG. This work has significantly increased the capabilities and applications of noninvasive brain computer interface. He’s research group has also innovated magnetoacoustic imaging with high spatial resolution, and transcranial focused ultrasound neuromodulation to encode information in the central nervous system with great spatial precision and deep brain penetration. He’s research has direct impacts on neuroimaging, neuromodulation, and neural interfacing for managing neurological disorders - the leading cause of disability and 2nd leading cause of death.

He has published about 300 peer-reviewed journal articles, 18 book chapters, and 10 granted US patents, some of which are licensed to medical device companies. He has given over 180 plenary, keynote, and invited talks at a number of national and international conferences and institutions. He’s research has been well recognized by various federal funding agencies with over $38M in funding as PI/Co-PI over the past 10 years.

He’s research contributions have been recognized internationally in the field of bioengineering. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE), IEEE, the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). His major awards include the IEEE Biomedical Engineering Award, IEEE EMBS Academic Achievement Award, IEEE EMBS William J. Morlock Award, IEEE EMBS Distinguished Service Award, and American Heart Association Established Investigator Award. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Reviews in Biomedical Engineering and was the former Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.    
  
He has served in various leadership positions in the national and international bioengineering community. He served as the 2009-2010 President of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, a premier bioengineering society with 11,000+ members from 100+ countries. He served as the 2018-2021 Chair of the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering, which is affiliated with the International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering, whose member societies have 120,000+ individual members. He also served in several positions facilitating the national BRAIN Initiative, including as Chair of NSF Workshop on Mapping and Engineering the Brain (2013), Chair of IEEE EMBS BRAIN Grand Challenges Conference (2014), and a Member of NIH BRAIN Multi-Council Working Group (2014-2019). He served as the biomedical engineering department head at Carnegie Mellon University from 2018-2021. During his tenure, the department has made substantial progress - research expenditure increased by 60%, PhD student population increased by 50%, graduate underrepresented minority student population nearly doubled, and graduate program ranking increased from the top 26th to the top 17th according to US News and World Report. At the University of Minnesota, He founded the Center for Neuroengineering and served as director of the Institute for Engineering in Medicine (2012-2017), contributing significantly to interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research collaboration.

Research Interests

Bin He’s major research interests include electrophysiological neuroimaging, brain-computer interface and neuromodulation. He has made significant contributions to the field of neuroengineering at a systems level, which aims to deepen our understanding of the brain using novel sensing, modeling and imaging approaches, as well as interface with the brain. He’s research has focused on developing engineering technologies that can improve clinical diagnosis and management of neurological disorders at a reduced cost. His research programs have been funded by NIH (NINDS, NIBIB, NCCIH, NIMH, NIDA, NHLBI, NEI, OD), NSF, and DOD, among other sponsors. Active research interests are described below. 

Electrophysiological Neuroimaging. Dr. He is a world leader and pioneer in the field of electrophysiological neuroimaging, and has made seminal contributions to significantly enhance the spatial resolution of electrical source imaging using EEG. EEG is an electric field response from neural activation that is noninvasive and cost-effective for probing brain electrical activity with high temporal resolution, used in virtually every hospital in the world. However, the wider application of EEG to image spatio-temporal distribution of brain activation and functional connectivity was hindered due to its limited spatial resolution caused by the smearing effect of the head volume conductor. Over the past three decades, tremendous progress has been made in significantly enhancing the spatial resolution and accuracy of electrophysiological neuroimaging from the EEG. He proposed and introduced the anatomically constrained EEG source imaging framework with the aid of the boundary element method. He’s pioneering work has triggered a paradigm shift in brain electric source imaging and resulted in greater precision for EEG source imaging and localization, for neuroscience research and clinical applications in epilepsy management and clinical neurophysiology. He’s lab has made significant technical advancements through sparse signal processing and machine learning, to first establish the capability for not only localizing but also objectively imaging the extent of brain source distributions from scalp EEG and MEG. He has also pioneered the investigation of epileptic networks using network theories and concepts from both EEG and intracranial EEG. He made significant contributions to integrating brain electric source imaging with functional connectivity analysis, enabling the mapping of dynamic functional connectivity and causality of neural information processing from noninvasive electromagnetic measurements. The work on EEG source imaging by He and his collaborators has enabled precision localization and imaging of epileptogenic networks for aiding presurgical planning in epilepsy, imaging and localizing brain targets that are responsible for generating and sustaining pain perception, guiding neuromodulation treatment. Recently, He’s team has extended the EEG source imaging to MEG source imaging. His research has been published in leading journals including PNAS, Nature Communications, Advanced Science, Neuron, Brain, Annals of Neurology and Neurology, with cumulative 6,000+ citations, and featured by NIH.

