Chicago, IL 60611 United States
Overview
Recent advances in our ability to record simultaneously from large numbers of neurons has shifted the focus in neuroscience from understanding dynamics at a single cell level to the network level. At the same time, the rise of modern machine learning has independently generated interest in how computation arises from the coordinated activity of large networks of simple units. This workshop explores how computation emerges from network dynamics, asking how circuit structure, network architecture, and plasticity/learning shape the neural dynamics underlying cognitive functions.
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Schedule
October 12 2026 Monday
8:30-9:00 am
Breakfast
9:00-10:00 am
Bard Ermentrout
Mathematical Neuroscience through one equation: A personal tour of the Wilson-Cowan model
10:00-10:30 am
Coffee Break
10:30-11:05 am
Cengiz Pehlevan
Charting the Solution Space of Task-Trained Recurrent Neural Networks
11:05-11:20 am
Alkesh Yadav
Hidden Temporal Structure in Mean-Field RNN Dynamics: Predictability and Memory
11:20-11:35 am
Tirtho Biswas
Optomotor Response in Larval Zebrafish: From Neuronal Dynamics to Mechanistic Circuit Models
11:35 am-12:10 pm
Dmitri Chklovskii
Neurons as Self-Supervised Learners of Dynamics
12:10-1:45 pm
Lunch/Discussion
1:45-2:20 pm
Florian Engert and Chongwen Wang
From Connectome to Computation: Linking Circuit Structure and Neural Dynamics in the zebrafish brain
2:20-2:35 pm
Qingyang Alice Wang
From connectome to biophysical models: predicting neural activity via Connectome-Constrained Inference
2:35-3:10 pm
Hannah Choi
Network dynamics shaped by low-order motifs and pruning
3:10-3:40 pm
Coffee Break
3:40-5:10 pm
Posters/Discussion
5:10-5:45 pm
David Clark
Dynamics of optimized structures in RNNs
October 13 2026 Tuesday
8:30-9:00 am
Breakfast
9:00-9:35 am
Florin Albeanu
A low dimensional glomerular code for olfactory perception
9:35-10:10 am
Kathy Nagel
A split attractor design for rapidly writing a navigational goal
10:10-10:40 am
Coffee Break
10:40-11:15 am
Anne-Marie Oswald
Reinforcement learning drives task-relevant synaptic representation within cortical ensembles
11:15-11:30 am
Bennet Sakelaris
Adult neurogenesis reconciles flexibility and stability of olfactory perceptual memory
11:30-11:45 am
Rachel Bernasconi
The Shape of Sleep: How Timescale Separation Reveals Geometric Structure in a Mathematical Model of the Sleep/Wake Cycle
11:45-12:20 pm
Lea Duncker
Continuous-time inference in nonlinear latent dynamical systems
12:20-1:55 pm
Lunch/Discussion
1:55-2:30 pm
Gregory Handy
Finite receptor kinetics shape emergent dynamics at the synapse and the blood-brain barrier
2:30-2:45 pm
Zahra Aminzare
Generation and Robustness of Rhythmic Patterns in Insect Locomotion
2:45-3:20 pm
Lee MIller
Probing the neural manifold: generalization in motor brain computer interfaces across missing behaviors and regions
3:20-3:50 pm
Coffee Break
3:50-5:20 pm
Discussion
Led by Eric Shea-Brown and David Clark
5:20-5:55 pm
Robert Rosenbaum
High-dimensional dynamics in low-dimensional networks
October 14 2026 Wednesday
8:30-9:00 am
Breakfast
9:00-9:35 am
Jonathan Rubin
Using a time-to-spike map to study neuronal clustering and phase relationships
9:35-10:10 am
Julia Cox
Using naturalistic tasks to dissect cortico-basal ganglia processing of value
10:10-10:40 am
Coffee Break
Picture and Evaluation
10:40-11:15 am
Byron Yu
Dynamical constraints on neural population activity
11:15-11:30 am
Draco Xu
Dynamical control through law-potent null quotients in inter-area neural computation
11:30-11:45 am
Alexandra Du
Levy statistics constrain symmetry breaking in coupled neural oscillator populations
11:45-12:20 pm
Ulises Pereira
Neural dynamics outside task-coding dimensions shape decision trajectories
12:20-1:40 pm
Lunch/Discussion
1:40-2:15 pm
Kevin Franks
A phase-to-rate transformation in the olfactory cortex
2:15-2:50 pm
Katie Morrison
Threshold-linear networks, bifurcation theory, and oriented matroids
2:50-3:10 pm
Coffee Break
3:10-4:10 pm
Discussion
4:10-4:45 pm
Eric Shea-Brown
Learning task representations and having them take over your life
Attendees
Organizers
- Hermann Riecke – Northwestern University
- Matthew Kaufman – University of Chicago
- Marcella Noorman – University of Chicago
- Brent Doiron – University of Chicago
- Jacob Zavatone-Veth – Harvard University
- Ashok Litwin-Kumar – Columbia University
Participants
- Dinu Albeanu – Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
- Zahra Aminzare – University of Iowa
- Rachel Bernasconi – University of Surrey
- Tirhabir Biswas – Northwestern University
- Dmitri Chklovskii – Flatiron Institute
