{"675954":{"#nid":"675954","#data":{"type":"event","title":"PhD Defense by Mehdi Azabou","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETitle: Building foundation models for neuroscience\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDate: Tuesday, August 20th, 2024\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETime: 2:30 pm EST\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELocation: Coda C1115 Druid Hills \u0026amp; Zoom \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gatech.zoom.us\/j\/97816662750\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/gatech.zoom.us\/j\/97816662750\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMehdi Azabou\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.mehai.dev\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003Ewww.mehai.dev\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMachine Learning PhD Student\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003Cbr\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECommittee\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E1 Dr. Eva L. Dyer, Advisor, School of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Tech\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E2\u0026nbsp;Dr. Chethan Pandarinath,\u0026nbsp;School of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Tech\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E3 Dr. Anqi Wu, \u0026nbsp;School of Computational Science and Engineering, Georgia Tech\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E4 Dr.\u0026nbsp;Hannah Choi, \u0026nbsp;School of Mathematics, Georgia Tech\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E5 Dr. Blake Richards, School of Computer Science and Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbstract\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe brain\u2019s complexity enables its remarkable functions, but this very complexity makes it hard to understand. Current methodologies for recording brain activity often provide narrow views of the brain\u0027s function, limited by the constraints of current recording technology and the structured nature of the standard neuroscience experiment. This fragmentation of datasets has hampered the development of robust and comprehensive computational models of brain function that generalize across diverse conditions, tasks, and individuals. Our work is motivated by the need for a large-scale foundation model in neuroscience--one that can go beyond the limitations of single-dataset approaches and offer a fuller, more comprehensive picture of brain function. In this thesis, we propose novel methodologies and frameworks aimed at addressing the challenges of building such a model. We discuss three main contributions. The first contribution is towards building scalable and unified approaches for training on diverse neural datasets. The second contribution aims to develop self-supervised methods for understanding dynamics of behavior at multiple timescales. The third contribution is to develop methods for building invariances in neural data to further our understanding of the brain.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBuilding foundation models for neuroscience\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Building foundation models for neuroscience"}],"uid":"27707","created_gmt":"2024-08-13 17:07:48","changed_gmt":"2024-08-13 17:07:48","author":"Tatianna Richardson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2024-08-20T14:30:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2024-08-20T16:00:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2024-08-20T16:00:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2024-08-20 18:30:00","gmt_time_end":"2024-08-20 20:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2024-08-20 20:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"location":"Coda C1115 Druid Hills \u0026 Zoom ","extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"221981","name":"Graduate Studies"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"100811","name":"Phd Defense"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1788","name":"Other\/Miscellaneous"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78771","name":"Public"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}