Shawn K. Kelly, PhD

Dr. Shawn Kelly is a Senior Systems Scientist at the Institute for Complex Engineered Systems at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). At CMU, he also holds courtesy faculty appointments in the Electrical and Computer Engineering and Biomedical Engineering Departments. At the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Healthcare System in Pittsburgh, Dr. Kelly is a Research Biomedical Engineer. While at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts, Dr. Kelly obtained his SB, MEng, and PhD in Electrical Engineering. Upon completion of his educational studies, Dr. Kelly served as a Visiting Scientist at MIT and a Research Health Scientist at the VA Boston Healthcare System. Dr. Kelly’s primary research interests include:

• Medical device product design, development, and packaging
• Analog and mixed signal VLSI circuit design
• Retinal prostheses, implantable microelectronic medical devices
• Electrical tissue stimulation, neuromodulation, current source stimulation circuitry, stimulating electrode materials
• Wireless power/data telemetry, power management, micro-power management circuits

Dr. Kelly has been developing and testing a prototype implantable retinal prosthesis for the blind for over 18 years with the Boston Retinal Implant Project, a joint effort of the VA, MIT, and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. The group has successfully built three different generations of wirelessly-powered prostheses and implanted all three in animals in preparation for clinical trials. He is the lead electrical system architecture designer for the next generation implant, designing all of the inductively coupled power and data telemetry systems for the prosthesis and coordinating current generation implant component assembly by outside vendors. Dr. Kelly is on the Board of Directors of the MIT Enterprise Forum Pittsburgh, on the Advisory Board of CCNY-GaTech Man Machine Motor Control, and on the Board of Directors of Science for the Public. He is a member of the IEEE, the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society, and the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. View a list of Dr. Kelly’s publications here.