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RE IREDand INSPIRED

•••..ODEMAGAZINE.COM5."- u.s. I S4.95 CANADA101;,"0- 2009 VOL. 7 ISSUE 2

How neurofeedbackcan train your brain

to help reduce stress,enhance creativity andimprove mental health

SSIBILITIES I Science

How neurofeedback can help reduce stress, enhanceAS VICKI WYATT ATTACHES ELEC-trodes to my scalp with a generous glop ofslimy goo, I'll admit I'm a little skepticalabout the calming effects of the treatmentI'm about to experience. With newborntwins at home, I usually have enough slimein my life and on my clothes to push anyone

over the abyss. But that, says Wyatt, is pre-cisely why I could benefit from neurofeed-back, a therapeutic tool that advocates claimcan reshape our brains-and our lives.

To learn more about the procedure,I've come to The Wyatt Clinic in down-town Oklahoma City. Just blocks from

the memorial that marks the site of the1995 federal building bombing, the loca-tion is aptly associated, in my mind, withboth psychic trauma and healing. This isa gentrifying but hardscrabble neighbor-hood where Wyatt treats patients, fromoverstressed professionals to addicts trying

creativity and improve mental health. BY BLAINEGRETEMAN

to get back on their feet. Wyatt has beena therapist for 22 years, with a researchbackground at the University of OklahomaHealth Sciences Center, but she has onlyrecently embraced neurofeedback as partof her treatment regimen. "My fonnal edu-cation didn't really provide any altemative

treatments," she says. "It was traditionalpsychotherapy and talk therapy. When Ilook back, I think this would have benefit-ed a lot of the children and families earlierin my career."

The equipment looks fairly unexception-al, including the electrodes, which could

pass for iPod headphones and are gluedstrategically to my head and temples. Wyattclips a "ground wire" to my ear. The wiresrun from the electrodes to a black ampli-fier box the size of a small paperback. Thisdeceptively simple-looking piece of ma-chinery, which can cost several thousand

dollars, processes electrical signals frommy brain and sends them to a laptop,where they're represented graphically onthe screen. Wyatt boots the laptop, opens aneurofeedback training software programand settles me into one of the comfy chairsthat make her cozy, carpeted office lookmore like my mother's living room thanthe white-tiled clinic I'd expected.

After Wyatt hooks me up, I'll use mybrain waves to control a video game.When I achieve the desired mental state, asmall red bug will move around the screeneating flowers and emitting a happy chirp-ing sound. To succeed at the game, I musteliminate brain waves that interfere withrelaxed concentration-those associatedwith hyperactivity, depression and that all-too-familiar feeling of "zoning out."

I'm coming off a sleepless night ofdiaper-changing, rocking and feeding, sofocus isn't exactly my forte right now. Butafter watching the bug languish sadly for afew minutes, I begin to practice some deep,yogic breathing and try to stop my racingthoughts about work, home and deadlines.Sure enough, the band representing my

neurofeedback is a promising treatment fora range of cognitive health issues: seizures,low IQ in kids with learning difficulties,vertigo and tinnitus in the elderly, and sub-stance abuse, even with notoriously addict-ive, destructive drugs like crack cocaine.

Advocates say neurofeedback has emo-tional benefits as well. "You feel very goodon this," says John Gruzelier, a professorof psychology at the University of Lon-don's Goldsmiths College. And all theseeffects are generated by the patient's brain,not by drugs. No wonder some proponentsdescribe nemofeedback's effects in spirit-ual, as well as physical, terms.

It all starts with those slimy electrodesattached to the scalp, which pick up a smallpart of the electrical symphony producedcontinually in our brains. Neurons, thebillions of cells that make up our cere-bral cortex and nervous system, transmitinformation by firing electrical and chem-ical signals across synapses, the junctionswhere they meet. These tiny electricalpulses are central to our consciousness andbodily lives: Each time our hearts beat, weblink at a bright light or smile at a bit of

cycles per second, are made by gammawaves-usually faint and difficult to detect,but associated with high-level thought.

An overabundance or deficiency atone of these frequencies often correlatesto conditions such as depression and otheremotional disturbances and learning dis-abilities. Children with ADHD, for ex-ample, often have too many slow brainwaves (delta or theta) and not enough ofthe faster waves that allow them to focus,engage and think productively.