Noninvasive Brain-Computer Interface. Dr. He has made profound scientific contributions to brain computer interface, with significant original works advancing noninvasive technology. Brain computer interfacing is aimed at establishing technologies that can interpret a subject’s intention and help augment and restore function loss due to neurodegenerative disorders. He’s lab developed a novel multi-dimensional time-frequency-spatial approach to extract the extremely weak signals accompanying the “thoughts” of a human subject from noninvasive EEG. This method takes the “signatures” of each individual subject and uses them for optimal decoding of the intention of the human subject. Dr. He has proposed and pioneered EEG source imaging-based brain computer interface, which led to enhanced understanding of the mechanisms of motor imagery as cross-validated by functional MRI study, and significant improvement of performance of noninvasive brain computer interface. He’s lab has significantly advanced the state of the art of noninvasive brain computer interface, and demonstrated, for the first time in the world, that a human can control the flight of a drone in 3-dimensional space by “thoughts” alone. He’s lab further demonstrated that a human can control a robotic arm to continuously move, reach and grasp an object in 3-dimensional space, all by “thoughts” alone, as decoded from noninvasive EEG. This work represents a major breakthrough in noninvasive brain computer interface, that with innovation in machine intelligence, the extremely weak signals accompanying the “thought” of a human subject can be reliably extracted and decoded from scalp-recorded EEG signals for robotic control. The work has significantly advanced what noninvasive brain computer interface can do, received worldwide recognitions, and was featured by numerous media including Nature, BBC, CNN, NBC, CBS, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Scientific American, and featured by NIH and NSF. A single paper of Dr. He was downloaded over 100,000 times and cited 570+ times. He’s work on brain-computer interface has been published in leading journals including Science Robotics, Proceedings of the IEEE, Cerebral Cortex, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, and Journal of Neural Engineering, with cumulative 5,000+ citations.

Noninvasive Neuromodulation. As part of bidirectional brain computer interface, Dr. He has been actively pursuing noninvasive neuromodulation modalities including transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), and transcranial alternate current stimulation (tACS). Current major interest is focused at tFUS neuromodulation, including elucidating neuroscience mechanisms of tFUS stimulation, developing of electrophysiological source imaging guided tFUS neuromodulation, and treating pain and other neurological disorders using tFUS neuromodulation. He has made major advancements in developing ultrasound-based technology including magnetoacoustic imaging for precision tissue property imaging, and focused ultrasound for brain encoding and neuromodulation. He’s lab discovered for the first time that transcranial focused ultrasound provides cell type specificity targeting excitatory neurons vs. inhibitory neurons at the somatosensory cortex, and enables long-term depression through stimulation of the hippocampus. With a novel multi-element ultrasound transducer array, He’s lab demonstrated millimeter spatial precision targeting brain circuits for modulating pain-associated behaviors. He’s work has been published in leading journals including Nature Communications, Brain Stimulation, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, and Journal of Neural Engineering, and featured by NIBIB and NIH HEAL Initiative.

