Brain+Cognitive Sciences News Spring 2005 1

brain+cognitive sciences news Spring 2005 1

MESSAGE FROM THE BCS IN THE NEWS Tech Review, and (soon) Popular Mechanics, BBC The World, NPR DEPARTMENT HEAD PD Associate Russell Tedrake, Mriganka Sur Day to Day, the Science Channel, and Teresa Zhang, Ming-fai Fong, Derrick NECN. Shortly, the Special Edition The Department of Brain and Tan, and Andrew Baines of Sebastian Terminator 2 DVD will also feature Cognitive Sciences is in an historic Seung’s lab were members of a team Toddler. phase. We expect our faculty size, that developed a robot that demon- Tomaso Poggio’s group at CBCL currently at 32, to reach 42 by 2010, strates a new learning system that has developed a quantitative model of double the size relative to 1995 allows it to continuously adapt to the the first few hundred milliseconds of – a growth made possible by the terrain as it moves. Named Toddler primate visual perception to account McGovern Institute and the Picower because of the way it walks, Russ for some of the basic properties of the Center. We are on the verge of mov- says it is “one of the first walking physiology and the psychophysics of ing to a new building that will house, robots to use a learning program, and object recognition. Computer simula- for the first time in 20 years, the entire it is the first to learn to walk without tions have shown the plausibility of department – including neuroscience any prior information built into the this scheme for visual recognition and and cognitive science, and the Picower controller.” Similar robots built at its consistency – so far! – with several Center and McGovern Institute. Cornell and Delft were simpler and data from the labs of colleagues in Moreover, the Singleton Fellowships focused on the control program, physiology and psychophysics. The while Toddler uses a customized have substantially strengthened the continued on page 6 department’s graduate program. learning software that exploits the This is a time for us to envision a future design. Toddler, which uses elec- that secures our place in our field, and tric motors that directly move the even in society as a whole. ankle, can teach itself to walk in Our first task as we go forward is to less than 20 minutes or 600 steps. bolster key areas of the department Toddler was introduced at the Feb. with strong faculty appointments. The 17 Annual Meeting of the American department’s core mission, of studying Association for the Advancement of the brain and mind at multiple levels Science, and its story will appear in of analysis, remains unique in the field. Science, co-authored by Prof. Andy By recruiting outstanding researchers Ruina of Cornell, Steven Collins Massachusetts and educators who anchor and bridge of the University of Michigan, and Institute of these levels through the questions they Martijn Wisse of the Delft University of Technology ask and the approaches they use, we Technology. Additional stories about ‘Toddler’ impresses passersby in the E25 atrium, should consolidate and expand our the robot have appeared in print, radio as Russ Tedrake (far right) demonstrates his skills. leadership position. and television, including features by Discovering basic mechanisms is the AP, Reuters, the NY Times, the fundamental not only for increasing our knowledge of how the brain and mind SPRING 2005 CALENDAR OF EVENTS If you would like to work but also for a range of applica- be put on the tions that stem from this knowledge. Mondays Brain Lunch newsletter mailing People have tremendous curiosity for Tuesdays Cog Lunch list, or have the discoveries of our field; addition- Wednesdays Brains & Machines Lecture Series information you ally, various kinds of applications that Alternate Thursdays Plastic Lunch would like to have impact people’s lives flow from our web.mit.edu/picowercenter/events published, work. First, new products that are please contact: useful to society get created. Indeed, Fridays BCS Colloquium followed by Reception Judy several of our researchers have con- web.mit.edu/bcs/newsevents/events Rauchwarger tributed importantly to developing Human Resources new products or machines that derive SPECIAL EVENTS Administrator and from principles of human brain func- Newsletter Editor tion or performance. MIT, with its Friday, April 1, Bidwell Lecture, [email protected] extraordinary resources in engineering 4:00 PM, E25-111 Speaker: Bruce Yankner, Ph.D., Professor of Neurology and and applied science, and encourage- Neuroscience and Director of the Program in Neurodegeneration, Harvard Medical ment of entrepreneurship, provides a School, Children’s Hospital. “DNA Damage and Gene Silencing in the Aging BCS Alumni Please particularly rich environment for such Brain” Keep In Touch applications. Second, new findings Denise Heintze about the brain and mind enable pos- Friday, April 22, Hans-Lukas Teuber Memorial Lecture Academic sible solutions to the huge problem 4:00 PM, E25-111 Speaker: Fernando Nottebohm, Ph.D., Professor, Laboratory Administrator of brain disorders and diseases. Our of Animal Behavior, Rockefeller University, Field Research Center. “Vocal Learning [email protected] continued on page 4 and the Natural History of Adult Neurogenesis and Neuronal Replacement” Spring 2005 2

