Dr. Pierre Mourad, professor in the School of STEM鈥檚 Division of Engineering & Mathematics, uses his Hacking Your Brain 101 course to help empower students with the ability to shape their experiences of the world.
As part of the 糖心vlog视频鈥檚 Discovery Core, the class is designed to support first-year and pre-major students in forming connections with communities of peers and scholars. DCX courses also provide fundamental skills needed to succeed in college, satisfy prerequisite requirements and expose students to a wide range of topic areas as they consider their academic path.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e learning how to work in groups. They鈥檙e learning how to make presentations. They鈥檙e learning how to read scientific papers,鈥 said Mourad, who is also a professor in the University of Washington鈥檚 Department of Neurological Surgery. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a curated education, and they seem to appreciate that.鈥
But this particular DCX class, which explores the field of neuro-engineering, is designed to do even more.
Learning for life
Focused at the intersection of Mourad鈥檚 areas of specialty, Hacking Your Brain 101 looks at neuro-engineering, a discipline within biomedical engineering that uses engineering techniques to understand the brain, but the curriculum also introduces students to other potential areas of study such as neurobiology, engineering, pharmacology and psychology.
鈥淢y goals are to not only expose students to different career paths and different choices of major at UW Bothell but to also engage them with enough information so they can make informed decisions about how they live in the world,鈥 said Mourad.
To do this, he teaches students about four ways to improve brain function 鈥 through aesthetics, medicines, lifestyle and devices 鈥 while also discussing the ethical questions that come with altering the brain.
鈥淧eople might want to optimize how their brain works beyond what nature gave them,鈥 said Mourad, 鈥渙r improve brain function due to diseases and injury.鈥
Understanding the brain
To start his students鈥 exploration of brain function, Mourad interweaves material on neuroanatomy with aesthetics 鈥 a delicious cookie or a sunset, for instance 鈥 to show how these inputs are processed by the brain and hence affect brain function. From there, he explains how students might be able to use their favorite song to their advantage.
鈥淚f music puts you in a good mood and you want to be in a good mood, listen to the music and you鈥檒l be in a good mood,鈥 said Mourad. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e now hacked your brain.鈥
The class also explores how students can use lifestyle, including diet and exercise, to positively affect how their brain functions, even how they learn. Mourad calls this section 鈥渘euro-lifestyle.鈥
鈥淔or example, if you鈥檙e going to take notes in class, do so writing rather than typing. Why? Because if you鈥檙e typing, you can go into automatic mode and not learn anything as you type. You just have a paper filled with words,鈥 he said. 鈥淲hen writing, you can鈥檛 keep up, which means you start using working memory and storing things into long-term memory right away because you have to assimilate.鈥
Thinking differently
In addition to these more external ways of affecting the brain, students in the class delve into how internal inputs, using medications or substances such as alcohol, can make an impact.
鈥淪ome people take migraine medicine. Some people take Adderall for ADHD. Some people trip on ecstasy. Some people smoke pot,鈥 Mourad said. 鈥淲e study the neurobiology of these substances and their effects. Where in the brain down to the level of individual neurons do these drugs work?
鈥淪tudents learn about the history of the drug, about where in the brain it works, about what it does at that portion of the brain, and about the pros and cons of a given medication.鈥
Toward the end of the quarter, the class learns about neuro-devices: electromagnetic energy, ultrasound and medical implants in the brain, which Mourad considers 鈥渃lassical neuro-engineering.鈥
Questioning the ethics
By covering all these areas of neuro-exploration, Mourad hopes to give students a well-rounded, interdisciplinary look at the discipline while also thinking critically about the ethics of these methods.
鈥淭here are multiple things to consider. One is, what if there are ways of enhancing your brain function 鈥 makes you smarter, remember more 鈥 and it鈥檚 not equitably distributed or available to all? Is that good? What are the pros and cons of that? That鈥檚 one example,鈥 Mourad said.
鈥淎nd then there鈥檚 the use of devices. When you do research, you really need to make sure that people are informed of the pros and cons.,鈥 he said. 鈥淔or example, for some studies researchers implant something in your brain. Does the study include payment for taking it out? What if you like it, and you don鈥檛 want it taken out? But then, who鈥檚 going to keep track of it? Who鈥檚 going to take care of you if something goes bad in 10 years?
鈥淭hese are the kinds of ethical questions that arise.鈥
Engaging and changing
This is the second time Mourad has taught Hacking Your Brain 101, and it has gone more smoothly than the first time around in spring 2020 when the class was interrupted and disrupted by the pandemic. This quarter, Mourad reported that the students are both engaged and inspired.
Maryam Maabreh, for one, said that she鈥檚 now motivated both to clean up her lifestyle and potentially to study computer engineering.
鈥淭he first few weeks covered addictions. It feels unsettling to talk about partaking in ill-advised activities while knowing they鈥檙e not good for you. This motivated me to fix up my sleep schedule and work on a few small bad habits,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hrough this course, I鈥檝e gained a greater incentive to pursue Computer Science & Software Engineering and learn more programming languages.鈥
Sean Murnane, who still intends to major in Business Finance, said he is now more interested in learning more about neurology. 鈥淚 decided to take this course because it provided a perfect way to dip my toes into neurological topics,鈥 he said. 鈥淲hile I likely will not follow this path for my education, this course has piqued my interest in the neurological field.鈥
He鈥檚 also found himself much more aware of how his own brain functions, and how he can use that knowledge to his advantage while in school 鈥 exactly the effect Mourad hopes this class can have well into the future.
Making informed choices
鈥淭his course gives students the opportunity to examine their life choices and how they can experience life more broadly,鈥 said Mourad. 鈥淚鈥檓 excited to offer a class that has a chance to do that and, given the opportunity, I intend to continue to teach it and to refine it so that it鈥檚 both informative and useful.
In spring quarter 2023, for example, he is planning to offer an expanded edition of the class that incorporates issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion, to be co-taught with Dr. Salwa Al-Noori, associate teaching professor in the School of STEM.
鈥淭hese cross-disciplinary core courses are really important,鈥 Mourad said, 鈥渁nd a special part of how UW Bothell teaches its students.鈥