Neurofeedback reads these waves,feeds them into a computer and trans-lates them into visual form-in my case,the ladybug's states of lethargy correlateto levels of electrical activity in my brain.The underlying principle is that by see-ing your brain waves you can gain controlover them, training your brain to producedesired levels of activity, much like youtrain your voice to produce certain musicalnotes. And once those brain waves are inplay, the desired brain state comes withthem. If, for example, you've got too muchanxiety-producing beta, try inducing sometheta to calm down.

JlWe've reached a tipping point ... it's becomingmuch more difficult for mainstream medicine toignore [neurofeedback]. No one can say any longerthat there is no science behind it"

desired brain activity jumps and the red bugbegins to rouse himself from his stupor, eata few flowers and chirp with approval.

AFTER YEARS ON THE OUTSKIRTS OFmedical respectability, neurofeedback hasbeen vindicated by a growing body of evi-dence showing its potentially remarkablebenefits to everyone from elite athletes andmusicians to violent criminals and childrenwith Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disor-der (ADHD). The U.S. National Library ofMedicine's database of scholarly aliicles,for example, contains dozens of positivescientific studies on neurofeedback pub-lished in the last two years. The results,from some of the world's top universitiesand research hospitals, suggest that

good news, that action requires a flurry ofelectrical activity.

The brain's electrical impulses take theform of waves that researchers categorizeby frequency-the number of times theyrepeat each second (see "Making waves"box). The slowest are the delta waves,which the brain typically produces duringdeep sleep. Next are theta waves, anotherslow undulation at four to eight cycles persecond, often associated with creative andsubconscious thought, which we producewhen we're sleepy or daydreaming. Wemake alpha waves of eight to 12 cyclesper second when we're alert and relaxed,and still-faster beta waves when we engagein active problem-solving or become alertor anxious. The fastest patterns, above 30

That might sound like trippy sciencefiction, but it's based on technology that'sbeen around since the German psychia-trist Hans Berger began using electrodesto measure and categorize human brainwaves in the 1920s. The recordings of thehuman brain-wave activity produced bythis technology--electroencephalography,or EEG-are the comers tone of neurofeed-back. By the 1970s, it was possible to feedthat inforn1ation back to patients who hearda rewarding tone when they produceda pre-selected frequency of brain waves.What's new is both the sophistication ofthe feedback display and the precision withwhich therapists can target different partsof the brain wave spectrum. On top of that,neurofeedback has become cheaper, more

efficient and more readily applicable to avast array of brain disorders.

,.\\~ en 1 was doing quantified EEGback in me 1970s, computers were the sizeof filing cabinets," says James R. Evans,a former University of South Carolinapsychology professor and current clinicianat the Sterlingworth Center in Greenville,South Carolina. Evans, who has writtenand edited dozens of articles and books onneurofeedback and is a consulting editorto one of the field's flagship publications,The Journal of Neurotherapy, says thosetechnological hurdles limited neurofeed-back's therapeutic reach in the early years:"You had to have a large-scale grant to af-ford the equipment and electrical engineer-ing people to keep it going."

By the early 1990s, the same technologythat brought us personal computers andXboxes had changed all that, and withouthuge research investments therapists couldfocus specifically on brain waves that cor-relate to mental states. A quantified EEGcould show that a patient's brain containedwaves outside the normal range, and newsoftware made it easier to create trainingprotocols or use existing ones to boostor reduce activity across a frequency or

region of the brain. Neurofeedback beganto gain a devoted following of patientsand clinicians who swore by its effects.Martin Wuttke is one of those clinicians, aneurofeedback pioneer known for gettingremarkable results-starting with himself

A FORMER HEROIN ADDICT, WUTTKE DIS-

covered meditation could help him beat thedrugs, and soon he was running meditationand counseling sessions for other addicts."1 found that the key to recovering from ad-diction was a spiritual experience," Wuttkesays. "That's what the Twelve Steps [ofAlcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous]are all about, but 1 felt like that had gottenlost." To facilitate that experience and giveit credibility by grounding it in science,Wuttke turned to neurofeedback.

Alcoholics and drug addicts often havetoo many fast brain waves-which is per-haps why they seek a chemical fix to calmand soothe overactive brains, he says. Withthe right technology, neurofeedback prac-titioners believe they can wake up parts ofthe brain that are too sleepy and calm downregions that are spinning out of control.

