We welcome you to CDS-KIAC talk on 18th March 2026 (Wednesday). The details are as below:
Speaker : Prof. Ambuj Singh , UCSB
Title : Representations in Deep Learning and the Brain
Date and Time : March 18, 2026: 10:00 AM
Venue : # 102, CDS Seminar Hall
ABSTRACT:
Recent progress in brain reconstruction has shown that visual and semantic information can be decoded from fMRI into high-level representation spaces. In this talk, we outline a broader research direction centered on representation alignment as a unifying principle for brain modeling. First, we discuss ongoing efforts to construct a shared, aligned brain representation space that maps multiple subjects into a common geometry. Rather than treating each subject or dataset independently, this framework aims to formalize subject-agnostic alignment and improve data efficiency through structured adapters. Second, we describe extensions beyond fMRI to M/EEG, exploring whether heterogeneous modalities can be integrated into the same representational space despite differences in spatial and temporal resolution. This raises foundational questions about what aspects of neural geometry are modality-invariant. Finally, we broaden the perspective to task-dependent representations and comparisons with modern AI systems, including vision and language models. By studying representation structure, alignment, and geometry across biological and artificial systems, we aim to better understand how task demands shape internal spaces and where human and machine representations diverge.
BIOGRAPHY:
Ambuj K. Singh is a Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a part-time appointment in the Biomolecular Science and Engineering Program. He received a B.Tech. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and a PhD degree from the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests are broadly in the areas of machine learning, network science, and chemistry/biology. He has published about 300 technical papers over his career. He has led several multidisciplinary projects including UCSB’s Information Network Academic Research Center funded by the Army, Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Research and Training (IGERT) program on Network Science funded by the NSF, and the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) on Network Science of Teams funded by the US Army. His research has also been funded by the National Institute of Health and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. He has graduated over 50 graduate students over his career, including over 30 PhD students.
Host Faculty: Dr. Danish Pruthi, CDS
ALL ARE WELCOME
