<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=Windows-1252">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)">
<!--[if !mso]><style>v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style><![endif]--><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Aptos;
panose-1:2 11 0 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Helvetica Neue";
panose-1:2 0 5 3 0 0 0 2 0 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0cm;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#467886;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
span.apple-converted-space
{mso-style-name:apple-converted-space;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:11.0pt;
mso-ligatures:none;}
@page WordSection1
{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style>
</head>
<body lang="EN-CA" link="#467886" vlink="#96607D" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Hi all,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Just a friendly reminder for the seminar we have tomorrow in the stats department. If you are around, please join us. Considering that many people are away at this time, please consider attending
if you are around and interested. There is still availability in Babak’s schedule if you are interested in meeting him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Cheers,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">Reza<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right:1.0cm;text-align:justify"><b><span style="color:black">When:</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color:black"> </span></span><span style="color:black">Thursday, August 8, 2024 @ 4:00PM<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right:1.0cm;text-align:justify;caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: auto;widows: auto;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px">
<b><span style="color:black">Where:</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color:black"> </span></span><span style="color:black;background:white">M3-3127</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: auto;text-align:start;widows: auto;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: auto;text-align:start;widows: auto;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px">
<b><span style="color:black;background:white">Speaker:</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color:black;background:white"> </span></span><span style="color:black;background:white"><a href="https://www.stat.uci.edu/faculty/babak-shahbaba/" title="https://www.stat.uci.edu/faculty/babak-shahbaba/"><span style="color:#0086F0">Babak
Shahbaba</span></a></span><span style="color:black"><br>
<span style="background:white">University of California, Irvine (UCI)</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: auto;text-align:start;widows: auto;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="color:black;background:white"> </span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: auto;text-align:start;widows: auto;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px">
<b><span style="color:black;background:white">Title:</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color:black;background:white"> </span></span><span style="color:black;background:white">Of rodents and humans: a framework to capture latent representations
and dynamics in brain activity data across species</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: auto;text-align:start;widows: auto;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: auto;text-align:start;widows: auto;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;word-spacing:0px">
<b><span style="color:black">Abstract:</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color:black;background:white"> </span></span><span style="color:black;background:white"> In this talk, I will discuss some new statistical machine learning methods
to help identify the sequences of brain activity states that result in specific decisions. Our proposed framework is designed to facilitate visualization, exploration, modeling, and interpretation of the underlying (latent) patterns in high dimensional, multiscale,
and multimodal neural data. To achieve this goal, we have developed a novel deep learning representation and integration method to extract latent states and trajectories from the brain activity. Additionally, we have developed a graph neural network to capture
the underlying structure of brain dynamics. We validate our methods using a one-step decision task (one response for each stimulus), which offers a simpler platform to quantify sequences of brain activity states and structures. I will then discuss their extensions
to multi-step planning tasks as well as to cross-species multimodal data. The long-term goal of this research is to advance our fundamental understanding of the neural mechanisms supporting goal-directed decisions, and to guide follow-up experiments investigating
how these principles change in cognitive disorders.</span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue"">__________________________________________<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue"">Reza Ramezan, Ph.D.<br>
Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue"">Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience (CTN)<br>
University of Waterloo<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue"">Office: M3 3107<br>
Phone: (519) 888-4567 ext. 48078<br>
E-mail: <a href="mailto:rramezan@uwaterloo.ca"><span style="color:#0563C1">rramezan@uwaterloo.ca</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue";color:black">Web:
<a href="http://www.neuroinformatics.ca"><span style="color:#0563C1">http://www.neuroinformatics.ca</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue"">Address: 200 University Ave. W.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:36.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue""> Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue""><img border="0" width="320" height="87" style="width:3.3333in;height:.9062in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01DAE8DC.A5CCEA10" alt="signature_4252216589"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>