Selected Awards and Recognition

• Fellow, National Academy of Inventors, 2022.
• IEEE EMBS William J Morlock Award, 2019.
• Trustee Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 2019-2029.
• IEEE Biomedical Engineering Award, 2017.
• Fellow, Biomedical Engineering Society, 2017.
• IEEE EMBS Academic Career Achievement Award, 2015.
• IEEE EMBS Distinguished Service Award, 2014.
• Fellow, International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering, 2012.
• Medtronic-Bakken Chair for Engineering in Medicine, University of Minnesota, 2012-2017.
• Distinguished McKnight University Professorship, University of Minnesota, 2009-2018.
• Fellow, American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, 2005.
• Fellow, IEEE, 2004.
• American Heart Association Established Investigator Award, 2001.
• National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 1999.
• University of Illinois University Scholar Award, 1999.

Editorial Activities

• Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Review in Biomedical Engineering, 2023-Present.
• Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 2013-2018.
• Section Editor, Brain Topography, 2010-Present.
• Associate Editor, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2019-Present.
• Senior Editor, IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems & Rehabilitation Engineering, 2012-2016.
• Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems & Rehabilitation Engineering, 2006-2012.
• Academic Editor, PLoS ONE, 2014-2018.
• Reviewing Editor, Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics, 2013-2014.
• Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 2002-2012.
• Associate Editor, Brain Topography, 2008-2010.
• Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine, 2004-2007.
• Editor, Neural Engineering, Springer, 3^rd Edition, 2020.
• Editor, Neural Engineering, Springer, 2^nd Edition, 2013.
• Editor, Neural Engineering, 2005.

Selected Professional Activities

• Member, Nomination Committee, AIMBE, 2023-present.
• Member, Administrative Committee, IEEE EMBS, 2023-present.
• Member, Publications Committee, IEEE EMBS, 2023-present.
• Member, Fellows Committee, BMES, 2022-present.
• Past Chair, International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE), 2021-present.
• Chair, Nomination Committee, IAMBE, 2021-present.
• Chair, International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering, 2018-2021.
• Chair, Membership Committee, IAMBE, 2012-2018.
• Co-Chair, IEEE Life Sciences Initiative, 2011-2013.    
• President, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS), 2009-2010.     
• Vice President for Publications, IEEE EMBS, 2007.
• President, International Society for Functional Source Imaging, 2007-2008.     
• Vice President for Publications and Technical Activities, IEEE EMBS, 2005-2006.
• President, International Society of Bioelectromagnetism, 2002-2005.     
• General Co-Chair, The 16th International Conference on Brain Informatics, 2023.
• Co-Chair, International Program Committee, IEEE EMBS Annual International Conference, 2020.
• Chair, Carnegie Mellon Forum on Biomedical Engineering, 2018-2020.
• Conference Chair, IEEE EMBS BRAIN Grand Challenges Conference, 2014.
• Conference Co-Chair, IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging, 2014.
• Chair, NSF Workshop on Mapping and Engineering the Brain, 2013.
• Conference Chair, Minnesota Neuromodulation Symposium, 2013-2017.
• Conference Chair, IEEE EMBS International Conference on Neural Engineering, 2013.
• Conference Chair, IEEE Life Sciences Grand Challenges Conference, 2012.
• Co-Chair, Scientific Committee, World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, 2012.
• Chair, IEEE EMBS Forum on Grand Challenges in Neuroengineering, 2010.
• Conference Chair, the Annual International Conference of IEEE EMBS, 2009.

