The Program

The focus of the Summer Internship in Neural Engineering (SINE) program is the research experience. Students become integrated into a research team focusing on issues in neural engineering within one of several laboratories in the Sensory Motor Performance Program (SMPP) at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC), or the Biomedical Engineering and Physiology departments at Northwestern University. Students are assigned a research project and guided by their research advisor over the course of the summer. At the end of the program, students present the results of their research to the neural engineering community at NU and RIC. Through this program students obtain direct experience in the development, execution, analysis, and presentation of research in neural engineering.

In addition to this research experience, students participate in a number of educational events through the summer. These events include activities such as laboratory tours, discussions of research design, presentation, and ethics, as well as visits to local hospitals and rehabilitation clinics and participation in adaptive sporting events. A primary goal of the program is to give students a direct and personal experience with the people for whom neural engineering research is ultimately intended. Further events, both social and academic, are included throughout the summer.