Identify this type of neuroscientist:working with bionic eyes and telekinetic mo

[trapwater]

Essentially, I want to work in a field where I'll be sticking probes into brains . I've been thinking about transhumanism for about a year, and I believe this is the type of work I want to do.

The Human-Techno Future: How Weird? How Soon?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/08/0803_050803_radevolution.html

Brain control-Monkey
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The First Bionic Eye
/>- I didn't know that was the *first* bionic eye (?)... I thought that there were more than eight patients who got machines hooked up to their brains, which allowed them to sense light, before this guy... hmm...

The thing is, I've been searching about 'neuroscience' and I haven't quite narrowed it down. The field is so broad, so I'd like some help with planning my career path.

1) Do you know what types of neuroscientists the ones in these videos are?
2) What degrees do they have?
3) What sort of career paths did they take? How long would it have been?

I'm considering transferring to either University of Washington or Washington State University and taking "neuroscience" courses there, but until I know more about the field I want to get into, I really don't know how to navigate this.

edit: I looked at the wikipedia entry for 'computational neuroscience' and I think that's the field... any help?

[Steffen]

Professor Nicolelis' field is "Neurobiology Biomedical Engineering" and "Psychological and Brain Sciences", and he's the Co-Director in the Center for Neuroengineering at Duke University.
What he's doing is pretty much "standard procedure". At least during my studies of "Neural & Behavioral Sciences" in Tuebingen I stumble upon intracortical recording every day. You should come across this kind of recording in any branch of neuroscience, which contains some biology. If you do not only want to hear about those things but do it yourself you should make sure, your future institute does animal research. You might want to check out the list of "Researchers listed in above text" in this wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain%E2%80%93computer_interface#Researchers_listed_in_above_text. Especially Birbaumer, who's working at my university, Georgopoulus, and Schwartz are some researchers I frequently hear about and who do some interesting things. Just check out some of the articles listed there as well.
I have some trouble streaming the bionic eye video, so I don't know who is mentioned in that. Computational Neuroscience might be a first good idea. You probably have to model a lot of things concerning how vision works, and modelling is definitely an important aspect of computational neuroscience. If you want to BUILT the eye, however, you should try something more technical and let the others do the modelling. And if you want to actually IMPLANT it, I'm pretty sure you'll need a medical degree.
Neuroscience is a highly interdisciplinary field of research. So if you don't know how to do things yourself, hook up with some other neuroscientists, who do

[trapwater]

Wow, thanks a lot for the link! I guess I'll need to start out by taking the engineer's path, and then getting a job as an engineer to help pay for my neuroscience courses.

edit: I've been looking around and I came across this word, 'NeuroEngineering'.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_engineering
So I ended up coming across this discussion on how to become a neural engineer:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/333055-neural-engineering.html
I think I have to start out by getting into electrical engineering and chemical engineering.
What minors and majors do you recommend?

edit:
The people working in this lab seem to be doing exactly what I want to do:
http://www.cnel.ufl.edu/
"CNEL research explores the principles that guide our ability to comprehend brain function, treat brain disorders, and ultimately to interface directly with the brain. Our researchers combine principles from machine learning, signal processing theory, and computational neuroscience to advance the science of engineering systems. On the horizon is a technological revolution, where machines can be controlled by the brain. We envision a time when brain and machine can interface through conscious thought, enabling normal function in cases of brain injury or disease."

I'll have to decide between the University of Washington or Washington State University for computational neuroscience courses:
http://futurestudents.wsu.edu/academics/fos/list/Public/field.castle?id=1701

http://depts.washington.edu/pbiopage/people_faculty_area_cn.php
http://depts.washington.edu/pbiopage/doct_courses.php

http://depts.washington.edu/behneuro/research_directory/focus_groups/cn.html