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( Research Interests )
I am interested in the neural mechanisms that underlie auditory recognition and discrimination. Recent work has shown that spike trains from individual auditory neurons can be used to discriminate between and classify stimuli by using a nearest neighbor template-matching approach. However, how biological circuits perform such computations remains unclear, as does how individual neural responses are be pooled to make behavioral decisions. I am working to develop such biologically plausible single-neuron and population-level discrimination models.
( Education )
In Progress: MS/PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Boston University.
2006: B.A. Mathematics (w/honors), Physics (w/honors), and Philosophy (w/honors), Summa Cum Laude. Kalamazoo College. GPA: 4.0. (Study Abroad: 6 months, International Sustainable Development Studies Institute, Chiangmai, Thailand).
( Publications )
- Larson, E, CP Billimoria and K Sen. (2008) “A Biologically Plausible Computational Model for Auditory Object Recognition,”
J Neurophysiol (in press)
- Shinn-Cunningham, BG, A Ihelfeld, E Larson and Satyavarta.
“Top-down and bottom-up influences on spatial unmasking,”
Acta Acustica united with Acustica (Nov. 2005)
( Grants and Awards )
- 2007: National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
- 2006: Boston University Biomedical Engineering Distinguished Fellowship
- 2006: Phi Beta Kappa - Honors society
- 2003: Connable Scholarship - Four-year award, given to the one member of each rising sophomore class at Kalamazoo College (K) who demonstrates
the most promise for continued studies in the sciences.
- 2003: First (Second, Third)-Year Mathematics Award - given to the rising sophomore (junior, senior) at K who demonstrates the most promise for continued studies in mathematics
- 2003: First-Year Physics Award - given to the rising sophomore at K who demonstrates the most promise for continued studies in physics
- 2003: First-Year Philosophy Award - given to the rising sophomore at K who demonstrates the most promise for continued studies in philosophy
- 2002: Alpha Lambda Delta - freshman honor society member.
- 2002: Kalamazoo College Honors Scholarship - competitive four-year award.
- 2001: National Honors Society Scholarship - four-year award.
( Posters and Presentations )
- Larson, E, CP Billimoria, and K Sen (2008). “Song Discrimination Using a Biologically Plausible Circuit That Implements a Spike Distance Metric,” Cosyne, Salt Lake City, Utah, 28 February - 2 March 2008.
- Shinn-Cunningham, BG, A Ihlefeld, Satyavarta, and E Larson (2005). “Spatial auditory attention,” First Indo-American Frontiers of Science Symposium sponsored by the National Academies of Science, Bangalore, India, 8-10 January 2005.
- A Ihlefeld, E Larson, and BG Shinn-Cunningham (2005). “Spatial unmasking at a spectrally sparse cocktail party,” Mid-Winter Meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, New Orleans, LA, 19-24 February 2005.
( Employment )
- BE402 Control Systems T.F. (2008)
Assist teaching junior-level undergraduate course in Control Systems one semester. Held a 40-to-60-person discussion section once per week.
- MA362/365 Probability/Statistics T.A. (2006)
T.A. senior-level mathematics courses.
- Math Center Supervisor: Kalamazoo College (2005-2006)
Run and supervise the Math Center; tutor math students at Kalamazoo College in all levels of mathematics.
- REU Research: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champiagn (2005 Summer)
Physics of music, data acquisition, and digital signal processing research with Dr. Steve Errede.
- REU Research: Boston University (2004 Summer)
Binaural hearing research conducted with Barbara Shinn-Cunningham.
- Physics Lab TA: Kalamazoo College (2003 Fall)
Helped run and instruct introductory phyiscs labs.
- Test Engineer Intern: Johnson Controls (2003 Summer)
Engineering of car seat validation metrics and techniques at Johnson Controls.
- Math Consultant: Kalamazoo College (2002-2005)
Tutor math students at Kalamazoo College in all levels of mathematics at the Math Center.
( Languages )
- Thai Language - February 2005, tested at the level of "Advanced" in Thai language conversation proficiency
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