Sander Bohté, professor by special appointment of Cognitive Neurobiology
1 May 2018
Dr S.M. Bohté (1974) has been named professor by special appointment of Cognitive Neurobiology, specialising in Computational Neuroscience, at the University of Amsterdam (UvA)'s Faculty of Science. The chair was designated on behalf of the Science Plus Foundation (Stichting Bèta Plus). He will be combining his professorship with his position as senior researcher at the National Research Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science (CWI).
Sander Bohté's research focuses on the interface of artificial intelligence and neurobiology. He researches deep neural networks and machine learning from a biological perspective and develops computational models in order to gain a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of information processes in biological neural networks.
As professor, Bohté will focus on combining expertise in the field of well-understood brain models with that of learning neural systems within the limitations and possibilities of biological systems. An example of this are models that learn how sensory information must be integrated and transformed into effective actions. Another example are neural network models that are energy-efficient because they communicate efficiently, the way neurons do in the brain. In addition, Bohté aims to strengthen and expand education where machine learning and neuroscience meet and teach students how to combine mathematics and informatics with biologically plausible brain models.
About Sander Bohté
Bohté has been with CWI since 2004 and has been a senior member of staff since 2013. At the CWI, he leads the research into neural computation within the Machine Learning group. In addition, Bohté has been teaching the new Bachelor's course of Cognitive Computational Neuroscience at the UvA since 2014.
Bohté is part of the committee of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)'s Natural Artificial Intelligence research programme and is on the editorial boards of IEEE Transaction in Neural Networks and Learning Systems and Frontiers in Neuroscience and Robotics and AI.