BCSP IS PROGRESSING RAPIDLY Photo coursesy Andy of Ryan The atrium

We have our own onsite transportation. Actually, the building has been constructed so that we won’t feel the movement of the train. Photo courtesy of David Conlon

ERRATUM

In the Fall issue, in the photo at the right, Prof. Ted Adelson (center) was erroneously identified as Arne Abramson, bcsp Project Manager. Mea culpa [ed.]

NEW BEGINNINGS

McGovern Institute Director Bob Desimone and his wife Chen Chen welcomed daughter An An (“peaceful”) on December 27.

Postdoctoral Fellow Jill Crittenden and husband Kyle Copps welcomed son Oliver on November 8.

Graduate Student Ben Balas and Erin Conwell (BCS ’03) were married on January 8 in Kansas City, Missouri.

Graduate Student Thomas Serre and Alison Tovar were married in Bogotá, Colombia on January 15, 2005. Spring 2005 3

BOB DESIMONE experience taught him to appreciate Anne Victorian house, complete with the problems of the mentally ill and stained glass windows, that is full of clarified that he lacked the requisite history. While the house is in great skills to be a therapist. On the other shape, Bob and Chen Chen are mak- hand, he had a talent for lab work so, ing lists of improvements they would after graduation, he left for Charlie like to add. In his spare time, he Gross’s lab at Princeton. While there, mainly reads novels and historical fic- he volunteered at a local hot line for tion, though currently, he is finishing suicidal people in order to keep his a history of the early American repub- involvement with the mental illness lic. He is trying to learn Chinese by side of neuroscience. listening to CDs as he drives to work. In the Gross lab, he worked on Administrative responsibilities at primate neurophysiology, and was the NIH meant that he had to focus awarded an NIH/NRSA fellowship his research more, so his work on to continue this work with Peter memory was dropped in favor of Schiller at MIT. However, before concentrating on neural mechanisms starting at MIT, Mort Mishkin offered of attention. He is now expanding him an opportunity to establish his his human studies on attention, using own neurophysiology lab at the NIH, magnetoencephalography and brain and Peter advised him to accept the imaging. He would like to bridge position because it could lead to a research in animals and human Bob Desimone, the new director long-term research career there. As subjects and is thinking more about of the McGovern Institute for Brain a result, Bob never really did get projects that could have an impact Research and BCS Professor of postdoctoral training – something on brain disorders. Neuroscience, hails from an immi- unheard of today. Instead, he was At the McGovern Institute, a major grant Italian community outside of able to establish his own research thrust of his research will be based Philadelphia. His father, who entered program and get tenure at an earlier on the concept that selective atten- the family car business when he age than most people, and this fast tion depends on the synchronous returned from his World War II service, track to tenure gave him the freedom activity of large numbers of neurons was a great believer in education. to take more risks in his research. in distributed brain structures. He Though he only briefly attended col- Bob’s subsequent appointment as wants to understand how cells can lege himself, he and other family mem- the head of the intramural program cooperate with so many of their other bers encouraged Bob’s education from at the NIMH came at the behest neighbors in directing the path of the beginning and, by age 8 or 9, Bob of Steve Hyman (now provost at important signals in the brain, so that was already an amateur astronomer. Harvard) who was the Institute an important stimulus in the environ- Every weekend, Bob would take a train Director for NIMH at the time. Bob ment can trigger the focused behav- to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, felt that because of his indebtedness ior of the organism. For