Leon D. Iasemidis, Ph.D.

Leonidas Iasemidis, professor and Rhodes Eminent Scholar Chair of Biomedical Engineering at Louisiana Tech University has been named an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Fellow. Iasemidis is being recognized for his contributions to “epileptic seizure prediction and closed-loop brain stimulation.”

The IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organization for the advancement of technology for humanity.

The IEEE Grade of Fellow is conferred by the IEEE Board of Directors upon a person with an outstanding record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE technical fields. The total number of fellows selected in any one year cannot exceed one-tenth of one-percent of the total voting membership. IEEE Fellow is the highest grade of membership and is recognized by the technical community as a prestigious honor and an important career achievement. Through its 400,000 plus members in 160 countries, IEEE is a leading authority on a wide variety of areas ranging from electrical and electronics engineering and computer science, aerospace systems and telecommunications, to biomedical engineering and information technology… Continue reading.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a team led by Dr. Leonidas Iasemidis, the Rhodes Eminent Scholar Chair and professor of biomedical engineering at Louisiana Tech University, a $6 million grant over four years to investigate the origins and impacts of brain seizures associated with epilepsy.

Through its Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), NSF announced 11 awards totaling $55 million aimed at building research capacity to address fundamental questions about the brain and develop new innovations at the intersection of food, energy and water systems.  Iasemidis’ project titled, “Probing and Understanding the Brain: Micro and Macro Dynamics of Seizure and Memory Networks,” seeks transformative advances and understanding of the brain’s function, in particular the explanation of the foundations of transitions of brain networks from normal states into crises such as seizures.
“Epilepsy can serve as a unique window into the brain function because it causes impairment of functions depending on the location of the epileptogenic focus and the extent of the seizure networks in the brain,” said Iasemidis. “In this project, our team will conduct and analyze long-term, in-depth, electro-encephalographic (EEG) and electrochemical recordings, long-term in-depth optical imaging, and short-term magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recordings from the brains of animal and human subjects with epilepsy to uncover the causes of seizures, as well as their impact on higher brain functions such as memory.

“Epilepsy can serve as a unique window into the brain function because it causes impairment of functions depending on the location of the epileptogenic focus and the extent of the seizure networks in the brain,” said Iasemidis. “In this project, our team will conduct and analyze long-term, in-depth, electro-encephalographic (EEG) and electrochemical recordings, long-term in-depth optical imaging, and short-term magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recordings from the brains of animal and human subjects with epilepsy to uncover the causes of seizures, as well as their impact on higher brain functions such as memory.

The College of Engineering and Science at Louisiana Tech University is pleased to announce that Dr. Leon Iasemidis will join the biomedical engineering and rehabilitation science program this fall as the H.A. ‘Dusty’ Rhodes Eminent Scholar Chair.

Iasemidis joins Louisiana Tech after several years at Arizona State University where he earned tenure as an associate professor of bioengineering.  He was also an affiliate professor of electrical engineering and of neurosciences, and was an adjunct professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic Arizona in Phoenix.

A recognized expert in nonlinear dynamics and epileptic research, Iasemidis brings an outstanding history of scholarship to Louisiana Tech. His research has stimulated an international interest in the prediction and control of epileptic seizures and an understanding of how epilepsy develops.

Dr. Eric Guilbeau, director of biomedical engineering at Louisiana Tech, says that this addition to the faculty will help continue the program’s tradition of excellence.