- Hannah Choi – Georgia Institute of Technology
- David Clark – Kempner Institute, Harvard University
- Julia Cox – The University of Chicago
- Yangyang Du – University of Michigan
- Leah Dunker – Columbia University
- Florian Engert – Harvard University
- Bard Ermentrout – University of Pittsburgh
- Andrew Fink – Northwestern University
- James Fitzgerald – Northwestern University
- Kevin Franks – Duke University
- Gregory Handy – University of Minnesota
- Juliet Jiang – The University of Chicago
- James Maclaurin – New Jersey Institute of Technology
- Dimitra Maoutsa – Independent
- Lee Miller – Northwestern University
- Katie Morrison – University of Northern Colorado
- Kathy Nagel – New York University
- Anne Marie Oswald – The University of Chicago
- Cengiz Pehlevan – Harvard University
- Ulises Pereira Obilinovic – Allen Institute
- Tuan Pham – University of Amsterdam
- Suraj Powar – Southern Illinois University
- William Qian – Harvard University
- Robert Rosenbaum – University of Notre Dame
- Benjamin Ruben – Harvard University
- Jonathan Rubin – University of Pittsburgh
- Bennet Sakelaris – Sorbonne University
- Eric Shea-Brown – University of Washington
- Farshad Shirani – Emory University
- Ekin Ture – Southern Illinois University
- Qingyang Wang – Janelia Research Campus HHMI
- Chongwen Wang – Harvard University
- Zhuan Wang – University of California, Los Angeles
- Shiyue Xu – Northwestern University
- Yunlong Xu – The University of Chicago
- Alkesh Yadav – Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- Byron Yu – Carnegie Mellon University
Scholars-in-Residence
- Loris Amalberti – Israel Institute of Technology – Technion
- Ethan Baxter – Northwestern University
- Carlos “Joaquin” Castañeda Castro – Brown University
- Zimei Chen – University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
- Kabir Dabholkar – Princeton University
- Julia Fadjukov – Northwestern University
- Pierre-Etienne Fiquet – Flatiron Institute
- Aditi Jha – Stanford University
- Saar Nehemia – Israel Institute of Technology – Technion
- Sonja Petrovic – Illinois Institute Technology
- Ngoc Anh Phan – Brandeis University
- Shuqi Wang – EPFL
- Peter Xu – University of Chicago
- Xiaoyu Yang – University of Chicago
- Jie Zang – Brown University
Recordings
Bard Ermentrout
Recorded on 10/12/2026
Title: Mathematical Neuroscience through one equation: A personal tour of the Wilson-Cowan model
Cengiz Pehlevan
Recorded on 10/12/2026
Title: Charting the Solution Space of Task-Trained Recurrent Neural Networks
Alkesh Yadav
Recorded on 10/12/2026
Title: Hidden Temporal Structure in Mean-Field RNN Dynamics: Predictability and Memory
Tirtho Biswas
Recorded on 10/12/2026
Title: From Neuronal Dynamics to Mechanistic Circuit Models: Optomotor Response in Larval Zebrafish
Dmitri Chklovskii
Recorded on 10/12/2026
Title: Neurons as Self-Supervised Learners of Dynamics
Florian Engert and Chongwen Wang
Recorded on 10/12/2026
Title: From Connectome to Computation: Linking Circuit Structure and Neural Dynamics in the zebrafish brain
Qingyang Alice Wang
Recorded on 10/12/2026
Title: From connectome to biophysical models: predicting neural activity via Connectome-Constrained Inference
Hannah Choi
Recorded on 10/12/2026
Title: Network dynamics shaped by low-order motifs and pruning
David Clark
Recorded on 10/12/2026
Title: Dynamical theory of optimized structures in large RNNs
Florin Albeanu
Recorded on 10/13/2026
Title: A low dimensional glomerular code for olfactory perception
Kathy Nagel
Recorded on 10/13/2026
Title: A split attractor design for rapidly writing a navigational goal
Anne-Marie Oswald
Recorded on 10/13/2026
Title: Reinforcement learning drives task-relevant synaptic representation within cortical ensembles
Bennet Sakelaris
Recorded on 10/13/2026
Title: The computational influence of adult neurogenesis on olfactory memory
Rachel Bernasconi
Recorded on 10/13/2026
Title: The Shape of Sleep: How Timescale Separation Reveals Geometric Structure in a Mathematical Model of the Sleep/Wake Cycle
Lea Duncker
Recorded on 10/13/2026
Title: Continuous-time inference in nonlinear latent dynamical systems
Gregory Handy
Recorded on 10/13/2026
Title: Finite receptor kinetics shape emergent dynamics at the synapse and the blood-brain barrier
Zahra Aminzare
Recorded on 10/13/2026
Title: Rhythm Generation and Control in Insect Locomotion: A Dynamical Systems Perspective
Fabio Rizzoglio
Recorded on 10/13/2026
Title: Probing the neural manifold: generalization in motor brain computer interfaces across missing behaviors and regions
Robert Rosenbaum
Recorded on 10/13/2026
Title: High-dimensional dynamics in low-dimensional networks