Education
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1981 - 1983
University of California Santa Barbara
MSEE -
1976 - 1980
California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo
BSEE
Experience
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2008 - Present
Director of R&D
Biopac Systems, Inc., Goleta, CADirect and manage new product design efforts for BIOPAC’s Research and Development group. Responsible for coordinating technical certification efforts including: CE marking - Safety and EMC standards.
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1990 - 2008
President and CEO
Biopac Systems, Inc., Goleta, CADirected general management for manufacturer of biomedical research and education data acquisition products. Developed department specific management structures. Evaluated and approved budgets and project timelines for administrative, marketing, sales, manufacturing and R&D product development departments. Responsible for coordinating technical certification efforts including: CE marking - Safety and EMC standards - and ISO 9001. Coordinated growth of company from 1M to 10M dollars gross sales.
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1984 - 1990
General Partner
Biopac Systems, Inc., Goleta, CACoordinated growth of company from zero to 1M dollars in sales. Hardware design and prototype development of computer-based data acquisition products. Marketing material development. Technical manual development. Involved with product conceptualization, development, marketing, manufacturing and sales issues.
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1982 - 1990
President
Pacific Design & Instrument, Santa Barbara, CATechnical Consulting. Real-time video image inspection and defect mapping. Developed instrumentation for the characterization of physiological processes. Low noise amplifier and active filter design for acoustical signal measurements.
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1984 - 1990
Member of Technical Staff
Applied Magnetics, Inc., Goleta, CAR&D Electrical Engineering Group Supervisor. System development for magnetic recording head test station, automated manufacturing equipment, digital image processing workstation for parts inspection. Investigated signal to noise ratio constraints of magnetic recording head/amplifiers. High frequency, low noise amplifier design. Real-time FIR filter implementations. High frequency, passive and active filter design.
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1984 - 1985
Instructor
Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara, CADirected and organized conceptual physics and electronics laboratory sections.
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1983 - 1984
Design Engineer
Applied Magnetics, Inc., Goleta, CAMagnetic recording disk head prototype design and production. Performed modeling for magnetic head flight characteristics. Developed analytical models for magnetic recording head noise and signal characterization.
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1981 - 1983
Teaching Assistant
University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CAResponsible for organizing and instructing undergraduate laboratory sections in FORTRAN Programming, Amplifier Design and Transistor Circuit Design.
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1982 -
Engineering Intern
Information Magnetics, Inc., Goleta, CAEngineering Internship Work Cooperative supported by UCSB. Developed a series of low-noise, wide bandwidth, magnetic recording disk head amplifiers.
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1980 - 1981
Teaching Assistant
Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, CAInstructor of undergraduate electronic laboratories in Analog/Digital Circuit Design, Diode/Transistor Circuit Analysis, Control Systems, Network Analysis, RLC Circuits, Electric Machines and Power Systems.
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1978 - 1979
Engineering Intern
International Business Machines, Inc., San Jose, CAEngineering Internship Work Cooperative supported by Cal Poly, SLO. Assisted IBM engineers in design, fabrication and test of a magnetic storage disk drive system.
Professional / Community
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2014 - Present
Industry Advisory Board Member
Transformational Technology Laboratory (non-profit)
Sofia University, Palo Alto, California -
2014 - Present
External Advisory Board Member
Sensorium Center, Faculty of Fine Arts (non-profit)
York University, Toronto, Canada -
2007 - 2019
Board Member
Fishbon Arts Collaborative, (non-profit)
Santa Barbara, CA -
2005 - 2012
Board Member
Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia Research, Education and Support Foundation (non-profit)
Union, NJ -
2004 - 2009
Board Member
Waldorf School of Santa Barbara (non-profit)
Goleta, CA -
2000 -
Team Member
Biomedical Engineering Delegation to China (non-profit)
Eisenhower Foundation -
1999 - 2005
Board Member
Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics (non-profit)
Santa Barbara, CA -
1999 -
Member
Merger Transition Team for SBNC (non-profit)
Santa Barbara, CA -
1998 - 1999
Board President
Westside Neighborhood Medical Clinic (non-profit)
Santa Barbara, CA -
1993 - 1995
Treasurer
