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Alan Macy Answers Proust Questionnaire

BIOPAC co-founder and R&D Director, Alan Macy, was interviewed recently by Roger Durling for the Santa Barbara Independent. The article, “The S.B. Questionnaire: Alan Macy,” provided a background excerpt of the Santa Barbara entrepreneurs’ past as well as his answers to the Proust Questionnaire.

The biomedical technology developed at BIOPAC reflects an ambitious understanding of the natural and synthetic, and Macy has made the interaction into a form of art. From neuroscience research to biology classrooms, BIOPAC Systems has grown to provide a wide range of solutions for physiology research and education.

But put simply, Macy said, “I make tools that scientists use.”

The article highlights Macy’s engineering background in the early ’80s, graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo before pursuing a Masters in electrical engineering from UCSB. Macy’s thesis represented his unique creativity in the interaction between biology and technology; using the human ear for inspiration in enhancing speech recognition processing.

His knowledge of life science engineering came at the beginning of the computer era, and provided a foundation for developing both hardware and software BIOPAC offers for physiological data acquisition and analysis.

The article points to the theme of collaboration throughout Macy’s career and artistic projects. Macy’s SBCAST project, where he helped establish subsidized housing for artists and researchers in downtown Santa Barbara, is just one example of encouraging multidisciplinary collaboration. Read the full Independent article to learn more.