For Wuttke, the results were life-changing. As people moved through his

program, he says, 'Their depressions wentaway, their pains went away, their anxietieswent away." Wuttke believes patients be-come less likely to backslide once theyrealize they have access to inner calmwithout drugs or alcohol, an insight hedescribes in tenns of "awakening."

Neurofeedback's potential hit homewhen Wuttke's son, Jacob, was born withbrain injuries and major developmentalproblems. "At age 2, he had no muscle toneand some severe difficulties," says Wut-tke, "but the pediatric neurologist couldn'tgive us any answer about why or how totreat hinl." Wuttke and his wife at the time,Amy O'Dell, took matters into their ownhands, developing a comprehensive treat-ment regime incorporating neurofeedback.Facing the difficulties of asking a child soyoung to control his brain waves, Wuttkeand O'Dell observed the feedback screenand stimulated their son when his brainproduced the desired patterns. "We wouldbe very quiet when his brain wasn't with-in parameters, and then when it was, wewould squeeze him and say, 'Good work!'and orient his brain to those moments."

At the beginning of the process, Wuttkedescribes his toddler son as "hypotonic":

unable to sit on his own or hold his headupright. But "within 60 days, his brainstarted to come alive," Wuttke says, andthis cognitive awakening was the first stepin a process that soon had his son crawl-ing, walking and mnning. After witnessingthe results, Wuttke and O'Dell establishedJacob's Ladder, a school for develop-mentally challenged children in Atlanta,Georgia, mn by O'Dell. Although Jacobcouldn't retain five letters of the alphabet atage 6, by age 14 he was reading at a 12thgrade level, and the school had achievednational recognition.

That experience helped Wuttkeformulate his "neurodevelopmental"approach, in which he uses exercise, diet-ary supplements and neurofeedback inconcert to establish and rewire brokenpathways in the brain. Since then, Wuttkehas trained thousands of neurofeedbackpractitioners and garnered a cadre of pa-tients who describe neurofeedback intransformative terms.

BETH BLACK, FOR EXAMPLE, FAIRLYraves about the way Wuttke's neurofeed-back regimen impacted her 7-year-old son."Ethan's a completely different kid now,"she says. When Black adopted Ethan at 5

and he wanted to die, and when he wouldget really upset he would have to exhausthimself before he could get control," Blackrecalls. A child psychologist labeled Ethanwith ADHD and prescribed medication.but Black was desperate to avoid drugs andturned to Wuttke instead. Using an evalua-tive brain-wave scan, Wuttke determinedthat Ethan lacked normal levels of beta, therelatively fast waves associated with atten-tion and concentrated thought.

They implemented a training programof neurofeedback and listening therapyto boost this band and improve the boy's 'concentration, and within two weeks Blackwas a believer. "For the first time ever, hecould tell me a story in sequence; withinthree weeks, he was scoring 100s on hispelling tests and just blowing us and histeachers away." After seven weeks, Ethanwas able to calm himself, and the explo-sive anger was a thing of the past.

Black was so impressed that she ap-plied for a grant to use neurofeedback withthe juvenile offenders sent to her clinicregularly for court-assigned behavioraltherapy. Counseling these young offendershad been "a waste of money," according ~to Black, but t4e seven juvenile offend-ers who entered the program of intensive --

.As people moved through the r ~

program, "their depressions wewent away, their anxieties wer-..-MARTIN WUTTKE, director of the

months old, he'd already endured severeneglect and suspected pre-natal drug useby his mother, so it wasn't entirely surpris-ing that the boy faced challenges. Still, bythe time he entered first grade at age 6 itwas clear to Black, director of the FamilyArt Therapy Center in Clayton, Georgia,that Ethan's problems were cause for ser-ious concern. "We first noticed that whenyou teased him, he wouldn't understand orreact normally, but would have these ex-plosive tantrums," she explains.

Failing socially and academically,Ethan hated school despite the efforts ofhis teachers and his mother to implement aprogram of special instmction and behav-ioral therapy. "He said no one liked him

neurofeedback therapy flourished."The judge came to us at the end of this

program," Wuttke remembers, "and said.'What did you do to these kids?''' Withinweeks those who'd dropped out were backin school, performing so well on standard-ized tests that their learning disabilitiesseemed to have disappeared.

