Dr. Shamma's research deals with the question of how the acoustic signal is represented at various levels of the mammalian auditory system. The research spans a wide range of disciplines and techniques, ranging from theoretical models of auditory processing the early and central auditory stages, to neurophysiological investigations of the auditory cortex, to psycho-acoustical experiments of human perception of acoustic spectral profiles. These studies complement each other in that theoretical models are directly based on experimental data, and in turn the models motivates the experimental paradigms and analysis.

Pingbo's primary research interests focus on understanding the neural mechanisms that underlie auditory perception and memory. The fundamental questions pursued are: how the sounds are perceived in auditory system? How the sounds perceived are encoded into memory? And how the sounds encoded in memory affects the sound perceiving? The ongoing behavioral neurophysiology studies are focusing on: 1) Neuronal correlates of auditory stream segregation and top-down effects (such as attention, memory) on stream segregation in primary auditory cortex; 2) Neuronal basis of rapid STRF changes occurred in the auditory system during auditory pattern discrimination (such as melody or tonal sequence).

Rupesh Chillale's research interests include neural mechanisms of perception and attention in the auditory system. He is interested in studying how sensory and perceptual features are processed along the hierarchical cortical pathway from auditory to the frontal cortex. He aimed to study 1. Neural encoding of auditory categorization 2. How does the auditory system flexibly process sounds under different contextual conditions? and 3. Sequence processing in auditory system and speech comprehension, Rupesh uses diverse methods ranging from behavior, multichannel extracellular recordings, computational and mathematical modeling techniques to answer these questions.

Ali is currently a post-doctoral researcher in Institute for Systems Research (ISR). He joined the lab in January 2018.

Neha is currently a graduate student in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Her interests lie in representation of human speech in the auditory cortices, specifically in the cocktail party paradigm and investigating the neural correlates of stream segregation in the ferret primary and higher auditory cortices. She is also interested in stream segregation and differential processing of streams for math and language in humans using Magnetoencephalography (MEG). In her spare time, she loves reading, exploring food and rock climbing. She joined the lab in Fall 2015.

Mohsen Joined the Lab in 2016 and is currently a graduate student in Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is interested in how human brain interpret the complex auditory information, e.g. music and speech in a cluttered environment by recording the activity of human brain using the magneto/electroencephalography (M/EEG) technique to address related questions.

Kelsey is currently a graduate student in Electrical and Computer Engineering. She joined the lab as a graduate student in Summer 2016.

Richard is a current graduate student in the School of Music studying Piano Performance. He studied Computer Engineering as an undergrad at UMD. He joined the lab in Summer 2021, and he is interested in how the human brain processes complex sounds such as speech and music.

Wing is currently a graduate student in the Electrical and Computer Engineering.