Plenary/Keynote and Named Lectures

1. Keynote Lecture, Dynamic Mapping and Interfacing with the Brain, 3^rdBiomedical Engineering and Instrumentation Summit, Boston, Nov 2023.
2. Keynote Lecture, AI for Mapping and Interfacing with the Brain, IEEE EMBS International Conference in Biomedical and Health Informatics, Pittsburgh, Oct 2023.
3. Keynote Lecture, AI for Mapping and Interfacing with the Brain, 16^th Brain Informatics Conference, New York, Aug 2023.
4. Keynote Lecture, Interfacing Brain with Machine, International Conference of Human Augmentation and Performance Modeling, August 2023 (online).
5. Keynote Lecture, AI for Mapping Brain Dynamics and Managing Intractable Epilepsy, Georgia Tech Suddath Symposium, Atlanta, March 2023.
6. Nobel Fest Lecture Series, Brain-Machine Intelligence – Mind Over Mechanics, Oct 2022 (online).
7. Keynote Lecture, Dynamic Imaging and Localization of Brain and Cardiac Rhythm Disorders, 17^th IEEE International Summer School and Symposium on Medical Devices and Biosensors, August 2022 (online).
8. Keynote Lecture, Dynamic Brain Imaging and Brain-Computer Interface, IEEE EMBS International Summer School of Neural Engineering, July 2022 (online).
9. Maury Strauss Distinguished Public Lecture, Virginia Tech, Dynamic Brain Imaging and Brain-Computer Interface, May 2022.
10. Keynote Lecture, Electrophysiological Source Imaging of Epileptic Tissue, 3^rd International Conference on Medical Imaging and Case Reports, March 2022 (online).
11. Plenary Lecture, The Inverse Problem of Brain Electromagnetic Fields: Recent Advancement and Applications, 8^th International Conference on Electromagnetic Field Problems and Applications, October 2021 (online).
12. Keynote Lecture, Mind Control: Why, What and How, 20^th World Congress of Psychophysiology, September 2021 (online).
13. Plenary Lecture, Neural imaging, Interfacing, and Modulation – Challenges and Opportunities, 2019 China Biomedical Engineering Conference, Jinan, November 2019.
14. Beishizhang Lecture, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dynamic Brain Mapping and Interfacing with the Brain, Beijing, June 2019.
15. Plenary Lecture, Dynamic Mapping and Interfacing with the Brain, 9^th Cairo International Biomedical Engineering Conference, Cairo, December 2018.
16. Plenary Lecture, Electrophysiological Source Imaging and Brain-Computer Interface using EEG, Joint Meeting of EEG & Clinical Neuroscience Society, International Society for Functional Source Imaging, International Society for Brain Electromagnetic Topography, and International Society for Neuroimaging in Psychiatry, Pittsburgh, September 2018.
17. Keynote Lecture, University of Pittsburgh BIOE DAY, Understanding and Interfacing with the Brain – A Neuroengineering Journey, Pittsburgh, April 2018.
18. Plenary Lecture, Inverse Imaging: What, How, and the Impact to Health, 39^th Annual International Conference of IEEE EMBS, Jeju Island, July 2017.
19. Plenary Lecture, Mind-control of a Robot: Principles and Challenges, Robotic Alley Conference & Expo, Minneapolis, March 2017.
20. Keynote Lecture, Mapping and Interfacing with the Brain: Challenges and Opportunities, Future Technology Conference, San Francisco, December 2016.
21. BRAIN Plenary Symposium Lecture, Electrophysiological Neuroimaging and Brain-Computer Interfaces, 38^th Annual International Conference of IEEE EMBS, Orlando, August 2016.
22. Plenary Lecture, Mapping and Interfacing with the Human Brain, IEEE International Joint Conference on Neural Networks, Vancouver, July 2016.
23. Opening Keynote Lecture, Bioelectricity and the Brain: From EEG to BCI, International Conference on Basic and Clinical Multimodal Imaging, Utrecht, September 2015.
24. Palmer Distinguished Lecture, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University, Mapping and Interfacing with the Brain, Ames, April 2015.
25. Keynote Lecture, BRAIN Initiative and Dynamic Brain Mapping, International Workshop on Brain Technology Initiative, Shanghai, December 2014.
