Tom is a cognitive scientist with a background in computer science and cybernetics. He works in the areas of artificial life, human-computer interaction, agent-based modeling, and philosophy of mind. His bio can be found here. 

Kaori helps us to run this unit smoothly. She manages our equipment purchases, travel and visits, workshops, and supports us in all of our activities. Please contact her with any requests you may have.

Mark's has a PhD in the philosophy of embodied cognitive science, a MA in philosophy and a BA in philosophy and psychology. His PhD work was focused on how culture is reproduced through embodied social interaction. Mark's postdoctoral efforts will focus on questions of wellbeing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, exploring the intersection between embodied cognitive science, design and digital technologies.

I'm a cognitive neuroscientist with a foot in philosophy, currently based at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology. Previously, I roamed the edges of inter-brain synchrony and geometric formalisms at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences. These days I spend most of my time wondering what our hyperscanning methods really tell us – if anything – about minds in interaction. When not writing about active inference or the epistemology of dyadic data, I collaborate with industry to bring neuro-inspired models into real-world applications, with a particular bent toward mental health.

Brian served 20 years in the U.S. Air Force as an Aircraft Electrical and Environmental Systems Specialist before pursuing a BSc in Psychology. With a growing interest in embodied cognition, he joined the unit which aligns his passions and now works as Lead Technician. Brian plays a key role in coordinating unit projects and is a licensed pilot for the unit’s drone.

Tae is a certified medical translator. She supports the unit with ethics applications, participant recruitment, data collection and administration matters.

Ivan has a Bachelor's in Neurobiology and a Master's in Synthetic Biology and Biotechnology. During his rotation he will be setting up an evolutionary robotics environment to test the role of bodily degrees of freedom on the degrees of freedom of neural activity.

Natalya has a BSc in chemistry and MSc in theoretical chemistry. During her rotation she used network analysis to characterize active learning environments. In this unit she is studying the fundamental principles of learning and its relationship to emergent creativity in complex adaptive systems through computational modeling.

Shannon has a Bachelor's in Art, Psychology, and Neuroscience. Currently, Shannon is interested in cognition, especially ways to improve cognition, and comparative studies. During rotation Shannon will be participating in the Video Interactions project to study realtime social interactions.

Kazuma has a BSc and MSc in computer science. His interest is “Self-Dynamics” in the human-computer integration experience. He works on this topic through the demonstration and the psychophysical/cognitive experiment. He is not only a Ph.D. student at OIST, but also he is a Research Assistant of SonyCSL and a Visiting Researcher of Keio Media Design. He approaches his theme from various perspectives and aspires to work across disciplines.

Georgii has a combined BSc and MSc in theoretical astrophysics. Currently, his interests in intersection of astrobiology and artificial life.

Kensei obtained Bachelor’s in Engineering (Material Science) in 2020. His previous work was focused on developing autonomous robots and molecular computers using DNA as building blocks. After enrollment of OIST, his interest shifted to evolution of animal sociality and collective behavior. Under co-supervision by Dr.Tom Froese, Kensei is now studying macroscopic trends in social evolution of animals, exploring the relationship between brain development and animal behavior.