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Return to Faculty DirectoryAbshire, Pamela
Research Interests
CMOS biosensors; adaptive integrated circuits (ICs) and IC sensors; hybrid microsystems incorporating CMOS, MEMS, optoelectronics, microfluidics, and biological components; low power mixed-signal ICs for a variety of applications, including cell-based sensing, high performance imaging, miniature robotics, spike sorting, adaptive data conversion, and closed loop control of MEMS and microfluidic systems
Video
Background
Pamela Abshire is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Institute for Systems Research at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her areas of specialty are in the fields of integrated circuit design and bioengineering. Dr. Abshire's research is at the intersection of electronics and biosystems, from sensory interfaces for living systems to electronic systems with performance and behavior inspired by natural systems to better understanding of the tradeoffs between performance and resources in natural and engineered systems. She directs the Integrated Biomorphic Information Systems Laboratory. Her current research projects include:
- “Ant-Like Micro-Robots: Fast, Small, and Under Control” a research project along with S. Bergbreiter, N. Martins, E. Smela. This project is sponsored by NSF and involves research on realizing cooperative, sub-cm3, ant-sized micro-robots that self-organize into an optimal formation, and developing the methods and technologies in the context of extreme power and size constraints. Find more information at http://robotics.umd.edu/research/projects/Abshire_antlike_robots.php
- “Biologically-Inspired Low Light Image Vision Systems” a research project along with G. Barrows of Centeye, Inc. This project is sponsored by AFOSR and involves research on biologically inspired optical sensors and vision processing techniques to allow micro air vehicles to operate under extremely low light conditions. Find more information at http://robotics.umd.edu/research/projects/Abshire_Centeye_biovision.php
- “Single-Chip Bio-inspired Motion Sensors for Autonomous Navigation” a research project along with S. Humbert. This project was funded by NSF. Dr. Abshire and her students have developed the first integrated, single-chip solution for autonomous navigation inspired by the insect visuomotor system. Find more information at http://robotics.umd.edu/research/projects/Abshire_motion_sensor.php
- “Nose on a Chip” a research project along with E. Smela. This project was sponsored by NSF and aims to use biological olfactory cells as sensors which transduce chemical stimuli to externally-readable electrical outputs for olfactory, medical, and biochemical detection applications. Find more information at http://robotics.umd.edu/research/projects/Abshire_nose_chip.php
Prior to her arrival at the University of Maryland in November 2001, she was a graduate student in the Sensory Communications and Microsystems Lab in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The Johns Hopkins University. She received her B.S. degree in Physics with Honor in 1992 from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA. Between 1992 and 1995 she worked as a Research Engineer in the Bradycardia Research Department of Medtronic, Inc. in Minneapolis, MN. In 1995 she began her graduate education in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The Johns Hopkins University. She received her M.S. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 1997 and completed her Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering in October 2001.
Honors and Awards
Young faculty awards
NSF CAREER for "Physical Information Efficiency for Sensing, Communicating, and Computing," 2003
University of Maryland awards
ISR Outstanding Systems Engineering Faculty Award, 2006
E. Robert Kent Outstanding Teaching Award for Junior Faculty, 2011
Links
Research Awards
- NSF CPS: Ant-Like Microrobots—Fast, Small, and Under Control
- Hand-held disagnostic instrument
- NSF: Cell-Based Olfactory Sensing for Biometrics
- NSF: EXP-LA: Olfactory Receptor Cell-Based Detection of Explosives
- AFOSR: Air Force Center of Excellence on Nature-Inspired Flight Technologies and Ideas (NIFTI)
- BBI Seed Grant: Dance and EEG: Neural correlates of expressive movement
Research Posters
- Olfactory Receptor Cell-Based Odorant Detection
- Enabling microsystems for monitoring cells
- CPS: Ant-Like Microrobots
- Advanced CMOS Imaging
- Microfluorometry
- Handheld Sample Preparation for Complex Samples
- CMOS Biosensors for Cell-Based Sensing
- Biolabs-on-a-Chip: Bioelectronic Interface to CelIs
- Adaptive Log Domain Filters using Floating Gate Transistors
- Ideal Observer Analysis of Flash Detection in Blowfly Photoreceptor
- Biologically inspired vision systems in standard CMOS
- Lab on CMOS microsystems
- Lab on CMOS Microsystems
- Bat-Inspired Hair Sensor
- Biologically Inspired Vision Systems in Standard CMOS
- Efficient Sensing in Biosystems