Obama Administration Proposes Doubling Support for The BRAIN Initiative

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March 5, 2014

“So there is this enormous mystery waiting to be unlocked, and the BRAIN Initiative will change that by giving scientists the tools they need to get a dynamic picture of the brain in action and better understand how we think and how we learn and how we remember. And that knowledge could be — will be –transformative.”

-  President Barack Obama, April 2013

 

Following the President’s Briefing on the budget, the White House posted a press release announcing that the Obama Administration Proposes Doubling Support for The BRAIN Initiative, March 4, 2014. The press release also references the Center for Brains, Minds and Machines (CBMM) as an example of NSF’s current investments in the BRAIN Initiative.

National Science Foundation: In FY 2015, NSF plans to invest $20 million to support The BRAIN
initiative. To attain a fundamental scientific understanding of the complexity of the brain, in context and in action, NSF investments in The BRAIN Initiative are focused on generating an array of physical and conceptual tools needed to determine how healthy brains function over the lifespan of an organism, including humans. NSF will also focus on the development and use of these tools to produce a comprehensive understanding of how thoughts, memories, and actions emerge from the dynamic actions of the brain. NSF is prioritizing research in three areas where the agency’s capacities are uniquely strong: integrative and interdisciplinary research; new theories, computational models, and analytical tools that will guide research questions and synthesize experimental data; and the development of innovative technologies and data infrastructure required to handle the large-scale data sets resulting from this research. Examples of investments that NSF has already made to support The BRAIN Initiative include a new $25 million Science and Technology Center on “Brains, Minds and Machines” at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and new Research Coordination Networks (RCNs) to organize the scientific community and increase collaboration.

Read the full White House Press Release>

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