Course Staff

Instructors

Venkatesh Murthy

vnmurthy@fas.harvard.edu

Hi, I am Venki. I have been on the faculty at Harvard for more than 20 years (yikes!). My research in neuroscience has spanned a wide range - from individual nerve connections to animal behavior. Currently, my group is interested in understanding the neural and algorithmic basis of sensory-guided behaviors, particularly olfactory behaviors. We have also become interested in the relation between animal and machine intelligence. I have taught introductory and advanced neuroscience courses at Harvard, and am very excited to teach this Gen Ed course, which started a few years ago as a Freshman Seminar in the College.

Head Teaching Fellow

Kumaresh Krishnan

kumaresh_krishnan@g.harvard.edu

Hey! I graduated from the MCO PhD program, studying vision evoked behavior and decision making in larval zebrafish. I’m currently pursuing postdoctoral research in applying AI methods to protein sequence annotation. Excited to interact with all of you and learn together! Always happy to chat about literally anything, so feel free to reach out!

Teaching Fellows

Alex Chen

abchen@g.harvard.edu

Alex is a 6th year graduate student in Florian Engert’s laboratory. He studies how computations in the brain are implemented through the interactions of neurons and non-neuronal cells when the fish ‘gives up.’

Hannah McCalmon

hmccalmon@g.harvard.edu

I am a second year Ph.D. student in MCO working in the Murthy lab. I am studying how mice perceive and learn about complex and noisy olfactory information. I can’t wait to get to know everyone this semester!

Leannah Newman

leannah_newman@hms.harvard.edu

Hi! I am a 4th year PhD student in the Program for Neuroscience, studying processing of bilateral olfactory input. I am mainly interested in electrophysiology, meaning the electrical properties of different neurons and how they contribute to larger circuits! I’m always happy to help, so feel free to reach out!