Computational Neuroscience

While all GPN students have the opportunity to conduct thesis research that is computationally based and to take coursework specific to this discipline, formal studies organized by the Computational Neuroscience Curriculum Committee (Uri Eden, Nancy Kopell, Mark Kramer, David Mountain, and Barbara Shinn-Cunningham) in collaboration with the GPN Academic Director of Computational Studies (Frank Guenther, Associate Director of GPN) provides them with the most advanced set of skills required to face the challenges emerging from this exciting new discipline in neuroscience.
This specialized curriculum supplements core neuroscience training with advanced training in a wide array of computational methods for (i) studying the nervous system and (ii) developing neuroscience-related technologies. Topics of study include neural network modeling, neural dynamics, sensory, motor, and cognitive modeling, statistical modeling, sensory prosthesis, brain-machine interfaces, neuroinformatics, neuromorphic engineering, and robotics. Coursework is chosen from the wide array of computational and neuroscience courses offered by the many departments and programs of the main Boston University campus and the BU School of Medicine. Students pursue their thesis interests in laboratories across the University and have the opportunity to combine hands on experimental research with highly sophisticated computational analysis.
To acknowledge the rigorous academic foundation that students receive from completing this specialized curriculum, and the interdisciplinary background of their “core” coursework that they share with all students in GPN, upon graduating they receive the PhD in Neuroscience and Computational Neuroscience.
Computational Neuroscience Faculty at Boston University
(Please note: Potential applicants should contact GPN rather than individual faculty members listed below. Specific questions about the computational neuroscience specialization can be sent to Prof. Frank Guenther, Associate Director, GPN.)
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Peter Bergethon Intelligence modeling; electrochemistry of biomolecules |
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Jason Bohland Speech neuroscience; neuroimaging; neuroinformatics |
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Jon Brumberg Speech neuroscience; neural prosthesis; speech synthesis & technology |
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Daniel Bullock Neural modeling of voluntary action and reinforcement learning |
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Gail Carpenter Neural networks; pattern recognition; neuromorphic technology |
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Michael Cohen Speech processing; measurement theory; cardiovascular modeling |
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Stephen Colburn Binaural hearing; neural modeling; hearing impairments |
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James Collins Synthetic biology; systems biology; sensory prosthesis |
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Uri Eden Mathematical and statistical modeling of neural spiking activity |
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Timothy Gardner Songbird neural circuit development; neural recording technology |
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Stephen Grossberg Neural modeling of vision; speech; cognition; emotion; motor control; navigation; mental disorders |
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Frank Guenther Speech neuroscience; neural prosthesis; neuroimaging |
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Xue Han Neurotechnology, optogenetics, neural prosthetics |
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Michael Hasselmo Memory-guided behavior; role of oscillations in cortical function |
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Marc Howard Cognition and neural representation of time and space |
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Allyn Hubbard Auditory physiology; VLSI; neurocomputing |
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Eric Kolaczyk Statistical analysis of network-indexed data; biological networks modeling and data analysis |
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Mark Kon Machine learning and bioinformatics; neural network theory |
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Nancy Kopell Neural dynamics; rhythmic behavior in neural networks |
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Mark Kramer Neural dynamics; neural rhythms in normal and diseased brains |
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Ennio Mingolla Vision; neural network modeling; neuromorphic technology |
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David Mountain Auditory information processing; biomedical electronics |
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Hamid Nawab Signal processing of neural activity; auditory scene analysis |
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Jason Ritt Sensorimotor behaviors; active sensing; neural prosthesis |
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Michele Rucci Active perception; visual neuroscience; robotics |
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Eric Schwartz Computational neuroscience; machine vision; neuroanatomy |
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Kamal Sen Natural sound encoding; auditory plasticity; birdsong |
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Barbara Shinn-Cunningham Auditory neuroscience; spatial hearing; neuroimaging |
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David Somers Visual perception and cognition; neuroimaging; neural modeling |
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Cara Stepp Sensorimotor function disorders |
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Malvin Teich Biosignal analysis; audition; vision; biological imaging |
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Jason Tourville Speech motor control; neuroimaging; neuroanatomy |
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Lucia Vaina Computational models of vision; neuroimaging |
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Massimiliano Versace Neural modeling; whole-brain systems; neuromorphic technology; cognitive robotics |
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Arash Yazdanbakhsh Human vision and its modeling; human electrophysiology and psychophysics |



































