KINGSTON, R.I. – Sept. 16, 2026 – Associate professor and biomedical engineering acting chair at the University of Rhode Island Yalda Shahriari has received a $1.015 million R01 research grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop an innovative multimodal neurotechnology framework aimed at better understanding and enhancing the brain’s motor networks.
The three-year project, titled “Developing a Deep Multimodal Immersive Framework for Cortical Motor Entrainment of Rhythmic Audio-Visual Stimuli,” brings together expertise in neural engineering, immersive technologies, multimodal brain imaging, artificial intelligence, and clinical neuroscience.
The research will investigate how precisely controlled rhythmic visual and auditory stimulation delivered through an immersive virtual environment can influence the neural oscillations involved in motor function. Neural oscillations are rhythmic and repetitive patterns of electrical activity produced by nerve cells in the central nervous system. By integrating electroencephalography, functional near-infrared spectroscopy electromyography, and behavioral measurements, the team will examine brain and muscle responses to rhythmic stimulation such as repetitive sound or music and determine how these responses can be used to characterize and potentially enhance motor-network engagement.
A major innovation of the project is the development of a deep multimodal framework that combines complementary physiological signals to better capture the complex interactions underlying motor control.
“This project brings together several areas that our research program has been developing over the years, multimodal neuroimaging, neural signal processing, immersive virtual environments, and artificial intelligence, with the goal of better understanding how we can engage and modulate the brain’s motor networks,” said Shahriari. “We hope this work will help translate advances in neural engineering and multimodal neurotechnology into more intelligent, personalized, and clinically relevant approaches to neurorehabilitation.”
Shahriari serves as the project’s principal investigator and leads URI’s Neural Processing and Control Lab (Neural PC Lab). The interdisciplinary research team includes URI biomedical engineering assistant professor Reza Abiri , Dr. David Lin of Massachusetts General Hospital, and associate professor Ming Shao at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Together the team will combine complementary expertise in neuroengineering, clinical stroke research, and artificial intelligence.
The award also represents continued growth in biomedical engineering at URI, particularly in neural engineering, biomedical artificial intelligence, and translational healthcare technologies. The project will provide research and training opportunities for multiple graduate students, including Alexander Cerullo and Behtom Adeli, Ph.D. candidates from the Neural PC Lab, as well undergraduate students, while also strengthening collaborations among engineering researchers, clinicians, and computational scientists.
Ultimately, the research seeks to establish the foundation for more personalized and adaptive neurotechnology approaches that could contribute to future rehabilitation strategies for individuals with motor impairments, including people recovering from stroke.
Story by Krysta Murray, College of Engineering