Such stories abound. "Our whole familywas in trouble because of my daughter'depression and discipline problems," saysJoann Bullard, whose daughter receiYtreatnlent at Wuttke's clinic in the eth-erlands. "She was going to have to go 0

medication because there just weren't anyother options," Bullard says, but after 6Csessions of neurotherapy, "there was a to

he says neurofeedback lost scientific cred-ibility when the early, simple equipmentwas adopted by and became associatedwith "hippies" in pursuit of "instant Zen."

Neurofeedback still has its skepticsamong consumers too, especially since itremains unregulated; anyone who can af-ford the equipment can rent an office, hanga shingle and treat patients (see "How tochoose a neurofeedback practitioner" boxon page 51). Today, however, Evans says,"We've reached a tipping point where thereare hardcore science people working inneurofeedback and articles being publishedin good journals, and it's becoming muchmore difficult for mainstream medicineto ignore. No one can say any longer thatthere is no science behind it."

The studies that have generated the mostenthusiasm are the ones suggesting that thetreatment offers a drug-free alternativefor children with ADHD. A review of thescientific literature in 2005, for example,noted that 75 percent of kids with ADHDtreated with neurofeedback improved-compared to about 70 percent treated withdrugs-and no study has reported negativeeffects. A 2007 study from the UniversityHospital of Tiibingen in Germany showedthat after a treatment regime lasting severalmonths, children diagnosed with ADHDnot only improved their behavior and in-creased their ability to concentrate "signifi-cantly," but added nearly 10 points to theirIQs-a result maintained six months afterthe study ended.

Skeptics have long argued that thebenefits of neurofeedback to childrenwith ADHD could be attributed to theplacebo effect--or that the children couJdachieve sirnilar improvement if they spentthe same amount of time working withparents on focused tasks like assemblingpuzzles. By this logic, it isn't the technol-ogy of neurofeedback that helps childrenwith ADHD, but the attention and effort ofparents and therapists working in concertto support learning and concentration. Tofind out the truth, Swiss researchers at theU:niversity of Zurich created a controlledstudy to isolate neurofeedback from otherfactors. One group of children with ADHDwas given neurofeedback, while anotherentered an intensive behavioral therapyprogram that used traditional techniques toteach them to focus. The results were dra-matic: Children in the neurofeedback trialimproved markedly on indices of attention

and "metacognition" (the awareness ofone's mental processes), whereas childrenin the behavioral therapy group showed nosignificant improvement.

But there was just one caveat. The re-searchers noted that the results seemed"mediated by unspecific factors, such asparental support or certain properties of thetherapeutic setting and content." So, whileneurofeedback works, it isn't a magicbullet-parental support and the rightclinical setting, which might include othertherapies, are key to realizing its potentiaL

Importantly, however, that potentialgoes beyond the treatment of disorders.Indeed, neurofeedback seems remarkablyeffective at improving mental focus and

concentration, even for apparently "nor-mal" individuals. "We've just done a studytraining eye surgeons," says Gruzelier ofGoldsmiths College in London, "and wefound that the rhythm that's very effect-ive in reducing hyperactivity in ADHDchildren also helped enhance surgical per-fOlmance by 20 percent." The aim was todo the surgery as quickly and accurately aspossible, and neurofeedback training, whichenhanced beta waves while relaxing thecerebral cortex to reduce hyperactive move-ments, seemed to enhance surgeons' abilityto modulate their performance. "Instead ofjust charging at the target," Gruzelier says,"they were actually slightly longer and moremethodical in their preparatory time, then

faster and more accurate on task."Athletes and performers often associ-

ate such success with being "in the zone."Many athletes believe neurofeedback al-lows them to pause racing thoughts andlive wholly in the moment of the 'game.Prominent among them is Chris Kamen,the center for the Los Angeles Clippersbasketball team, who was diagnosed withADIID as a child and struggled in his earlycareer, despite his imposing seven-footheight. In 2007, he discovered neurofeed-back and soon improved his scoring andrebounding by more than SO percent. Asimportant, Kamen says, his life off thecourt improved as he stopped makingimpulsive decisions.

