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Ann Hermundstad

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Biography

I'm interested in understanding how the brain creates and uses adaptive sensorimotor representations to generate flexible behavior in the face of uncertainty and environmental change. My lab uses a combination of theory, modeling, and data analysis to explore how neural circuits can do this efficiently and flexibly, and we work in close collaboration with experimentalists to test these ideas in behaving animals.

Before starting my lab at Janelia in 2016, I studied physics at the Colorado School of Mines, where I worked with Lincoln Carr on problems related to the quantum behavior of ultracold atoms. After a brief hiatus volunteering overseas, I moved to UCSB for my PhD, where I worked on a variety of problems in statistical physics related to granular materials, biophysics, and network science in Jean Carlson's Complex System Group.  After my PhD, I did a postdoc in theoretical neuroscience with Vijay Balasubramanian, initially at École Normale Supérieure in Paris and later at UPenn in Philadelphia.

When I'm not in the lab, you can find me dancing, writing, or dreaming up new art projects.

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Education

BS, Engineering Physics, Colorado School of Mines
PhD, Physics, University of California Santa Barbara
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Awards

Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award at the Scientific Interface