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Prof. Krishna V. Shenoy, PhD

Krishna Shenoy

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Affiliations

Investigator, HHMI

Hong Seh and Vivian W. M. Lim Professor of Engineering

  • Inaugural endowed Chair holder (2017-)

  • Remarks I & II

Hong Seh and Vivian W. M. Lim Endowed Professorship

Dept of Electrical Engineering, School of Engineering

Stanford EE Logo - Horizontal
By courtesy, Dept of BioE, Schools of Engineering and Medicine
BioE
By courtesy, Dept of Neurobiology, School of Medicine
Neurobiology
By courtesy, Dept of Neurosurgery, School of Medicine
Neurosurgery
Director, Neural Prosthetic Systems Lab (NPSL)
NPSL Brain and Bits
Co-director, Neural Prosthetics Translational Lab (NPTL
NPTL Seal

Member, Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute

Wu Tsai Seal

Member, Bio-X Institute

Bio-X Seal

Member, Neurosciences Graduate Program

Neurosciences PhD Program Seal

James H. Clark Center

James H. Clark Center

Stanford University

SU Seal 600 ppi

Official-Shenoy-Photo.jpg (3.5 MB) 5/31/17

 

KVS-17-05-31-HighRes

Casual-Shenoy-Photo.jpg (2.8 MB) 4/19/17

Krishna Shenoy and Point Reyes Lighthouse, 4/19/2017

Biosketch - summary

Krishna V. Shenoy, PhD, is the Hong Seh and Vivian W. M. Lim Professor of Engineering. He is with the Depts of EE and, by courtesy, of BioE, Neurobiology and Neurosurgery in the SOE and SOM. He is also an HHMI Investigator and an Elected Member of the National Academy of Medicine. Prof. Shenoy holds a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UC Irvine (1987-1990), a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT (1990-1995), was a postdoctoral fellow in Neurobiology at Caltech (1995-2001), and has been on faculty at Stanford since then (Assistant Prof. 2001-2008, Associate Prof. 2008-2012, Full Prof. 2012-2017, HHMI Investigator 2015 to present, Endowed Chair 2017 to present). Prof. Shenoy directs the Stanford Neural Prosthetic Systems Lab (basic neuroscience and engineering) and co-directs the Stanford Neural Prosthetics Translational Laboratory (clinical trials), which aim to help restore lost motor function to people with paralysis. Honors and awards include a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences, a Sloan Fellow, a McKnight Technological Innovations in Neurosciences Award, an NIH EUREKA Award, an NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, the 2010 Stanford University Postdoc Mentoring Award, election as a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows, and the 2018 recipient of the Andrew Carnegie Mind and Brain Prize from CMU. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (10/17/22) with the citation: “For making seminal contributions both to basic neuroscience and to translational and clinical research. His work has shown how networks of motor cortical neurons operate as dynamical systems, and he has developed new technologies to provide new means of restoring movement and communication to people with paralysis,” and as a Fellow of the IEEE (12/1/22) with the citation: "for contributions to cortical control of movement and brain-computer interfaces." Prof. Shenoy serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards (SABs) of MIND-X (acquired by Blackrock Neurotech in 2022), Inscopix Inc. (merged with Brucker Nano in 2022) and Heal He serves as a consultant / advisor and was on the founding SAB for CTRL-Labs (acquired by Facebook Reality Labs in 2019, now Meta Platforms Reality Labs) and serves as a consultant / advisor and is a co-founder for Neuralink.

  • Biosketch - full

    • Research  Prof. Shenoy directs the Stanford Neural Prosthetic Systems Lab (NPSL), where his group conducts neuroscience and neuroengineering research to better understand how the brain controls movement and to design medical systems to assist those with movement disabilities. His neuroscience research investigates the neural basis of movement preparation and generation using a combination of electrophysiological, behavioral, computational and theoretical techniques. His neuroengineering research investigates the design of high-performance neural prosthetic systems, which are also known as brain-computer interfaces and brain-machine interfaces. These systems translate neural activity from the brain into control signals for prosthetic devices, which assist people with paralysis by restoring lost function. This work includes statistical-signal processing, machine learning, low-power circuits and real-time system modeling and implementation. Shenoy co-directs (along with Professor Jaimie Henderson, MD, Neurosurgery) the Stanford Neural Prosthetics Translational Laboratory (NPTL; 2009–present) which conducts brain-machine interface FDA clinical trials with people with paralysis.

