Team of USS 2024



UNIQUE Student Affairs Committee

Avery Ryoo

Avery Ryoo

he/him

Liaison to the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee

Université de Montréal and Mila

Avery is a master's student at Université de Montréal and Mila supervised by Matthew Perich and Guillaume Lajoie. He is interested in studying the representations and dynamics within biological and artificial neural networks for the purpose of creating better AI algorithms and assistive neurotechnologies.

hee-woon.ryoo@umontreal.ca Website
none

Clara El Khantour

she/her

Chair of the SAC

Université de Montréal

I'm a master's student in neuroscience at UdeM. My research focuses on social and cognitive neuroscience using machine learning analysis. This is my second year at SAC, and I'm really looking forward to organizing events for this new year!

clara.el.khantour@umontreal.ca Website Twitter
none

Frédéric Beaupré

he/him

Quebec Community Coordinator

Université Laval

I'm a PhD student in Christian Gagné and Flavie Lavoie-Cardinal's labs at Laval University and the CERVO Brain Research Centre. My research focuses on the development of deep learning tools for the analysis of optical microscopy data. I am interested in the study of synaptic plasticity and synaptic degenerescence in neurodegenerative diseases through deep anomaly detection approaches.

frederic.beaupre.3@ulaval.ca Website Twitter
none

Hamza Abdelhedi

he/him

Liaison to the Scientific Committee

Université de Montréal

Hamza Abdelhedi is a computer science research master's student at the University of Montreal, specializing in the field of neuro-AI. He holds a diploma in telecommunications engineering from the Higher School of Communication of Tunis (SUPCOM) and has a background in mathematics from his pre-engineering studies. He is a Graduate Research Assistant at the Cognitive & Computational Neuroscience Lab, supervised by Dr. Karim Jerbi. Hamza's primary focus is on exploring the integration of artificial and biological neural networks in face recognition, utilizing deep learning techniques and Magnetoencephalography (MEG) to analyze internal representations with the aim of contributing to our understanding of the brain's complexities.

hamza.abdelhedi@umontreal.ca Website Twitter
none

Motahareh Pourrahimi

she/her

Event Coordinator

McGill University and Mila

I am a third-year Ph.D. student at IPN, McGill, and Mila working in the intersection of neuroscience and artificial intelligence. I develop artificial neural network models of attention in primates. In my free time, I enjoy watching movies, and drawing. Looking forward to all the cool UNIQUE events we will have this year!

motahareh.pourahimi@mail.mcgill.ca Website Twitter
none

Nanda H Krishna

he/him

Technical Lead

Université de Montréal and Mila

I’m a PhD student at Université de Montréal supervised by Prof. Guillaume Lajoie, working on problems at the intersection of computational neuroscience and deep learning theory. I aim to use tools from dynamical systems theory and latent variable modelling to understand and develop theories about neural computation and learning.

me@nandahkrishna.com Website Twitter
none

Niloofar Gharesi

she/her

Event Coordinator

McGill University

I am a Neuroscience PhD student at McGill University's Integrated Program, collaborating with Prof. Sylvain Baillet and Prof. John Kalaska in advancing knowledge of non-motor functions of the motor cortex, an area of the brain classically known for its role in executive functions such as decision making. I have a strong interest in devising and implementing sophisticated techniques to measure complex patterns in ongoing human brain activity. I am very excited to be part of the UNIQUE community and looking forward to collaborating with other members of this community to improve our understanding of the brain and develop new tools to address important questions in neuroscience.

niloofar.gharesi@mail.mcgill.ca Website Twitter
none

Shawn Manuel

he/him

Communication Lead

Université de Montréal

I am a master's in clinical sciences and computational medicine at the Université de Montréal. My experience in computational psychiatry and cognitive neuroscience fuels my motivation to develop innovative applications of AI to the study of brains and consciousness. Broadly, my interests lie in elucidating the quality of subjective experience with respect to mental health with a transdisciplinary approach.

shawn.manuel@umontreal.ca Website Twitter
none

Tejas Kasetty

he/him

Content Manager

Université de Montréal and Mila

I'm a Master's student in Computer Science at Mila and Université de Montréal. I'm interested in Artificial Intelligence and Computational Neuroscience. My research focuses on understanding the relationship between the brain's structural and functional connectivity and how it influences learning dynamics.

tejas.shivakumar.kasetty@umontreal.ca Website Twitter

Organizers of UNIQUE Student Symposium 2024

USS is organized every year by volunteer students from UNIQUE. This is the organizing team of USS 2024.

