Tansu Celikel, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

The steward of our diminutive research spectacle. In this scholarly wilderness, he steers the course with a compass beguilingly enchanted, its needle dancing betwixt six cardinal winds. For who amongst the seekers of knowledge would choose the mundane trail when the scenic route, adorned with the tapestry of scientific mayhem, beckons with promises of discovery and intellectual mirth? In the verdant thickets of inquiry, our leader embraces the chaotic ballet of academia with a mirthful heart and an ever-wandering compass.

Doğa Doğan

PhD student, 1st year

In the echoing laboratories, where the scent of ozone hangs heavy like the mist before dawn, Doga hums along with the thrumming machinery. Her instruments are not of moonstone and starlight, but of pulsing ceramics, singing their strange, ultrasonic songs. With these, she delves into the twilight realm of thought, where anticipation and surprise, like a wraith, weaves its unseen tapestries into the fabric of action. Her fingertips, nimble as Elven weavers, trace the map of perception, a symphony of textures and unseen melodies. Doga, the sorceress of ultrasonic vibrations, seeks the grand key: how the brain, that echoing chamber of whispers and dreams, conducts the vast orchestra of flesh and bone, a concerto of woman and machine. Hers is a quest not for worldly crowns, but for the secrets held within the very essence of sentience, the hidden music that plays between thought and touch, the bridge between the inner world and the whispering symphony of reality itself.

Tido Bergmans

Tido Bergmans

PhD student, 4th year

In the tapestry of intellectual pursuits, where thoughts weave intricate paths through the labyrinthine caverns of the brain, Tido stands as a bold explorer. Armed with the arcane knowledge of information theory, he wields tools of logic and mathematics to unveil the secrets woven into the very fabric of the mind. His noble quest unfurls across the vast expanse of molecular landscapes, traverses the cellular realms, and wanders through the functional networks that lay veiled within the folds of the enigmatic brain. With the prowess of an Elvish loremaster, he seeks to unravel the arcane secrets woven into the very fabric of cognition, wielding his tools like a magical staff to reveal the hidden patterns and connections within the vast tapestry of neural intricacies. Thus, in the scholarly halls of inquiry, Tido’s work echoes like the eldritch harmonies of Lothlórien, resonating with the wisdom of ages past.

Tousif Jamal

Tousif Jamal

PhD student, 3rd year

In the realm of knowledge, Tousif, the intrepid seeker, delves into the cosmic codices of network connectivity, unfurling the intricate tapestry that binds molecules to the very sinews of functional networks within the cerebral expanse. With wisdom garnered from this odyssey, he forges, akin to the artistry of the Eldar, artificial networks that echo with the whispers of universal truths, crafted for the sublime endeavor of generalized computations. Thus, in the crucible of wisdom, Tousif weaves a tale that harmonizes the arcane dance of molecules with the ethereal symphony of the cognitive cosmos.

Nishant Joshi

Nishant Joshi

PhD student, 3rd year

In the mystical scholarly realms, Nishant, a diligent seeker of knowledge, turns his gaze to the solitary sentinels of cognition – the single neurons. His academic odyssey unfolds as he endeavors to decipher the intricate classification of these neural beings and unveil the mystical impact of neuromodulation on their spiking properties. Guided by the light of wisdom and accompanied by his fellow seekers, Nishant’s ultimate quest is to forge a biophysical neuron model, a creation that harmoniously encapsulates the essence of neuro modulation. ‘One model to rule them all’. Armed with the arcane arts of machine learning and mathematical wizardry, he navigates the academic landscape, seeking answers to his profound inquiries. 

Jack Mostyn

Jack Mostyn

PhD student, 2nd year

In the lamplit hush of his cluttered study, Jack pores over scrolls of data, each a cryptic chronicle of the brain’s fumbles. He is a cartographer of missteps, tracing the tangled paths of thought where perception trips and motor commands falter. His quarry, the elusive gremlin of error, lurks in the twilight realms where the mind meets the machine, where virtual landscapes bleeds into the tangible world. He seeks its lair not in the grand, sweeping halls of cognition, but in the messy, mortal byways of sensorimotor control, where fingers fumble and arms are tangled. He is no Gandalf battling a Balrog, but a hobbit spelunking through the treacherous tunnels of the mind, armed with naught but his wit and a flickering quill of data. Yet, in his quiet delving, Jack holds the potential to illuminate the dark corners of the erred mind, to banish the gremlins of error and pave the way for a smoother, more seamless dance between mind and machine.

