MBCT & NeuroTech Student Committees

(He/Him/His) Shenghua (Sean) Liu is a PhD student in the department of Physics. Sean is interested in developing and studying models that capture relevant structures and functions of neural circuits to uncover theoretical principles underlying the brain’s impressive capabilities, with the additional hope to find parallel in artificial neural networks. Before coming to Stanford, Sean received his BS in Physics and Mathematics at the University of Notre Dame in 2023. In his free time, Sean enjoys tennis, skiing, movies, and good times with friends.g, Pete!

Sabrina Jones is a PhD student in the Neurosciences IDP program. She currently works in the lab of Prof. Jay McClelland and is interested in artificial and biological learning dynamics and in understanding biologically plausible learning mechanisms. She graduated from the University of Arkansas in 2022 with a BS in Physics and a BA in Psychology and Spanish. Outside of research, she enjoys running and spending time with her dog, Pete!

I am a graduate student in the Lab of Organismal Biology advised by Lauren O'Connell. I am interested in how early life experience effects the brain and influences behavior. Specifically, I will be looking at the development of olfactory circuitry in tadpoles that are exposed to different early life stressors. 

In my free time I enjoy rock climbing, snowboarding, traveling, and camping.

Pronouns: He/Him
I am an Applied Physics PhD student studying complex biological and artificial networks. I apply various tools from physics, cognitive science, and machine learning to understand how artificial networks learn from data and how they might elucidate the mechanisms of intelligent behavior found in nature.

Alvin is a PhD student in Psychology, advised by Prof Michael C. Frank. He is interested in the role of environmental input on language learning, as well as comparisons between language learning processes in children and machine learning models. Alvin received a BA in Psychology and Linguistics from the University of Oxford, and an MS in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University.

Hannah graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a double major in Physics and Electrical Engineering & Computer Science. She received her Master of Engineering from MIT, where she designed power electronic systems for wireless neuromodulation and investigated the use of magnetothermal modulation to stimulate nerve growth. Hannah is currently pursuing her PhD in Bioengineering as a Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellow, focusing on closed-loop neuromodulation of the central and peripheral nervous systems.

Alice (she/her/hers) graduated from UC San Diego with a BS in Bioengineering: BioSystems and a minor in Literatures of the World. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Dr. Paul Nuyujukian's Brain Interfacing Lab. Her research interests broadly include motor learning, stroke recovery, and understanding neural dynamics to improve brain-computer interfaces.

Favour (she/her) is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical Engineering conducting research in the Computational Neuroscience Laboratory with Dr. Ehsan Adeli and Dr. Kilian Pohl. Previously, she obtained a B.S. in Computer Science with minors in Arabic and Global Engineering Leadership from the University of Maryland-College Park (Go Terps!). Her current research is focused on using data-driven methods to discover trackable, digital biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases by identifying neural correlates between neuroimaging and recorded human, movement-linked disturbances.

She/Her/Hers

I am an electrical engineering Ph.D. student and am interested in the dynamics of neural activity within and across brain regions as they relate to motor control, reinforcement learning, and brain-machine interfaces. My approach involves computational analyses of large-scale neural activity patterns, and I am especially interested in bidirectional approaches that take neural dynamics as inspiration for improving machine learning and robotics, as well as using methods from these engineering fields toward understanding the brain.

Sabrina (she/her) is an Electrical Engineering PhD student advised by Professor Todd Coleman. Her research interests are in signal processing and inference methods for accessible, noninvasive patient monitoring. Prior to Stanford, she received her BS and MEng in EECS from MIT. Outside of lab, she enjoys baking, running, and being involved with teaching and outreach.