2026 Academy Professional Development
For the 2026 Academy, we will have several Professional Development events open to all students and TAs during the month of June. These events are designed to help you prepare, connect with others, and feel confident ahead of your course. Past participants have found them really valuable, and we hope you will too!
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Table of contents
Table of contents
Event Schedule
📆 Google Calendar Link — allows you to add the events to your calendar.
ISP Project Partner Spotlight: Open Brain Institute
ISP Project Partner Spotlight: LEAP
ISP Project Partner Spotlight: E11Bio
Ocean Mixing: From physics to climate models and back again
Implementing FAIR Workflows in Neuroscience research projects
Incorporating Planned Happenstance in Your Professional Development
Global Connectome: How mentorship and storytelling can drive global scientific success
Fireside Chat: NMA Content Creators & Course Leadership
PhD Application Panel
Building the Bridge: From Academic Research to Climate Tech via Climatematch
Impact Scholars Information Session
Event Schedule
Please do not post the Zoom links publicly. These events are for Academy students and TAs.
Google Calendar Link — allows you to add the events to your calendar.
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Jun 8, 2026
1:00 p.m. UTC
Jun 9, 2026
2:00 p.m. UTC
Jun 12, 2026
2:00 p.m. UTC
Jun 12, 2026
2:00 p.m. UTC
Jun 15, 2026
9:00 p.m. UTC
Jun 17, 2026
1:30 p.m. UTC
Jun 18, 2026
12:00 p.m. UTC
Jun 22, 2026
4:00 p.m. UTC
Jun 23, 2026
June 23 at 8 p.m. EDT/June 24 at 12 a.m. UTC
Jun 24, 2026
3:00 p.m. UTC
Jul 15, 2026
9:45 a.m. UTC
Event during the course! Not formally a part of our Professional Development Series https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hjcFzOYOSemZ1CMbH1wgoA
Jul 23, 2026
2:45 p.m. UTC
Event during the course! Not formally a part of our Professional Development Series https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rUGOj9BBSiWUrIPjBiU_ww
ISP Project Partner Spotlight: Open Brain Institute
Presenter: Natali Barros Zulaica
Description:
If you complete the project portion of the Academy or are a Teaching Assistant, you are eligible to apply to the Impact Scholars Program . The program is a six-month, part-time mentored research experience for early-career computational scientists, where you will receive dedicated mentorship, contribute to real research projects, and produce citable work. This presentation is from one of our Impact Scholars Program Project partners.
The Open Brain Institute (OBI) provides an open, cloud-based environment to facilitate access to brain data and computational models as well as modeling and analysisnd tools within a single collaborative framework. Unlike other repositories, data on the OBI platform is curated and automatically annotated to allow frictionless use in scientific workflows, allowing researchers to seamlessly move from data exploration to modeling and analysis across multiple spatial and organizational scales.
In this session, we will present the main functionalities of OBI Virtual Labs, showing how users can explore and interact with the different elements of the platform without the need for local computational infrastructure. Participants will learn how to navigate brain regions and cell-type information, visualize and query curated datasets, and perform literature mining, through the integrated AI agent, to extract relevant experimental evidence. Practical examples will demonstrate how to run workflows to build and simulate single-neuron models and circuits, analyze simulation outputs using interactive notebooks, and reconstruct neuronal morphologies, including skeletonization from electron microscopy data.
We will also highlight features that support reproducibility and open science, such as standardized data formats, version-controlled resources, and the possibility to share workflows and projects with collaborators. In additional, we will introduce four proposed research projects that will be available to scholars during the program.
Through live demonstrations, attendees will see how OBI Virtual Labs enable integration from cellular data to circuit-level modeling. The goal of this session is to provide participants with a practical starting point to use the platform in their own research, promoting more efficient, transparent, and collaborative neuroscience.
Presenter Bio:
Natali Barros Zulaica is a neuroscientist and brain modeling specialist currently working as a Brain Modeler Scientist at the Open Brain Institute in Lausanne, Switzerland. Her work focuses on the reconstruction and simulation of human cortical microcircuits, combining experimental neuroscience with computational modeling to better understand brain basic function. Natali completed her PhD in Neuroscience and Information Systems through a joint program between the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and the Université de Lausanne. Her doctoral research explored neuronal plasticity in the rodent thalamus and barrel cortex, through electrophysiology extracellular and patch-clamp experiments. She then joined the Blue Brain Project at EPFL in Switzerland, under the supervision of Prof. Henry Markram, where she worked as a postdoctoral researcher studying synaptic connectivity and implementing multi-vesicular release in large-scale cortical models. She later became a Junior Group Leader, contributing to the reconstruction of a human cortical microcircuit. Her research integrates detailed biological data with advanced computational tools, including NEURON and Python-based frameworks. Alongside her research, Natali has extensive teaching experience, delivering lectures on synaptic physiology and in silico neuroscience, and mentoring students in interdisciplinary programs. Beyond science, she enjoys dancing, singing, and performing in musicals, reflecting a creative dimension that complements her scientific work.