example, a science museum noted for its hands- to the NIH for the opportunities it when a student is trying to concen- on activities. It was there Bob built a had provided him, he should accept trate on a text, it requires that neu- telescope, first designing and polishing the offer. He believed he could help rons in the brain enhance and syn- the mirror, then building the housing to rebuild the clinical research sector of chronize their activity so the student hold the optics. An uncle who worked the intramural program and link it to can keep focused on the text and as a maintenance mechanic in a plas- stronger basic science, thus contrib- not be distracted by other activities tics factory provided him with the old uting to the mental health research that are going on around her in the machine parts he used to build it. The effort, even though his own research classroom. His newest study on the process of taking an ordinary piece did not directly involve the mentally neural mechanisms of attention was of glass and shaping it into a precise ill. In essence, he came full circle, accepted for publication in Science. instrument really appealed to Bob and having gone to college to do mental There was nothing negative which was his introduction to science. health work. drove him from the NIH, but rather A National Merit Scholarship Bob has a 19 year old son who the positive opportunities here which enabled him to enroll at Macalester is working, but who, he hopes, will attracted him. In his first meeting College in St. Paul, Minn., where his eventually enroll in college. He also with Pat and Lore McGovern, who ambition was to be a psychotherapist. has a new baby daughter who has established the McGovern Institute During the college’s equivalent of IAP, awakened his competitive spirit, and and remain active on its board, he he spent a month living on a ward he brags that he can change a dia- was inspired by their dedication to in a mental institution housing long- per in a flash. His wife, Chen Chen, a improving human welfare and by their term schizophrenic patients, and he pianist, will be an instructor in MIT’s belief that research in neuroscience remained involved with activities of this music department. She has written was important to achieve this. The nature throughout his college career. children’s music books and, influ- McGovern Institute, with its own On another occasion, necessitated enced by her Chinese background, governing board, but also part of a by his having taken all the money his she tries to combine eastern and university, has the best of all worlds parents had saved to cover his living western elements of music in original for accomplishing this. He was also expenses to invest in a Karman Ghia, arrangements. attracted to joining both the superb he accepted a live-in job in a halfway Recently, Bob acquired a 100 year faculty who had been brought in by house for mentally ill young adults, old telescope that he hopes to set Phil Sharp, the former director, as where he served as the night emer- up on his deck in Brookline, once he well as his many friends and col- gency person, calling an ambulance and the family finally move up here. leagues on the faculty of the Picower if a patient attempted suicide. The They have purchased an 1898 Queen Center and BCS. One of Bob’s first Spring 2005 4 continued from p. 3 Bob Desimone the interaction with students, and therapies. But given our outstanding postdocs at the NIH, Earl Miller, the quality of MIT students, both basic research programs, we are in a is now a Professor in BCS, and graduate and undergraduate, was unique position to advance a mecha- Earl was instrumental in encourag- a major attraction for him. He says nistic understanding of brain disorders. ing Bob to move. Bob says that that interacting with our faculty has In turn, research on disorders can the NIH is a fabulous medical and already been great fun, and he’s complement and strengthen our basic research environment, but it does having a wonderful