Ahmed receives Young Faculty Award

Ahmed

Alaa Ahmed, assistant professor at the University of Colorado Boulder Department of Integrative Physiology, has received a Young Faculty Award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The objective of the program is to identify and engage rising research stars in junior faculty positions at U.S. academic institutions and expose them to Defense Department needs and DARPA’s program development process. The YFA program provides funding, mentoring and industry and Department of Defense (DoD) contacts to these faculty members early in their careers to develop their research ideas in the context of DoD needs. The long-term goal of YFA is to develop the next generation of academic scientists, engineers and mathematicians in key disciplines who will focus a significant portion of their career on DoD and National Security issues.

Ahmed’s most recent study looked at how test subjects learned particular arm-reaching movements using a robotic arm. The results of the study found that even though subjects had learned a task, there was an advantage to continued practice. To read more, visit http://artsandsciences.colorado.edu/magazine/2012/02/after-perfection-practice-makes-efficient-study-finds/

Ahmed will receive approximately $150,000 for the next two years.