Texas Tech University

Brian Still

Present Appointment:  

Vice Provost, Texas Tech Online, Texas Tech University

Accomplishments

  • Managed more than 200 staff located on the main campus and at multiple regional site locations, maximizing a $30 million dollar budget, derived from local fee generation through SCH, to deliver higher education, continuing education, and K-12 educational programs to nearly 5,000 students (an additional 20,000+ F2F students took some online courses)
  • Partnered with industry providers to provide professional certificates from multiple companies, including Google, IBM, Meta, and Intuit, to all students, faculty, staff, and others
  • Established new 27,000 sq ft regional site in Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area
  • Worked with local community leaders to champion the creation and offering of workforce training, among other practical, skills-based courses, made available to high school students as well as non-traditional learners, in populations surrounding our regional site locations, to support job readiness education
  • Developed $10,000 or less degree completion program targeting non-traditional students, including stop-outs and others 25+ or older
  • Directed the Big 12's only free, early college high school education program in partnership with the Lubbock Independent School District
  • Innovated new support plan earmarking $3,000,000 in annual funding for online programs including 30+ faculty lines, academic and financial advisors, and course design specialists
  • Initiated new online and hybrid programs in business, social work, economics, nutrition, counseling, criminology, psychology, kinesiology and sports management, strategic studies, computer science, applied personal finance, and forensic science
  • Instituted new self-paced college study program, offering asynchronous distance courses via alternative scheduling in core subjects provided to student constituencies including active-duty military learners and high school students

Past Appointments:

Interim Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Texas Tech University (9/1/21 – 5/31/22)

Chair, Department of English, Texas Tech University (2017 – 2021)

Professor, Department of English, Texas Tech University (2017 – present)

Professional Experience

Founder, Chief Science Officer, EyeGuide Inc. (2011 – present)

  • Led the development of initial company technology that innovated hardware to produce an affordable, accurate eye tracking hardware and software system
  • Produced six patent applications (three authored), three hardware iterations, and six copyrighted software
  • Collected and analyzed normative clinical data for validating neurological impairment testing tool, Focus
  • Continued research and development of next generation innovations of company technology
  • Guided the clearance of company medical device, Focus, through FDA 510K process

CEO, EyeGuide Inc. (2011 – 2017)

  • Founded, incorporated, and developed initial business strategy for the company
  • Raised more than $3 million in investment from angel, private, and corporate investors
  • Hired company officers, technical and sales professionals, including the recruitment of an experienced CEO in 2017
  • Presided over the development and release of three different hardware/software product life cycles
  • Developed, manufactured, and sold research and assistive eye tracking technologies to customers around the world
  • Represented the company at international trade fairs, conferences, and other forward-facing events, including a 2012 TEDx talk, a SxSW Accelerator Competition, and a First and Future NFL Super Bowl event

Patent Applications

Method and System for Cognitive Function Testing 
Patent Number: 10398301 
 
Abstract: Cognitive function testing. At least some of example embodiments are methods including performing a cognitive function test on a patient without calibrating pupil position of the patient. The performing may include: causing a visual cue on a computer screen in front of the patient to move in a predetermined pattern; reading frames from an eye camera that captures images of an eye of the patient while the visual cue moves on the computer screen and the patient visually tracks the visual cue; determining pupil position within the frames; correcting offsets between the stimulus data and the pupil position data; translating the pupil position data from a coordinate space of the eye camera to a coordinate space of the stimulus data; and generating a test score being the cumulative distance between the stimulus data and pupil position data for each corresponding point in time. 
 
Filed: August 18, 2016 
Publication date: February 23, 2017 
Issue Date: September 3, 2019 
Inventors: Nathan A. Jahnke, J. Brian Still, Gregory L. Gamel, Benedicto C. Baronia 
 
Correlating pupil position to gaze location within a scene 
Patent number: 9292086

Abstract: Correlating pupil position to gaze location within a scene. Illustrative embodiments may include correlating pupil position of a user to gaze location within a scene viewed by the user. The correlating may include: illuminating an eye of the user, the eye containing the pupil, and the illuminating with light; creating a first video stream depicting the eye; creating a second video stream depicting the scene in front of the user; determining pupil position within the first video stream; calculating gaze location in the second video stream based on pupil position in the first video stream; and sending an indication of the gaze location in the second video stream to a computer system. 
 
Filed: September 11, 2013 
Issue Date: March 22, 2016 
Inventors: Nathan A. Jahnke, J. Brian Still 
 
Correlating Pupil Position to Gaze Location Within a Scene 
Publication number: 20140085204

Abstract: Correlating pupil position to gaze location within a scene. Illustrative embodiments may include correlating pupil position of a user to gaze location within a scene viewed by the user. The correlating may include: illuminating an eye of the user, the eye containing the pupil, and the illuminating with light; creating a first video stream depicting the eye; creating a second video stream depicting the scene in front of the user; determining pupil position within the first video stream; calculating gaze location in the second video stream based on pupil position in the first video stream; and sending an indication of the gaze location in the second video stream to a computer system. 
 
Filed: September 11, 2013 
Publication date: March 27, 2014 
Inventors: Nathan A. Jahnke, J. Brian Still

Copyrighted Software

  • EyeGuide Focus, 2015 (concussion detection and recovery software)  
  • EyeGuide Visualize and Analyze Software, 2014 (live remote viewing and eye tracking analytic software)  
  • EyeGuide Mobile Tracker, 2013 (mobile eye tracking research system) EyeGuide EG, 2012 (wearable eye tracking and control system)  
  • EyeGuide Assist (mouse replacement, eye-control software for assistive purposes)

Awards and Honors

  • National Academy of Inventors (2018)
  • President's Technology Commercialization Award, Texas Tech University (2015)
  • Finalist, AAAS-Lemelson Invention Ambassador (2014)
  • Emily K. Schlesinger Award, IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) (2009)

Education 

PhD, University of South Dakota, 2005 
Major: English 
Dissertation Title: The Virtual Activism of Intersex Persons: Countering Online the Norms of Medical and Gender Discourse 
 
MA, University of South Dakota, 1993 
Major: English 
Supporting Areas of Emphasis: Linguistics 
Thesis Title: A Rhetorical and Linguistic Analysis of U.S. Presidential Inaugural Addresses 
 
AB, William Jewell College, 1990 
Majors: English & Philosophy 
 
 

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Vice Provost, TTU Online
Technical Communication & Rhetoric

Email: brian.still@ttu.edu