The Computational Neuroscience Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania is pleased to announce a new program for Interdisciplinary Training in Computational Neuroscience (ITCN) at the doctoral level. The goal of the ITCN is to train a new generation of scientists to make quantitative links between properties of the brain and properties of the mind. ITCN trainees will learn to use computational methodology to interpret experimental results; build predictive models of brain function that inform the design of the experiments; and support an ever-growing list of neuroscience-related applications, from brain-machine interfaces in the clinic to cutting-edge forms of artificial intelligence.
The ITCN brings together students and faculty from Penn’s PhD programs in Neuroscience (Biomedical Graduate Studies, Perelman School of Medicine), Bioengineering (School of Engineering and Applied Sciences), Physics (School of Arts and Sciences), and Psychology (School of Arts and Sciences). To join the ITCN, students first apply to one of those “home” PhD programs. Once admitted, students then typically apply to the ITCN before starting classes in their first year. Those selected meet with the ITCN Advisory Committee, both individually and as a group, to develop individualized training plans that meet the goals and requirements of the ITCN and each student’s home program. These plans include coursework, research, and other activities, that aim to build both expertise in computational neuroscience and a sense of community in the ITCN.
Details are found here.
CNI/ITCN Leadership:
- Vijay Balasubramanian Director (Physics): Theoretical and computational neuroscience
- Maria Geffen, Co-director (Otorhinolaryngology, Neuroscience, Neurology): Neuronal circuits for auditory perception and learning: how our brain makes sense of sounds
- Joshua Gold, Co-director (Neuroscience): Mechanisms of decision-making and learning the primate brain
CNI/ITCN Faculty:
- Michael Arcaro (Psychology): Mammalian vision, development of sensory systems
- Geoffrey Aguirre (Neurology): Cortical organization for visual perception and recovery of visual function
- Victor Barranca (Mathematics and Statistics, Swarthmore): Mathematical neuroscience and neuronal dynamics
- Danielle Bassett (Bioengineering, CIS, Neurology): Complex Systems, Network Science, Computational Neuroscience, Systems Biology, Dynamical Systems, Soft Materials, Behavioral Network Science
- Michael Beauchamp (Neurosurgery): Neural mechanisms for multisensory integration and visual perception in human subjects
- Vikas Bhandawat (Biomedical Engineering, Drexel): How animal behavior emerges from the complex interaction amongst the animal's nervous systems, their muscle-body dynamics and their environment
- David Brainard (Psychology): Human vision, machine vision, and computational modeling of visual processing
- Johannes Burge (Psychology): Computational modeling, perceptual systems, vision
- Yale Cohen (Otorhinolaryngology, Bioengineering, Neuroscience): Understanding the representation of auditory information in the cortex, how auditory information is integrated with cognitive processes, and how auditory and visual information is combined to form unified sensory percepts
- Long Ding (Neuroscience): Electrophysiology; psychophysics; basal ganglia; frontal cortex; perceptual decisions
- Russell Epstein (Psychology): Visual recognition and spatial cognition in humans
- Marc Fucillo (Neuroscience): The synaptic and circuit mechanisms of behavioral control
- Ethan Goldberg (Neurology, CHOP): Ion channel, cellular, and synaptic neurophysiology; Neurogenetics; Neurodevelopmental disorders; Neurobiology of disease
- Joshua Goldwyn (Mathematics & Statistics, Swarthmore): Auditory neuroscience and the perception of sound
- Jay Gottfried (Neurology, Psychology): Using multidisciplinary techniques to elucidate perception, learning, and memory through the lens of the olfactory system
- Casey Halpern (Neuroscience): Preclinical studies and developing clinical trials to expand indications for deep brain stimulation and other novel brain surgical therapies
- Joseph Kable (Psychology): Psychological and neural mechanisms of human decision-making
- Michael Kahana (Psychology): Human episodic memory for verbal, visual and spatial information
- Eleni Katifori (Physics): Topology, function and development of biological distribution networks, elasticity and mechanics of thin cells, pattern formation
- Konrad Kording (Bioengineering, Neuroscience): Data that matters
- Hualou Liang (Biomedical Engineering, Drexel): Analysis of complex, high-dimensional neuroscience data
- Minghong Ma (Neuroscience): Neurobiology of the sense of smell
- Tim Machado (Neuroscience): How do motor command pathways interact to generate specific movements?
- Joel Mainland (Monell Center): Developing a predictive model relating molecular structure and olfactory perception
- Yoichiro Mori (Mathematics, Biology): Mathematical Biology, Physiology and Biophysics, Applied and Numerical Analysis
- Philip Nelson (Physics): stochastic modeling; computational neuroscience; multielectrode recording
- Bijan Pesaran (Neurosurgery, bioengineering): Understanding large-scale circuits in the brain and how to engineer novel brain-based therapies
- Alexander Proekt (Anesthesiology): Neuronal dynamics and neuronal mechanisms of anesthesia
- Nicole Rust (Psychology): The neural correlates of visual memory
- Anna Schapiro (Psychology): Memory, learning, neural network modeling, sleep, consolidation, hippocampal-cortical interactions
- Marc Schmidt (Biology): Avian brain dynamics in complex naturalistic social environments; computational neuroethology of courtship interactions in groups of songbirds; social context as a computationally constructed variable
- Alan Stocker (Psychology): Computational perception and cognition
- Flavia Vitale (Neurology, Bioengineering, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation): To study, monitor and treat neurological and neuromuscular disorders such as epilepsy, Parkinson's, nerve injury, and chronic pain
- Franz Weber (Neuroscience): The neural and homeostatic mechanisms controlling REM sleep, and the functional role of this brain state in emotional memories and behaviors