time. research effort. Indeed, some of our not have the technology and engi- recent faculty searches have recog- nized this potential synergy. neering and other physical sciences continued from p. 1 Message from Dept. Head that MIT has. Bob’s vision for the The ways in which a department McGovern Institute is to facilitate researchers have contributed here such as ours can advance the study the interaction of neuroscience with too, but I believe it is timely to initi- of brain disorders depends on the these disciplines, as well as with ate a dialogue on this topic. nature of the research. A focus by an the talents of people in information There has been increasing discus- individual laboratory on a molecular sciences, computation, biology, and sion recently, led by the NIH, about mechanism or cellular process can lead the Broad and Whitehead Institutes the importance of translating basic to findings that have important implica- at MIT. The new brain and cognitive research findings to clinical treat- tions for a disorder or disease. In other sciences project, to be completed ments. Brain disorders of either instances, collaborations with investi- next fall, will be the focal point of developmental or degenerative gators in medical schools are required, these interactions. He says that origin, including stroke, affect large and particularly for cognitive or imaging these are all ingredients needed numbers of people and are a major approaches to be applied to patient to produce headway in neurosci- concern for societal health. Thus populations or materials. Such work ence and brain disorders, and MIT there is both a responsibility and an has sometimes merited caution: Does it is unique in having such a group- opportunity for us to have a signifi- meet the standards of controlled exper- ing, particularly a grouping of such cant impact, but only if combined iments, or does it dilute our mission? caliber. Having a distinguished neu- astutely with our strengths. Several of our faculty already study roscientist as the new President of Because MIT does not have a cognitive processes, brain systems or MIT, is “icing on the cake.” medical school, we cannot be an molecules in ways that relate directly or At the NIH, Bob also missed end-stage provider of treatments or indirectly to brain disorders (based on a recent informal tally, over half of our INTERVIEW DAY 2005 faculty self-identify their work as having some relation to brain disorders). The vast majority of brain disorders and diseases have cognitive and func- tional manifestations with neuronal and molecular underpinnings – indeed, a sophisticated understanding of a disorder demands a diversity of approaches. Brain disorders also provide a unique window into the architecture of the brain and mind, roughly the way visual illusions provide a window to understanding how the visual system works. Thus, in addition to the various themes that link different analysis levels across the department – sensory and movement systems, learning and memory, neural and cognitive development – another theme could naturally be Left to right: Mriganka Sur introducing prospective graduate students to the brain disorders and diseases. department; Jodi Davenport and Amy Pooler setting up posters; Earl Miller with It is important to affirm that our Tim Buschman and Rahmat Muhammad at party. Below: current members of the central mission remains to understand department and prospective students were well fed. fundamental mechanisms of the brain and mind. Other entities at MIT, such as the Broad Institute, are also exploring the possible applications of basic science advances to human disorders. Indeed, as our field evolves, I believe that the complexity of brain disorders, together with the rapid growth of information and tools – particularly including molecular, genetic, electrophysi- ological and brain imaging approaches – demands new alliances and organi- zational structures that bring together basic scientists and physicians seam- lessly. Spring 2005 5

