Xaq Pitkow

Xaq Pitkow is a computational neuroscientist who develops mathematical theories of the brain and general principles of intelligent systems. He focuses on how distributed nonlinear neural computation uses statistical reasoning to guide action in naturalistic tasks. Although he is a theorist, he did at one point perform neuroscience experiments, and hestill collaborates closely with experimentalists to help design experiments, analyze data and ground theories.

Pitkow was trained in physics as an undergrad at Princeton University and went on to study biophysics for his Ph.D. at Harvard University. He then took postdoctoral positions in the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience at Columbia University and in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Rochester. In 2013, he moved to Houston to become a faculty member at the Baylor College of Medicine in the Department of Neuroscience, with a joint appointment at Rice University in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He later moved to the Carnegie Mellon University, appointed in the Neuroscience Institute and with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Machine Learning. He is currently associate director of the NSF AI Institute for Artificial and Natural Intelligence.