The work that introduced magnetic resonance imaging of neuronal activity in the human brain (known as fMRI) was accomplished independently and simultaneously in two laboratories, one of which was Ugurbil's in CMRR. Since then, his primary focus has been the development and application of methods capable of obtaining high resolution and high accuracy functional and anatomical information in the human brain, targeting spatial scales ranging from the whole brain to elementary neuronal ensembles exemplified by cortical columns and layers. This body of work has culminated in unique accomplishments, such as the first time functional mapping of orientation columns in the human primary visual cortex, and involved the development of extensive new instrumentation and image acquisition approaches, including the introduction and development of ultrahigh magnetic fields (7 Tesla and higher) for functional and anatomical imaging and highly accelerated functional brain imaging.