Presentation Slides:
PDF document 917KB
PDF document 26MB
Links from the Session:
- Impact Scholars Program
- Open Brain Institute
- Free webinar: From Neuronal Morphologies to Insights using the OBI Virtual Labs on 23 June
ISP Project Partner Spotlight: LEAP
Presenter: Juan Nathaniel
Description:
If you complete the project portion of the Academy or are a Teaching Assistant, you are eligible to apply to the Impact Scholars Program . The program is a six-month, part-time mentored research experience for early-career computational scientists, where you will receive dedicated mentorship, contribute to real research projects, and produce citable work. This presentation is from one of our Impact Scholars Program Project partners.
This session introduces subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) climate prediction, a challenging regime where atmospheric dynamics exhibit strong nonlinearity, multiscale interactions, and limited predictability. Using the ChaosBench framework developed at the Learning the Earth with Artificial Intelligence and Physics (LEAP), we will explore how modern machine learning models perform in this regime. The tutorial will cover (i) the motivation and scientific challenges behind S2S forecasting, (ii) how to access and work with large-scale climate datasets spanning atmosphere, ocean, land, and ice variables, and (iii) a hands-on example demonstrating how to train and evaluate predictive models. The goal is to provide an accessible entry point for participants to experiment with real-world climate data and understand the opportunities and limitations of data-driven forecasting in chaotic systems.
Presenter Bio:
Juan Nathaniel is a PhD candidate in Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University, advised by Pierre Gentine. His research lies at the intersection of machine learning, dynamical systems, and climate science, with a focus on understanding and improving predictability in complex, multiscale systems such as the Earth’s climate. His work spans subseasonal-to-seasonal forecasting, generative modeling for physical systems, and operator-theoretic approaches for analyzing nonlinear dynamics in the S2S regime and tipping behavior.
Presentation Slides:
PDF document 917KB
PDF document 2MB
Links from the Session:
ISP Project Partner Spotlight: E11Bio
Presenter: Arlo Sheridan
Description:
If you complete the project portion of the Academy or are a Teaching Assistant, you are eligible to apply to the Impact Scholars Program . The program is a six-month, part-time mentored research experience for early-career computational scientists, where you will receive dedicated mentorship, contribute to real research projects, and produce citable work. This presentation is from one of our Impact Scholars Program Project partners.
Presenter Bio:
Arlo Sheridan is a Machine Learning Scientist interested in developing novel approaches for reconstruction of neural circuits using microscopy and barcoded data. In the lab of Jan Funke at HHMI Janelia, he helped develop LSDs (Local Shape Descriptors), a method for neuron reconstruction in large electron microscopy datasets ( Sheridan et al., Nature Methods, 2022 | localshapedescriptors.github.io ). This approach elevated conventional methods to be on par with the state-of-the-art, while being two orders of magnitude more computationally efficient. He then joined the labs of Uri Manor and Talmo Pereira at the Salk Institute where he worked on new techniques for fast ground truth generation from sparse labels, and generalizable methods for multi-object tracking. Additionally, he contributed to core software stacks, including SLEAP .
Presentation Slides:
PDF document 917KB
Links from the Session:
- Impact Scholars Program
- E11Bio
- Blog post
Ocean Mixing: From physics to climate models and back again
Description:
Climate simulations and future climate change projections are notoriously sensitive to unresolved mixing in the upper ocean. In this talk, I discuss insights learned from a combination of theory, numerical simulations, observations, and data-driven methods, in an attempt to isolate individual processes and improve the representation of ocean mixing in the large-scale climate context.
Presenter Bio:
Dr. Abigail Bodner is the X-Window Consortium Career Development Professor at MIT, where she holds a shared position between the Departments of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS), and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). Dr. Bodner is a member of the Laboratory for Information & Decision Systems (LIDS) and Center for Computational Science and Engineering (CCSE).
