John Rattray, a PhD candidate from the Computational Sensory Motor Systems Lab and advisee of Prof. Etienne-Cummings, was invited to present his research earlier this September at the Gaylord National Harbor during DARPA’s 60th Anniversary Symposium. Rattray was named by DARPA as one of this year’s Early Risers, a distinction given to “up-and-coming standouts in their fields, capable of discovering and leveraging innovative opportunities for technological surprise”.
Rattray’s research is aimed at increasing the speed and precision of computing visual saliency, the characteristic of objects that draw our attention, by developing new algorithms for use with non-conventional cameras that mimic the way in which our retinas process light. Along with his lab, Rattray works in a niche field of engineering known as neuromorphic engineering aimed at mimicking biological systems with electrical ones.