Binghamton University “brainprint” researchers get $900K in funding

Binghamton University researchers have been awarded $900,000 in grant funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to continue investigations into the next-generation brain biometric technology.

The project, “Brain Hacking: Assessing Psychological and Computational Vulnerabilities in Brain-based Biometrics,” will investigate security vulnerabilities of brainprint biometrics and particularly evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of brain biometrics according to Principal Investigator Zhanpeng Jin. Jin is an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering within the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science.

“Content of the work will allow us to strengthen our understanding of the unique cognitive and psychological secret of the human brain and apply this new knowledge into increasingly vulnerable cyberspace,” Jin said.

The four-year grant, which started in September, totals roughly $1.2 million, but is split between Binghamton and Buffalo, a fellow State University of New York institution.

The funding follows up a 2014 NSF grant of roughly $500,000 that the team also split with Buffalo for a project titled, “Brain Password: Exploring A Psychophysiological Approach for Secure User Authentication.” That project focused on a new psychophysiological approach for user authentication via non-volitional components of brainwave responses, in other words identifying a person by measuring a brain’s response to different stimuli, named “brainprint.”

The original work was covered extensively in national media - including the NSF, National Geographic, The Washinton Post, The Verge - and highlighted by the BBC’s Science Focus Magazine as one of, “22 ideas about to change our world.”