Faculty

The faculty of the Volen Center have appointments in Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics and Psychology. This diverse group of researches is united by a common interest in the brain and intelligence. Approaches run the gamut from gene and protein structure to in vivo and in silico computation.

Director of the Volen Center for Complex Systems

Leslie Griffith
Leslie Griffith
Nancy Lurie Marks Professor of Neuroscience
Director, Volen National Center for Complex Systems
781-736-3125 Shapiro Science Center 2-06B

Expertise: Biochemistry of synaptic plasticity.

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Biochemistry

Dorothee Kern
Dorothee Kern
Professor of Biochemistry
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
781-736-2354 Volen National Center for Complex Systems 444

Expertise: Dynamics of enzymes, magnetic resonance methods

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Dan Oprian
Daniel Oprian
Louis and Bessie Rosenfield Professor of Biochemistry
781-736-2322 Volen 407

Expertise: Structure-function studies of visual pigments and other cell surface receptors

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Biology

Susan Birren
Susan J. Birren
Zalman Abraham Kekst Professor in Neuroscience
Division Head, Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences
781-736-2680 Shapiro Science Center 1-06A

Expertise: Developmental neurobiology. 

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Paul Garrity
Paul Garrity
Professor of Biology
781-736-3127 Shapiro Science Center 2-16

Expertise: Neural development and behavior. 

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Christine Grienberger
Christine Grienberger
Assistant Professor of Biology
781-736-8146 Bassine 311

Expertise: Understanding how the brain is able to produce learned behaviors. 

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Sebastian Kadener
Sebastian Kadener
Professor of Biology
781-736-4915 Rosenstiel 332

Expertise: Molecular neurobiology and RNA metabolism.

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Yerbol Z. Kurmangaliyev
Yerbol Z. Kurmangaliyev
Assistant Professor of Biology
781-736-4907 Rosenstiel 441

Expertise: Genomics of brain development.

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Eve Marder
Eve Marder
University Professor
Victor and Gwendolyn Beinfield Professor of Biology
781-736-3140 Volen 314

Expertise: Modulation of neural networks. 

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Paul Miller
Paul Miller
Professor of Biology
Program Chair, Neuroscience
781-736-2890 Volen 317

Expertise: Computational and theoretical neuroscience.

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Sacha Nelson
Sacha Nelson
Gyula and Katica Tauber Professor of Life Science
781-736-3181 Shapiro Science Center 1-21

Expertise: Physiological genomics of the mammalian neocortex. 

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Suzanne Paradis
Suzanne Paradis
Professor of Biology
781-736-5305 Shapiro Science Center 1-08A

Expertise: Molecular mechanisms of synaptic development. 

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Avital Rodal
Avital Rodal
Professor of Biology
781-736-2459 Rosenstiel 528

Expertise: Endosomal membrane traffic in neurons.

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Michael Rosbash
Michael Rosbash
Peter Gruber Endowed Chair in Neuroscience and Professor of Biology
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
781-736-3160 Shapiro Science Center 2-24B

Expertise: Circadian rhythms, behavior and gene expression. 

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Piali Sengupta
Piali Sengupta
Harold and Bernice Davis Chair in Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease
Professor of Biology
781-736-2686 Shapiro Science Center 2-08A

Expertise: Behavioral and neuronal development in C. elegans. 

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Gina Turrigiano
Gina Turrigiano
Joseph Levitan Professor of Vision Science
Director, Neuroscience Graduate Studies AY 2024-2025
781-736-2684 Shapiro Science Center 1-28

Expertise: Activity-dependent regulation of neuronal properties. 

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Stephen Van Hooser
Stephen Van Hooser
Associate Professor of Biology
781-736-2721 Bassine 326

Expertise: Development and function of cortical circuits.

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Chemistry

Irving Epstein
Irving Epstein
University Professor
Henry F. Fischbach Professor of Chemistry and HHMI Professor
781-736-2503 Shapiro Science Center 3-09

Expertise: Oscillating chemical reactions and pattern formation in reaction-diffusion systems. Mathematical modeling of biochemical kinetics and neural systems. 

Group Website | ScholarWorks

Computer Science

Tim Hickey
Tim Hickey
Professor and Chair, Computer Science
781-736-2706 Gerstenzang 137

Expertise: Educational technology, computer science education, 3D game design, interval arithmetic, scientific visualization, computer-supported learning, groupware and collaborative editing, constraint logic programming.

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Pengyu Hong
Pengyu Hong
Professor of Computer Science
781-736-2729 Volen National Center for Complex Systems 135

Expertise: Computer science, FinTech, machine learning, image processing, bioinformatics, biomedical informatics, intelligent education. 

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Constantine Lignos
Constantine Lignos
Assistant Professor of Computational Linguistics
781-736-2807 Volen 139

Expertise: Computational linguistics, natural language processing, language acquisition and change, and psycholinguistics.

WebsiteScholarWorks

Harry Mairson
Harry Mairson
Professor, Computer Science
781-736-2724 Volen 257

Expertise: Logic in computer science, Lambda calculus, functional programming.