BCS HOLIDAY PARTY AWARDS AND HONORS FACULTY Neville Hogan was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Dublin Institute of Technology, in December 2004. Earl Miller was the Keynote speaker at both the 2005 Human Brain Mapping meeting and the 2005 Motivational Neural Networks meeting. Tomaso Poggio was a featured speaker at the Crick Memorial at the Salk Institute in September Morgan Sheng was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in September 2004.

STAFF HR Administrator and Newsletter Editor Judy Rauchwarger Chris Moore, Aude Oliva, and Mriganka Sur was presented with the BCS Department Service Award at the holiday party in December. The BCS Financial Team, Financial and Operations Officer Sheila McCabe and Financial Assistant Toni Oliver, has been given a School of Science Infinite Mile Award. Undergraduate Administrative Assistant Carla Ashton- Cohen is also the recipient of a School of Science Infinite Mile Award.

GRADUATE STUDENTS Bob Desimone Christopher Hirsch won best research poster award at the and Earl Miller GALANA (Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition sampling the – North America) conference, December 2004 in Hawaii. wine. Special Award for Extraordinary Teaching Service: Tevye Rachelson Angus MacDonald Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching: Beau Cronin, Amy Perfors, Monica Linden, Chris Hirsch Walle Nauta Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching: Daniel Casasanto, Simon Overduin, Charles Kemp Walle Nauta Awards for Continuing Dedication to Teaching: Josh McDermott, Ben Balas BCS Team Awards for Outstanding Teaching: Tim Buschman, Julie Goldberg, Boris Krupa, Marnie Phillips, Cansu Tunca, and Gene Yeo for 9.02; Julie Goldberg, Emily Hueske, Lena Khibnik, Show Ming (Sally) Kwok, and Neville Sanjana for 9.12

UNDERGRAD STUDENTS Laura Yong-Hwa Lee, ’05, a pre-med double major in BCS and biology has been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to pursue a doctorate in clinical medicine at Oxford University. The BCS family is expanding. L to R: Grad student Mara Breen & Adelaide, Prof. Elly Nedivi & Ness, USA Today also honored her recently by naming her one of Prin. Res. Sci. Ruth Rosenholtz & Sarah, Financial & Oper. Officer Sheila McCabe & Patrick, Lauren 20 students to the All-USA College Academic Team. Armstrong (wife of A.O. John) & Hayden. Shijun “Cindy” Xi, SB ‘05, has been awarded a Merage Fellowship. The foundation awards this to immigrants who have demonstrated leadership and academic achievement.

David Berry, SB ’00 in BCS and currently an MD/PhD student in HST, received the $50,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for his work with a new protein and a common coag- ulant that may help with both stroke and cancer patients.

