Sebastian Ruiz
Currently a student at Florida State University. 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.
