Massimiliano Versace

Massimiliano Versace (born in Monfalcone, Italy, December 21, 1972) is a senior research scientist in the Neuromorphics Lab at Boston University in the Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems, where he founded and is currently the director of the Neuromorphics Lab. He is co-leading the Boston University neural modeling team working with Hewlett-Packard on the DARPA SyNAPSE Program. In December 2010, the IEEE Spectrum published a cover page featured article ^[1] written by Massimiliano and a graduate student, Ben Chandler, regarding the plan to develop a large scale brain model making use of memristor based technologies being developed by Hewlett Packard. The Modular Neural Exploring Traveling Agent (MoNETA) will be the first large-scale neural network model to implement whole-brain circuits to power a virtual and robotic agent compatibly with memristor-based hardware computations. A recent cover page featured article on IEEE Computer ^[2] features the software platform and modeling implemented by the joint HP and Boston University teams. His work has also been featured ^[3] on the Italian national daily business newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.

Professional Life

Massimiliano grew up in Monfalcone, Italy and came to the United States in 2001 as a Fullbright Scholar. Massimiliano holds a Masters in psychology from the University of Trieste and a PhD in Cognitive and Neural Systems from Boston University in 2007. At Boston University, he is now a senior research scientist, Neuromorphics Lab founding director, and in Co-PI of the DARPA SyNAPSE effort in collaboration with Hewlett Packard (12/2009 to 3/2011).

Awards

Massimiliano Versace was named Outstanding Researcher at the Global Conference on Business and Finance, Las Vegas (along with Charles Wong), was awarded top cited article 2008-2010 in Brain Research, was recipient of the CELEST Award for Computational Modeling of Brain and Behavior in 2009, as well as recipient of the Fulbright Fellowship in 2001.

Neural Modeling

Massimiliano Versace's research interests are focused on neural networks - in particular applied to cortical models of learning and memory, and how to build intelligent machines equipped with low-power, high density neural chips that implement large-scale brain circuits of increasing complexity. His Synchonous Matching Adaptive Resonance Theory (SMART) model shows spiking laminar cortical circuits self-organize and stably learn relevant information, and how these circuits be embedded in low-power, memristor based hybrid CMOS chip and used to solve challenging pattern recognition problems.

See also

• Physical neural network
• Neuromorphic

References

1. ^ Versace, Massimiliano; Chandler, Ben (2010), "MoNETA: A Mind Made from Memristors", IEEE Spectrum 12: 30–37, http://spectrum.ieee.org/robotics/artificial-intelligence/moneta-a-mind-made-from-memristors/0 
2. ^ Snider, Greg; Amerson, Rick; Carter, Dick; Abdalla, Hisham; MuhammadShakeel, Qureshi; Leveille, Jasmin; Amerson, Rick; Versace, Massimiliano et al. (2011), "From Synapses to Circuitry: Using Memristive Memory to Explore the Electronic Brain", IEEE Computer 44: 21–28, http://www.computer.org/portal/web/csdl/doi/10.1109/MC.2011.48 
3. ^ Tremolada, Luca (2011), "Il ratto nel computer", Il Sole 24 Ore, http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/tecnologie/2011-03-03/ratto-robot-065225.shtml?uuid=AapcX1CD#continue 

External links

• New Scientist August 2011
• The Neuromorphics Lab on CNN July 2011
• Silicon Brains, Thought Leaders, AZoRobotics July 2011
• Il Sole 24, Italian business newspaper March 2011
• The Boston University Neuromorphic Lab working on the DARPA SyNAPSE project to implement neural models on memristor hardware
• A blog with a section dedicated to neuroscience and its applications
• A talk on the progress the Boston University Neuromorphic Lab effort in building the memristor-based MoNETA model
• The IEEE Spectrum cover-page article "MoNETA: A Mind Made from Memristors" featuring the memristor-based neural model, December 1, 2010
• "How DARPA Is Making a Machine Mind out of Memristors", Popular Science December 3, 2010
• "Neuron-like computer hardware finally gets software", MSNBC December 6, 2010

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