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   Detailed Profile
Dr. Olaf Sporns
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, USA

Brief Biography
Olaf Sporns received an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of Tübingen (Germany) and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Rockefeller University (New York). He then took a position as a Senior Fellow in Theoretical and Experimental Neurobiology at The Neurosciences Institute, first in New York and later in San Diego. Since 2000, he has held a faculty position at the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University in Bloomington, where he is currently a Professor and Associate Chair. Sporns is also on the faculty of the Programs in Cognitive Science and Neuroscience, the School of Informatics, and the Indiana University Biocomplexity Institute. He directs the Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory (www.indiana.edu/~cortex/CCNL.html). Dr. Sporns’ main research field is theoretical and computational neuroscience, with a strong emphasis on network complexity and neurorobotics. A main research focus is the design of neuronal models that can be interfaced with autonomous robots and can be used to study neurobiological and cognitive functions such as perceptual categorization, sensorimotor development, and the development of neuronal receptive field properties. Another focus is the design of anatomically and physiologically detailed models of neuronal networks to investigate the complex large-scale dynamics of neuronal populations. This work includes the development of quantitative measures for characterizing complexity in neuronal networks as well as methods for analyzing the topological structure of neuronal connectivity patterns. Dr. Sporns is a member of the AAAS, the Society for Neuroscience, the International Society for Adaptive Behavior, the Cognitive Neuroscience Society and Sigma Xi. He is an associate editor or member of the editorial board of the journals BioSystems, Adaptive Behavior, the International Journal of Humanoid Robotics, the Journal of Integrative Neuroscience, and Neuroinformatics.

Education and Training
Ph.D (Natural Sciences-Space Sciences)
Rockefeller University, New York, United States of America
     
1986-1990



M.S
Eberhard-Karls-Universitat Tubingen, Germany
     
1986-




Positions and Experience
Full Professor
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana UniversityUnited States of America
2007



Associate Chair
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.United States of America
2005



Department Head or Institute Director
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.United States of America
2005



Associate Professor
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.United States of America
2004-2007



Associate Professor
Department of Psychology, Indiana University, Bloomington, INUnited States of America
2000-2004




Honours and Awards
Trustees Teaching Award
Natural Sciences - Space Sciences
Indiana University Bloomington
2004



Outstanding Paper Award
Natural Sciences - Space Sciences
International Conference on Development and Learning ICDL 02, MIT
2002



Outstanding Junior Faculty Award
Natural Sciences - Space Sciences
Indiana University Bloomington
2002



Pew Scholars in Biomedical Sciences
Natural Sciences - Space Sciences
Nominee for Indiana University.
2001




Affiliation
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University
USA, 47405