Cheryl Cheney, Sasha Rakhlin Jodi Davenport, Mark Histed, and Jason Theresa Feleday Jacobson and Terra Barnes Spring 2005 6 continued from p. 1 BCS in the News remember. Loss of plasticity, particularly in the hippocam- model, dubbed the standard model because it is a quan- pus, site of short-term memory, may explain, at least in titative version of the simple feed-forward, hierarchical part, increased forgetfulness. architecture originally proposed by Hubel & Wiesel, sum- Earl Miller, Picower Professor of Neuroscience, and PD marizes a set of basic facts about cortical mechanisms Associate Anitha Pasupathy found that the striatum, the of recognition. BCS graduate student Thomas Serre, PD input structure of the basal ganglia (the large forebrain area Fellow Lior Wolf, and Stan Bileschi have extended the beneath the cortex), showed more rapid change in the model to take into account that the tuning of neurons early learning process than the more highly evolved prefrontal in the visual pathway is likely to depend, at least in part, cortex. Their results suggest that the basal ganglia first on visual experience. When tested on real-world natural identify the rule, and then “train” the prefrontal cortex, images the model seems to outperform some of the best which absorbs the lesson more slowly. “In other words, computer vision systems on a recognition task, categoriz- primitive brain structures might be the engine driving even ing well many different types of objects in complex natural our most advanced high-level, intelligent learning abili- images. ties,” Miller said. “We found that as monkeys learn new, Prof. Mriganka Sur, PD Fellows Jorge Marino, James simple rules, associations analogous to ‘stop at red, go at Schummers, and David Lyons, in collaboration with a green,’ the striatum of the basal ganglia shows evidence of group led by Klaus Obermayer at Berlin University of learning much sooner and faster than the prefrontal cortex. Technology have discovered an important new way the But, an interesting wrinkle is that the monkeys' behavior brain performs complex functions such as pattern recogni- improved at a slow rate, similar to that of the slower chang- tion. They have examined how processing networks in the es in prefrontal cortex.” This suggests that while the basal brain transform visual stimuli to create outputs that can be ganglia “learn” first, their output forces the prefrontal cortex used for perception and action. This forms the beginning to change, albeit at a slower rate. of an important new way to understand how the brain cre- Elly Nedivi, Fred and Carol Middleton Assistant ates new functions. Professor, together with PD Associate Ulrich Putz and grad Meanwhile, former graduate student Serkan Oray and student Corey Harwell, found that a plasticity gene and PD Fellow Ania Majewska of the Sur lab measured the its growth-promoting protein, CPG15, could potentially be structure of single dendritic spines using two-photon used to develop therapies for renewing damaged or dis- microscopy. Their results, appearing in the Dec. 16 issue eased tissue. The three identified a form of CPG15 that of Neuron, examined how the structure of single dendritic protects cortical neurons from apoptosis, or programmed spines, the location of single synapses, changes when cell death. Apoptosis is a normal and essential part of inputs to the visual cortex change during a critical window early development, when brain cells proliferate rapidly and of development. They discovered that the twitching or some are killed off, but little is known about how apopto- change in size during the period connections are forming sis of growing neurons is regulated. The molecule is key is increased by the addition of tPA, a brain chemical used to the survival of neural stem cells in early development. to dissolve blood clots in the brain after a stroke which can Their findings were reported in the March issue of Nature hasten the structural remodeling of synapses. Neuroscience. Neurologist and Sr. Lecturer Thomas Byrne is currently Cognitive scientists have discovered that tamarin mon- offering a new BCS course, A Clinical Approach to the keys have no taste for the consonant tones that mostly Human Brain, which focuses on how the human brain make up music, suggesting that musicality may be restrict- works in health and disease. Dr. Byrne uses clinical cases ed to humans alone. Josh McDermott of MIT and Marc and will demonstrate how imaging is able to highlight dif- Hauser of Harvard conducted a series of musical experi- ferences between the normal and the diseased brain. In ments on cotton-top tamarins, a species of squirrel-sized the Fall, he will be teaching a course entitled Diseases of primates. The animals were placed in a chamber in which the Nervous System. consonant sounds were played on one side, and dissonant Prof. Nancy Kanwisher, PD Associate Chris Baker, and sounds were played on the other. The monkeys spent Professor Eli Peli of the Schepens Eye Research Institute equal amounts of time on the both sides of the chamber. at Harvard Medical School published an article in the In contrast, the humans tested by McDermott and Hauser January 19 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience on their showed a distinct liking for consonant sounds. The results research showing that brain reorganization occurs in of their study are reported online in Cognition. “This is the people suffering from macular degeneration, a progressive first time that a lack of preference for consonance has been visual disorder in which the center of the retina is dam- shown in primates,” says Isabelle Peretz, a psychologist aged and sight is limited to peripheral vision. Chris noted from the University of Montreal, Canada, who studies music that “Our major finding is that the part of the brain that perception. processes only central retinal visual information in people with normal sight reorganizes itself in people with macular degeneration to help process peripheral visual information.” This suggests the possibility of developing new rehabilitative strategies to use these changes to compen- sate for loss of retinal function. Aude Oliva goes In the December 2 issue of Neuron, Visiting Associate canyoning. Professor Guosong Liu and PD Associate Ina Slutsky (See story on p. 7) describe how magnesium appears to help maintain memory in middle age and beyond by regulating a key brain receptor important for learning and memory. Prof. Liu states that “Our study shows … maintaining proper magnesium in the cerebrospinal fluid is essential for maintaining the plasticity of synapses.” Plasticity is the ability to change and the key to the brain’s ability to learn and Spring 2005 7

