By Melissa M. Thompson, October 2008
Photo By Zachary Bennett
Even Justin Sanchez’s professor thought he was crazy when the doctoral student wrote a paper showcasing an intricate design for technology where people could use their thoughts to communicate with a computer. He imagined using a tiny device implanted in people’s brains to talk to another device, such as a prosthetic arm, in a Bionic Man meets Star Wars scenario.
Proving a crazy idea can bear endless possibilities, Sanchez was hired as a full time University of Florida assistant professor of pediatric neurology in 2006. After he studied with engineering and neurology researchers, Sanchez was free to run his own lab, create neural interfaces and build UF’s Neuroprosthetics Research Group from the ground up.
“I like studying things other people are scared to,” said Sanchez, as he sat in his office the size of a glorified walk-in closet, decorated by three UF diplomas on the wall. “If you go into an area other people have studied extensively, you tend to make smaller discoveries. We like taking huge leaps.”
Long before the Tampa native could tackle decoding human brainwaves, he learned how to trap sound waves for an elementary school science project spurred by his neighbors’ complaints about his incessant pounding of cadences on his vintage, crimson-red drum set. He won second place.
“I was always on the fence between academics and being a rock star,” Sanchez jokes.