James Murray
James joined the University of Oregon in 2020, where he is an assistant professor in the departments of Biology and Mathematics as well as a member of the Institute of Neuroscience. He is also an affiliate faculty member with the Physics department and Knight Campus. Before coming to Oregon, he worked as a postdoc in the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience at Columbia University. Following undergraduate study at Montana State University, he obtained his PhD in theoretical physics from Johns Hopkins University, where his research interests involved condensed matter physics, statistical mechanics, and quantum phase transitions. His current research interests focus on the neural implementations of learning and motor control in cortical and subcortical circuits.
Christian Schmid (Postdoc)
Christian joined the Institute of Neuroscience at UO as a postdoc in 2020 following his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from UC Berkeley, where he researched string theory and its relation to particle physics. In his new role as a neuroscientist, he aims to model cognitive processes by deploying novel machine learning techniques, with an emphasis on learning in sensory cortices.
David Wandler (Postdoc)
(Jointly supervised with Luca Mazzucato.) David joined the Institute of Neuroscience at UO as a postdoc in 2024, following a PhD in theoretical high-energy physics at the University of Toronto. As a postdoc at UO, he aims to use tools from dynamical systems, control theory, and artificial neural networks to model the neural control of movement.
Matt Nardoci (PhD Student)
(Jointly supervised with Santiago Jaramillo.) Matt joined the University of Oregon’s Biology Ph.D. program in Fall of 2020. His research interests include learning and sensory processing, especially in auditory neuroscience, as well as developing models to guide future experiments.
Victor Rosolem (PhD Student)
Victor is a Physics PhD student who joined the University of Oregon in 2022. Before that, Victor obtained his undergraduate degree in Physics from Michigan State University, where he did theoretical research on topological quantum computing. He also did work as a lab technician, developing muon chamber detectors as part of the ATLAS collaboration. In his current research, Victor is interested in developing mathematical approaches to understand the dynamics of learning.
Matthew Trappett (PhD Student)
(Jointly supervised with Allen Malony.) Matthew is a Computer Science Ph.D. student at University of Oregon working in the Theoretical Neuroscience Research Group. His research interests are in reinforcement learning, motor control, and studying brain circuits to create novel neural network architectures.
Zoe Tomlinson (Undergraduate)
Zoe is a an undergraduate in the Data Science department and Clark Honors College. She is working on applying data science techniques to analyze neural representations of complex sounds in auditory cortex.
Alumni
Ben Lemberger (Postdoc)
Julian Gamez (Undergraduate, Psychology and McNair Scholar)
-> Now research assistant in the Kuhl lab at UO Psychology
Hannah Cui (Undergraduate, Mathematics and Clark Honors College)
-> Now PhD student in Applied Math and Computational Science at U Penn
Elliott Abe (PhD student, Biology/Neuroscience)
-> Now postdoc at U Washington
Open positions
Interested in our research? We are looking for students and postdocs with an interest in theoretical and systems neuroscience. Projects in our lab involve mathematical model building, artificial neural networks, and machine learning analyses of data from our experimental collaborators. Backgrounds in neuroscience, physics, math, or related fields are especially welcome. Applicants who don’t have a background in neuroscience but are eager to learn about it are welcome to apply. Please get in touch by email for further details.
Students who are interested in doing their PhD research with my group should be enrolled or plan to enroll in a PhD program at the University of Oregon. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the field, it is not always obvious which department is the best fit for a particular student, so students who are planning to apply are encouraged to get in touch by email to discuss options.