AUDE OLIVA relevant for perception and categori- it, and then slowly act on the plan in zation? How can we model efficient a quiet and patient way (so you don’t scene and space recognition?); a fall),” she says. She had been terri- cognitive neuroscience approach fied of heights, but she used climbing (e.g., what are the neural correlates of as a way to control and overcome it. scene perception?); and a behavioral For Aude, climbing was not a risky viewpoint (e.g., characterizing human venture because all aspects of it were performances in a variety of tasks). clear, but the canyoning she did for Aude also holds two Master’s 3 years was inherently dangerous. In degrees from Grenoble: one in this sport, you jump from one water- Cognitive Science with a minor in fall level to the next or you use a rope image processing and another in to climb down. You are exploring Cognitive Psychology. Her Ph.D., at something unknown, because when the Institut National Polytechnique de you are climbing down through the Grenoble (INPG), in France, was in falls, you don’t see what is at the Cognitive Science, and was followed bottom, so there’s a mystery and by a “seven year journey of post- it’s risky. You have to evaluate the doctoral studies” around the world, risk without actually knowing what is with a goal of acquiring multiple there. This is what she likes about Rock climbing at Via Ferrata in the Alps. approaches to the study of visual science: exploring an unknown ave- perception and cognition. She went nue. “The mode you use to express Since childhood, Aude has wanted to Glasgow in the UK, followed by a a concept doesn’t matter. The to be a scientist. From a very early period in Kyoto, Japan, working in important thing is not being afraid stage, she was fascinated by cosmol- a company developing methods for of what could lay beyond.” Aude ogy (the origins of the universe) and automated face recognition systems. equates her passion for research with spent her high school years studying She then returned to the UK before both hobbies; i.e., at times she sees math and physics to assure a place accepting a two year research posi- goals and climbs slowly and knows in an engineering school studying tion at the INPG. In 2000, she came where she is going. Other times, astrophysics. For her, studying was to the Harvard Medical School to there are probabilities, an interesting a great pleasure and she was never work with Jeremy Wolfe who, in her avenue, but the goal is somewhat intimidated by these subjects, so she own words, taught her everything she obfuscated. received a baccalaureate in math. knows about visual attention. After A less arduous and dangerous Perhaps her fearlessness can be one-and-a-half years at Michigan hobby is cooking. Though she does attributed to her parents: her father, State University as an Assistant not cook often, when she does she an engineer and a math virtuoso, saw Professor, she came to MIT in July prefers ethnic cooking for large math as a numerical game, and her 2004, where she rejoined her partner, groups, but chocolate mousse is her mother is a professor of physics. Antonio Torrralba, whom she had met specialty. As a grad student, she A book by Hubert Reeves, a cos- in 1998 at the INPG. Antonio had would prepare it for the 40 members mologist, however, was her most done postdoctoral work with Pawan of the lab. She also loves to coordi- significant influence. Reeves wrote Sinha and is now a researcher in nate wines with the various courses that the challenge of the next century CSAIL. The two have collaborated of a meal, an interest she acquired is to understand how the brain works. on several articles. from her father, an amateur wine con- Inspired by his words, Aude could Aude and Antonio were not only noisseur. have chosen to study the brain via drawn together by their common Aude is very happy to be here psychology or medicine, but the latter research objectives, but by their where she has the privilege of work- was not an option given her propen- mutual passion for science fic- ing with students and scientists sity for fainting at the sight of blood. tion, and they see every movie in who share her passion for scientific Thus, she enrolled at the Universite that genre. Aude cannot think of research. She is doing what she is de Savoie in the Alps, near her home, any science fiction film she has not “wired” to do. Though the object of where she pursued a bachelor’s seen multiple times, and the two are her focus changed from outer space, degree in psychology and philoso- consistently first in line for any new the concept of space remains. Using phy, ultimately receiving a degree in movie. She has also read all of Isaac behavioral, modeling and brain imag- experimental psychology. Asimov and is hoping for a movie ing approaches, her lab is currently Since then, her research has saga to be made of his works. investigating the psychological, com- focused on visual understanding by Though she does not have the time putational and neural substrates of humans and machines. “I am fas- at this point to indulge in her more the representation of 3-D scenes, the cinated by the mysterious ability of athletic passions, she hopes to return representation of visual complexity the human brain to understand so to some of them. For 10 years in and its modeling for machine vision quickly facts and situations amidst her youth and adolescence, she rode applications, and the mechanisms of the complexity of the visual world. horses, and was a skier by age 4, attentional deployment in complex My research journey is to discover not surprising given her upbringing in scenes. These research topics bring the factors and the algorithms that the Alps. Later, she engaged in rock together disciplines such as percep- gave rise to these solutions in the climbing, which she enjoyed because tual science, visual cognition, cogni- domain of scene understanding,” she of the preciseness of the movements tive neuroscience, architecture, com- said. Aude approaches the scene it requires. “You need to focus con- putational modeling and image pro- understanding problem from a com- stantly on your next move and lose cessing, a multidisciplinary approach putational stance (e.g., what are the a notion of time. First there is a goal that will thrive in the intellectual rich- statistics in natural images that are you can see, you plan how to attain ness of the MIT community. Spring 2005 8

