Profile
Daril E. Brown II is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering with a focus on Medical Devices. His research focuses on decoding neural activity recorded from motor regions of free-behaving songbirds during song production. This work seeks to establish songbirds as a novel animal model for the development of a human speech prosthesis. Daril was awarded support from the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF-GRFP), the UC Office of the President’s UC-HBCU Initiative, and UCSD’s Competitive Edge Program. He has been recognized as a Gordon Scholar and an Institute for the Global Entrepreneur (IGE) Technology Management and Entrepreneurism Fellow. In addition, Daril earned his Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering with honors from Howard University, and his Masters in Bioengineering from UC San Diego. Daril strongly believes in reaching back as he strives forward and seeks to mentor the next generation of scientists and engineers. He was the lead instructor for the Introduction to Mechanical Engineering course for UCSD Extension’s Academic Connections program, a graduate advocate for UCSD’s Summer Training Academy for Research Success (STARS), and a graduate mentor for the Cuyamaca College STEM Guided Pathways Partnership. As a two-time UCSD Grad Slam finalist, Daril is a strong advocate for science literacy and accessibility which motivates him to take part in several science communication efforts. Most recently he was featured on the KPBS Rad Scientist podcast where he explained his research and its impacts on the San Diego community. Ultimately, Daril aspires to forge a career that intersects industry, academia, and policy as he works to ensure neurotechnology equitably benefits society.
