The Data Driven Discovery Initiative will hold its very first seminar Friday, November 10th, at noon in the SAIL Room (111 Levin Building), in partnership with MindCORE, and will feature Andrew Hein. Andrew uses modern ML methods to understand collective behaviors in animal groups, integrating lab work, field data, and theory.

If you’re a graduate student or postdoc please also consider joining for Andrew’s lunch immediately following the seminar. Email Jessica Marcus to sign up. Andrew has very broad interests and is a great person to chat with, so please do not hesitate to join.

Friday 11/10 at 12pm – DDDI + MindCORE Seminar

Title: Behavioral algorithms: searching for principles of flexible, robust behavior in the natural world
Speaker: Andrew Hein (Cornell, Dept. of Computational Biology)
Organizers: MindCORE + DDDI
Date: Friday, November 10th, 2023
Time: 12pm – 1:30pm
Location: SAIL Room (111 Levin Building)

Abstract: A dominant paradigm in the analysis of behavior is to separate “the brain” of an individual from “the environment” to which that individual is responding. Yet, in nature, many behaviors involve interactions with other organisms that are, themselves, generating dynamic and responsive behavior. The existence of such feedbacks between interacting brains significantly complicates analysis and interpretation of natural behavior, but these feedbacks are also undoubtedly important in driving the evolution of behavior and the neural computations that support it. My lab studies how organisms make decisions during ecological interactions — interactions with predators, prey, group-mates, and competitors. In this context, feedbacks abound, and the challenge for the brain is generating behaviors that are responsive while at the same time being robust and controllable. I will discuss our investigations in this area and some of the principles they are beginning to reveal.

A pizza lunch will be served. Please bring your own beverage.