Summer Solstice Celebration (non-profit)
Santa Barbara, CA -
1984 - Present
Instructor
Lifetime Instructor Credential in Engineering for the California Community Colleges (non-profit)
Santa Barbara, CA -
1980 - 2018
Senior Member
IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (non-profit) -
2019 - Present
Board Member
Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia Research, Education and Support Foundation (non-profit)
Union, NJ -
2019 - Present
Advisory Board
Scients Institute (non-profit)
California -
2004 -
Team Member
First International Conference on the Development of BME in Vietnam (non-profit)
Vietnam -
2018 - Present
Visiting Scholar
META Lab - UCSB Psychological & Brain Sciences (non-profit)
Santa Barbara, CA
Publications / Sessions
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2001
Macy, A.Students as Signal Sources in the Biomedical Engineering Laboratory
Read Paper
Proceedings of the IEEE EMBS 23rd International Conference, Istanbul, Turkey -
2003
Macy, A.Inquiry-Based Biomedical Signal Processing Laboratory: From Practice to Simulation
See Poster
Proceedings of the IEEE EMBS 25th International Conference, Cancun, Mexico -
2005
Carmel, S., Macy, A.Physiological Signal Processing Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering Education
Read Paper
Proceedings of the IEEE EMBS 27th International Conference, Shanghai, China -
2005
Macy, A.Wireless Non-Invasive Cardiovascular Reactivity Measurement
Read Paper
Proceedings of the IEEE EMBS 33rd International Conference, Boston, MA -
2014
Robinson, J. L., Miller, M. W., Beyers, R., Grand, K., Kirby, L. A. J., Macy, A., & Graap, K.Neuropsychophysiological mapping: Concommitant psychophysiological recording and submillimeter functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at 7T. Psychophysiology, 51(S1), S78
See Poster
Presented at the Society for Psychophysiological Research, Atlanta, GA -
2014
Cieslak, M., Ryan, W. S., Macy, A., Kelsey, R. M., Cornick, J. E., Verket, M., Blascovich, J. & Grafton, S.Simultaneous acquisition of functional magnetic resonance images and impedance cardiography. Psychophysiology. doi: 10.1111/psyp.12385
Read Paper
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June, 2015
Robinson, J.L., Miller, M. W., Lohse, K., Beyers, R., Grand, K., Kirby, L. A. J., Hill, A. C., Murphy, J. E., Macy A. J., & Graap, K.Neuropsychophysiological mapping: Concurrent psychophysiological recording and fMRI at 7T
See Poster
To be presented at the annual meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Honolulu, HI -
2015
Jennifer L. Robinson, Ph.D., Matthew Miller, Ph.D., Keith Lohse, Ph.D., Kirk Grand, Ashley C. Hill, Jerry E. Murphy, Lauren A. J. Kirby, Ken Graap, M.Ed., Alan Macy, M.S.E.E.Neuropsychophysiological mapping: Concurrent psychophysiological recording and fMRI at 7T
See Poster
To be presented at the Annual Meeting for the Society for Psychophysiological Research, Seattle, WA -
2015
Robinson, J. L., Murphy, J. E., Hill, A. C., Kirby, L. A. J., Graap, K., Macy, A., Erath, S., & El-Sheikh, M.Neuropsychophysiological mapping following sleep restriction and extension: A 7T fMRI and peripheral psychophysiology study.
See Poster
Presented at the Annual Meeting for the Society for Psychophysiological Research, Seattle, WA -
2015
Scott T. Grafton, Matt Cieslak, Will S. Ryan, Viktoriya Babenko, Alex Asturias, Alan Macy, Jim BlascovichExamining central and autonomic nervous system interaction with simultaneous fMRI and impedance cardiography
See Poster
Presented at the Annual Meeting for the Society for Neuroscience, Chicago, IL -
2019
Viktoriya Babenko, Neil Dundon, Matthew Cieslak, Alan Macy, Richard Scott, Alexandra Stump, Morgan Fitzgerald, Shefali Verma, Cepideh Razavi, Scott T. GraftonA Wearable Heart Monitor For Measuring Changes Of The Sympathetic Nervous System
See Poster
26th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, CA -
2019
Mark-David Hosale, Kate Digby, Erika Batdorf, Alan MacyPerformance, Art, and Cyber-Interoceptive Systems (PACIS)
Read Paper
6th International Conference on Movement and Computing, Tempe, AZ
Presentations
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Bioinformatics and the Human-Computer Interface
New computer interfaces are becoming available which transform human biologically-generated activity into viable data input sources for computers. Human-sourced activity such as the physiological signals manifested by the heart, skeletal muscle, neuronal activity of the brain, eye movements, skin conductance or pulse are viable input data sources for computers and provide a wealth of information not readily available via alternate means. Methods for collection, analysis and interpretation of these types of data were presented. Consider the concept of computer interfaces that are capable of discerning one’s emotional dimension and motivational state for the purposes of enhancing and improving the creative design process and associated results. The realization of “emotional – motivational state resonance” between the designer and computer application could result in rapidly obtained design results that match the designer’s objectives. Such methodology could also be applied to recipients to deliver meaningful data back to the designer for inclusion in the design process.