none

Anirudh Jamkhandi

he/him

Program

Mila – Quebec AI Institute, Université de Montréal

I am a graduate student at Mila and Université de Montréal supervised by Matthew Perich. My research interests lie at the intersection of artificial intelligence and neuroscience. I am intrigued by the brain’s remarkable ability to integrate information from different regions to produce complex behaviours and adapt to novel environments. Currently, I am working on understanding the underlying compositional structure of flexible behaviour in the brain.

anirudh.g.jamkhandi@gmail.com Website
none

Anne Monnier

she/her

Education

Université de Montréal

I first worked as an engineer in renewable energy industry for 10 years, before completing am MSc in Neuroscience at UdeM on human attention and cerebral synchrony. Passionate about pedagogy, I am now developing innovative pedagogies for higher education or associations to address the cognitive challenges of ecological and social transition. In parallel, I am a PhD student in Psychiatry at UdeM, exploring the social interaction component of human consciousness and neurodiversity in the Precision Psychiatry and Social Physiology Lab at CHU Sainte-Justine!

anne.monnier@umontreal.ca Website
Anthony Bilodeau

Anthony Bilodeau

Logistics

Université Laval

Mon projet de doctorat consiste à construire un microscope de super-résolution qui sera en mesure de s'adapter à l'échantillon en utilisant l'apprentissage par renforcement. Pendant ma maîtrise, j'ai développé des techniques d'apprentissage faiblement supervisées pour faciliter l'analyse d'images de microscopie.

anthony.bilodeau.1@ulaval.ca
Catherine Bouchard

Catherine Bouchard

she/her

Logistics

Université Laval

I'm a PhD student co-supervised by Christian Gagné and Flavie Lavoie-Cardinal, both members of UNIQUE. After a bachelor's degree in engineering physics, I'm pursuing my studies in the field of machine learning to extend my knowledge to new methods applied to subjects I was already passionate about, such as photonics and life science. My project focuses specifically on the application of deep neural networks for enhancing and assisting the acquisition of Fluorescence Nanoscopy images.

catherine.bouchard.22@ulaval.ca
Cornelius Crijnen

Cornelius Crijnen

he/him/they

Program

Université de Montréal

I am a PhD student in Psychology at Université de Montréal under the guidance of Prof. Shahab Bakhtiari. My research is at intersection of artificial intelligence and neuroscience, particularly focusing on modelling the visual system. I use artificial neural networks trained with self-supervised learning to simulate and understand the complexities of the visual system.

cornelius.crijnen@umontreal.ca
none

Julia Chabbert

she/her

Logistics

Centre de recherche CERVO, Université Laval

Hello, I am Julia! I am doing a PhD in Paul De Koninck and Flavie Lavoie-Cardinal Labs, mostly working on actin cytoskeleton using super-resolution microscopy. From a complete neuroscience background, I now collaborate with students in machine learning that developed innovative methods to analyze images. Beyond science, I really enjoy helping to organize events. I actively engage with associations to organize student-friendly events, fostering both community building and professional development opportunities. I'm looking forward to the USS 2024 conference and the enriching experiences it promises to offer!

julia.chabbert.1@ulaval.ca Website
none

Kira Dolhan

she/her

Communication

McGill University

I am a master's student in neuroscience at McGill University and I study the brain networks of unresponsive patients in the intensive care unit diagnosed with a coma or disorder of consciousness. By studying how their brain's react to general anesthesia, my goal is to identify network properties which can help improve patient diagnoses and prognostication. In addition to my research with brain-injured patients, I am also interested in studying the sentience and intelligence of non-human animals, such as invertebrates.

kira.dolhan@mail.mcgill.ca
Owen Ferguson

Owen Ferguson

he/him

Education

Université Laval

Owen Ferguson is a PhD student in the labs of Flavie Lavoie-Cardinal and Martin Lévesque at the CERVO brain research center in Québec. He is using super-resolution microscopy tools to uncover the process of mitochondrial dysfunction in Parkinson's Disease.

owenferguson.of@gmail.com
none

Sungjae Cho

he/him

Chair

Université de Montréal, CHU Sainte-Justine, Mila – Quebec AI Institute

I am a PhD student in computer science. I am generally interested in modeling neural networks for understanding the brain and improving artificial intelligence. Particularly, learning algorithms that form memory and skills are of my interest because it contributes understanding the uniqueness of my human self. These algorithms may inspire researchers to innovate AI models that outperform in a new way. I am now narrowing down research topics related to the integration of bottom-up and top-down signals in neocortical circuits and its relation to learning and memory.

sungjae.cho@umontreal.ca Website

Vincent Chamberland

Program

Université de Montréal