Our Team

David J. Freedman, Ph.D.

David J. Freedman, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

Degree: Ph.D., Systems Neuroscience

Professor, Department of Neurobiology
Chair, Graduate Program in Computational Neuroscience
The University of Chicago

Member:
Graduate Program in Computational Neuroscience
Graduate Program in Neurobiology
Grossman Institute for Neuroscience, Quantitative Biology, and Human Behavior

Email: dfreedman@uchicago.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Grace Nelson

Grace Nelson

Lab Manager

Degree: B.A. Anthropology and Animal Behavior

Favorite Language: Russian

More about Grace: Grace has conducted field research with multiple Central American primate species, and plans to continue studying primate behavior in the future.

Email: nelsong@uchicago.edu

Kenneth Latimer, Ph.D.

Kenneth Latimer, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Researcher

Degree: Ph.D., Neuroscience

Favorite Languages: Julia, MATLAB, C 

More about Kenneth: Kenneth develops and applies statistical tools to answer questions about visual processing and decision making in the primate cortex. His work primarily focuses on characterizing spike trains recorded in the lateral intraparietal (LIP) cortex and frontal eye fields (FEF) during categorization tasks. He is interested in understanding how categorical representations in these areas depend on training history. 

Email: latimerk@uchicago.edu 

Website: www.kennethlatimer.com  

Sihai Li, Ph.D.

Sihai Li, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Researcher

Degree: Ph.D. Neuroscience

Favorite Language: Matlab, Python

More about Sihai: Sihai is interested in exploring how neural activity represents higher cognitive functions and manipulates subjects’ behavioral outputs. Before joining the team, Sihai finished his PhD with research illustrating functional specialization of different cortical areas in Working Memory.

Email: sihaili@uchicago.edu

Matthew James Tilley, Ph.D.

Matthew James Tilley, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Researcher

Degree: Ph.D., Particle Physics

Favorite Language: Python 

More about Matthew: Matthew is interested in developing biologically inspired artificial neural networks to gain both a greater understanding of them and their biological analogues. Before joining the Lab, Matthew completed his PhD investigating decays of B mesons at CERN’s LHCb experiment.

Email: mjtilley@uchicago.edu 

Vinay Shirhatti, Ph.D.

Vinay Shirhatti, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Researcher
Degree: Ph.D., Mathematical Sciences and Neuroscience
Favorite language: Music
Ali Alamri

Ali Alamri

Graduate Student

Degree: B.S., Neuroscience

Favorite Language: Python

More about Ali: I’m an expert doodle artist and I have never burned a loaf of banana bread in my life.

Email: ahalamri@uchicago.edu

Matt Rosen

Matt Rosen

Graduate Student

Degree: B.A., Computer Science

Favorite Language: Python

More about Matt: Interested in the logic of biological computations + in search of the perfect pour-over.

Email: mattrosen@uchicago.edu 

Barbara Peysakhovich

Barbara Peysakhovich

Graduate Student

Degree: M.S., Behavioral Neurosciences 

Favorite Language: Estonian

Email: bpeysakhovich@uchicago.edu

Oliver Zhu

Oliver Zhu

Graduate Student

Degree: B.S., Biochemistry

Favorite Language: Classical piano music 

More about Oliver: Oliver is interested in how neural mechanisms underlying categorization and decision making are employed and coordinated across multiple brain regions. He also dabbles in the dark arts of artificial neural networks and hopes that it will solve all the problems in his life. Whatever problems remain he hopes to solve with ramen and hamburgers. 

Email: zhuou@uchicago.edu 

Grace DiRisio

Grace DiRisio

Graduate Student

Email: gdirisio@uchicago.edu

Rory Cooley

Rory Cooley

Graduate Student

Email: racooley@uchicago.edu

Samuel David

Samuel David

Research Technician
Degree: B.A., Neuroscience 

Favorite Language: Poetry 

More about Sam: An original poem about recording from neurons: 

I met It 

the other day; 
 

Its face was waves 

Its voice was rain.


