About

Hi! Check out my latest blog posts here!

I’m Jakov, and I dream of becoming a computational neuroscientist. My ambition stems from three motivations:

1) My passion for mathematics

Ever since I was a child, I already love numbers and symbols. This propelled me to take Applied Math (with a focus on mathematical finance) as my undergraduate and Masters course. Throughout the years, I have trained my brain to look at the universe through the lens of mathematics. I hope that I could do the same in our own 3-pound universe.

2) My interest in knowing how the brain works

I am fascinated with what the human brain does, how it performs various processes, and why the brain does what it does. I hope that by studying neuroscience, I will know how brain injuries occurring at prenatal, perinatal, and postnatal stages influence the anatomy and physiology of a developing brain.

3) My desire to help humanity through scientific research

My life purpose is to contribute to the progress of humanity, and I believe that conducting scientific researches would be my way of doing so. My current research interests include neuroplasticity, models of neural computation, and reinforcement learning. I would love to contribute in bridging different levels of analysis on the human brain. I hope that by approaching the brain through a mathematical/computational perspective, we can shed light on how we can maximize our brains’ potential, and in the long run, on how to prevent and hopefully cure neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental diseases (such as cerebral palsy).

I believe that the field of computational neuroscience is the delicate intersection of these three reasons. And that is why I created this academic blog. As I am new to this field, I want to document my learning process and the fascinating ideas I come across. Someday, I hope that I will get into a good PhD program and work in an amazing lab. For the meantime, I will feed my brain with the knowledge needed to succeed in this field (through my blog posts), keeping curiosity alive along the way.