Research interestsDownload CV
Neural correlates of consciousness, perception, computational neuroscience, integrated information theory, philosophy of mind, causation and causal analysis, complex systems, neural networks, artificial intelligence
Education
University of Wisconsin–Madison
PhD student, Neuroscience Training Program
Advisor: Giulio Tononi, MD, PhD
September 2016–present
Madison, WI
Software
PyPhi
January 2014–present
A toolbox for integrated information theory (IIT). Primary tool for theoreticians working on IIT.
vPhi
October 2014–present
A web-based interface to PyPhi that allows nontechnical users to perform IIT calculations and visualize results.
PyAnimats
April 2015–April 2017
Python software for evolving virtual organisms and investigating their dynamics and integrated-information-theoretic properties.
PyEMD
February 2014–present
A Python wrapper around a C++ library to compute the Earth Mover’s Distance.
integratedinformationtheory.org
January 2014–present
A website for learning about integrated information theory.
Research Experience
Center for Sleep and Conciousness
Researcher and Programmer
Advisor: Giulio Tononi, MD, PhD
January 2014–September 2016
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Madison, WI
- Designed and implemented software to calculate integrated information (Φ) and other quantities and structures of interest in integrated information theory.
- Developed web-based visualization tools for exploring integrated-information-theoretic properties of networks.
- Implemented genetic algorithms for evolving virtual organisms.
- Developed mathematical formalisms for measuring the correspondence between environmental and internal causal structure in evolved virtual organisms.
Summer Program in Computational Mathematics
Undergraduate researcher
Advisor: Greg Fasshauer, PhD
May–June 2012
Illinois Institute of Technology
Chicago, IL
- Studied a novel 2-parameter family of kernel functions for data interpolation.
- Performed numerical experiments in Matlab.
- Conducted theoretical investigations of closed forms for Green’s functions.
- Funded by NSF grant DMS-1115392.
Presentations
| 6/26–29 2018 |
Poster (“PyPhi: A toolbox for integrated information theory”) at the 22nd meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness. Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland. |
| 6/6–11 2016 |
Talk (“Matching: Using integrated information theory to measure correspondence between internal and external causal structure in animats”) at the “PHIfest: A Symposium on Integrated Information Theory”. University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI. |
| 3/9 2013 |
Poster (“A 2-Parameter Family of Kernels for Data Interpolation”) at the Brown University Symposium for Undergraduates in the Mathematical Sciences. Brown University, Providence, RI. |
| 1/9–12 2013 |
Poster (“A 2-Parameter Family of Kernels for Data Interpolation”) at the Joint Mathematics Meetings. San Diego, CA. |
| 7/27–29 2012 |
Poster (“A 2-Parameter Family of Kernels for Data Interpolation”) at the Young Mathematicians Conference. The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. |
Technical strengths
| Languages | Python (expert)R (proficient)Matlab (proficient)C++ (basic)shell (proficient)JavaScript (proficient)HTML & CSS (expert) |
| Skills | Software engineeringDistributed computingUnix/Linux system administrationFull-stack web development |
| Libraries & Frameworks | numpyscipyNESTscikit-learncondordaskdocker |
| Tools | git (expert)Vim (expert)LaTeX (proficient) |