Faculty Directory

Babadi, Behtash

Babadi, Behtash

Associate Professor
Associate Chair for Graduate Studies
Electrical and Computer Engineering
The Institute for Systems Research
Brain and Behavior Institute
Maryland Applied Graduate Engineering
2113 A.V. Williams Bldg.

Behtash Babadi received the Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees in Engineering Sciences from Harvard University in 2011 and 2008, respectively, and the B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran in 2006. From 2011 to 2014, he was a post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at Massachusetts Institute of Technology as well as at the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. His research interests include statistical and adaptive signal processing, neural signal processing, and systems neuroscience.

Education

Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences, Harvard University, 2011

M.Sc. in Engineering Sciences, Harvard University, 2008

B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, 2006

Honors and awards

E. Robert Kent Teaching Award for Junior Faculty (2019)

NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award (2016)

GSAS Merit Fellowship, Harvard University (2010)

Statistical and adaptive signal processing, neural signal processing, machine learning, systems neuroscience


  • S. Mukherjee, B. Babadi, and S. A. Shamma, Sparse high-dimensional decomposition of non-primary auditory cortical receptive fields, PLoS Computational Biology, Vol. 21, No. 1, e1012721, 2025.
  • S. Mukherjee and B. Babadi, Adaptive modeling and inference of higher-order coordination in neuronal assemblies: a dynamic greedy estimation approach, PLoS Computational Biology, Vol. 20, No. 5, e1011605, 2024.
  • P. Das and B. Babadi, Non-Asymptotic Guarantees for Reliable Identification of Granger Causality via the LASSO, IEEE Trans. on Information Theory, Vol. 69, No. 11, pp. 7439–7460, 2023.
  • B. Soleimani, P. Das, I.M. D. Karunathilake, S. E. Kuchinsky, J. Z. Simon, and B. Babadi, NLGC: Network Localized Granger Causality with Application to MEG Directional Functional Connectivity Analysis, NeuroImage, Vol. 260, 119496, 2022.
  • A. Rupasinghe, N. Francis, J. Liu, Z. Bowen, P. O. Kanold, and B. Babadi, Direct Extraction of Signal and Noise Correlations from Two-Photon Calcium Imaging of Ensemble Neuronal Activity, eLife, 10:e68046, 2021.
  • A. Rupasinghe and B. Babadi, Multitaper Analysis of Semi-Stationary Spectra from Multivariate Neuronal Spiking Observations, IEEE Trans. on Signal Processing, Vol. 68, pp. 4382–4396, 2020.
  • J. Liu, M. R. Whiteway, A. Sheikhattar, D. A. Butts, B. Babadi, and P. O. Kanold, Parallel Processing of Sound Dynamics across Mouse Auditory Cortex via Spatially Patterned Thalamic Inputs and Distinct Areal Intracortical Circuits, Cell Reports, Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 872–885.E7, 2019.
  • A. Sheikhattar, S. Miran, J. Liu, J. B. Fritz, S. A. Shamma, P. O. Kanold, and B. Babadi, Extracting Neuronal Functional Network Dynamics via Adaptive Granger Causality Analysis, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 115, No. 17, E3869-E3878, 2018.
  • S. Akram, J. Z. Simon, and B. Babadi, Dynamic Estimation of the Auditory Temporal Response Function from MEG in Competing-Speaker Environments, IEEE Trans. on Biomedical Engineering, Vol. 64, No. 8, pp. 1896-1905, 2017.
  • S. Akram, A. Presacco, J. Z. Simon, S. A. Shamma, and B. Babadi, Robust Decoding of Selective Auditory Attention from MEG in a Competing-Speaker Environment via State-Space Modeling, NeuroImage, Vol. 124, Part A, pp. 906—917, 2016.

Graduate students win ISR and ECE awards

Awards given for outstanding performance, teaching, and dissertation work.

$1.5M in NSF funding secured to improve solar energy conversion systems

The four-year interdisciplinary project could lead to major breakthroughs in control, modeling, sensing, design, and reliability of power electronic interfaces.

Two ECE Graduate Students Win 2023 UMD Three Minute Thesis Competition

Students challenged to present research in just three minutes!

ECE Names 2022-2023 Distinguished Dissertation Fellows

Fellowship recognizes excellence in research

Autism Research Resonates in Hearing-Focused Project

Neurobiologist and Engineer Investigate Neural Networks That Underpin a Common but Little-Understood Disorder

2023 BBI Seed Grants Inspire New Interdisciplinary Collaborations

The six interdisciplinary teams will use state-of-the-art neuroscience tools to translate basic science research into real-world impact.

Giving back: New solar panels support a local urban farm

Clark School staff, students and faculty help historic Silver Spring produce farm become more sustainable.

Behtash Babadi Named Associate Chair for Graduate Studies

Will lead Electrical and Computer Engineering Graduate Program

New robust and scalable computational methodology developed by UMD researchers helps identify directed connectivity within the brain

‘NLGC’ can be used with magnetoencephalography to better understand the neural mechanisms behind sensory processing.

Uncovering the mysteries of networking in the brain

UMD researchers are sorting out how our brains’ neurons organize as we take in, decide and act on information.

New methodology to estimate neural activity published by eLife

The paper's six authors all have ties to the Institute for Systems Research.

How does the brain turn heard sounds into comprehensible language?

$2.88M in NIH funding could lead to brain-aware, tunable hearing devices.

