Dr. Grace Hwang is a Program Director at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke where she manages projects in the Technologies for Neural Recording and Modulation portfolio as part of the U.S. BRAIN Initiative. Her scientific interest currently focuses on how to translate insights from neural dynamics to a new generation of extremely efficient and flexible engineered learning systems.From 2020-2023, Dr. Hwang was a Program Director at the National Science Foundation (NSF) while based at her home institution, Johns Hopkins University, with appointments in both the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute. At NSF, she managed the Disability and Rehabilitation Engineering program while also spearheading cross-agency initiatives including the Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation's Brain-Inspired Dynamics for Engineering Energy-Efficient Circuits and Artificial Intelligence (BRAID) topic. From 2015-2023, her research career at Johns Hopkins spanned neuroscience, artificial intelligence, dynamical systems analysis, neuromodulation, brain-machine interface, and robotics. She served as a Principal Investigator on numerous projects most notably on an NIH BRAIN award to investigate neural stimulation using sonogenetics and on an NSF award to develop a brain-inspired algorithm for multi-agent robotic control. Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, she has contributed to the development of advanced science and technology programs for government agencies including IARPA, DARPA, and DHS. Additionally, she has held positions in industry and FFRDC throughout her career, leveraging her expertise in photonics to develop rapid, portable chemical and biological sensors. While at MITRE, she co-developed three different optical biosensors based on surface plasmonics, surface enhanced Raman Scattering, and interferometric reflectance imaging for bacterial and viral detection. While at Raytheon, she developed a portable microlaser-induced breakdown spectroscopy system for rapid chemical and biological analyses. Dr. Hwang has numerous peer-reviewed publications and has been the recipient of multiple best paper awards including from IEEE Sensors Journal, IEEE Integrated STEM Education, APL, and MITRE. She is also the recipient of two US patents. She received a B.S. from Northeastern (Summa Cum Laude) and an M.S. from MIT in Civil and Environmental Engineering. She obtained her Ph.D. in Biophysics and Structural Biology from Brandeis University, where she studied computational neuroscience and human memory.