Mohammad Shehata Email & Phone Number

Los Angeles, California, United States

Pasadena, California, United States

In my current position, I lead teams in 6 separate, diverse projects in a high-value, collaborative effort funded by NASA, Sony, and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). The objective is to develop a wearable device that measures and enhances team flow, which is the physical responses people experience while working together in a state of "flow."I began this project in the position of assistant professor in Japan in 2016. The first step was to use human behavior to identify neural signatures of team members during team engagement. The process involved monitoring biological responses (team flow) with electroencephalogram (EEG) hyperscanning. The prospect of creating a machine that enhances team flow is full of potential for improving team engagement, performance, and efficiency. But what is team flow?If you have ever been on an athletic team, or danced in formation with a dance troupe, or played in a band or orchestra, you have probably experienced team flow. When everyone is in sync with each other and learns to move together to accomplish a goal, there are biological responses in the body and brain. The higher the team flow, the better the performance and the team's well-being. Whether the goal is to create the uplifting sound of a symphony, move in a choreographed dance, or make a touchdown, team effort happens because of team flow. Our task is to measure those responses and learn more about how to capitalize on team flow to accomplish practical and commercial goals.Knowing how to capture and use team flow helps business teams with commercial goals just as much as it helps dancers, athletes, and musicians. As a scientist working with other scientists, I know what it feels like as well. And I know that team flow has excellent potential for business and human resource applications because it can improve efficiency, productivity, and engagement. That leads to better project outcomes and higher retention.

This position is essentially the same as my current position. It was here that I began the project as the team lead and principal scientist. I led a research project on the neural correlates of team flow. That's the term for what happens biologically to groups of individuals when they work together "in the zone" as teammates.

Toyama, Japan

I am incredibly proud of being a team leader for this work. I supervised 2 projects tasked with finding a process for erasing painful memories. The research and our discoveries revolutionized the neuroscientific field of memory and learning. We invented a protein degradation (autophagy) method that allows permanent erasure of specific memories of fear in rodent brains. This method would apply as an aid in treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We also discovered memory identity, which is how the brain stores connected but independent memories.To get this done, I established and managed a new lab and trained the team members. The team was composed of graduate students, technicians, and postdoctorate candidates. Our work was published in top scientific journals (J Neurosci and Science) and was cited by Sir Eric Kandel (neuroscientist and Nobel laureate).

In this early position, I conducted research for a project in molecular biology about cancer and neurogeneration at the Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences. I was also a PhD candidate during this time.

Cairo, Egypt

I helped establish the Organic Chemistry Department at the Pharmacy School at the German University in Cairo.

Cairo, Egypt

Before entering graduate school in Cairo, I founded a private tutoring business to teach biochemistry to pharmacy students. My business generated new revenue and sales growth and achieved profits of about 50,000 EGP annually. This amount is about 4 times the annual salary of a lecturer at Cairo University at that time. The key to the business's success was that I established a new business model that succeeded in competing with well-established tutoring businesses.

Cairo, Egypt

Besides my research and teaching responsibilities at the Pharmacy School, I was hired to establish the Development Center at Cairo University. My work was key to the university obtaining a high international ranking and full accreditation. As an added benefit, the university began receiving increases in funding because of the accreditation and ranking. The tasks required that I coordinate and strategize with university deans, department heads, and professors to establish a department that assessed education quality assurance. The pharmacy school at Cairo University now ranks 93 internationally.

Education record

Doctor Of Philosophy (Phd), Neuroscience

Graduate School of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Medicine

Bachelor'S Degree, Pharmacy And Pharmceutical Sciences, Excellent With Honors (Ranked Third)