Cognitive Neural Prosthetics: Brain Machine Interfaces Based in Parietal Cortex

Acknowledgements I thank my advisor, Richard Andersen, for his support, direction, and patience since I joined his lab. The members of this lab have been generous with their knowledge and time; they have helped me immensely over the years, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have studied in such a rich intellectual climate comprised of so many brilliant individuals. In particular, I thank Krishna Shenoy, who by way of his mentorship, example, and collaboration during my first years at Caltech has continued to inspire me as a model for scientific and academic excellence. I thank Shiyan Cao, who also collaborated on the work in Chapters 2 and 3 and who spent many wee hours working with me developing hardware and software. I am grateful to Boris Breznen, who has shared equipment, knowledge, and many encouraging words with me over the years. Scherberger for expertise in animal care, imaging, and surgery, particularly in several early attempts to implement electrode array surgeries. I thank the members of my committee, Shin Shimojo, Mark Konishi, and Pietro Perona for their aid and time, and especially Joel Burdick for his extensive support during every phase of this work. I thank Cierina Reys and Tessa Yao for their administrative assistance and Viktor Schherbatyuk for computer support. I would finally like to thank my friends and family for the many direct and indirect ways in which they have helped and inspired me over time.