Overview

The NITMB Scientific Focus on Theory and Mathematics in Neuroscience is a six-week long program for junior scientists comprising a junior scientist workshop, a trio of focused conferences, and a collaborative project at the National Institute on Theory and Mathematics in Biology (NITMB). Together, these coordinated events are intended to educate the next generation of mathematical neuroscientists by bringing emerging and established investigators into sustained conversation around three branches of mathematics that increasingly shape modern neuroscience: dynamics, geometry, and probability. Shared meals, evening discussions, and occasional weekend excursions will help build a cohesive and enduring scholarly community.

Sixteen junior scientists (graduate students and postdoctoral fellows), selected through a competitive international process, will spend the full six weeks in residence at NITMB. They will work closely with a local organizing team (Doiron, Fink, Fitzgerald) and with three pairs of invited senior investigators whose expertise is aligned with each of the thematic conferences. During the opening week, the junior scientists will be in close residence with the organizers and all six visiting PIs in an intensive workshop setting. Trainees will present their work, receive detailed feedback, and participate in extended-format tutorials introducing core concepts, methodological frameworks, and major open questions at a depth rarely possible in standard meetings. This opening week will be coordinated by NITMB faculty, ensuring continuous mentorship, structure, and institutional support. Three subsequent weeks will center on one of the thematic conferences, feature two of the visiting PIs, and have a dedicated team of NITMB co-organizers responsible for shaping the scientific program and supporting the trainees. These conferences will be open to the broader community and will convene a wide range of theoretical and experimental researchers for three days of talks and discussion, with the junior scientists participating fully. Following each conference, the two paired external PIs will remain for two dedicated “digest” days designed exclusively for the trainees. These smaller sessions will emphasize synthesis of conference material, development of concrete research directions, and application of dynamics, geometry, and probability to contemporary problems in neurobiology. 

This long program will culminate in research projects. The trainees will be able to work on these projects throughout the program and during two dedicated research weeks that will facilitate focused progress and come in the middle and end of the program. Interested students will be encouraged to propose project extensions that could be hosted throughout an additional collaborative residence at the NITMB with their long-program collaborators and/or home-institution mentors.