Email: samueldavid@uchicago.edu 
Suha Chang

Suha Chang

Undergraduate Researcher

Degree: B.S. candidate, Neuroscience

Favorite Language: Penguinese

Email: suchang@uchicago.edu 

Alex Medoff

Alex Medoff

Undergraduate Researcher

Degree: B.S. candidate, Computer Science

Favorite Language: Jazz

Email: alexmedoff@uchicago.edu

Amelia Simonoff

Amelia Simonoff

Undergraduate Researcher

Degree: B.S. candidate, Neuroscience

Favorite Language: Russian

More about Amelia: Amelia is a Neuroscience major at UChicago, and has been working in Dr. Freedman’s lab since her first quarter. She also plays piano and is often seen performing on campus. She hopes to apply to medical schools in a few years.

Email: asimonoff@uchicago.edu

Postdoctoral and Graduate Alumni

Pantea Moghimi, Ph.D.

Pantea Moghimi, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Researcher
Nicolas Masse, Ph.D.

Nicolas Masse, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Researcher
W. Jeffrey Johnston, Ph.D.

W. Jeffrey Johnston, Ph.D.

Graduate Student

Degree: Ph.D., Computational Neuroscience

Favorite Language: Python 

Email: wjeffreyjohnston@gmail.com  

Website: wj2.github.io 

Christopher Hauser, Ph.D.

Christopher Hauser, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Researcher
Yang Zhou, Ph.D.

Yang Zhou, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Researcher

Degree: Ph.D., Neuroscience

Currently: Peking University

Guilhelm Ibos, Ph.D.

Guilhelm Ibos, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Researcher
Krithika Mohan, Ph.D.

Krithika Mohan, Ph.D.

Graduate Student

Degree: Ph.D., Computational Neuroscience

Lab Member: 2013 – 2019

Currently: Postdoctoral Researcher, Doris Tsao’s Lab, California Institute of Technology

Xinqiang Ding, Ph.D.

Xinqiang Ding, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Researcher
Jared Clemens, Ph.D.

Jared Clemens, Ph.D.

Graduate Student
Alex Gonzalez, Ph.D.

Alex Gonzalez, Ph.D.

Graduate Student
Jillian McKee, M.D., Ph.D.

Jillian McKee, M.D., Ph.D.

Graduate Student

Degree: M.D., Ph.D., Computational Neuroscience

Lab Member: 2009 – 2014

Christopher Rishel, M.D., Ph.D.

Christopher Rishel, M.D., Ph.D.

Graduate Student

Degree: M.D., Ph.D., Computational Neuroscience

Lab Member: 2008 – 2012

Arup Sarma, M.D., Ph.D.

Arup Sarma, M.D., Ph.D.

Graduate Student

Degree: M.D., Ph.D., Computational Neuroscience

Lab Member: 2010 – 2015

Sruthi Swaminathan, Ph.D.

Sruthi Swaminathan, Ph.D.

Graduate Student

Degree: Ph.D., Neurobiology

Lab Member: 2008 – 2012

Currently: Research Specialist, Unilever Corporation

Lab Alumni

Alex BaranskiSam BarnettRheza BudionoChris DoCampoJonathan "CJ" Hodnefield
Xica FelixGregory GrantJacob HehirStephanie HokerGang Huang
Varun IyerRutwik KharkarAriah LaceyCatherine Chaihyun LeeGrace Lindsay
Jack LundellSteve McClellanMichelle MachonAmanda OwensRenata Poulton- Kamakura
Yinghui QiuMaimon Rose, Ph.D.Navaneethan SanthanamAlessandra SilvaAdam Stevenson
Patrick StinsonStephanie TetrickStephanie ThomasArjun VenkataswamySylvia Xinyu Wei
Sam ZhengSophie ZinbergAustin ButlerSuha Chang