Modes of Flight

International flights are a special space between two timepoints. As I am physically lifted into air, my mind is similarly upheaved. At this particular flight, I was contemplating the idea that a mind can understand its physical realization, the brain. 

I woke up in the morning and packed a bag. I like to travel light wherever I'm going. 

I was filled with expectation and anticipation as I was sipping a coffee at the Tallinn Airport, waiting for the transfer flight to Moscow. My final destination was Pittsburgh International Airport. The total time in travel is approximately 20 hours. Just in time for the lectures to start the next day. I'm starting my phD in Neural Computation at the Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh.

I chose this phD program because it combines Systems Neuroscience with a rigorous mathematical and algorithmic training, including Statistics and Machine Learning. I believe that algorithms for the computational analysis of neural data open up new ways to think about the processes operating in the brain. The data that scientists acquire from the brain is high-dimensional and complex. Extracting actual understanding from the data requires computer assistance.  Neuroscience is moving towards an era where experimental measurements are composed into complex databases, which can be mined and analyzed using modeling. An example of this is the Allen Brain Observatory https://observatory.brain-map.org/visualcoding . Allen Institute published calcium imaging measurements from the primary visual area of mice viewing movies. In order to fully understand the rich causal structure behind the data, it is necessary to develop statistical algorithms that reveal interesting aspects of the data. 

I believe that modeling and experiment should be closely integrated. Experimental data is complex and true ingenuity is required to design experiments that reveal fundamental neural mechanisms behind the compositionally structured behavior. Once we have the data, we have to understand what it's about and what mechanisms are at work. Computational models are a bridge between the sea of data and the understanding evoked in a human mind. The close collaboration between experimentalists and computational modelers and algorithms designers is why I chose the Neural Computational program at Carnegie Mellon and University of Pittsburgh. 

All discoveries start with a dream, a mode of flight.