Terry Sejnowski 1171552 215641467 2008-05-29T02:00:01Z Hordaland 4755260 + section references '''Terrence Joseph Sejnowski''' is an Investigator with the [[Howard Hughes Medical Institute]] and is the [[Francis Crick]] [[Professor]] at The [[Salk Institute|Salk Institute for Biological Studies]] where he directs the [[Computation]]al Neurobiology [[Laboratory]]. He is also Professor of [[Biology|Biological Sciences]] and Adjunct Professor in the Departments of [[Neuroscience]]s, [[Psychology]], [[Cognitive Science]], and [[Cognitive science|Computer Science]] and [[Computer engineering|Engineering]] at the [[University of California, San Diego]], where he is Director of the Institute for [[Neuron|Neural]] Computation. In 2004 he was named the Francis Crick Professor and the Director of the Crick-Jacobs Center for Theoretical and Computational Biology at the Salk Institute. His research in [[neural network]]s and [[computational neuroscience]] has been pioneering. ==Education== Sejnowski received [[Bachelor's degree|B.S.]] in [[physics]] from the [[Case Western Reserve University]], [[Master's degree|M.A.]] in physics from [[Princeton University]], and a [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] in physics from Princeton University in 1978. From 1978-1979 Sejnowski was a [[postdoctoral researcher|postdoctoral fellow]] in the Department of Biology at Princeton University and from 1979-1982 he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Neurobiology at [[Harvard Medical School]]. In 1982 he joined the faculty of the Department of [[Biophysics]] at the [[Johns Hopkins University]], where he achieved the rank of Professor before moving to [[San Diego, California]] in 1988. He has had a long-standing affiliation with the [[California Institute of Technology]], as a Wiersma Visiting Professor of Neurobiology in 1987, as a Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Scholar in 1993 and as a part-time Visiting Professor 1995-1998. In 2004 he was named the Francis Crick Professor at the Salk Institute and the Director of the Crick-Jacobs Center for Theoretical and Computational Biology. ==Awards== Sejnowski received a Presidential Young Investigator Award in 1984 from the [[National Science Foundation]]. He received the Wright Prize from the [[Harvey Mudd College]] for excellence in [[Interdisciplinarity|interdisciplinary]] research in 1996 and the [[Donald Olding Hebb|Hebb Prize]] for his contributions to [[algorithmic learning theory|learning algorithms]] by the International Neural Network Society in 1999. He became a Fellow of the [[Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers]] in 2000 and received their Neural Network Pioneer Award in 2002. In 2003 he was elected to the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars. ==Professional== In 1989, Sejnowski founded Neural Computation, published by the [[MIT Press]], the leading [[scientific journal|journal]] in neural networks and computational neuroscience. He is also the President of the Neural Information Processing Systems Foundation, a [[non-profit organization]] that oversees the annual [[NIPS]] Conference. This interdisciplinary meeting brings together [[research]]ers from many disciplines, including biology, physics, [[mathematics]], and [[engineering]]. He co-invented the [[Boltzmann machine]] with [[Geoffrey Hinton]] and pioneered the application of learning algorithms to difficult problems in [[Speech communication|speech]] ([[NETtalk (artificial neural network)|NETtalk]]) and [[visual perception|vision]]. The long-range goal of Sejnowski's research is to understand the computational resources of [[brain]]s and to build linking principles from brain to [[behavior]] using [[abstract machine|computational models]]. This goal is being pursued with a combination of [[theory|theoretical]] and [[experiment]]al approaches at several levels of investigation ranging from the biophysical level to the [[systems neuroscience|systems]] level. [[Hippocampus|Hippocampal]] and [[cerebral cortex|cortical]] slice preparations are being used to explore the properties of single neurons and [[synapse]]s, including the precision of [[action potential|spike firing]] and the influence of [[neuromodulator]]s. Biophysical models of [[electricity|electrical]] and [[chemistry|chemical]] [[signal transduction|signal]] processing within neurons are used as an adjunct to [[physiology|physiological]] experiments. New techniques have been developed for [[scientific modelling|modeling]] [[cell (biology)|cell]] [[signal (information theory)|signaling]] using [[Monte Carlo method]]s (MCell). The central issues being addressed are how [[dendrite]]s integrate synaptic signals in neurons, how networks of neurons generate dynamical patterns of activity, how [[sensory system|sensory information]] is represented in the cerebral cortex, how [[memory]] representations are formed and [[memory consolidation|consolidated]] during [[sleep]], and how visuo-[[somatic nervous system|motor]] transformations are adaptively organized. His laboratory has developed new methods for analyzing the sources for electrical and [[magnetism|magnetic]] signals recorded from the [[scalp]] and [[Hemodynamics|hemodynamic]] signals from functional [[neuroimaging]] by [[blind signal separation|blind separation]] using [[independent component analysis]] (ICA). He has participated and spoken at the [[Beyond Belief: Science, Religion, Reason and Survival|Beyond Belief]] symposia in 2006 and 2007. He participated in the conference ''Waking up to sleep'' at the Salk Institute in February 2007 (online video available).<ref>{{cite web |url= http://thesciencenetwork.org/programs/Waking%20Up%20To%20Sleep%202006/ |title= Waking Up To Sleep |accessdate= 2008-01-25 |author= |last= Bingham |first= Roger |authorlink= |coauthors= Terrence Sejnowski, [[Jerry Siegel (sleep researcher)]], Mark Eric Dyken, [[Charles Czeisler]], Paul Shaw, Ralph Greenspan, Satchin Panda, Philip Low, [[Robert Stickgold]], [[Sara Mednick]], Allan Pack, Luis de Lecea, [[David Dinges]], Dan Kripke, [[Giulio Tononi]] |year= 2007 |month= February |format= Several conference videos |work= |publisher= The Science Network |pages= |quote= }}</ref> == References == {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://www.salk.edu/faculty/faculty/details.php?id=48 Sejnowski's page at the Salk Institute] *[http://www-biology.ucsd.edu/faculty/sejnowski.html Sejnowski's page at UCSD] {{DEFAULTSORT:Sejnowski, Terry}} [[Category:Neuroscientists]] [[Category:American computer scientists]] [[Category:Howard Hughes Medical Investigators]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]] [[de:Terrence J. Sejnowski]]