Kanaka Rajan, PhD
Associate Professor of Neurobiology
Founding Faculty, Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence
Harvard Medical School, Harvard University
Kanaka Rajan, PhD, is a computational neuroscientist, Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School, and a founding faculty member of the Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence at Harvard University. Her research seeks to understand how important cognitive functions — such as learning, remembering, and deciding — emerge from the cooperative activity of multi-scale neural processes. Using data from neuroscience experiments, she applies computational frameworks derived from machine learning and statistical physics to uncover integrative theories about the brain that bridge neurobiology and artificial intelligence.
Education
PHD
Neuroscience, Columbia University in the City of New York
MS
Brandeis University
BTECH
Industrial Biotechnology, Anna University
Professional appointments
Faculty
Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence, Harvard University
Associate Professor
Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School
Adjunct Associate Professor
Department of Neuroscience & Friedman Brain Institute, School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY
Visiting Professor
Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, Columbia University, NY
Associate Professor (Tenured)
Department of Neuroscience & Friedman Brain Institute, School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY
Visiting Professor
Samsung Artificial Intelligence Center (SAIC), NY
Assistant Professor
Department of Neuroscience & Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY
Biophysics Theory Fellow
Princeton University, NJ
Grant support
U01, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Co-Investigator; PI: Bence Olveczky
Lefler Small Grants Award
Harvard Medical School; Principal Investigator
Dean’s Innovation Award
Harvard Medical School; Principal Investigator
Simons Collaboration for the Global Brain Pilot Grant Program
Principal Investigator
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar
Principal Investigator
R01, National Institute of Mental Health
Co-Investigator; PI: Peter Rudebeck
McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience Scholar Awards
Principal Investigator
RF1, National Institute on Drug Abuse
Principal Investigator
National Science Foundation (NSF) Early Career Development (CAREER)
Principal Investigator
Simons Collaboration for the Global Brain Pilot Grant Program
Principal Investigator
Dyal Foundation Research Scholars Award
Principal Investigator
Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship
Principal Investigator
NSF FOUNDATIONS Award
Principal Investigator
R01, National Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Bioimaging
Principal Investigator
Friedman Research Scholars Award
DiSabato Family Foundation; Principal Investigator
Mindlin Foundation Award
Principal Investigator
Understanding Human Cognition Scholar AwarD, James McDonnell Foundation
Principal Investigator
Visiting FellowshiP,Janelia Research CampuS
Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Principal Investigator
Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (NARSAD) Young Investigator Award
Principal Investigator
Awards and honors
Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers
The White House
Dean’s Innovation Award
Harvard Medical School
Lefler Small Grants Award
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar
Brain, Mind & Consciousness Program
McKnight Scholar Award
National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award
Harold and Golden Lamport Basic Science Research Award
Allen Institute Next Generation Leader
Sloan-Swartz Theoretical Neuroscience Postdoctoral Fellowship
Patents
Jointly Learning Visual Motion And Confidence From Local Patches In Event Cameras
Kepple, D.R., Lee, D.W., Isler, I.V., Rajan, K., Park, I.M., Lee, D. (May 27, 2021), U.S. Patent Application No. 17105028, US 2021/0158483 A1; United States Patent and Trademark Office https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/5c/ba/89/afb9786d5d95da/US20210158483A1.pdf
Teaching experience
Workshop Lecturer
Computational and Systems Neuroscience (COSYNE) meeting
Guest Lecturer
Biological and Artificial Intelligence Course Undergraduate Seminar, Harvard University
Tutorial Chair
Computational and Systems Neuroscience (COSYNE) meeting
Workshop Lecturer
Computational and Systems Neuroscience (COSYNE) meeting
Guest Lecturer
Biostatistics Graduate Course, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Lecturer
CNeuro, Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience Summer School, August 14-21
Lecturer
Dynamic Brain School, Summer Island, Allen Institute & University of Washington
Tutorial on Recurrent Neural Network Models for Neuroscience
Computational and Systems Neuroscience (COSYNE) meeting, February 23
Guest Lecturer
Graduate Seminar in Computational Neuroscience, Depts of Neuroscience, Data Science, and Computer Science, New York University, December 2
Neuromatch Academy Mentor
Lectureship
Department of Molecular Biology and the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University for Methods and Logic in Quantitative Biology
Lecturer
Method and Logic in Quantitative Biology
Lecturer
Mathematics Bootcamp for Life Sciences – BioMath
Lecturer
Computational Neuroscience
Assistant Instructor
Computational Neuroscience
Teaching Assistant
Biostatistics and Statistical Methods in Neuroscience
Teaching Assistant
Biology Laboratory
Teaching Assistant
Comparative Neurophysiology
Professional service
Kempner Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship Selection Committee
Harvard Medical School
Kempner Institute Graduate Fellowship Selection Committee
Harvard Medical School
Chair, Computational Neuroscience Tenure-Track Faculty Search
ISMMS
Member of Search Committee
Computational Psychiatry Center, ISMMS
U19 Grant Review Panel
NINDS, National Institutes of Health
Robust Intelligence Grant Review Panel
National Science Foundation
Faculty Council (elected position)
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
CRCNS Grant Review Panel
National Science Foundation
IH/BRAIN Initiative: Targeted BRAIN Circuits Projects
National Institutes of Health
Multiscale Modeling (MSM) Consortium
National Institutes of Health
Space Radiation Brain Modeling Panel
NASA
EFRI BRAID Panel
National Institutes of Health
Diversity Working Group
Friedman Brain Institute, Mount Sinai
SPARC Program Panel
National Institutes of Health
Virtual Observatory of the Cortex (VORTEX)
National Institutes of Health
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