The University of Denver
boris.penaloza@du.edu
CV

Boris Isaac Peñaloza Rojas earned his bachelor’s degree (2007) in electrical and electronic engineering from Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá and his master’s degree (2012) in electrical power engineering from RWTH Aachen University, Germany. He currently is pursuing his doctorate in electrical and computer engineering and serving as a teacher assistant at the University of Denver, Colorado. Before entering the Ph.D. program, he was a research scientist for two years and an electrical designer for two years, during which time he designed a 52-story building located in Panama City. His research interest is based in reverse-engineering the brain by using psychophysics, computational neuroscience and imaging techniques. The potential benefits of his research are discovering cognitive biomarkers for mental diseases and image classification or motion detection/tracking. He is one of the founding members of the DU chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), through which he hopes to attract more Hispanic students to graduate school since statistics show that few Hispanic students decide to pursue a degree beyond their bachelor’s. He also plays a leading role in the student organization Ratio et Fides, which engages students to intellectually discuss pressing societal issues. In his future classroom, he plans to implement four tools: simplicity in concepts; project and real-life applications; multimedia resources; and personal mentoring.

Research Interests

Reverse engineering the brain