Shih-Cheng Yen

Dr. Yen Shih Cheng received his B.S.E. and M.S.E. in 1993, and his Ph.D. in 1998, all from the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania. For his PhD, he worked on neural network models of the primary visual cortex. He then spent several years performing single-neuron recordings in the primary visual cortex of both anesthetized cats and awake, behaving non-human primates, first as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California, Davis, and subsequently as a Research Assistant Professor at Montana State University. He was previously with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and the Deputy Director of the Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology (SINAPSE) at NUS.

As a result of the work done with several years of students, Dr. Yen started a company (T-Rehab) with 2 other NUS colleagues in 2016 that licensed the tele-rehabilitation system developed in NUS. The company was subsequently engaged by the Ministry of Health in October 2016 to roll out the tele-rehabilitation system to multiple hospitals and rehabilitation centers in Singapore.

Research Interests

Neural coding, neuroprosthetics, and tele-health

Personal Interests

Playing softball, watching sports and movies

Awards

• McDonnell-Pew Cognitive Neuroscience Program Individual Grants-In-Aid (1998) (one of 23 awarded in the US in 1998)
• NIH NRSA Fellowship (1998-2001)
• Solomon R. Pollack Award for Best Ph.D. Dissertation (1998)
• Whitaker Foundation Graduate Fellowship (1993-1998) (one of 29 awarded in the US in 1993)
• Philadelphia Young Engineer Award (1993)
• Rose Prize for Outstanding Undergraduate Research, University of Pennsylvania (1993)
• NASSAU Award for Undergraduate Research, University of Pennsylvania (1993)

Companies

• Senior Lecturer National University of Singapore (2019)
• Senior Lecturer NUS Innovation and Design Programme (2019)
• Assistant Professor National University of Singapore (2005 — 2019)
• Deputy Director Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology (SINAPSE) (2012 — 2016)
• Research Assistant Professor Montana State University-Bozeman (2001 — 2005)
• Postdoctoral Fellow Montana State University-Bozeman (2000 — 2001)
• Postdoctoral Fellow University of California, Davis (1998 — 2000)

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) University of Pennsylvania (1993 — 1998)
• Master of Science in Engineering (MSE) University of Pennsylvania (1991 — 1993)
• Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) University of Pennsylvania (1989 — 1993)
• Raffles Junior College (1988 — 1989)
• Raffles Institution (1984 — 1987)