Bio
Brian Lord is a cognitive neuroscientist and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Arizona, where he works in the Bever Lab and leads an undergraduate group building a machine-learning brain–computer interface pipeline. He earned his PhD at Arizona studying the effects of transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS) on the meditating brain, and previously held a postdoc in the SEMA (Science Enhanced Mindful Awareness) Lab. Across these roles he has designed and built the systems – spanning EEG, MRI, psychophysiology, and neuromodulation – that turn hard questions about the mind into rigorous, measurable experiments.
His work sits at the intersection of neuromodulation, neurotechnology, and psychophysiology. He has built synchronized EEG + tFUS acquisition and delivery systems, developed pipelines for reading brain and meditation states from EEG in real time, and designed multimodal psychophysiological protocols – EEG, respiration, heart rate, blood pressure, and motion – for use in the lab and in applied, field-style settings.
Outside the university, Brian works as a lead consultant scientist for neurotechnology groups. He has designed a “Mind Gym” neurofeedback experience and built pipelines for measuring meditative state from EEG in real time; he has designed and run IRB-compliant studies of meditation enhancement using infrared photobiomodulation devices, leading the analysis and write-up; and he has carried out additional confidential research for private clients under NDA.
His contributions have played a central role in several research milestones, including:
- Demonstrating that tFUS can alter DMN activity, a finding now being replicated in other labs.
- Leading an experimental trial showing that tFUS-assisted meditation training can accelerate mindfulness acquisition in novices by decoupling the default mode and central executive networks.
- Co-facilitating the first ultrasound-assisted meditation retreat.
Before Arizona, Brian earned a master’s in the humanistic and transpersonal tradition at the University of West Georgia, where he worked in Special Collections and processed the personal research files of artist and remote viewer Ingo Swann. There he recovered, edited, and published the lost manuscript Psychic Literacy. The experience left him with a lasting interest in applying rigorous scientific methods to unconventional questions about consciousness and human performance – an orientation that still shapes how he approaches frontier neurotechnology.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in biopsychology from Oglethorpe University, is a certified meditation teacher, and came to neuroscience by way of an early life in electronic music and a long-standing fascination with the nature of mind. In 2025, he married his wife, Erica, and they reside in the desert landscape of Tucson, AZ.
