Surya Ganguli (born

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

) is a university professor at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and a visiting research professor at

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

. Ganguli is primarily known for his work on

neural networks A neural network is a group of interconnected units called neurons that send signals to one another. Neurons can be either Cell (biology), biological cells or signal pathways. While individual neurons are simple, many of them together in a netwo ...

and

deep learning Deep learning is a subset of machine learning that focuses on utilizing multilayered neural networks to perform tasks such as classification, regression, and representation learning. The field takes inspiration from biological neuroscience a ...

, although he has also published papers on

theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict List of natural phenomena, natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental p ...

. He presently runs the Neural Dynamics and Computation Lab at Stanford, where he aims to reverse engineer how networks of

neurons A neuron (American English), neurone (British English), or nerve cell, is an membrane potential#Cell excitability, excitable cell (biology), cell that fires electric signals called action potentials across a neural network (biology), neural net ...

and

synapses In the nervous system, a synapse is a structure that allows a neuron (or nerve cell) to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another neuron or a target effector cell. Synapses can be classified as either chemical or electrical, depending o ...

cooperate across multiple scales of space and time to facilitate

sensory perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...

motor control Motor control is the regulation of movements in organisms that possess a nervous system. Motor control includes conscious voluntary movements, subconscious muscle memory and involuntary reflexes, as well as instinctual taxes. To control ...

memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembe ...

, and other cognitive functions. He is also known for being a prolific public speaker and lecturer, having been invited to give over 200 talks at various universities, institutes, workshops, conferences, and symposiums since 2005. Ganguli has received numerous awards for his work in the field including a

National Science Foundation CAREER Award The National Science Foundation CAREER award is the most prestigious award presented by the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States Federal Government to support junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through rese ...

, the

Simons Simons is a surname. Notable people A * Alan Simons (born 1968), Welsh goalkeeper * Alexandra Simons de Ridder (born 1963), German equestrian * Algie Martin Simons (1870–1950), American socialist journalist, newspaper editor and political ac ...

Investigator Award in MMLS, the McKnight Scholar Award, the James S. McDonnell Foundation Scholar Award in Human Cognition, a

Sloan Research 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 Swartz Fellowship, the

Burroughs Wellcome GSK plc (an acronym from its former name GlaxoSmithKline plc) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a Mergers an ...

Career Award at the Scientific Interface, and the Terman Award. His publications have also won a number of conference awards, such as the NIPS 2014 Outstanding Paper award and the Cosyne 2014 award for the top ranked abstract. Finally, Ganguli has won a number of awards unrelated to his academic publications, such as the Berkeley Outstanding Graduate Instructor award and the

National Council of Teachers of English The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) is a United States professional organization dedicated to "improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts English studies (or simply, English) is an academic discip ...

Award in Writing.

Biography

In 1993, Surya Ganguli graduated from

University High School University High School may refer to: Australia * University High School, Melbourne, Victoria Canada * University Hill Secondary School, Vancouver, British Columbia United States Arizona * University High School (Tolleson) * University High Sc ...

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, planned city in central Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was named in 1888 for the landowner James Irvine. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the ...

at the top of his class at the age of 16. He then attended the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

, where he spent five years completing bachelor's degrees in

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

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

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

and

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

, as well as a master's degree in the latter. During that time, Ganguli assumed research positions at the Information Mechanics Group at the

MIT Laboratory for Computer Science The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sci ...

, at the Center for Space Research and the Center for Theoretical Physics at the MIT Department of Physics, and the Information Systems and Technologies Laboratory and the Dynamics of Computation Group at the

Xerox Palo Alto Research Center Xerox Holdings Corporation (, ) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox was the pioneer of the photocopier market, beginning with the introduc ...

. Ganguli then moved on to the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, where he completed a master's degree in physics in 2000 and a master's degree in mathematics in 2004. He also completed a PhD in

string theory In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory describes how these strings propagate through space and intera ...

under Dr. Petr Horava at the

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL, Berkeley Lab) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in the Berkeley Hills, hills of Berkeley, California, United States. Established i ...

later that year. While at Berkeley, he taught undergraduate courses on

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical Scientific theory, theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is ...

special relativity In physics, the special theory of relativity, or special relativity for short, is a scientific theory of the relationship between Spacetime, space and time. In Albert Einstein's 1905 paper, Annus Mirabilis papers#Special relativity, "On the Ele ...

statistical physics In physics, statistical mechanics is a mathematical framework that applies statistical methods and probability theory to large assemblies of microscopic entities. Sometimes called statistical physics or statistical thermodynamics, its applicati ...

electromagnetism In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge via electromagnetic fields. The electromagnetic force is one of the four fundamental forces of nature. It is the dominant force in the interacti ...

, and

analytical mechanics In theoretical physics and mathematical physics, analytical mechanics, or theoretical mechanics is a collection of closely related formulations of classical mechanics. Analytical mechanics uses '' scalar'' properties of motion representing the sy ...

. Following the completion of his doctorate, Ganguli became a postdoctoral fellow at the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

, a position he held until 2012. He had authored and co-authored a number of papers on theoretical neuroscience prior to this in the late 2000s (collaborating with

Haim Sompolinsky Haim Sompolinsky (; born 1949) is the William N. Skirball Professor of Neuroscience at the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (formerly the Interdisciplinary Center for Neural Computation), and a professor of physics at the Racah Ins ...

, Peter Latham, and Ken Miller in the process) and further taught a course on advanced theoretical neuroscience with Larry Abbott, Stefano Fusi, and Ken Miller in 2008, but it was at this point that Ganguli formally transitioned into theoretical neuroscience, assuming the position at the Sloan-Swartz Center for Theoretical Neurobiology. As of 2012, Ganguli is an assistant professor at the department of applied physics, the department of neurobiology, the department of computer science, and the department of electrical engineering at

. In 2017, he also assumed a visiting research professorship at

Google Brain Google Brain was a deep learning artificial intelligence research team that served as the sole AI branch of Google before being incorporated under the newer umbrella of Google AI, a research division at Google dedicated to artificial intelligence ...

Deep Learning Deep learning is a subset of machine learning that focuses on utilizing multilayered neural networks to perform tasks such as classification, regression, and representation learning. The field takes inspiration from biological neuroscience a ...

Team.

Select publications

Surya Ganguli has a
extensive publication record
A selection of works is listed below: * * * * *

Notable awards

Investigator Award in MMLS * McKnight Scholar Award * James S. McDonnell Foundation Scholar Award in Human Cognition * Cosyne 2014, Number 1 Ranked abstract * NIPS 2014 Outstanding paper award * Terman Award *

Career Award at the Scientific Interface *

* Berkeley Outstanding Graduate Instructor *

Award in Writing *

NSF NSF may stand for: Political organizations *National Socialist Front, a Swedish National Socialist party *NS-Frauenschaft, the women's wing of the former German Nazi party * National Students Federation, a leftist Pakistani students' political g ...

Career Award * Swartz Fellowship

References

External links

Stanford Laboratory page

Stanford Profile page

Simons Foundation Profile page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ganguli, Surya Bengali physicists Bengali scientists Living people Indian neuroscientists Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology people University of California, Berkeley alumni Stanford University Department of Applied Physics faculty Stanford University Department of Electrical Engineering faculty Stanford University Department of Mathematics faculty Stanford University people University of California, San Francisco alumni Indian theoretical physicists Indian scientists Sloan Research Fellows Simons Investigator Date of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Scientists from Kolkata