People

Principal Investigator

Dr. Aysegul Gunduz

agunduz@bme.ufl.edu
@BrainMappingLab
LinkedIn

Dr. Aysegul “Ayse” Gunduz is an Associate Professor at the University of Florida in the J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering. Her research focuses on neural interfacing, signal processing, neuromodulation, and neurological disorders.

Education and Training:

BS in Electrical Engineering from Middle East Technical University (Ankara, Turkey, 2001)
MS in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC, 2003)
PhD in Electrical Engineering from University of Florida (Gainesville, FL, 2008)
Postdoctoral training at Albany Medical College, Department of Neurology, and at the Wadsworth Center, Division of Translational Medicine in Albany, NY

Affiliations:

UF Fixel Institute for Neurological Disorders
Malcolm Randall VA Medical Center Brain Rehabilitation Research Center
UF Dept of Neuroscience
UF Dept of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Awards and Honors:

Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE, 2019)
National Science Foundation Early CAREER Award (2016)
International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering Early Career Award (2015)
Anita Borg Institute Denice Denton Emerging Leader Award (2017)
UF Provost’s Excellence Award for Assistant Professors (2017)
UF Pramod P. Khargonekar Junior Faculty Award for Excellence (2018)
UF Preeminence Term Professorship (2017-20)
UF Graduate Education Diversity Champion Award (2019)
UF Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute NIH KL2 Scholarship (2015)
UF Research Foundation Professor (2019-22)
Pruitt Family Endowed Faculty Fellow (2017-20)
IEEE Senior Member

Graduate Students

Julieth Gómez Durán, PhD Student

Julieth is a Biomedical Engineering PhD student with a BS in Electronics Engineering from Universidad de la Costa in Colombia. After working as a Field Service Engineer for Roche and as a Pain Sales Representative for Medtronic, she received a Fulbright Scholarship and decided to pursue a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering at UF. She switched to the PhD after, and her research focuses on analyzing LFP signals from Tourette’s Patients implanted with deep brain stimulation devices. In her spare time, she likes traveling, painting, photography, and roller derby.

julieth.gomez@ufl.edu
@jugodu
LinkedIn

David Johnson, PhD Student

David is a Biomedical Engineering PhD student with a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder. His research interest is in semantic memory and the impact of epilepsy and surgical treatments for epilepsy on semantic memory.

david.johnson2@ufl.edu

Natalie Geigel, PhD Student

Natalie is a Biomedical Engineering PhD student with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Florida. She decided to pursue a graduate career in BME to become a part of the research efforts to improve the lives of those suffering from neurological disorders. Her research focuses on using deep brain stimulation for Essential Tremor and other movement disorders. In her spare time, she enjoys dancing, going to Disney, and spending time with her family.

ngeigel@ufl.edu

Grace Lowor, PhD Student

Grace Lowor is a Biomedical Engineering PhD student with an MSc and a BS in Biomedical Engineering from Arizona State University and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology respectively. She has industrial experience working as a manufacturing associate at Dexcom, Inc and is currently focused on neuromodulatory research in the field of neural engineering. Grace hopes to impact lives in the society through her research. She enjoys working out and listening to music in her leisure time.

g.lowor@ufl.edu
LinkedIn

Ava Burgess, PhD Student – Laboratory Manager

Ava is a Biomedical Engineering PhD student with a B.S. in General Engineering concentrating in Biomedical Engineering from Wake Forest University. She was an undergraduate research assistant at the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering & Sciences. Her current neural engineering research focuses on using deep brain stimulation to identify neurophysiological markers of movement intention and tremor in hopes of developing a closed-loop system for patients with essential tremor. Additionally, Ava seeks to integrate artificial intelligence into the DBS closed-loop system. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, music, football, and binging reality tv.

avaburgess@ufl.edu
LinkedIn

Undergraduate Students

William “Liam” R. Tvenstrup

Liam is a 3rd-year biomedical engineering major planning to focus his undergraduate degree on neuroscience and neurotechnology. His current research interests include computational neuroscience as well as clinical and somatic interventions for treating neurological disorders. His previous research experience includes general linear modeling and activation mapping of fMRI brain scans. In his free time, Liam enjoys playing violin in the UF Symphony Orchestra, spending time with friends, and listening to endless hours of the Star Wars soundtrack.

Sebastian William Tirado Velez

Sebastian William Tirado-Vélez is a Senior undergraduate student at the University of Florida, studying Computer Science & Biology with a minor in Health Disparities in Society. His current research interests include movement disorders, neural networks, bioinformatics, and cancer genomics. On his free time, he enjoys playing tennis and listening to vinyl records with friends.

Andrea Noy

Andrea is a Senior Mechanical Engineering student with a projected graduation in Spring 2024. She is interested in the intersection of engineering and medicine and has previously conducted research in cancer cell mechanics and mathematical modeling. She is currently interested in the applications of engineering in neurology. In her spare time, she loves sleeping, reading, and spending time with her family and friends.