Website | ScholarWorks

Sophia Malamud
Sophia Malamud
Associate Professor, Linguistics
781-736-2225 Volen 215

Expertise: Formal semantics and pragmatics, corpus linguistics, speech acts, game and decision theory, reference and information structure, modality, impersonals and passives, heritage language acquisition.

WebsiteScholarWorks

Olga Papaemmanouil
Olga Papaemmanouil
Professor
Vice Chair, Computer Science
781-736-2716 Volen 214

Expertise: Data management, distributed systems, data science, machine learning and cloud computing.

ScholarWorks

Jordan Pollack
Jordan Pollack
Professor, Computer Science
781-736-2713 Volen 213

Expertise: Artificial intelligence, neural networks, machine learning, evolutionary computation and artificial life.

ScholarWorks

James Pustejovsky
James Pustejovsky
TJX Feldberg Professor of Computer Science
781-736-2709 Volen 258

Expertise: Theoretical and computational linguistics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, corpus linguistics and annotation, lexical semantics, temporal and spatial reasoning.

Website | ScholarWorks

Liuba Shrira
Liuba Shrira
Professor, Computer Science
781-736-2704 Volen 260

Expertise: Distributed systems, reliable and scalable storage systems.

Website | ScholarWorks

Nianwen Bert Xue
Nianwen Bert Xue
Associate Professor of Computer Science
Director of Graduate Studies, Computer Science
781-736-2728  Volen 253

Expertise: Computational linguistics, Chinese language processing, semantic role labeling, machine translation and linguistic annotation, including Chinese Treebank, Chinese Proposition Bank, OntoNotes.

Website | ScholarWorks

Chuxu Zhang
Chuxu Zhang
Assistant Professor, Computer Science

Expertise: Data science, machine learning, deep learning and related applications in graph/network mining, recommendation/user modeling, natural language processing, time series/spatial-temporal data analysis, inter-disciplines.

ScholarWorks

Mathematics

Thomas Fai
Thomas Fai
Assistant Professor of Mathematics
781-736-3064 Goldsmith 208

Expertise: Scientific computing, fluid dynamics and mathematical biology.

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Tyler Maunu
Tyler Maunu
Assistant Professor of Mathematics
781-736-3077 Goldsmith 313

Expertise: Algorithms, optimization, statistics and data science

ScholarWorks

Jonathan Touboul, Mathematics
Jonathan Touboul
Professor of Mathematics
781-736-3080 Goldsmith 303

Expertise: Modeling and mathematical analysis of systems inspired by the brain's activity

Group WebsiteScholarWorks

 

Yangyang Wang
Yangyang Wang
Assistant Professor of Mathematics
781-736-3066 Goldsmith 302

Expertise: mathematical biology, differential equations, dynamical systems, multiple timescale dynamics.

Psychology

Anne Berry, Psychology
Anne Berry
Assistant Professor of Psychology and of the Volen National Center for Complex Systems
781-736-3278 Lemberg 101

Expertise: Cognitive neuroscience, executive function, neuromodulator systems (dopamine, acetylcholine), aging.

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Paul DiZio
Paul DiZio
Associate Professor of Psychology
781-736-2043 Rabb 5

Expertise: Human spatial orientation and motor control.

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Angela Gutchess
Angela Gutchess
Professor of Psychology
Department Chair, Psychology
781-736-3247 Lemberg 106

Expertise: Cognitive and social neuroscience; influence of age and culture on memory.

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Jennifer Gutsell
Jennifer Gutsell
Associate Professor of Psychology and of the Volen National Center for Complex Systems
781-736-3308 Volen 220

Expertise: Self-control; empathy and environmentalism.

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

James Howard
James Howard
Assistant Professor of Psychology
781-736-3252 Brown 108

Expertise: Cognitive neuroscience, reward, learning, decision-making, chemosensation.

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Shantanu Jadhav
Shantanu Jadhav
Associate Professor of Psychology and of the Volen National Center for Complex Systems
781-736-3147 Bassine 301

Expertise: Neural mechanisms of learning and memory-guided behavior in the mammalian brain.

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Donald Katz
Donald Katz
Professor of Neuroscience and of the Volen National Center for Complex Systems
781-736-3268 Bassine 345

Expertise: Neural dynamics of gustatory perception and learning.

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

James Lackner
James Lackner
Meshulam and Judith Riklis Professor of Physiology
781-736-2033 Rabb 4

Expertise: Spatial orientation. Human movement control. Adaptation to spaceflight and autonomous vehicles.

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Robert Sekuler
Robert Sekuler
Louis and Frances Salvage Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
781-736-3277 Volen 244

Expertise: Visual perception. Cognitive processes.

Lab Website | ScholarWorks

Hannah Snyder
Hannah Snyder
Associate Professor of Psychology
Head, Neuroscience Undergraduate Advising
781-736-3272 Lemberg 102

Expertise: Executive function.

CoPE Lab | ScholarWorks

Arthur Wingfield
Arthur Wingfield
Professor Emeritus of Psychology
781-736-3270 Volen 363

Expertise: Human memory.

Lab WebsiteScholarWorks