    • Teaching  EE112 Electronics II, EE113 Electronics III, EE101B Circuits II, EE418 Topics in Neuroengineering, EE302 Topics in Biomedical Electronics, EE124 Introduction to Neuroelectrical Engineering

    • Education & Appointments  Prof. Shenoy attended the University of California, San Diego from 1986-1987, received his B.S. (summa cum laude) in electrical and computer engineering from the University of California, Irvine (advisor G.L. Shaw) in 1990, and received both his S.M. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT (advisor C.G. Fonstad, Jr.) in 1992 and 1995.  "Monolithic optoelectronic VLSI design and fabrication for optical interconnects," Shenoy KV (1995), Doctoral dissertation, MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (pdf url). He was then a postdoctoral fellow in neurobiology at Caltech (advisor R.A. Andersen) from 1995-2001. He joined the Stanford University faculty as an Assistant Professor in 2001, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2008, promoted to Full Professor in 2012, and was appointed as the inaugural Hong Seh and Vivian W. M. Lim Professor (Endowed Chair) in the School of Engineering in 2017. In 2015 Shenoy became an HHMI Investigator at Stanford and appointed for an initial term (2015-2021) and was re-appointed for a subsequent term (2021-2028). He is with the Depts of EE and, by courtesy, of Bioengineerig, Neurobiology and Neurosurgery.

    • Honors & Awards  Prof. Shenoy's honors and awards include the following: Tau Beta Pi (engineering) and Eta Kappa Nu (electrical engineering) honor societies, NSF & Hertz Foundation graduate fellowships, the 1995 Hertz Foundation Doctoral Thesis Prize, Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences (1999), Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow (2002), Defense Science Research Council (DSRC/DARPA) Fellow (2003-2005), a McKnight Technological Innovations in Neurosciences Award (2007), a Charles Lee Powel Faculty Scholar (2008), an NIH EUREKA Award, an NIH Director’s Pioneer Award (2009), the 2010 Stanford University Postdoc Mentoring Award, the Award of Excellence in Research by the North American Konkani Association (2012), a University of California at Irvine Distinguished Alumnus Award in the Henry Samueli School of Engineering (2013), elected to the The Henry Samueli School of Engineering Hall of Fame at the University of California at Irvine (2015), Election as a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows (2016) with the citation "For remarkable discoveries about the neural mechanisms underlying motor control as the basis of new advanced brain-machine interfaces for motor prosthetics," the 2018 recipient of the Andrew Carnegie Mind and Brain Prize from Carnegie Mellon University, election to the National Academy of Medicine (10/17/22) with the citation: “For making seminal contributions both to basic neuroscience and to translational and clinical research. His work has shown how networks of motor cortical neurons operate as dynamical systems, and he has developed new technologies to provide new means of restoring movement and communication to people with paralysis,” and as a Fellow of the IEEE (12/1/22) with the citation: "for contributions to cortical control of movement and brain-computer interfaces."

    • Service, Memberships & Directorships  Prof. Shenoy's service, memberships and directorships include: IEEE (1988-) and IEEE Senior Member (2006-), Society for Neuroscience (1995-), Neural Control of Movement Society (2001-), Defense Science Research Council (DSRC) for DARPA (Fellow 2003-2005, Member 2005-2009), American Physiological Society (2007), NSF IGERT Co-Dirctor with Prof. Jay McClelland (2008-2014), Journal of Neurophysiology editorial board (2008-), Director (PI) of DARPA-DSO/BTO's "REPAIR" Project spanning 10 investigators at 4 institutions (Brown: Burwell, Connors, Donoghue, Hochberg, Nurmikko (Co-Director), Scheinberg; Stanford: Deisseroth, Shenoy; University College London: Sahani; UCSF: Sabes), Co-PI (PI: Deisseroth) of DARPA-BTO's "NeuroFAST" Project.

    • Scientific Advisory Boards and Consulting  Prof. Shenoy serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards (SABs) of MIND-X (acquired by Blackrock Neurotech in 2022), Inscopix (merged with Brucker Nano in 2022) and Heal Inc. He serves as a consultant / advisor and was on the founding SAB for CTRL-Labs (acquired by Facebook Reality Labs in 2019, now Meta Platforms Reality Labs) and serves as a consultant / advisor and is a co-founder for Neuralink.

    • Personal Background  Krishna (paternal grandfather’s name) Vaughn Shenoy was born in Sabetha, KS (1968) to an Indian immigrant (1962) electrical engineer father (U. Panduranga “Pandu” Shenoy) from a small West Coast village (Mulki) and an American high-school teacher mother (R. Louise [Wolfe] Shenoy) from a small farm. They married in his Mother's small home town, Sedan, KS in 1967, and they celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary. Krishna grew up in Iowa farm country (Marion, next to Cedar Rapids, IA; Linn Mar High School) where his father worked at Collins / Rockwell International on cockpit avionics designs for Boeing and the DoD. Krishna headed West for college (1986-1987 UCSD, 1987-1990 UCI), East for grad school (1990-1995 MIT) and back West for his postdoc (1995-2001 Caltech). After marrying Bach-Nga [Nguyen] Shenoy (1986-1990 UCSD, 1990-1994 UCSF (PharmD), 1994-present Kaiser Permanente, 1975 immigrant from Saigon, Vietnam to El Cajon, CA) at Saint Denis Church in Diamond Bar, CA and the Athenaeum, Caltech in 1997, they moved from the Los Feliz neighborhood of LA, CA to Palo Alto, CA in 2001. Their two daughters are in high school and in college.

