The University of Washington has a rich, active and highly collaborative community of researchers in the field of computational neuroscience and neural engineering. The University of Washington is a vibrant research university with a beautiful campus in a spectacular urban setting, with an ERC Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering, the UW Institute for Neuroengineering, close connections to the local tech industry and the Allen Institute for Brain Science. UW is also a major data sciences center with interdisciplinary interactions coordinated through the eSciences Institute. The city is a short distance from wilderness and outstanding summer and winter outdoor adventure.

While faculty advisors belong to a wide range of different departments, researchers come together regularly for seminars, journal clubs and a yearly retreat. Many student funding opportunities exist through multiple training grants, UWIN and the CSNE. Doctoral programs encourage collaborative research projects across departmental boundaries, but admissions and first-year course work and formal requirements are handled by graduate programs individually. Students interested in this area should apply to the program that best fits their background, interests and career goals.

Students enrolled in any relevant program are eligible to join the Graduate Certificate Program in Neural Computation and Engineering, and to apply for funding through UWIN and the Neural Computation and Engineering Training Program.

 Relevant programs, websites and application deadlines include:

Faculty include:

  • Wyeth Bair (Neuro, CSE): Computer modeling of visual cortical circuits
  • Geoff Boynton (Neuro, Psychology): Functional imaging of vision
  • Beth Buffalo (Neuro): Navigation and memory in primates
  • Michael Buice (Allen Institute and AMath): Models of visual computation
  • Bing Brunton (Biology, Data Sciences): High dimensional neural data
  • Howard Chizeck (CSE, Neuro): Performance metrics for neural interfaces
  • Tom Daniel (Neuro, Biology): Sensorimotor integration and flight control
  • Horacio de la Iglesia (Neuro, Biology): Circadian rhythms
  • Marcel den Nijs (Physics): Statistical mechanics of brain function
  • Adrienne Fairhall (Neuro, BPSD, Physics): Adaptive neural coding, sensorimotor integration
  • Eb Fetz (Neuro): Motor control and brain-computer interfaces
  • Ione Fine (Neuro, Psychology): Human visual psychophysics and imaging
  • Emily Fox (CSE, Stats): Bayesian network analysis
  • David Gire (Neuro, Psychology): Mammalian olfaction
  • Bertil Hille (Neuro, BPSD): Biophysics of neuronal signal transduction
  • Greg Horwitz (Neuro): Cortical color processing
  • Nathan Kutz (A Math): Nonlinear dynamics and dimensionality reduction
  • Adrian KC Lee (Neuro, Speech and Hearing): Auditory scene analysis with imaging
  • Stefan Mihalis (Allen Institute, AMath): Algorithms of computation and learning
  • Chet Moritz (Neuro, Rehab Medicine): Neural prosthetics
  • Sheri Mizumori (Neuro, Psychology): Neurobiology of decisions, learning, and memory
  • Bill Moody (Neuro, Biology): Cortical development
  • Scott Murray (Neuro, Psychology): Visual neuroimaging
  • Jeff Ojemann (Neuro, Neurology): Human neural function and neuroprosthetics
  • Anitha Pasupathy (Neuro): Neurobiology of visual shape processing
  • David Perkel (Neuro, Biology, S&H): Neural mechanisms of vocal learning
  • Steve Perlmutter (Neuro): Motor control
  • Chantal Prat (Neuro, Speech and hearing): Auditory processing
  • Nino Ramirez (Neuro): Neural control of rhythmic activity
  • Rajesh Rao (Neuro, CSE): Computational modeling and brain-computer interfaces
  • Fred Rieke (Neuro, Physics, BPSD): Sensory signal processing in the retina
  • Jeff Riffell (Neuro, Biology): Neuroecology and chemosensation
  • Ed Rubel (Neuro, BPSD, S&H): Development of the auditory system
  • Jay Rubinstein (Neuro, BioE, S&H): Biophysics and engineering of cochlear implants
  • Eric Shea-Brown (Neuro, A Math): Nonlinear dynamics in neural computation and coding
  • Eli Shlizerman (EE): Neural networks and computation
  • Bill Spain (Neuro, BPSD): Biophysics of neuronal computation
  • Kat Steele (Mec Eng): Human movement
  • John Tuthill (PBIO): Proprioception and decision-making in flies
  • Emo Todorov (Neuro, A Math, CSE): Optimal motor control
  • Daniela Witten (Biostat): Big data approaches to neural data