[Colloquium] Thursday 1/17 | Nicolas Masse at the Computational Social Science Workshop

[Nora Nickels via Colloquium]

THE COMPUTATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE WORKSHOP PRESENTSNICOLAS MASSEPOSTDOCTORAL
SCHOLAR AND STAFF SCIENTIST, DEPARTMENT OF NEUROBIOLOGYTHE UNIVERSITY OF
CHICAGO



The Computational Social Science Workshop
<https://macss.uchicago.edu/content/computation-workshop>at the University
of Chicago cordially invites you to attend this week’s talk:


TWO STORIES AT THE INTERSECTION BETWEEN NEUROSCIENCE AND ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE
<https://github.com/uchicago-computation-workshop/nicolas_masse/blob/master/CatastrophicForgetting.pdf>


Summary: While the fields of neuroscience and (especially) artificial
intelligence have rapidly progressed over the last decade, what is perhaps
less appreciated is how intertwined these two fields have become. This
presentation will discuss two studies that highlight the synergy between
these fields of research. In the first part, we will discuss how recurrent
neural network models can be used to generate novel hypotheses regarding
the neural substrates of working memory in the brain. These network models
suggest that the maintenance and manipulation of information in working
memory engage different neural substrates, potentially addressing a
long-standing debate in the field. In the second part (paper attached), we
will discuss how insights from neuroscience can be used to create novel
algorithms that allow neural networks to learn large numbers of tasks with
little forgetting. We show that mimicking the brain’s strategy of employing
multiple, complementary methods can be a highly efficient and effective
approach to alleviate forgetting in neural networks.


THURSDAY, 1/17/201911:00AM-12:20PMKENT 120


A light lunch will be provided by Jimmy John’s.



Nicolas Masse is a staff scientist in the Department of Neurobiology at the
University of Chicago. His research focuses on developing
neuroscience-inspired artificial intelligence, and is primarily interested
in creating neural networks that can seamlessly switch between different
contexts and environments. Before arriving in Chicago, Nicolas worked on
developing brain-computer interface systems for people with tetraplegia at
Brown University, researched the olfactory system at Cambridge, and studied
the neural mechanisms underlying visual motion perception at McGill
University. Prior to academia, Nicolas developed statistical models for a
sports gambling company, and taught high school mathematics.




------------------------------

The 2018-2019 Computational Social Science Workshop
<https://macss.uchicago.edu/content/computation-workshop>meets Thursdays
from 11 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. in Kent 120. All interested faculty and graduate
students are welcome.

Students in the Masters of Computational Social Science program are
expected to attend and join the discussion by posting a comment on the issues
page
<https://github.com/uchicago-computation-workshop/nicolas_masse/issues>of
the workshop’s public repository on GitHub.
<https://github.com/uchicago-computation-workshop/nicolas_masse> Further
instructions are documented in the Computational Social Science
Workshop’s README
on Github. <https://github.com/uchicago-computation-workshop/README>


-- 
Nora Nickels
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Comparative Human Development
Preceptor, Masters in Computational Social Science
Fellow, Institute for Mind and Biology
The University of Chicago
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