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Michael Arbib

Dr. Michael Arbib, PhD, is the Fletcher Jones Professor of Computer Science, Professor of Biological Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Neuroscience and Psychology, and University Professor at USC. He serves as the PI and Director of the USC Brain Project, which aims to integrate research in Neuroscience and NeuroInformatics. Dr. Arbib is a Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence as well as a prolific author with over 300 refereed publications and 38 written/edited books. He has received many honors nationally and internationally, including the Socio Onorio, La Societa di Medicina e Scienze Naturali dell'Universita di Parma, the IEEE Neural Networks Council Pioneer Award, the Rouse Ball Lecture at Cambridge University, and the Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa), University of Western Australia.

Positions & Honors

Positions
1986-present University of Southern California: University Professor, Fletcher Jones Professor of Computer Science, Professor of Biological Sciences, Neuroscience, Biomedical Engineering, Physiology (1986-1994), Electrical Engineering, and Psychology; Director, Center for Neural Engineering (1987-1994): Director, USC Brain Project (1994-present).
1970-1986 University of Massachusetts, Amherst: Professor of Computer and Information Science [Chairman: 1970-1975]; Adjunct Professor of Psychology; Director, Center for Systems Neuroscience (1974 - 1986); Director, Laboratory for Perceptual Robotics (1982-1986); Co-Director, Cognitive Science Program (1982-1986).
1965-1970 Stanford University: Research Assistant, Engineering Mechanics; then Assistant and Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering.

Selected Honors & Awards
2008 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
2006 Distinguished Scholar, The 30th Distinguished Scholar Lecture Series of the Department of Psychology and the Faculties of Arts and Science at the University of Alberta
2004 Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa), University of Western Australia
2003 Distinguished Scientist Award, Knowledge Engineering and Discovery Research Institute, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
2002 Academy Gold Medal of Honor, The Academy of Transdisciplinary Learning and Advanced Studies
2001 Rouse Ball Lecturer, Faculty of Mathematics, Cambridge University, Fellow, American Association for Artificial Intelligence

Education

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge Ph.D. 1963 Mathematics
University of Sydney, Australia B.Sc. 1960 Mathematics (First Class Honours)

Selected Publications

  1. Arbib, M.A., 2009, Evolving the Language-Ready Brain and the Social Mechanisms that Support Language. J Commun Disord. 2009 Jul-Aug;42(4):263-71. Epub 2009 Apr 17.
  2. Arbib, M.A., 2009, Compositionality and Beyond: Embodied Meaning in Language and Protolanguage, in the Oxford Handbook of Compositionality, (Wolfram Hinzen, Edouard Machery and Markus Werning, Eds.), Oxford University Press.
  3. Arbib, M.A., Bonaiuto, J.B., Jacobs, S. and Frey, S., 2009, Tool Use and the Distalization of the End-effector, Psychological Research. Psychol Res. 2009 Jul;73(4):441-62. Epub 2009 Apr 4.
  4. Arbib, M.A., 2009, Invention and Community in the Emergence of Language: A Perspective from New Sign Languages, in Foundations in Evolutionary Cognitive Neuroscience, S.M. Platek & T. Shackelford, Eds., Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
  5. Arbib, M.A., 2009, Mirror Systems, Imitation & Language, in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Language Sciences, (P.C. Hogan, Ed.), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, in press.
  6. Kopp, S., Wachsmuth, I., Bonaiuto, J., and Arbib, M.A., 2008, Imitation in embodied communication – from monkey mirror neurons to artificial humans, in Embodied Communication in Humans and Machines (I. Wachsmuth, M. Lenzen and G. Knoblich, Eds.), Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  7. Arbib, M.A., Liebal, K., and Pika, S., 2008, Primate Vocalization, Gesture, and the Evolution of Human Language, Current Anthropology, 49(6):1053-1076.
  8. Han, C.E., Arbib, M.A., Schweighofer, N., 2008, Stroke Rehabilitation Reaches a Threshold, PLoS Computational Biology (www.ploscompbiol.org) 4: e1000133.
  9. Arbib, M.A., & Bonaiuto, J., 2008, From Grasping to Complex Imitation: Modeling Mirror Systems on the Evolutionary Path to Language, Mind & Society (special issue on Language Evolution) 7:43-64.
  10. Arbib, M.A. and Lee,, J.-Y., 2008, Describing Visual Scenes: Towards a Neurolinguistics Based on Construction Grammar, Brain Research, 1225: 146–162.
  11. Arbib, M. A., 2008, From Grasp to Language: Embodied Concepts and the Challenge of Abstraction, in the special issue on Language in Action: Links and interactions between language and motor systems in the brain. Journal of Physiology Paris 102: 4-20.