Ila Fiete, an associate of brain and cognitive sciences at MIT, uses computational and mathematical techniques to study how the brain encodes information in ways that enable cognitive tasks such as learning, memory, and neural representation of our surroundings. Photo: Adam Glanzman
Ila Fiete, an associate of brain and cognitive sciences at MIT, uses computational and mathematical techniques to study how the brain encodes information in ways that enable cognitive tasks such as learning, memory, and neural representation of our surroundings. Photo: Adam Glanzman - The MIT takes a mathematical approach to exploring memory, navigation, and other neural functions. While doing a postdoc about 15 years ago, Ila Fiete began searching for faculty jobs in computational neuroscience - a field that uses mathematical tools to investigate brain function. However, there were no advertised positions in theoretical or computational neuroscience at that time in the United States. "It wasn't really a field," she recalls. "That has changed completely, and [now] there are 15 to 20 openings advertised per year." She ended up finding a position in the Center for Learning and Memory at the University of Texas at Austin, which along with a small handful of universities including MIT, was open to neurobiologists with a computational background. Computation is the cornerstone of Fiete's research at MIT's McGovern Institute for Brain Research, where she has been a faculty member since 2018.
TO READ THIS ARTICLE, CREATE YOUR ACCOUNT
And extend your reading, free of charge and with no commitment.