Kamen not only attributed the success toneurofeedback, but became a spokespersonfor Hope139, a Michigan company dedi-cated to bringing neurofeedback technol-ogy into schools and businesses to improve

presence they have on stage."Elite students at the Royal College of

Music in London improved their perform-ance an average 17 percent, according toa panel of independent judges, and com-petitive ballroom dancers achieved "pro-fessionally significant" improvement injust five weeks. Moreover, Gruzelier noteshis recent research hasn't only replicatedthese results, but shown they extend tonovice performers. "There are dramaticimprovements," he says. "Breath and pitchimprove. Where they didn't sing in tune tobegin with, they did afterwards."

Gruzelier attributes such results to thetechnology's ability to allow slow wavesto travel farther, uninterrupted, across thebrain, That facilitates interaction betweenareas of the brain that don't typically con-nect, he says. Nonnally, such a process isdisrupted by the fast waves that character-ize our waking life-a kind of mental static.

''Irs not as if there aren't any good theor-ie . There are just no theories, not even badones-just the observation that this is some-thing animals and humans can do."

That sometimes makes for surprisingresults, as in the case of Kounios' study,which increased the production of al-pha waves in the frontal lobes of elderlypeople. The frontal lob~ often deterioratesas people age, which makes problem-solving, abstract reasoning and all kindsof planning more difficult. And so, asKounios' subjects boosted their alpha ac-tivity in this region of the brain, they dem-onstrated an improved ability to respondwhen presented with new information andto make quick decisions in cognitive tests.Such results are preliminary but exciting.Kounios emphasizes that the field needsfunding for large-scale studies that can es-tablish the basic science of neurofeedbackand determine which training protocols are

JIlt'svery much a black box. Although neurofeedbackhas been around for 40 years, we still don't havethe slightest clue as to how people do this"

-JOHN KOUNIOS, professor of psychology, Drexel University

perfonnance. Neurofeedback has gainedsuch a lustrous reputation that the Italianprofessional soccer team A.C. Milan hascreated a glassed-in "mind room," wherethe team gathers for mental tune-ups. Inthe mind room, players watch their brainwaves play out across a computer screenwhile a team of sports psychologists mon-itors their progress.

Gruzelier emphasizes that neurofeed-back's performance-enhancing resultsgo beyond relaxation or the relief of anx-iety--effects that might be achieved withsedatives or more conventional relaxa-tion techniques. "We've compared this toother techniques that have reduced anx-iety but have not enhanced perfonnancein the same way," says Gruzelier, citinghis studies of professional dancers andmusicians who did neurofeedback train-ing to quiet the brain's fast-wave activityand produce more slow theta waves. Thesestudies showed remarkable improvements"not only in artistry, but communication,the way people expressed themselves, the

"It's been known for centuries that the hyp-nagogic experience, the border betweenwaking and sleeping, is the source of re-markable insights," Gruzelier says.

NEUROFEEDBACK'S APPARENT ABILITYto bring those insights into the light, how-ever, is what seems remarkable, especiallysince we still don't understand key factorsabout how it works-how, for example,people control their own brain waves. "It'svery much a black box," explains JohnKounios, a professor of psychology atDrexel University in Pennsylvania.

Kounios conducted a double-blind studyof elderly subjects that showed neurofeed-back may help improve cognitive process-ing speed and "executive function," themental operations that help us plan andorganize our lives, but he admits the cog-nitive process underlying neurofeedbackis still something of a mystery. "Althoughneurofeedback has been around for 40years, we still don't have the slightest clueas to how people do this," Kounios says.

most effective, "but there's no question inmy mind that this has significant potentialand the phenomena are real."

This is a C0111l11onrefrain among re-searchers and practitioners. "It works,"agrees Evans. "Almost anybody can get theequipment and get 60 percent good results.The question is, what are those people do-ing who get 90 percent? Some people givevitamins along with their treatment; otherspray with clients or use counseling. Inmany respects, these people fire a shotgtilland we don't know which pellets hit."

That's why Wuttke is creating an insti-tution that will train a core group of peoplewho can replicate his results and methods.His mission is to establish a network 9fneurofeedback clinics and training facili-ties in Europe through his work with theLifeWorks Foundation.

"One of the biggest risks right now isthat this becomes a novelty, where peoplecan buy some software and hook into itat home and playa game," says Wuttke,"That's going to happen, but it takes away

from the profound clinical applications,which ha\'e to be part of a more compre-hensive approach."