- March 2010: TU Delft, Netherlands
- March 2010: Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music (STEIM), Amsterdam, Netherlands
- March 2010: Media Technology, University of Aalborg, Denmark
- April 2010: Media Arts and Technology, UCSB
- April 2010: Fishbon Arts Collaborative, Event Lab, Santa Barbara, CA
- October 2010: Biomedical Engineering, Dalhousie, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
- March 2015: In Touch Health, Goleta, CA
- November 2015: MAXMSP Music Class, Computer Science Dept., Virginia Polytechnic, VA
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To Radiate Essential Nature
In the pivotal years 1791-1794, methods and results developed by L. Galvani and A. Volta establish a profound basis for the scientific fields of electrophysiology and electrical telecommunications. Galvani’s twitching frog (and inadvertent battery) lead to the understanding that electricity mediates the flow of information inside the body. Volta’s pile battery created a stable power source for the seminal work of Faraday, Oersted and Ohm. Human nervous system extension took a significant leap forward with the development of the telephone in 1876. Electricity moving inside the body could now directly mediate the flow of electricity outside the body, at a relatively high bit rate. In these most recent 220 years, the human nervous system has been greatly extended through the use of evolving telecommunications technology. We are now augmenting voice and image transfer modalities with techniques that extend the reach of new types of human-sourced data, such as emotional and motivational state.
- May 2012: Dutch Electronics Arts Festival (DEAF), Rotterdam, Netherlands
- May 2012: Fishbon Event Lab, Santa Barbara, CA
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Beauty and the Origins of Electrophysiology, Telecommunications and the Global Theater
A tale that starts 360 B.C.E. and moves to the 17th century and beyond. A patchwork quilt story that starts with beauty and weaves its definition with emotional feeling, taste, the galvanic cell, electrophysiology, the telephone, re-tribalization and the Omega Point. Lambert’s, Hume’s and Sulzer’s ideas about taste, pleasure and appreciation of beauty have contributed to the origins of psychophysiological thought, and to the origins of electrophysiology. Methods developed by Galvani and Volta establish basis for the fields of electrophysiology and electrical telecommunications. Galvani’s twitching frog led to the understanding that electricity mediates the flow of information inside the body. Volta’s battery created a stable power source for the seminal work of Oersted and Faraday. Human nervous system extension was realized with the development of the telephone in 1876. Electricity moving inside the body could now directly mediate the flow of electricity outside the body, at an equivalent bit rate. At this transformative, technology-driven juncture, the body’s real-time nervous system components for speech and hearing were capable of being physically extended to great distances. Real-time, human nervous system extension technologies became tightly synchronized with power generation and transmission abilities. Extremely rapid human population growth and energy consumption was coincident.
- February 2013: Media Arts and Technology, UCSB
- April 2013: Lucidity Festival, Santa Barbara, CA
- May 2014: Architecture Department, Dalhousie, Nova Scotia, Canada
- May 2014: Google Inc., TechTalk, Mountain View, CA
- November 2014: California Biofeedback Society, 40th Anniversary Conference, Oakland, CA
- October 2015: Shanghai Crystal Globe Cultural Expo, Lingang, China
- October 2015: TEDx “Lift-Off”, Asia World Expo, Hong Kong
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Perception, Filtering and Art
The human sensory system is a filtering system. Physical form and activity are perceived by the senses and translated into modulated streams of ionic current. These currents are moved though the body, via the nervous system, to the brain. Specialized brain regions receive and decipher these modulated current signals to process them for interpretation by other functionalities operating within the body. There are volitional and non-volitional (autonomic) aspects to our bodies. We can consciously and intentionally stimulate motor neurons, which innervate muscle fibers, to move our bodies. Other processes, like heart rate, digestion and perspiration are primarily subconsciously mediated. Some actions, like breathing, are subject to both subconscious and conscious control. And certainly, our conscious thought rests upon an emotional sea and our emotions are linked to autonomic processes in our bodies. If aroused, we can experience increased heart rate and perspiration. If we are happy, delicate muscles in our face contract to create a smile. Our mood, which stimulates our conscious thought, will influence our perception because our emotional substrate acts as a neurological filter. There is no clear separation between the medium either outside or inside the body. Human perception encompasses a continuum of medium filters. And also, the links between body and environment are richer than these connected medium filters. There is a resonance that’s established between body and environment that is subject to the cause and effect relationship between physiological and emotional state. We are stimulated by the environmental medium, and in turn, we can manipulate that medium, thus mixing cause and effect.
- October 2015: Shanghai Crystal Globe Cultural Expo, Lingang, China
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Origin Story
Visual Autobiography – 1958 to Present Day