ALUMNI NEWS John Magee SB ’92 recently Law School/Yale School of Medicine, Brian Scassellati SB ‘94 in BCS became the VP and Director of received word that she will be com- and Computer Science, Ph.D. ‘01 in Integrated Analytics at a marketing pleting her training in Child Computer Science (under Rodney agency called Mullen in Wenham, Neurology at Boston Children’s Brooks), is currently an Assistant MA, where he analyzes the effects of Hospital (from 2007-2010). Professor at Yale, where he focuses advertising campaigns for companies Jason M. Satterfield SB ’90 is an on the construction of humanoid like XM Satellite Radio, LendingTree, Associate Professor and Director of robots that use normal social cues to and Turner Broadcasting. He is often Behavioral Medicine in the Division of interact with people. He is interested called upon to develop hypotheses General Internal Medicine at UC San in using robots as a tool for investi- about how longer, more complex ads Francisco. He is the Co-Director of gating models of child development, might affect consumers, and about the Behavioral Sciences curriculum human cognition, and social deficits the differential effects of media. It for UCSF medical students and pri- in autism. He believes that one of all comes back to cognitive process- mary care residents including training the best ways to understand human ing. In addition, a study he worked in cultural competence, behavioral intelligence is to attempt to build a on while a UROP was featured in the medicine, and psychiatric services similar intelligence in a machine. He popular new Malcom Gladwell book in primary care settings. His current also works closely with members Blink. research interests include evaluation of the Psychology Dept. and the Ivan Gevirtz SB ’95 was employed of cultural competency programs, Child Study Center in the School of as a software engineer after gradua- cognitive therapy for fibromyalgia, Medicine. At Yale, he is construct- tion, but after being laid off, he took and emotional intelligence in medical ing two humanoid robots. The first is time to travel and reflect and then to care. being based on the body structure of work as a volunteer English teacher in Donald Hoffman Ph.D. ’83 in com- a two-year-old child and will be used Ecuador. Upon returning, he founded putational psychology accepted a to study the development of object a consulting company, and then position at UC Irvine upon graduation concepts and basic hand-eye coordi- became part of a wireless company and has been there ever since. He nation skills. The second robot will be that was quickly sold to Amazon.com. has joint appointments in the Depts. used in a clinical setting to assist in Eventually he left to found and grow of Cognitive Science, Philosophy, and the diagnosis and treatment of autism more companies. He would now Information and Computer Science, and related pervasive developmental like to combine his BCS studies with and spent 8 months as a Visiting disorders. He and wife Kristi Hayes computers. He expects to be on Prof. at the University of Blielefeld, have a daughter. campus in June for his 10th reunion. Germany. In 1989, he received the Grant W. Su SB ’97 earned an Distinguished Scientific Award of the M.D. after graduation and is now a APA for an early career contribution to Resident in Ophthalmology at the psychology in the area of perception Cullen Eye Institute, Baylor College and, in 1994, he was the recipient of of Medicine. He will soon become the Troland Research Award from the a Fellow in Oculofacial Plastic and US National Academy of Sciences. Reconstructive Surgery at the Medical His research is on visual percep- College of Wisconsin through 2007. tion, focusing on object recognition, Susan E. Rushing SB ’99 currently motion perception, color perception, a JD/MD Candidate 2005 at Stanford and visual deficits in Alzheimer’s. Brian with one of his robots. brain+cognitive sciences NON PROFIT ORG. U.S. Postage Paid Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA E25-406 Permit No. 54016 Cambridge MA 02139