NILE WILSON
ABOUT ME
I am a fifth year bioengineering PhD student at the University of Washington (UW), researching the human brain and Brain-Computer Interfaces with Rajesh Rao, PhD, and Jeffrey Ojemann, MD in the GRIDlab. I am heavily involved with the Center for Neurotechnology (CNT), an interdisciplinary and multi-institutional National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center.
I have also worked as a software engineer intern at Microsoft for two separate internships. One focusing on developing a cloud data platform for sharing neuroscience methods and findings, and the other on using deep learning to monitor environmental conditions around an underwater data center.
SKILLS
What My Research Doesn't Tell You
As a graduate student in a multi-disciplinary research center, I have developed and am constantly improving various skills outside of academic research in my field.
CLINICAL ENVIRONMENT
Working with clinical staff and patients in the hospital, as well as safely handling sensitive data
PROGRAM COORDINATION
Organizing multi-day events including fostering industry partnerships, applying for grants, and event logistics (including budgeting and media)
ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE
Extensive experience with Adobe Creative Suite for basic graphic design, photo/video editing, and illustration
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Filed a provisional patent with a team of three other students and learned about commercialization
SCIENCE COMM.
Communicating my own research and other STEM projects in a clear, easy-to-understand way for people outside the field
GAME DESIGN
Basic game design experience in Unity Game Engine for experimental task creation
FELLOWSHIPS
Recent Awards
I have been fortunate enough to receive the following fellowships and would like to recognize some recent sources which have allowed me to perform research in graduate school.
Where I've Been
EDUCATIONAL HISTORY
PHD, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
2014 - Present
I entered the University of Washinton's Department of Bioengineering PhD program in September 2014. I passed my qualifying exam in June 2016 and general (dissertation proposal) exam March 2018. Expected graduation June 2019.
BS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
2010 - 2014
I graduated with distinction from the University of Virginia's School of Engineering and Applied Science with a BS in Biomedical Engineering in May 2014.
During my undergraduate years, I also researched abroad at the Shibaura Institute of Technology in Tokyo, Japan (Summer 2012), and participated in the CSNE-REU program (Summer 2013).
Non-research related
PROJECT EXPERIENCE
MICROSOFT INTERNSHIP
June 2018 - September 2018
Developed an end-to-end solution for monitoring the environmental condition surrounding an underwater data center using deep learning, and helped structure an O'Reilly AI conference keynote presentation on the empowering potential of AI, particularly through the example of a smart prosthetic hand. Also wrote a blog post on the use of deep learning in the 2018 Imagine Cup winning teams.
NEURAL ENGINEERING HACKATHON COORDINATOR
July 2015 - July 2017
Solely coordinated the second and co-coordinated the third annual neural engineering hackathons hosted by the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (CSNE). The hackathon spans four days, with a 36 hour hacking period and presentations. My duties included, but were not limited to, tasks such as garnering corporate sponsorship, creating the website, obtaining equipment, distributing and reviewing applications, and coordinating travel, food, and lodging for students from across the nation. For more detail, see the CSNE hackathon website.
MICROSOFT INTERNSHIP
September 2017 - December 2017
Interned as a software engineer with the Cloud AI Prototyping & Innovation team at Microsoft in Redmond, WA. Through my internship, I created a cloud data platform designed to empower neuroscience researchers, students, and enthusiasts in their exploration of neuroscience data.