Sebastian Ruiz
I am a statistics major at Florida State University, broadly interested in computational modeling methods applied to neuroscience, AI, and psychiatry.
Work Experience
Honors in the Major Researcher
2026–2027Florida State University
Thesis: Neurobiologically-Constrained Computational Formulation of Neocortical Predictive Coding. Supervisors: Partha Sarkar, Ph.D. (Statistics, FSU) and Mohamed Sherif, M.D., Ph.D. (Psychiatry & Human Behavior, Brown University / Lifespan Physician Group).
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Research Campus
Using reinforcement learning to make an embodied neuroAI model of a fly behave more realistically. Supervisors: Srinivas Turaga, Ph.D. and Gert-Jan Both, Ph.D.
Undergraduate Research Assistant
2025–2027Brown University
Examining effects of sensory noise degradation on model behavior, and how it can be abstracted to represent psychiatric illnesses; reviewing literature on the Thousand Brains System, Active Inference, and Predictive Coding. Supervisor: Mohamed Sherif, M.D., Ph.D.
Carney Summer Scholar in Computational Brain Science
Summer 2025Carney Institute for Brain Science, Brown University
Implemented hierarchical connections within a sensorimotor learning model of a cortical column via Monty; presented at Brown's undergraduate summer research symposium and the virtual Leadership Alliance National Symposium. Supervisors: Mohamed Sherif, M.D., Ph.D. and Santiago Enriquez, M.Eng.
Summer Fellow in Neural Computation
Summer 2024Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Carnegie Mellon University
Replicated previously published work using a CBGT reinforcement learning agent; used Conda and the Churchill supercomputer via SSH. Supervisors: Timothy Verstynen, Ph.D. and Jack Burgess, Ph.D.
Summer Institute Fellow in Biostatistics and Data Science
Summer 2023Biostatistics Collaborative Core, Florida Atlantic University
Daily lectures on biostatistics and data-science methodology: k-means clustering, survey design, decision trees, linear/logistic regression, neural networks, R, and SAS. Supervisors: Katherine Freeman-Costin, Ph.D. and Zoran Bursac, Ph.D.
Education
B.S. in Statistics, Minors in Computational Science & Psychology
Florida State University·Goldwater Scholar (2026), Max Planck Florida Fellow (2026), Palm Beach Seminole Club Scholarship (2025), Johnson Scholar (2024–2026)
A.A. in General Biology
Palm Beach State College·Cum Laude Distinction
Talks & Presentations
Collaborative Research Project Meeting
Florida State University, Department of Psychology
Workshop: Python for Neural Data Analysis
Florida State University, Department of Psychology
Workshop: Intro to Computational Neuroscience / CompNeuroSociety General Body Meeting 1
Florida State University, Innovation Hub
Portfolio
Poster Presentation, 2026 Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience Sunposium
2026Poster Presentation, Florida State University, Honors, Scholars, and Fellows House
2025Poster Presentation, Brown University
2025Poster Presentation, Carnegie Mellon University, Neuroscience Institute
2024Service & Leadership
President & Founder
2025–2026CompNeuroSociety
Grew the organization to over 120 members across FSU's colleges and departments in its first year.
Primary applicant on the awarded ORCA Catalytic Awards Program grant ($14,550) funding a collaborative open-science computational neuroscience project (3 faculty stipends and 8 undergraduate stipends over a semester), in collaboration with a sister CompNeuroSociety chapter at Florida International University led by Ethan Johnson. Mentors: Rodrigo O.F. Pena, Ph.D., Juan Lopez, Ph.D., and Ty Roachford.
Led preparation of the NeurIPS "Bridging the Future" grant application supporting undergraduate-led, faculty-mentored workshops in brain–computer interfaces and AI/ML for neural data science (pending). Primary applicant: Andre Quintero; faculty sponsor: Anke Meyer-Baese, Ph.D.
Secured funding for 10 FSU students to attend SCAN 2026 and the NeuroCollective Symposium in Jupiter, FL, and organized a no-cost 4-hour summer 2025 computational-neuroscience workshop led by Stiles Nicholson Brain Institute faculty.
Skills
Public Speaking
Scientific communication, active participant involvement, presentation design
Coding & Programming
Python (proficient), Matplotlib, SciPy, NumPy, Monty, Pandas, Keras, Cython, MATLAB (beginner), R (beginner), Conda environments, Linux
Computational Methods & Statistics
SAS data analysis, bootstrap hypothesis testing, linear/logistic regression, PCA, optimization
References
Timothy Verstynen, Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University
Mohamed Sherif, M.D., Ph.D., Brown University
Carmen Varela, Ph.D., Florida State University
Jack Burgess, Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University
Katherine Freeman-Costin, Ph.D., Florida Atlantic University
Contact details available upon request.
