Adrienne Fairhall
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Adrienne Fairhall is a University Professor in the Department of
Physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...
and
Biophysics Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations ...
and an adjunct Professor in the Departments of
Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
and
Applied Mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematics, mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and Industrial sector, industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a ...
, as well as the director of the
Computational Neuroscience Computational neuroscience (also known as theoretical neuroscience or mathematical neuroscience) is a branch of  neuroscience which employs mathematics, computer science, theoretical analysis and abstractions of the brain to understand th ...
Program at the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
. Fairhall is primarily known for her work on dynamic
neural computation Neural computation is the information processing performed by networks of neurons. Neural computation is affiliated with the philosophical tradition known as Computational theory of mind, also referred to as computationalism, which advances the th ...
, particularly the interplay between cellular and circuit dynamics and coding, and she has received numerous awards for her work in the field including a
Sloan Fellowship The Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded annually by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation since 1955 to "provide support and recognition to early-career scientists and scholars". This program is one of the oldest of its kind in the United States. ...
, a McKnight Scholar Award, a Burroughs-Wellcome Careers at the Scientific Interface Fellowship, and an
Allen Allen, Allen's or Allens may refer to: Buildings * Allen Arena, an indoor arena at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee * Allen Center, a skyscraper complex in downtown Houston, Texas * Allen Fieldhouse, an indoor sports arena on the Univ ...
Distinguished Investigator award. In 2022, she was a
Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...
-Tocqueville Distinguished Chair at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. Fairhall leads a theory group at the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
.


Early life and education

Fairhall was raised in Australia, where she obtained her honors degree in theoretical physics working with Robert Dewar at the
Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...
in
Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. She then joined the lab of Itamar Procaccia at the
Weizmann Institute of Science The Weizmann Institute of Science ( ''Machon Weizmann LeMada'') is a Public university, public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, fourteen years before the State of Israel was founded. Unlike other List of Israeli uni ...
where she completed a masters and PhD in physics.


Career

Fairhall held postdoctoral positions at the
NEC Corporation is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inter ...
with William Bialek and in
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
's Department of Molecular Biology before being appointed as an assistant professor at the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
's Department of Physiology and Biophysics in 2004, where she is now a full professor. She serves as the co-director of the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
Computational Neuroscience Program and previously as co-director of the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
Institute for Neuroengineering Fairhall has also been involved in a number of computational neuroscience educational programs and workshops; she directed the Methods in Computational Neuroscience course at the
Marine Biological Laboratory The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is an international center for research and education in biological and environmental science. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution that was independent ...
in
Woods Hole Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwestern corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 78 ...
, co-founded the Summer Workshop for the Dynamic Brain, a summer course in collaboration with the Allen Institute on Friday Harbor, and with Rajesh Rao, co-created a
Coursera Coursera Inc. () is an American global massive open online course provider. It was founded in 2012 by Stanford University computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller. Coursera works with universities and other organizations to offe ...
course on computational neuroscience.


Personal life

Fairhall is married to
Blaise Agüera y Arcas Blaise Agüera y Arcas (born August 28, 1975) is an American artificial intelligence (AI) researcher, software engineer, software architect, and author. He is vice president and fellow at Google Research, where he leads a team that conducts basi ...
, whom she met at the Methods in Computational Neuroscience summer course at the Marine Biological Laboratory in
Woods Hole Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwestern corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 78 ...
and with whom she has two children.


Select publications

* * *


Awards and honors

* University Medal, Australian National University *
Zonta International Zonta International is an international service organization with the mission of Building a Better World for Women and Girls, in support of Sustainable Development Goal 5. Alan Axelrod, ''International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Frate ...
Amelia Earhart Award * Sloan Fellowship * McKnight Fellowship * Burroughs Wellcome CASI Fellowship * Allen Distinguished Investigator * Biophysical Society Margaret Oakley Dayhoff Award * Fulbright-Tocqueville Distinguished Chair


References


External links


Laboratory page

University of Washington Profile page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fairhall, Adrienne Living people Australian neuroscientists University of Washington faculty Australian women neuroscientists Sloan Research Fellows Australian National University alumni Weizmann Institute of Science alumni Princeton University people 21st-century Australian scientists 21st-century women scientists Year of birth missing (living people)