Members

Principal Investigator

Matt Nassar

Matt is interested in how the brain processes information to facilitate intelligent behavior in complex and dynamic environments. He did his PhD with Josh Gold and post-docs with Joe Kable and Michael Frank before joining the Department of Neuroscience at Brown in January 2019.

Matt teaches: NEUR1660 Neural Computation in Learning and Decision-Making

Email: matthew_nassar@brown.edu

ResearchGate profile

Lab Managers / Research Assistants

Xufeng (Caesar) Dai

Caesar is a recent graduate of Haverford College, where he studied computer science and math. He has research experience in machine learning, computational neuroscience, and computational geometry. He is super excited to learn more about our brain!

Email: xufeng_dai@brown.edu

Harrison Marble

Harry is a recent graduate of Brown University with a concentration in neuroscience. Currently he’s part of a project that is investigating how latent state transitions are involved in learning, bias and arousal. In his free time he enjoys sleeping in, watching a concerning amount of Survivor, and giving epic karaoke performances.

Email: harrison_marble@brown.edu

Post-Doctoral Researchers

Daniel Scott

Dan researches how synaptic plasticity supports reinforcement learning in cortico-subcortical networks, and he is broadly interested in neuromodulation, microcircuit function, and structure learning. He approaches these topics from computational and algorithmic standpoints with Matt, and plans on developing close collaborations with systems neuroscientists as well. Previously, he completed his Ph.D. under the supervision of Michael J. Frank, examining the properties of three-factor learning rules and demonstrating that they are mathematically consistent with a wide range of inductive biases. Earlier still, he completed an M.Sc in applied mathematics, and undergraduate degrees in physics and math at U.C. Berkeley. Outside of work, he is a shameless partisan of Western states’ wildernesses.

Flora Bouchacourt

Flora is interested in computational modeling, and analysis of behavior and neural data, to investigate the mechanisms of task learning and working memory. After a MSc in Physics at Ecole Polytechnique in France, she did her PhD in Ecole Normale Superieure with Srdjan Ostojic in collaboration with Etienne Koechlin. She went to Princeton for her first postdoc with Tim Buschman and Nathaniel Daw.

Haoxue Fan

Haoxue is interested in the interaction between affective components and decision-making under uncertainty in complex environments. During graduate school, she combined physiological measures with computational modeling to understand how humans explore, seek information, and plan, and characterize the interplay between psychopathology and these decision-making processes. Previously she completed her Ph.D. under the supervision of Elizabeth Phelps in collaboration with Samuel Gershman. Outside of the lab, she enjoys watching musicals, exploring local restaurants, falling off from the climbing wall and hanging out with her cat Porky.

Ph.D. Students

Niloufar Razmi

Niloufar is a neuroscience grad student. She received her M.D. in Iran and is interested in the computational processes in the brain.

Caroline Mclaughlin

Caroline recently obtained her master’s in Biomedical Science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where she investigated aberrant forward thinking in addiction. She is mainly interested in exploring the neural correlates and computational mechanisms of decision-making.

Abdullah P. Rashed Ahmed

Abdullah is a graduate student with Matt and Thomas Serre studying the mechanisms governing changepoint detection across multiple features, and how they interact, with a focus on visual features.

Joonhwa Kim

Joonhwa graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in Cognitive Science w/ a Computing specialization and a B.A. in Linguistics & Philosophy, where she worked with Jesse Harris on language processing, Hongjing Liu on computational vision & learning, and Hakwan Lau on consciousness & metacognition. She then worked as a full-time lab manager with Amitai Shenhav exploring questions of cognitive control and value-based decision making. She is broadly interested in using computational cognitive neuroscience methods to study and characterize how people flexibly learn and apply knowledge of the world, particularly in uncertain and/or novel environments. Outside of the lab, she loves reading, music, being outside, and trying out new things & exploring new places.

Mengyun (Maureen) Yin

Mengyun is currently a visiting second-year Ph.D. student in psychology from the South China Normal University. Her research focuses on using computational modeling to explore the processes of prosocial learning. Mengyun enjoys gaming, and working out outside the lab.

Masters Students

Xueru is a second-year master’s student in the Computational Science program with a concentration in Neuroscience. She earned her bachelor’s degree from University of Toronto, majoring in Mathematics and Statistics. Her research interests focus on using computational modeling to explore the brain’s decision-making processes. In my free time, she enjoys gardening, practicing Muay Thai, and playing the flute.

Undergraduate Research Assistants

Aidan Cleland

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Aidan is a sophomore intending to major in neuroscience at Brown University. He particularly interested in the neural processes behind decision making, and specifically the role that the visual system plays. Outside of neuroscience he enjoys playing soccer and painting.

Mara Oancea

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Mara is a sophomore studying computational neuroscience at Brown University. She is particularly interested in neural processes behind adaptive learning and the memory processes involved. Along with that, she enjoys sailing, playing piano, and traveling.

Jane Baker

Jane is a junior planning on concentrating in computational neuroscience. Jane is also interested in math and want to learn more about making and analyzing computational models for the brain. In her free time, she enjoys running, playing soccer, and watching bad movies with her friends.

Charlotte Derway

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Charlotte is a junior concentrating in Neuroscience. She is broadly interested in memory and learning, specifically disorders and aging. In her free time, she loves reading, playing instruments (her favorite is the bagpipes!), and rowing.

Isaiah Mars

Isaiah is a junior concentrating in Neuroscience and Data Fluency. Originally from Miami, FL (and no, he doesn’t have a pet alligator—though he thinks it would be cool), Isaiah is passionate about exploring the brain and its connections to psychology and philosophy. He enjoys engaging in thoughtful discussions and is always eager for a good philosophical conversation or a deep dive into neuroscience. His research involves decision-making as it relates to visual attention.

Peter Alexander 捷虎 Graham

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Peter is a senior at Brown University studying Cognitive Neuroscience and Data Science. His research experience spans across machine learning, neural computation, and computational neuroscience, with additional interests in neuroengineering and neurotechnology. In his free time, Peter enjoys freestyle skiing, road biking, spending time by the beach, and hanging out with friends.

Lab Alumni

Post-doctoral researchers

- - Linda Yu

Graduate students

- - Harrison Ritz (Postdoc, Princeton University)

Lab Managers

- - Sienna Bruinsma (PhD Student, Columbia University)
  - Tiantian Li (PhD Student, Max Planck Institute of Cognition)

Master’s Student

- - Qin He (PhD Student, University of Michigan)

Undergraduate research assistants

- - Timothy Chen (Senior, Brown University)
  - Aislinn Baxter (Senior, Brown University)
  - Kameron Miller (Associate, ZS Associates)
  - Aigerim Akhmetzhanova (PhD Student, UC Davis)
  - Jon Kim (Associate, EY-Parthenon)
  - Sophie Kush (Senior, Brown University)
  - Linghai Liu (PhD Student, Yale University)
  - Meera Singh (PhD Student, Columbia University)
  - Erin Bugbee (PhD Student, Carnegie Melon University)
  - Martin Contreras Carrera (Software Engineer, Pinterest)
  - Kaitlyn Mi (Medical Student, Vanderbilt University)
  - Katie Unger (Medical Student, New York University)
  - Jake Szykowny (Motion Capture Intern, Silver Spoon)
  - Aansh Shah (Software Engineer, Amazon)
  - Charlene Wang (Product Manager, Google)