Proloy Das Receives Honorable Mention in Charles Caramello Distinguished Dissertation Competition

Das received the recognition for his dissertation titled, “Bayesian Modeling and Estimation Techniques for the Analysis of Neuroimaging Data.”

Fu, Marcus team for new AFOSR project on simulation optimization

Simulation optimization aims to guide planning and decision making under uncertainty in complex dynamic settings.

Cornelia Fermüller is PI for 'NeuroPacNet,' a $1.75M NSF funding award

The resulting "network of networks" will further the scientific grand challenge of developing neuromorphic artificial intelligence.

Babadi research to reveal computational principles for the brain's sensory processing and behavior

The research could help improve prosthetics for people with paraplegia and make possible reconfigurable neuromorphic devices.

New algorithms for estimating the latent dynamics underlying biological processes

Work by Miran, Presacco, Babadi, Simon, Fu and Marcus published in PLOS Computational Biology.

2020 Dean's Doctoral Student Research Awards

The competition recognizes distinguished graduate student researchers in order to help propel their careers and demonstrate the value of high-quality engineering research.

Behtash Babadi promoted to associate professor

Babadi has broad research interests in statistical and adaptive signal processing, neural signal processing, and systems neuroscience.

ECE Names 2019-2020 Distinguished Dissertation Fellows

Das, Demertziz, Nguyen, and Zou have been selected as ECE Distinguished Dissertation Fellows for 2019-20.

Babadi, Chellappa contribute to Springer reference work on computer vision

The comprehensive work has been revised and expanded this year for online reference.

Clark School faculty 'AIM-HI' to address major health challenges

The new UMB-UMCP program has announced its first grants for projects combining AI and medicine.

Fast estimation algorithm aids investigations of the cortical origins of underlying neural processes

Das, Brodbeck, Simon and Babadi estimate a linear filter representation of cortical sources directly from neuroimaging data in the context of continuous speech processing.

Brain and Behavior Initiative Hosts 3rd Annual Seed Grant Symposium

Researchers from across UMD convene to discuss the latest projects funded by BBI

Behtash Babadi wins Clark School teaching award for junior faculty

The Clark School annually presents the E. Robert Kent Teaching Award for Junior Faculty at its winter commencement.

AESoP symposium features speakers, organizers with UMD ties

The symposium highlights research on hearing, speech and language that makes use of novel EEG or MEG signal processing.

BBI Announces FY19 Seed Grant Awards

Awarded proposals feature researchers from seven colleges and schools as well as three centers and institutes

ECE Names 2018-2019 Distinguished Dissertation Fellows

Three electrical and computer engineering Ph.D. students were selected as ECE Distinguished Dissertation Fellows for 2018-19.

Ghodssi gives distinguished lecture on devices for gastrointestinal health at EPFL in Switzerland

Trip also included visits to the Wyss Center and Imperial College London.

UMD researchers awarded $5.3M NIH BRAIN Initiative grant

BBI-affiliated faculty instrumental to "Readout and control of spatiotemporal neuronal codes for behavior"

Brain and Behavior Initiative (BBI) hosts Second Annual Seed Grant Symposium

The University’s Brain and Behavior Initiative (BBI) hosted its Second Annual Seed Grant Symposium on November 14, 2018 at Adele’s in the Stamp Student Union.

Three ISR faculty receive UMD Brain and Behavior Initiative seed grants

Projects featuring Fritz, Babadi and Ghodssi are among seven chosen for FY18 funding.

Maryland researchers develop computational approach to understanding brain dynamics

This paper published in PNAS develops a signal processing framework for extracting dynamic functional networks from neuronal data at unprecedented resolutions.

Maryland researchers awarded $1M DARPA Lagrange program cooperative agreement

Marcus, Fu, Simon and Babadi will build a scalable, risk-sensitive and real time optimization framework tailored to noninvasive neuroimaging data from the human brain.

UMD researchers find listening to sound changes how neurons interact within the brain

The brain encodes not only the acoustical properties of sounds, but also the behavioral meanings and decisions we make based on what we hear.

Three ISR graduate students win new travel award

Bhaskar Ramasubramian, Hossein Salami, and Sayyed Sina Miran will receive funding to help defray the cost of presenting their research at a professional conference.

Researchers part of two NSF Neural & Cognitive Systems grants worth more than $1.2 million

The NSF awards have been issued to U.S. cross-disciplinary teams to conduct innovative research focused on neural and cognitive systems.

ISR researchers win additional $948K NSF Neural and Cognitive Systems grant

ISR researchers Cynthia Moss and Susanne Sterbing-D'Angelo, along with alumna Mounya Elhilali and their colleague Rajit Mittal, will conduct the research at Johns Hopkins University.

ISR faculty leading bio-inspired robotics and transportation electrification REUs

NSF's REU program provides undergraduate students with hands-on exposure to scientific research.

Sayyed Sina Miran to receive Outstanding Graduate Assistant Award from UMD Graduate School

Winners of the award are among the top 2 percent of GAs on campus in a given year.

ECE Names 2016-2017 Distinguished Dissertation Fellows

Five Electrical and Computer Engineering Ph.D. students were selected as ECE Distinguished Dissertation Fellows for 2016-17.

Babadi Wins NSF CAREER Award

Babadi is one of two ECE/ISR professors to win a 2016 NSF CAREER award in signal processing.

Edit your faculty profile