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So, yeah, I've had lots of COVID-19 related work, but I wanted to mention, like many, I actually many times work two jobs to get by. This was my first week at @DeptSaludPR, but also at @neuromatch Academy as a Teaching Asssistant. Let me tell you, it has been fascinating... (1/N)
Though TAs were recruited worldwide across all time zones on Earth, I figured I would ask the administration an odd request… Could I TA a group in South East Asia/Australia? (2/N)
Let me tell you, I have no regrets. This first week has been packed with great questions, interactive discussions, and expansive brainstorming. Just check out this birds eye view of our digital drawing board! (3/N)
Thanks to the @neuromatch staff, I have learned a ton of innovative pedagogical techniques that decentralize my role as a TA into what many studies say it should be: a facilitator. And as such, it was even more gratifying to see them constructively supporting each other. (4/N)
So, what's all of that up on the board? Well, part of @neuromatch academy is, in addition to some "coursework", is actual scientific research. Participants are tasked with building a small project that implements what we'll be learning through the Academy. (5/N)
To get that kickstarted, they offered us a set of 5 data sets, 2 of which called our attention. Here's a spectacular bird's eye summary of two of them as we understood them produced by Isabella Orlando of Australia. (6/N)
Contemplating each data set, each student came up with an initial Research Question they were interested in. Here they are! With them, we went through various feedback cycles, evidenced by the yellow comment stickers around each one. (7/N)
Finally, it came down to consolidating ideas and form the groups that would answer particular questions. For this, we decided to anonymously evaluate each research question on 4 matters: Novelty, Broader Impact, Feasibility, and Personal Interest. (8/N)
Beyond scoring, this was just an extension on our feedback process. After the rounds on the Miro boards, it became clear we had more than adopted the correct framework, on offering constructive criticisms and this manifested itself still in the anonymous format. (9/N).
Individual comments and scores were only offered to each author of their research questions. However, all participants were more than grateful for the feedback they received. But thankfully, this exercise worked quite well, 2 research questions really arised from the pack. (10/N)
With scores separated by less than a tenth of a point, @neuro_hedgehog and @TakaYamakoshi demonstrated, above all else, a sense of feasibility and captured their peers interest enough to have us settle on their research questions for proposal preparation. (11/N)
With about 5 hours max of working together as a finally defined group, @neuro_hedgehog and @TakaYamakoshi were able to articulate short proposals with their groups for the next two weeks that have me very excited. (12/N).
Now, I should note that, despite @neuro_hedgehog (Team E) and @TakaYamakoshi (Team T) being the original authors of the seed ideas, these proposals are now very much of the entire group, as their discussions have been incredibly rich. (13/N)
These are the Scientific Questions and the Background for Team E's proposal. The Proposed Analysis and Expected outcomes are classified :P.
Building on the Stringer Dataset, Team E will be expanding upon very counter-current ideas on V1, and we are excited to see it. (14/N)
Building on the Stringer Dataset, Team E will be expanding upon very counter-current ideas on V1, and we are excited to see it. (14/N)
These are the Scientific Questions and the Background for Team E's proposal. Once again, the rest is classified :P.
From the Steinmetz Dataset, Team T also has interest in V1, but will explore its functional connectivity with other brain areas. Very promising adventure! (15/N)
From the Steinmetz Dataset, Team T also has interest in V1, but will explore its functional connectivity with other brain areas. Very promising adventure! (15/N)
If you've made it this far, thank you for your interest in our work, and feel free to reach out to me or any of the group members you can identify. We are anxious to keep seeing the International Computational Neuroscience community grow. (16/END).
