Ipek Naz Obek

What excites me about research the most is the freedom to explore diverse interests and discover innovative ways to connect them. My research journey began at the Center for Neuroengineering and Therapeutics as part of the MindCORE Summer Fellowship program. Under the guidance of Dr. James Gugger, I explored the MRI segmentation in traumatic brain injury-induced epilepsy patients and developed deep learning algorithms to automate this process. This experience sparked my passion for computational neuroscience, leading to a minor in the field. 

Driven by my interest in representing the human brain computationally and integrating psychology with computational methods, I joined the Gopnik Lab. There, I worked on understanding how children develop concepts and causal relations, applying these insights to improve reinforcement learning models. This project has inspired my senior thesis, where I aim to develop efficient learning methods for both humans and AI models. I am deeply fascinated by the interplay between AI and cognitive science, particularly how insights from the human brain can inspire more flexible learning systems. The tasks where humans outperform AI, often linked to the prefrontal cortex, highlight areas where neural networks struggle, and I believe there is so much to explore in bridging this gap. 

If you’re interested in the intersections of computer science, cognitive neuroscience, and psychology, or simply want to explore research opportunities, I would love to connect and support you on your research journey!

• MindCORE Summer Fellowship - Research Assistant at the Center for Neuroengineering and Therapeutics 
• Career Services Summer Grant - Research Assistant at the Gopnik Cognitive Development and Learning Lab at UC Berkeley