This grant will support the training and investigations of the PI in the area of computational neuroscience at the Neurological Sciences Institute of Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU).
The PI will immerse himself in the field of neuroscience by taking the core sequence of courses in the neuroscience program at OHSU, participating in seminars at the Neurological Sciences Institute, and interacting with the research team of Dr. Patrick Roberts' Laboratory in the Neurological Sciences Institute for the duration of the residency. The research will focus on modeling the storage of sensory information in the electrosensory lateral line lobe of mormyrid electric fish. The current mathematical models investigated by the Roberts lab will be analyzed with new tools from the control systems field, including nonlinear stability methods, as well as techniques from hierarchical and hybrid control systems. The PI will apply the new knowledge and experience to develop a long term research collaboration with neuroscientists at OHSU.
The developing of new research areas of the PI will broaden the career options for the students in the Ph.D. program at PSU. The PI will incorporate the new application areas in various graduate and undergraduate courses and, in particular, in mathematical modeling courses taught at PSU. Some of these courses may be team taught and cross-listed across the two institutions, OHSU and PSU, as other courses already are.
The broader impact of the proposed activities will be to strengthen the link between OHSU and PSU at several levels within the framework of the Metropolitan Collaborative Model compact signed by the presidents of both institutions. The work will start a long term research collaboration between faculty members at both institutions, lead to curricular development benefiting students of both institutions, and create a citywide learning community.
