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Ann Kennedy

Assistant Professor, Northwestern University

ann.kennedy@northwestern.edu
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Hello! I am a theoretical neuroscientist studying the structure of social behavior and the neural mechanisms of behavior control.



As of October 2020, I have opened my laboratory for the Theoretical Neuroscience of Behavior in the Department of Physiology at Northwestern University! Lab website is coming soon.
Click here to learn more about the Northwestern University Interdepartmental Neuroscience program (NUIN).


I was previously a postdoctoral researcher in the David Anderson research group at Caltech. I work with experimentalist lab members to characterize the dynamics of hypothalamic circuits that governs social and fear behaviors. I also work with professors Pietro Perona and Yisong Yue at Caltech to develop systems for generative modeling and automated classification of social behaviors in interacting mice.

Before this, I did my graduate studies with Larry Abbott at the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience at Columbia University, studying neural representations and learning in two cerebellum-like structures: the electrosensory lobe of the electric fish, and the Drosophila mushroom body.

I am interested in how the representation of sensory and internal variables by neural populations shapes the brain's capacity for learning, decision-making, and control of goal-directed behavior.