Changing your mind may seem easy, but it’s harder than you think. Valery Kalatsky, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, is researching “brain plasticity”—the brain’s ability to make adjustments to change. Kalatsky—in collaboration with researchers at Ruhr University in Germany and a $750,000 grant from the Human Frontiers Science Program—has created a device that more quickly and accurately reveals how “plastic” or how adjustable the adult brain is. When studying plasticity, researchers have produced maps outlining which sections of the brain control specific functions. Kalatsky’s approach will create a brain orientation map thirty times faster than standard methods—creating new orientation maps every few minutes for a more dynamic understanding of brain plasticity. The maps will help scientists determine how much recovery from a brain injury is possible without the assistance of medication and will give scientists the foundation into how to manipulate that plasticity.