Wyatt agrees. "For most patients,whether they're suffering from depres-sion or post-traumatic stress syndrome, Idon't belieye that neurofeedback offers acomplete solution any more than I believea doctor can give you a drug that offersa complete olution. eurofeedback cancalm the brain down, but then you stilloften haye to deal \\ith underlying issues."

The de ire to get at those underlyingissues is why Kunke. an ordained non-denominational minister. keeps comingback to the notion of piritual growth.''When you incOIporare all these things andstraighten out th brain. the ultimate goalis for people's iriUlal awareness to startmanifesting itsel£" he says. Indeed, recentstudies ofTiberan Buddhist monks by Ri-chard Dayidson. director of the Lab forAffectiw);euro- ience at the University0[\\ lsconsin-~ladison. have shown linksbetween pirituality and the processes en-couraged by neurofeedback. In particular,monks who are experts in meditation seemcapable of generating extraordinary levelsof gamma waves as they achieve a statetypically associated with "transcendence."

From a materialist perspective, the keyseems to be neurofeedback's ability to helpus connect memories and sense percep-tions that have been laid down in dispar-ate regions of the brain-to achieve thefeeling of unified consciousness by uni-fying the brain's electrical impulses. Butif neurofeedback can foster and even en-hance such a state, this begs the questionof whether the phenomena we typicallydescribe in terms of "spirituality" are justphysical by-products of a material mind.

Wuttke turns such skepticism on itshead. "The way I look at it," he says,"we may be able to map an experiencethrough physiology, whether it is a pro-found sense of peace or a religious sense,but that doesn't mean the material brain isthe source of those experiences." Instead,he sees the brain as "a transformer, some-thing that conducts energy between meta-physical and physical reality." He admitsneurofeedback can't necessarily help anyJoe off the street achieve the transcendenceof a Tibetan yogi, but adds, "It has been myexperience that everybody is enlightened;they just don't know it."

After my first session of neurofeedback

---~

HOW TO CHOOSE ANEURO FEED BACI( PRACTITIONERNEUROFEEDBACK REMAINS UNREGULATED IN MOST COUNTRIES. SO HOW CANyou choose a skilled practitioner? James R.Evans,who wrote and edited some ofthe leading neurofeedback training guidebooks, recommends looking for a ther-apist certified by a group like the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America(bcia.org). "Most insurance companies, for one thing, are going to require that." hepoints out. But as Martin Wuttke-who helped form the Professional Associationfor Integrated Neurofeedback Training to certify practitioners in the Netherlands-notes, "It's really not even as simple as that, because there are plenty of people cer-tified by various bodies who mayor may not have the best techniques or motives."If you want a glimpse of the technique at work, check out the website of Wild Div-ine (wilddivine.com), a company that combines biofeedback hardware with guidedmeditation training to enhance wellness.

Ultimately-and perhaps appropriately for a technology lauded for unlockinga patient's own potential-Wuttke emphasizes that prospective patients shoulddo the research to make sure a therapist is right for them. Check out his track re-cord by asking for references, looking at her educational and publication historyor talking to other people in your community. A typical neurofeedback session willset you back $50 to $120; a complete course of treatment often requires 30 or 40sessions. Finally, after you've done all you can to make yourself comfortable withyour neurotherapist, take comfort in the fact that the procedure itself is non-inva-sive. "luckily, there seem to be few lasting side effects, except for ones that help,"says EvanS.-BLAINEGRETEMAN

therapy, there's little chance I'll be con-fused with one of the enlightened-some-thing my wife readily confuIDs. But as Iwatched the red bug move with increas-ing dexterity about the screen, it certainlyfelt empowering to see how much controlwe can exert over our minds, moods andselves. Over the next few weeks, it's a sen-sation I'll recall during moments of stress,like the long nights with my ever-wakefulchildren. Just this recollection seems tohave some tangible effect, slowing thequickening pulse and quieting the static

I've seen in the graphic representations ofmy brain waves. As Wuttke would say, wecan sometimes be locked into old scripts,reacting to our world in ways we don'tunderstand or seem to control. Neurofeed-back's potential is so inspiring, in part, be-cause it can help us resctipt our brains and,thus, rewrite our lives.

BLAINEGRETEMAN,who trains the brains ofundergraduates as aprofessor at OklahomaState University, wrote about micro powergeneration in the September 2008 issue.