Speaker:

Emma Alexander, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern University

Title:

Constrained Information Optimization in the Visual Cortex

Abstract:

Animal brains represent information to complete a variety of tasks under systematically-changing conditions. The Bio-Inspired Vision Lab at Northwestern is developing tools to identify signatures of optimality in neural population codes, so that we can interpret the computational goals of visual neurons from cell measurements. Results include evidence of hierarchical visual processing in primate stereo vision and a biophysically-grounded model of metabolic stress in calorie-restricted mice.

Speaker Bio:

Emma Alexander is an assistant professor of computer science at Northwestern. Her training in physics (BS Yale), computer science (BS Yale, MS PhD Harvard), and vision science (postdoc, UC Berkeley) support her interest in low-level, physics-based, bio-inspired artificial vision.

Location:

In person: Chambers Hall, 600 Foster Street, Lower Level
Remote option: https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/96896691081
Passcode: NICO25

About the Speaker Series:

Wednesdays@NICO is a vibrant weekly seminar series focusing broadly on the topics of complex systems, data science and network science. It brings together attendees ranging from graduate students to senior faculty who span all of the schools across Northwestern, from applied math to sociology to biology and every discipline in-between. Please visit: https://bit.ly/WedatNICO for information on future speakers.

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