    • Maternal Grandfather a Marine until multiple sclerosis.
      Maternal Grandfather (Leslie Wolfe, wife Rosa Wolfe) was a WWII Marine based in San Diego until diagnosed with multiple sclerosis which resulted in paralysis for over 40 years. Marine Corps. motto Semper Fidelis (“Always Faithful”).

 

A few memorable pictures through the years

HHMI KDOG 4/14/15
Surprise ambush after HHMI interview talk at UCSF. Eric Trautmann and Krishna Shenoy. 4/14/15

 

HHMI KDOG 4/14/15 2
Surprise ambush after HHMI interview talk at UCSF. Chethan Pandarinath, Eric Trautmann, Krishna Shenoy, Sergey Stavisky and Paul Nuyujukian. 4/14/15
SFN KDOG 2015
Society for Neuroscience Special Lecture (10/20/15)
SFN KDOG 2015 2
Society for Neuroscience Special Lecture, after lecture reveal (10/20/15)
SFN KDOG Dinner
Society for Neuroscience Group Dinner (10/20/15)
RitzCarlton-HalfMoonBay-TenureParty-2008-08-30-A.jpeg
Walking along the pacific ocean after a tenure
​​​​celebration lunch at the Ritz Carlton, Half Moon Bay, CA. Ambushed with Gatorade or, more precisely, orange flavored Tang which is an NHP favorite. Left to right: Dr. Mark Churchland holding his younger daughter, Mark's wife (background), Assoc. Prof. Krishna Shenoy holding his older daughter's hand, Dr. Gopal Santhanam (blue striped shirt), Dr. Byron Yu (white tee shift) and John Cunningham (blue Polo shirt) in foreground. 8/30/08.
RitzCarlton-HalfMoonBay-TenureParty-2008-08-30-B.jpeg
A minute later, Krishna attempting to calm and dry off his older daughter (5 years old). Left to right: Byron, Krishna's older daughter, Krishna, Krishna's wife (background) and Krishna's wife holding and calming their younger daughter (2 years old, background). 8/30/08.
ThreeCarreras-2018
Skyline Pitstop, 2018. NeuroX 2009 Carrera S Cabrio (KVS). NeuroY 2006 Carrera S (GS). NeuroZ 2016 Carrera 4S (SIR)
Three little monkeys, Aspen 2010
At a 2010 BCI conference in Aspen, CO, where a Three Little Monkeys sculpture brought out the playful side of the group! Left to right. Back row: Mr. Justin Foster (now Dr. at Stitch Fix), Dr. Vikash Gilja (now Assoc. Prof. at UCSD) and Dr. Paul Kalanithi (passed, 2015). Front row: Mr. Paul Nuyujukian (now Assist. Prof. at Stanford), Dr. Cindy Chestek (now Assoc. Prof. at U. Michigan) and Ms. Joline Fan (now an MD and fellow in neurology at UCSF).
Paul Kalanithi and Krishna Shenoy 2014
Left to right: Dr. Paul Kalanithi, MD, Neurosurgeon and Professor Krishna Shenoy, Summer 2014. In March 2015, Paul passed away from cancer. In loving memory of our dear friend and group mate.  When Breath Becomes Air by Dr. Paul Kalanithi was written in his final months, posthumously published by Penguin Random House on January 12, 2016, and includes an Epilogue by his loving wife Professor Lucy Goddard Kalanithi, MD, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, Stanford University.  Amazon  Obituary
CongressWomanJackieSpeier-Shenoy-2013-HoR
Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-CA) and Professor Krishna Shenoy in Rayburn House Office Building before giving a scientific briefing on brain-computer interfaces to the House of Representatives. 2013
Shenoy Group NPSL 2011-10-20
Neural Prosthetic Systems Lab (Shenoy Group) in front of our lab in the James H. Clark Center. 10/20/2011.
FrancisCollinsKrishnaShenoyNIHDirectorsPioneerAward2009
NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins (left) and Associate Professor Krishna Shenoy (2009) receiving an NIH Director's Pioneer Award in Bethesda, MD, in 2009.​​
Professor Gordon L. Shaw
Professor Gordon L. Shaw (in loving memory), Departments of Physics and Neurobiology, University of California at Irvine. Gordon introduced me to academic research and the wonders of the brain, and I thank him for my ensuing research career. National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Summer 1988, UC Irvine.