Meet one of our graduate students and summer research interns,
Minwoo Bae!
This
Summer I am going to continue the work on developing algorithms to
solve computational problems in the field of Mathematical
Neuroscience under the supervision of Professor Amarasingham. His
laboratory is currently engaged in the development and application
of tools for inferring neuronal connectivity maps from
extracellular spike data obtained from electrophysiological brain
recordings in in vivo conditions. This is in
collaboration with G. Buzsaki’s experimental lab at NYU. There are
many mathematical challenges, ranging from the development of
biophysical models to the development of nonparametric spike train
analysis tools. Regarding the latter, some of the major obstacles
are computational. A theory is in place for performing connectivity
inference, drawing from previous tools developed in the laboratory,
but at current data scales the computational costs are prohibitive.
My summer research aims for developing algorithms to accelerate
these computations. There are two principal approaches I will
pursue. The first will involve accelerating the computation of
distributions of sums of random variables, in the style of
the fast Fourier transform (FFT), and related tools. The challenge
is accommodating nontrivial dependency structures (expressed as
graphs; so-called “graphical models”) among these random variables.
I will research approaches to handling these elaborations. A second
approach is to use asymptotic approximations. I will research the
literature to see what bounds are available, adapting them as
necessary, to justify and combine asymptotic approximations. I will
apply the ideas developed in these investigations to in
vivo neurophysiology data, in the context of the laboratory’s
other work.
Since 2011, I had been working as a software developer in
Manhattan. Since I designed and developed several web applications
for a HIV research team, I naturally gained interest in how a
disease is transmitted though a network. In 2014, I had the honor
of being selected as Young Talent in the Field of Software by the
South Korean government, which provided me with a fund for advanced
study of mathematics and computer science. I used the fund for some
graduate-level coursework in computer science to study random
processes on a network. During this part-time student experience, I
realized that without the advanced mathematical foundation, it
would be very difficult to proceed much further in this kind of
studies. This led to my decision to fully return to school to
pursue studying Mathematics since 2015. Now in 2017, I am very
excited by the fact that it is possible to tackle many technical
challenges ranging from biology to artificial intelligence by using
Mathematical concepts and techniques. This why I am passionate
about Mathematics.