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Implementing FAIR Workflows in Neuroscience research projects
Presenter: Xiaoli Chen & Tanya Brown
Date & Time: 12 June @ 2:00 p.m. UTC
Recording Link
Recording Link Description:
Research doesn't start and end at the published paper — the protocols, datasets, code, and plans created along the way are valuable outputs in their own right. This webinar shows how to make every stage of your research Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) using persistent identifiers (DOIs, ORCID iDs, ROR IDs) and rich metadata, demonstrable by a concrete large scale collaborative neuroscience research project ARC Cogitate.We'll cover the foundations of the FAIR principles and open scholarly infrastructure, how to choose tools and platforms that connect to that infrastructure, and practical, stage-by-stage workflows: planning and registering a project, developing and sharing your methods, and creating, linking, and citing outputs from data collection through dissemination. You'll leave with a concrete checklist for sharing research outputs that are properly credited, connected, and discoverable.
Presenter Bio:
Xiaoli Chen leads the Implementing FAIR Workflows project at DataCite, working on building exemplar FAIR practices throughout the research lifecycle with the project team and partners. She also co-chairs the DataCite APAC Expert Group and oversees the Registered Service Provider program. Before joining DataCite, Xiaoli worked at CERN in parallel with her Ph.D. research on Open Science research practices among high-energy physicists.
Tanya Brown is Scientific Program Manager of the ARC-COGITATE Consortium at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, where she coordinates an international collaboration spanning 12 institutions across three continents to adversarially test theories of consciousness. With more than 15 years stewarding large-scale neuroscience programs, she builds the governance frameworks and FAIR data practices that make big team science transparent, reproducible, and equitable, and is passionate about ensuring everyone who contributes to open research is recognized for it.
Presentation Slides:
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Incorporating Planned Happenstance in Your Professional Development
Date & Time: 15 June @ 9:00 p.m. UTC
Recording Link
Recording Link Description:
Neuroscience is a broad, interdisciplinary field focused on advancing our understanding of intelligence, behavior, and the societies in which we’re embedded. It requires an equally broad education, encompassing mathematical and computational theory and methods, machine learning and artificial intelligence, psychology, and experiment design. With this intellectual breadth comes strength and advantage, but also feelings of being skilled at all trades, yet master of none. In addition, there is currently growing uncertainty where once stable financial, educational, and societal structures seem less so. To help address these uncertainties, I argue that our intellectual breadth is better framed as a stable foundation upon which to build. I will discuss my own meandering career path, using personal anecdotes to discuss Mitchell, Levin, and Krumboltz’s Planned Happenstance Theory (Journal of Counseling & Development, 1999). Planned Happenstance Theory acknowledges a difficult reality: most people – myself included – attribute chance and luck as being one of the most critical aspects of their own career successes. But this doesn’t mean we should build careers on wishful thinking and waiting for the right moment or opportunity. Rather, Planned Happenstance helps train you to be aware of and receptive to chance opportunities, and how to anticipate and generate more of them. This includes actively growing your network, going so far as cold contacting career idols for advice, regardless of their fame or prestige. Finally, it involves being open and receptive to making connections that may not seem immediately obvious, not in a Machiavellian transactional way, but with authenticity.
Presenter Bio:
Dr. Voytek is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Cognitive Science, and Professor in the Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute and the Neurosciences Graduate Program, at UC San Diego. You can learn more about him here .
Presentation Slides:
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Global Connectome: How mentorship and storytelling can drive global scientific success
Presenters: Dr. Jean King, PhD, Dr. Emmeline Edwards, PhD, Dr. Sonia Bansal, PhD, Michaela de Kock, MSc
Date & Time: 17 June @ 1:30 p.m. UTC
Recording Link
Recording Link Description:
World Women in Neuroscience (WWN) is a global community dedicated to supporting and advancing women and underrepresented genders at every stage of your neuroscience career. In this session, WWN members Dr. Sonia Bansal (PhD), an assistant professor at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Ms. Sonakshi Gupta, a PhD student at in Developmental Psychology at Université Lumière Lyon 2, and Ms. Michaela de Kock, a PhD student at Maastricht University in Mental Health and Neuroscience, will share personal stories and narratives tracing their paths from graduate training to early-career faculty roles. Dr. Emmeline Edwards (PhD), the WWN Chair and director of research for the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative, and Dr. Jean King (PhD), the WWN Co-Chair and WPI Philip R. and Paul S. Morgan Professor of Biology & Biotechnology, will speak to how WWN's community and early-career programming can open doors and offer support beyond your home institution, wherever you are in the world.
