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Arbib (Michael A.) papers
5315
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Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Title: Michael A. Arbib papers
creator:
Arbib, Michael A.
Identifier/Call Number: 5315
Physical Description:
78.7 Linear Feet
136 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1970-2016
Abstract: Papers of Michael A. Arbib, Fletcher Jones Professor of Computer Science; University Professor; Professor of Biological Sciences,
Biomedical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Neuroscience and Psychology; Director, USC Human Brain Project. Prof. Arbib
has based his career on the argument that we can learn much about machines from studying brains, and much about brains from
studying machines. He has thus always worked for an interdisciplinary environment in which computer scientists and engineers
can talk to neuroscientists and cognitive scientists. His primary research focus is on the coordination of perception and
action.
Arbib's papers document his research as a theoretical neuroscientist and a computer scientist, as well as his work as a professor
at USC. Included in the collection are his correspondence with colleagues in the field and publishers; articles and manuscript
materials; and material pertaining to the Human Brain Project which Arbib conducted in the late 1990s.
Michael A. Arbib has been Emeritus as University Professor, Fletcher Jones Professor of computer science, and professor of
biological sciences, biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, neuroscience and psychology at the University of Southern
California since 2016. He currently is an adjunct professor of psychology at the University of California at San Diego where
he also explores the possible roles of neuroscience in the architecture of the built environment.
Born in England in 1940, Arbib was educated in New Zealand and Australia, earning his Bachelor of Science degree in 1960 at
the University of Sydney. He received his PhD in Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1963, and
then spent five years as an assistant professor at Stanford before joining the University of Massachusetts Amherst where he
became the founding chairman of the Department of Computer and Information Science in 1970.
Arbib joined the staff of the University of Southern California in 1986, continuing the research best expressed in the title
of his first book,
Brains, Machines, and Mathematics (McGraw-Hill, 1964)in which he asserted that though the brain is not a computer in the current technological sense, we can
learn much about machines from studying brains and much about brains from studying machines.
Arbib has always promoted an interdisciplinary environment in which computer scientists and engineers can talk to neuroscientists
and cognitive scientists, and this interplay has led him to work in computer science, linguistics, computational neuroscience,
and neuroinformatics. He was also highly involved in providing the first computational model of mirror neurons and conducting
some of the key initial imaging studies of the human mirror system.
At USC, Arbib was founder and the first Director of the Center for Neural Engineering, with his research focusing on the coordination
of perception and action. Arbib initiated the USC Brain Project, which is engaged in developing new tools and methodologies
for neuroinformatics and exploring the evolution of the human language-ready brain.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. Advance notice required for access.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
[Box/folder# or item name], Michael A. Arbib papers, Collection no. 5315, University Archives, USC Libraries, University of
Southern California
Michael A. Arbib is currently the Fletcher Jones Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, Biological Sciences, Biomedical
Engineering, Electrical Engineering,and Neuroscience and Psychology as well as the former (and first) Director of the USC
Human Brain Project. Arbib has based his career on the argument that we can learn much about machines from studying brains,
and much about brains from studying machines. He has thus always worked for an interdisciplinary environment in which computer
scientists and engineers can talk to neuroscientists and cognitive scientists. His primary research focus is on the coordination
of perception and action.
Arbib's papers document his research as a theoretical neuroscientist and a computer scientist, as well as his work as a professor
at USC. Included in the collection are his correspondence with colleagues in the field and publishers; articles and manuscript
materials; and material pertaining to the Human Brain Project which Arbib conducted in the late 1990s. The papers cover much
of Arbib's career and research at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst during his years before arriving at USC. Most
of the materials comprising this collection are Arbib's extensive subject and author files which highlight all of Arbib's
chief fields of study.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Michael A. Arbib, May 25, 2016.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Artificial intelligence -- Archival resources
Automata -- Archival resources
Basal ganglia -- Archival resources
Biomedical engineering -- Archival resources
Cerebellum -- Archival resources
Cognitive neuroscience -- Archival resources
Computational neuroscience -- Archival resources
Cybernetics -- Archival resources
Emotions -- Archival resources
Frogs -- Physiology -- Archival resources
Hippocampus (Brain) -- Archival resources
Human Brain Project -- Archival resources
Human cognitive processing -- Archival resources
Language and computers -- Archival resources
Language and emotions -- Archival resources
Learning -- Physiological aspects -- Archival resources
Machine learning -- Archival resources
Machine theory -- Archival resources
Mirror neurons -- Archival resources
Neural networks (Computer science) -- Archival resources
Neural networks (Neurobiology) -- Archival resources
Neuroinformatics -- Archival resources
Robotics research and technology -- Archival resources
Clippings
Correspondence
Dissertations
Manuscripts
Research (documents)
Slides (photographs)
Transparencies
University of Southern California -- Archives
University of Southern California. Center for Neural Engineering -- Archives
University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Department of Computer and Information Science -- Archives