26. Plenary Lecture, Mapping and Decoding Brain Dynamics in vivo, IEEE EMBS BRAIN Grand Challenges Conference, Washington DC, November 2014.
27. Theme Keynote Lecture, Dynamic Mapping and Interfacing with the Human Brain, IEEE EMBS Annual International Conference, Chicago, August 2014.
28. Hamlyn Distinguished Lecture, Imperial College, Mapping and Interfacing with the Brain, London, June 2014.
29. Keynote Lecture, Mind Controlled Medical Devices, MD & M Minneapolis Conference, Minneapolis, October 2013.
30. Plenary Lecture, High-resolution Dynamic Neuroimaging of Brain Activity, NSF Workshop on Mapping and Engineering the Brain, Arlington, August 2013.
31. Plenary Lecture, Engineering the Future of Medicine, Design of Medical Devices Conference, Minneapolis, April 2013.
32. Keynote Lecture, Challenges and Opportunities in Neuroengineering: Understanding and Interfacing with the Brain, Design of Medical Devices Conference, Minneapolis, April 2012.
33. Keynote Lecture, Functional Neuroimaging, Yangtze River International Conference on the Applications of Medical Imaging Physics & The 6th National Annual Meeting of Medical Imaging Physics, Hangzhou, October 2011.
34. Plenary Lecture, Spatio-Temporal Functional Neuroimaging of Brain Activity, 5^th IEEE EMBS International Conference on Neural Engineering, Cancun, April 2011.
35. Keynote Lecture, Electrical Source and Impedance Imaging: Challenges and Opportunities, Workshop on MR-based Impedance Imaging, Seoul, December 2010.
36. Plenary Lecture, Imaging and Interacting with the Brain: Challenges and Opportunities, Annual Conference of Chinese Society of Biomedical Engineering, Beijing, December 2010. 
37. Keynote Lecture, Toward High-resolution Spatio-temporal Functional Brain Imaging, IEEE – EMBS Forum on Grand Challenges in Neuroengineering, Bethesda, May 2010.
38. Plenary Lecture, XIVth Conference on Electrical Biompedance and the 11th Conference on Biomedical Applications of Electrical Impedance Tomography, Gainesville, April 2010.
39. Plenary Lecture, Emerging Frontiers in Biomedical Engineering and Functional Neuroimaging, Chinese Conference on Biomedical Engineering, Chongqing, October 2009.
40. Keynote Lecture, Neuroengineering: Opportunities and Challenges to Reverse Engineer the Brain, Second International Conference on BioMedical Engineering and Informatics and the Second International Congress on Image and Signal Processing, Tianjin, October 2009.
41. Plenary Lecture, Functional Imaging of Brain and Heart Activity, Joint Meeting of the 7^th International Symposium on Noninvasive Functional Source Imaging & 7^th International Conference on Bioelectromagnetism, Rome, May 2009.
42. Keynote Lecture, Functional Neuroimaging of Dynamic Brain Activity, 5^th International Conference on Information Technology and Applications in Biomedicine, Shenzhen, May 2008.
43. Keynote Lecture, Electrophysiological Neuroimaging: Past, Present and Future, Joint Meeting of the 6^th International Symposium on Noninvasive Functional Source Imaging of Brain and Heart and the International Conference on Functional Biomedical Imaging, Hangzhou, October 2007.
44. Keynote Lecture, Electrophysiological Imaging of Brain and Cardiac Electrical Activity, The 6^th International Conference on Bioelectromagnetism, Aizu, October 2007.
45. Plenary Lecture, Electrocardiographic Imaging: From 2-dimension towards 3-dimension, Joint Meeting of 5^th International Conference on Bioelectromagnetism and 5^th International Symposium on Noninvasive Functional Source Imaging within the Human Brain and Heart, Minneapolis, May 2005.
46. Plenary Lecture, From High-resolution EEG to Electrophysiological Neuroimaging, 15^th International Congress on Brain Electromagnetic Topography, Tokyo, April 2004.
47. Plenary Lecture, Electrophysiological Neuroimaging. The 4^th International Conference on Bioelectromagnetism, Montreal, July 2002.

Publications (Please click here for a complete list.)