Simons Society of Fellows: People

Daniel G. Alabi is an incoming assistant professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Before beginning his faculty appointment in 2025, he will remain a postdoctoral research scientist in the Data Science Institute at Columbia University.

Morris Ang will be a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Mathematics at Columbia University, working with Professor Julien Dubedat. He is completing his Ph.D. at Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the guidance of Professor Scott Sheffield. Previously, he completed a B.S. in mathematics and a M.S. in statistics at Stanford University.

Eric Arsenault is a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University in the group of Professor Xiaoyang Zhu. He received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, under the mentorship of Professor Graham Fleming. Prior to that, Arsenault earned his B.A. in chemistry and in physics from Wesleyan University.

Beatrice Barra is a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Professor Dmitry Rinberg at the New York University Neuroscience Institute. She received her M.Sc. in biomedical engineering from Politecnico di Milano (Italy) and her Ph.D. in medical sciences from the University of Fribourg (Switzerland).

Michael Chapman is going to be a postdoctoral researcher for the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University under the mentorship of Professors Subhash Khot and Oded Regev. He is currently completing his Ph.D. in pure mathematics at the Hebrew University under the supervision of Professors Alex Lubotzky and Nati Linial.

Sophie Huiberts will be a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University in the Department of Computer Science. She is completing her Ph.D. at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica. She holds an M.S. degree in mathematics and B.S. degrees in computer science and mathematics from Utrecht University. Huiberts' work is focused on geometric aspects of combinatorial optimization.

Megan Kirchgessner is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Robert Froemke at the New York University School of Medicine. She received her Ph.D. in neurosciences from the University of California, San Diego, and her B.A. in cognitive sciences and psychology from Rice University. She is interested in how neural circuits for sensory processing are constructed and modified by experience and used for social behaviors.

Lachlan Lancaster will be joining the Department of Astronomy at Columbia University where he will be working with Professor Greg Bryan on understanding the formation and evolution of star clusters. Lachlan is currently finishing his Ph.D. at Princeton University where he has worked on a number of topics in theoretical astrophysics, including cosmology, exotic dark matter models and galactic dynamics.

Oliver Philcox will be joining the High Energy Theory Group at Columbia University as a postdoctoral fellow with Professors Lam Hui and Colin Hill. He is currently completing his Ph.D. in the Department of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University, under the supervision of Professors David Spergel and Matias Zaldarriaga, and is a visiting student at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Cynthia Steinhardt is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience at Columbia University. She graduated with an A.B. in neuroscience from Princeton University and received her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She will be working with Professor Larry Abbott on creating network models of how electric fields drive neural populations. Her focus will be on understanding how the auditory stream responds and adapts to cochlear implant stimulation, to restore complex abilities, such as speech perception to patients.

Andre B. Toussaint is a postdoctoral research scientist in the laboratory of Dr. Ishmail Abdus-Saboor in the Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute at Columbia University. Prior to arriving at Columbia, Andre earned his Ph.D. in psychology and neuroscience at Temple University under the mentorship of Dr. Mathieu Wimmer.

Dr. Lynn Yap is a postdoctoral research fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Richard Axel in the Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute at Columbia University. She completed her Ph.D. in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, where she worked with Dr. Michael E. Greenberg. Prior to Harvard, she received her B.S. in chemistry and biology from Yale University.