The fully-equipped laboratories at the Institute for Sensory Research are interconnected and housed in contiguous space on the Skytop-South campus, with a total area of 30,000 sq. feet, with 12 individual laboratories dedicated to the psychophysics, neurophysiology, physiology, and modeling of the auditory, somatosensory, visual, and oro-facial systems. New clinical facilities immediately adjacent to ISR house labs for the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders for audiological testing. Lab suites also house the new research center dedicated to cochlear implant and hearing aid investigations. These research labs contribute to both basic and applied science with major areas of applications in medicine and related fields, and in technology.
Many of the Bioengineering and Neuroscience faculty maintain their research laboratories at ISR and office space both here and in Link Hall where the undergradute bioengineering program is based.
The neural engineering and neuroscience graduate programs, based at ISR, provide students with advanced study in contemporary neuroscience research. Integration of life and physical sciences, combining rigorous experimental methodology with mathematical analysis is stressed. The graduate students are fully involved in the research work of the laboratories, dealing with transmission of sensory stimuli, such as light, sound, or vibration, and their transduction into nerve impulses; with information processing in the peripheral nervous system and the brain; and with the relationships between sensory stimuli and the sensations and perceptions they produce.
In addition, many undergraduate students take full advantage of the opportunities to interact and do independent research projects with the bioengineering and neuroscience faculty and staff. The ability to gain actual research experience as an undergraduate gives them an edge towards their future career goals.
The Institute for Sensory Research also houses its own machine and electronic shops, library, and animal care facilities.