Alexandra Ferguson

WMU Electrical Engineering Graduate. MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences PhD student.

[Alexandra Ferguson @afergu_sci]

@dvwz Peer lectures, 4/16 at 5pm in the grad lounge!

[Alexandra Ferguson @afergu_sci]

Working on a lecture for fellow grad students: "Microcontrollers for Neuroscience (and fun!)".

Here is the 'Hello, World' of microprocessors!

[Alexandra Ferguson @afergu_sci]

Exciting to talk to @anne_churchland yesterday!

Her advice for getting good psychophysics data? Create a friendly competition between lab members. 👩‍🔬👩‍🔬👩‍🔬

[Kay M Tye PhD @kaymtye]

“If sexual harassment, misconduct, and retaliation are the firing squads that assassinate individual careers, then implicit bias is the lead in the water that poisons the entire town.”

#BiasAwareness #MeTooSTEM #WomenInScience #SAIDinSTEM
https://t.co/ZSM9c9w7Pj

[Alexandra Ferguson @afergu_sci]

Conversation s with @sans___souci:

3am: "Stochastic dynamical systems are an important way to study the brain"

8am (next morning): "Can we make money sleeping in the airport?"

[Nicolas Meirhaeghe @nicognitive]

New study from our group getting at this simple question: how does success/failure change neural activity on the next trial? Jing shows that reinforcement directly affects neural variability along behaviorally relevant dimensions to implement an exploration-exploitation strategy

[Eli Pollock @elibpollock]

tl;dr Cosyne was fun and Lisbon was awesome. Diversity is important, manifolds are trendy, and famous PIs don't necessarily give good talks. And pastel de nata are the food of the gods

[Alexandra Ferguson @afergu_sci]

Also amazing science and great discussions about diversity in our field!

But definitely pasteis de nata too

[Alexandra Ferguson @afergu_sci]

I spent my last €6 on a half dozen pasteis de nata and if that doesn't sum up my trip to Lisbon, I don't know what does. #COSYNE19

[Lucy Lai, PhD @drlucylai]

A successful diversity luncheon—we discussed how #cosyne19 could be improved with double-blind review and data collection on diversity factors such as gender and race on submitted abstracts, among other suggestions!

[Katie Long @kthlong]

Sometimes we need highly repeatable neural activity (like going down a waterslide), but we also need flexibility to try new strategies. During exploration, neural activity is less constrained, meaning it is more variable and more vulnerable to perturbations. #cosyne19 @BecketEbs

[Lucy Lai, PhD @drlucylai]

Is your low-d representation a cream puff or a burrito? Eric-Shea Brown explains why it matters 😛 #cosyne19

[Alexandra Ferguson @afergu_sci]

Day 7! Thanks @nicognitive for the fun opportunity!

[Alexandra Ferguson @afergu_sci]

Day 6!

[Alexandra Ferguson @afergu_sci]

Day 5!

[Alexandra Ferguson @afergu_sci]

Day 4 books I like!

[Alexandra Ferguson @afergu_sci]

Day 3- Books I like!

[Alexandra Ferguson @afergu_sci]

I accept the challenge from @nicognitive to post the covers of 7 books I love: no explanations, no reviews—just the covers.

[Alexandra Ferguson @afergu_sci]

I accept the challenge from @nicognitive to post the covers of 7 books I love: no explanations, no reviews—just the covers.