Carl Schoonover

Associate Research Scientist
Axel Laboratory
Columbia University / Howard Hughes Medical Institute
ces2001 {at} columbia {dot} edu

I am an associate research scientist in Richard Axel's laboratory at Columbia University where I study the neural mechanisms that underlie unsupervised learning, using the mouse olfactory system as a model. My doctoral work (Ph.D. 2013, Columbia University), performed under the supervision of Randy Bruno, focused on the microanatomy and electrophysiology of the rodent somatosensory cortex. Before that, I studied logic and analytic philosophy (B.A. 2006, Harvard College; M.A. 2007, ENS/EHESS/Paris 5); during that time I also investigated the molecular mechanisms of synapse development in Josh Sanes' laboratory. I occasionally teach, most recently a graduate-level course, Topics in Systems Neuroscience (2016).

In parallel to my scientific work, I am committed to promoting the transmission of scientific knowledge to general audiences; in 2008 I cofounded NeuWrite, a working group for scientists and writers, and in 2010 I published a book, Portraits of the Mind: Visualizing the Brain from Antiquity to the 21st Century.

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"Early Scheme for a circular Feedback Circle"
From Theoretische Biologie by Jakob von Uexküll (1920)