Presenter Bio:
- Dr. Jean King, PhD - WWN Co-Chair and WPI Philip R. and Paul S. Morgan Professor of Biology & Biotechnology
- Dr. Emmeline Edwards, PhD - WWN Chair and director of research for the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative
- Dr. Sonia Bansal, PhD - an assistant professor at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center
- Michaela de Kock, MSc - PhD student at Maastricht University in Mental Health and Neuroscience.
- Sonakshi Gupta - a PhD student at ScholaVie in Paris
Presentation Slides:
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Fireside Chat: NMA Content Creators & Course Leadership
Date & Time:
- Slot 1: 18 June @ 8 a.m. EDT/12 p.m. UTC
- Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1gdSAzS2RUCpDx0YQLBP5g#/registration
- Slot 2: 23 June @ 8 p.m. EDT/June 24 at 12 a.m. UTC
- Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UvlzoU6iROi1vG5S2l4GFQ
Recording Link
Recording Link Description:
Join Dr. Konrad Kording for an informal conversation and Q&A with content creators and course leadership from across NMA's courses. This is your chance to hear directly from the people who build and run the programs you're part of, ask questions, get behind-the-scenes perspective, and connect with the broader NMA community. All students and TAs are welcome.
Presenter Bio:
Moderator: Dr. Konrad Kording is a co-founder of Neuromatch and Penn Integrated Knowledge Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He also serves as Co-Director of the CIFAR Learning in Machines & Brains Program. Konrad has been integral to the content creation of all our NMA courses, and is passionate about bringing good science education to people globally.
More Coming Soon!
Slot 1:
Slot 2:
Presentation Slides:
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PhD Application Panel
Presenter: Multiple Panelists! See below!
Date & Time: 22 June @ 4:00 p.m. UTC
Recording Link
Recording Link Description:
Researching, applying, and starting a PhD can be an overwhelming process. We've put together a panel of Neuromatch and Climatematch community members who have recently applied and been accepted into a PhD program from many different parts of the world, or who have lots of experience to add to the conversation.
Presenter Bio:
- Avisha
- Rieke Schäfer
- Dante Kienigiel
- Ohad Zivan
Presentation Slides:
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Building the Bridge: From Academic Research to Climate Tech via Climatematch
Presenter: Dr. Natalie Steinemann
Date & Time: 24 June @ 3:00 p.m. UTC
Recording Link
Recording Link Description:
Ever wondered how skills built in academic research translate to a career in climate tech? In this seminar, Natalie walks us through her own journey — from computational neuroscience at Columbia to co-founding Climatematch Academy to leading the Risk & Science Team at CEEZER. She'll share how data science, project management, and a willingness to dive deep into new domains opened unexpected doors, and what she wishes she'd known earlier about making the leap from academia to industry. Whether you're curious about career transitions, the voluntary carbon market, or simply what it looks like to build something new alongside a research career, this one is for you.
Presenter Bio:
Natalie Steinemann holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering and spent over a decade at Columbia University working at the intersection of computational neuroscience, engineering, and data science.Her pivot to climate tech came through building something from scratch. Natalie was one of the co-founders of Climatematch Academy, where she co-led the team that developed the program's research projects. That experience of translating complex science into accessible, real-world problems turned out to be the bridge between her academic career and the climate tech world.Today, she leads the Risk & Science Team at CEEZER, where her work centers on rigorous due diligence of climate-positive projects worldwide, helping companies navigate the carbon market with confidence. It was the combination of data science expertise built over a decade of academic research, the project management experience gained from co-building Climatematch, and a deep dive into climate data that made the transition possible.
Presentation Slides:
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Impact Scholars Information Session
Presenter: Joana Guedes, PhD
Date & Time:
- Slot 1: 15 July @ 9:45 am UTC
- Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hjcFzOYOSemZ1CMbH1wgoA
- Slot 2: 23 July @ 2:45 pm UTC
- Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rUGOj9BBSiWUrIPjBiU_ww
Recording Link
Recording Link Description:
The Impact Scholars Program is a six-month, part-time mentored research program for early-career computational scientists seeking to build on prior training and contribute to real-world impact. It is open to the 2026 Cohort of students who successfully complete both tutorials and projects and Teaching Assistants. Scholars either continue a research project initiated during Neuromatch or Climatematch Academy, or join a project proposed by one of our partner organizations. Working in small research teams with dedicated supervisors, scholars gain hands-on experience developing research questions, working with real-world datasets, and producing well-documented, citable research outputs that support the transition from coursework to independent research practice.