Pratiksha Pai

Pratiksha Pai

MS student (Electrical and Computer Engineering), 2nd year

In the hushed vigil of the coding den, Pratiksha sculpts the unseen. With each tap of the keyboard, a flicker on the monitor – a phantom born, not of flesh and bone, but of whispered algorithms. A weaver of shadows, she captures the fleeting grace of human movement, its essence distilled into lines of code. Her canvas, the stark expanse of the screen, pulses with the ghost-ballet of unseen dancers. Their steps, measured not in leagues, but in ones and zeroes, mimic the willow’s sway in the breeze, the warrior’s explosive leap. But Pratiksha is no mere chronicler. She whispers to the winds of motion, coaxing their secrets into the digital realm, where they can be studied, admired, perhaps even replicated. For within her grasp lies not just the fleeting beauty of human form, but the potential to forever alter how we see, move, and perhaps, even, live. In the tapestry of ones and zeroes, Pratiksha weaves a revolution, one line of code at a time.

Sydney Pridgon

Sydney Pridgon

BSc student, Class of 2025

In the hushed halls of academia, Sydney delves into the hidden library of the mind. She hunts not for forgotten lore of dragons and elves, but for the whispers of the brain itself, the secret stories it weaves to paint our reality. For Sydney is no ranger tracking a monstrous beast, but an explorer navigating the labyrinthine caverns of perception. She seeks to understand the unseen puppeteer, the internal storyteller crafting the grand play of our experience. How do our own thoughts, memories, and biases bend the bars of our perception, tinting sights, amplifying sounds, shaping the very fabric of what we “know”? In this quest, Sydney wields not a warrior’s blade, but the keen scalpel of inquiry, dissecting the illusions our brains conjure, the echoes of experiences past that linger and distort the present. 

Nicolas Rault

Nicolas Rault

PhD student, 3rd year

In the depths of the neural labyrinth, where the melody of neurons orchestrates the symphony of action, Nicolas composes, a computational and functional conductor of the mind’s hidden realms. His quest, not for the fabled treasures of dwarven halls, but for the elusive tapestry of space itself – the intricate neural pathways that sculpt our perception of the world. With the precision of an Elven craftsman, he dissects the intricate circuitry of the brain, seeking to unravel the secrets of its internal representation – the harmony of thoughts, emotions, and memories that weave the fabric of our experience. Venturing the depths of long forgotten fortresses, Nicolas navigates the treacherous terrain of neural networks, his instruments not swords and axes, but bits and artificial networks. In his hands lies the potential to unlock the secrets of how we act, to bridge the chasm between mind and matter, and perhaps, one day, even to heal the wounded minds of our world.

Aya Rezeika

Aya Rezeika

PhD student, 3rd year

Amidst the annals of academia, Aya, a scholar of resolute spirit, embarks on a quest reminiscent of the noble fellowship’s journey through the heart of Middle-earth. Her pursuit lies within the intricate tapestry of neural cognition, where the mechanisms of anticipation and surprise play their elusive roles, much like the riddles of ancient Smeagol and the One Ring. Armed with high-density recordings from the human brain, she endeavors to unveil the very essence of how the mind weaves its internal representation of the world, a reflection of past experiences and enigma shrouded in the mists of memory. With the tenacity of Frodo on his quest to Mount Doom, Aya endeavors to illuminate the hidden pathways of neural thought, forging a path through the cerebral wilderness much like the fellowship’s journey through the wilds of Middle-earth.

Tea Tompos

PhD student, 3rd year

In the quietude of scholarly pursuits, Tea, a diligent craftsman of intellect, labors upon the distillation of intricate network models that mirror the labyrinthine pathways of the enigmatic brain. In this arcane undertaking, the objective unfolds like the elusive quest for a lost ring—to birth forth neuromorphic computing, a semblance of cognitive prowess ensconced within the sinews of autonomous devices. Through the crucible of comprehension and the forging fires of imagination, Tea endeavors to bestow upon the artificial mind a reflection of the profound complexities inherent in the organic cogitations of thought. Thus, in the silent halls of study, the echo of Tea’s work resonates, harmonizing with the whispers of ancient knowledge, forging a bridge betwixt the ethereal realm of the mind and the material world of circuits and silicon.