Professor & Richard and Joan Komen University Chair
University of Washington, Seattle (UW)
Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Eng. (adjunct)
Dept. of Applied Mathematics (adjunct)
Bing Wen Brunton
Ph.D. in Molecular Biology & Neuroscience, Princeton University, 2012
B.S. in Biology, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), 2006
Bio | CV | Google Scholar
Photograph by Carl Bergstrom
Postdoctoral Researchers
Elliott Abe, Ph.D.
Swartz Theory Fellow
UW Data Science Postdoctoral Fellow
Ph.D., University of Oregon, Biology
B.S., University of Washington, Physics
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Elliott is a computational and theoretical neuroscientist whose research focuses on the brain’s ability to process diverse types of information, as well as extract and utilize representations to guide behavior. His work aims to establish general principles that can be applied across different contexts, drawing on insights and techniques from a range of disciplines including neuroscience, machine learning, and physics. By integrating knowledge and tools from these fields, he seeks to develop biologically grounded theories, models, and data analysis methods that can deepen our understanding of neural representations underlying natural behaviors.
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Denis Turcu, Ph.D.
Shanahan Fellow at the Interface of Neuroscience and Data Science
PhD, Columbia University, Neurobiology and Behavior
BA, Harvard University, Physics and Math
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Denis is a computational and theoretical neuroscientist studying how the brain controls the body to interact with the environment. He aims to identify computational principles used by neural circuits to integrate sensory information and produce interesting behaviors. His interdisciplinary work combines methods from physics, math, machine learning, and neuroscience. By combining computational models with experimental data, Denis seeks to bridge the gap between theoretical predictions and neural activity, and to identify neural mechanisms underlying complex behaviors.
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Sage Malingen, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Ph.D., University of Washington, Biology
B.S., North Dakota State University, Mathematics
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A bit more about Sage.
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Graduate Students
Raveena Chhibber
Ph.D. student in Neuroscience
NSF Grad Fellow
B.S. Emory University, Neuroscience
Raveena is a graduate student co-advised by John Tuthill interested in motor control and Machine Learning. Before grad school, she used information-theoretic methods to understand the timescale of motor sequencing in songbirds.
Jianqiao (Lawrence) Hu
Ph.D. student in Neuroscience
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B.A. Boston University, Statistics & Biology
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Lawrence is a graduate student enrolled in the Neuroscience program, co-advised by Edgar Walker. His research focus revolves around unraveling the intricate processes through which sensory information is represented in the brain, utilizing machine learning techniques. Before relocating to Seattle, Lawrence dedicated his efforts to improving the scalability of high-throughput sequencing data preprocessing, aiming to deepen our understanding of somatic recombination mechanisms.
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Sarah Pugliese
Ph.D. student in Neuroscience​
B.S. Brown University, Applied Mathematics-Biology
Sarah is a neuroscience graduate student co-advised with John Tuthill. She is studying the structure and function of proprioceptive and motor circuits in the Drosophila ventral nerve cord. Her approach combines working with network models derived from the synapse-level connectome and performing optogenetics experiments in flies.
Alumni
Postdocs:
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Kameron Decker Harris, Ph.D. (next position: Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Western Washington University)
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Aditya G. Nair, Ph.D. (next position: Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nevada Reno)
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Steven Peterson, Ph.D. (next position: Facebook)
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Urban Fasel, Ph.D. (next position: Lecturer of Aeronautics at Imperial College London)
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Ali Weber, Ph.D. (next position: Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, Bryn Mawr College)
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Katie Stanchak, Ph.D. (next position: King County Dept of Natural Resources and Parks)
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Harsha Gurnani, Ph.D. (next position: postdoc, NYU)
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Students:
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Nancy X. R. Wang, Ph.D. in CSE, 2018 (next position: IBM Research; now at Amazon)
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Nate Linden (next position: Ph.D. student at UCSD Mechanical Eng.)
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Seth Hirsh, Ph.D. in Physics, 2020 (next position: Lyft)
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Sara Ichinaga (next position: Ph.D. student at UW Applied Math)
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Satpreet Singh, Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2021 (next position: Meta; now at Baylor)
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Aaron D. Garcia, Ph.D. in Neuroscience, 2023 (next position: Allen Institute)
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Lili Karashchuk, Ph.D. in Neuroscience, 2023 (next position, Allen Institute; now at Janelia Research Campus)
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Michelle Hickner, Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, (next position: Assistant Teaching Professor, UW Mechanical Engineering)
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Zoe Stiene-Hanson, PhD. in CSE, 2025 (next position: Research Scientist, OpenBCI)
Prospective Grad Students
Students interested in joining the lab for graduate studies should submit applications for admission through one of the following University of Washington Ph.D. graduate programs:
Postdoc Researcher Positions
We are actively recruiting talented new postdocs to join the group! If you are excited about doing research in big data, applied mathematics, machine learning, and neuroscience, email Bing (please include a copy of your CV).
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