In the news

Outreach talks

  • "What happens in your brain when you are in the Zone," November 2022, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland [video].
  • "Searching for the Origin of Time in the Brain," August 2020, SciencePub, Eugene [video].
  • "Thinking about food," September 2015, Spotlight @ Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, Stony Brook University. [video]​

Neuroscience Schools

2021
  • Advanced Neural Data Analysis Course (ANDA), Jülich, Germany.
2020
  • Neuromatch Academy (mentor on student projects), online.
  • "Tutorial on modeling and simulating neural population dynamics," Simons Center Program on Neural networks and the Data Science Revolution: from theoretical physics to neuroscience, and back. [video]
2019

Conferences/Workshops organized

2022
  • Focus Session 04.01.34 "Information Processing in Sensory and Motor Systems,"  March Meeting of the American Physical Society, Chicago.
2020
  • Physics of neural circuits and network dynamics. Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, Stony Brook. [website] 
20192011
  • Workshop on higher spins and holography. Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, Stony Brook. [website] 
2010
  • Workshop on superstring on Ramond-Ramond backgrounds. Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, Stony Brook.

Invited seminars

2022
  • "Metastable attractors explain the variable timing of stable behavioral action sequences", Theoretical and Cognitive Neuroscience group, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain.
2021
  • "Neural mechanisms generating temporal variability in naturalistic behavior and cortical activity", Colloquium, Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany.
  • "Neural mechanisms generating temporal variability in naturalistic behavior and cortical activity", Colloquium,  Computational Neuroscience Center, University of Washington.
  • "Neural mechanisms underlying temporal variability in naturalistic behavior", Colloquium, Biological Sciences Department, Illinois Institute of Technology -  video available here.
  • "A theory of timing in neural circuits and behavior", Colloquium, Applied Math Department, Harvard University.
  • "Analyzing/Interpreting Activity in the Natural Brain", Panel discussion, Computational Neuroethology Workshop, Teton, WY.
  • "A Reservoir of Timescales in Neural Networks with Heterogeneous Clustering Strengths," Workshop at the Bernstein Conference, Berlin, Germany.
  • "The emergence and modulation of time in neural circuits and behavior," Swartz Seminar Series, Center for Neural Sciences, NYU.
2020
  • "The emergence and modulation of time in neural circuits and behavior," SISSA/ISAS, Trieste (Diamond lab).
  • "The emergence and modulation of time in neural circuits and behavior," World Wide Theoretical Neuroscience Seminar, [video].
  • "Metastable attractors explain the variable timing of stable behavioral action sequences," Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt, Germany (Gjorgijeva lab).
  • "The emergence of time in neural circuits and behavior," Physical Chemistry Colloquium, University of Oregon.
  • "The emergence of time in neural circuits and behavior," Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon.
  • "The emergence of time in neural circuits and behavior," Physics Colloquium, Lewis and Clark College, Portland.
  • "Metastable attractors explain the variable timing of stable behavioral action sequences," Simons Workshop on the Physics of Neural Circuits. [video] [slides]
  • "Metastable attractors in secondary motor cortex underlie self-initiated behavior," Initiative for the Theoretical Sciences, CUNY Graduate Center, New York.
2019
  • "The role of time in neural circuits and behavior," Physics Colloquium, University of Oregon.
  • "Metastable attractors in secondary motor cortex underlie self-initiated behavior," Champalimaud, Lisbon.
  • "Metastable attractors in secondary motor cortex underlie self-initiated behavior," Bernstein Workshops, Berlin.
  • "Metastable attractors in secondary motor cortex underlie self-initiated behavior," Summer School on Computational Neuroscience, Venice. [keynote]
  • "Why spikes? Intrinsically generated variability," Cosyne Workshops, Cascais, 2019.
2018
  • "Anticipatory neural activity and cortical state sequences," Department of Neuroscience, Padua University, Italy.
  • "Self-initiated action sequences are driven by low-rank noise in motor cortex during decision-making," Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, Columbia University.
  • "Using machine learning to study an animal's learning," Machine Learning Symposium, University of Oregon.
  • "Hippocampal reorganization during the formation of temporal associations," 27th Computational Neuroscience Meeting (CNS) Workshops, Seattle.
  • "Anticipatory neural activity and cortical state sequences," Computational Neuroscience Center, University of Washington, Seattle.
  • "Dimensionality: some scaling properties," Computational Neuroscience Center, University of Washington, Seattle.
2017
  • "Anticipatory neural activity and cortical state sequences," Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, Columbia University.
  • "Network dynamics in sensory cortex: from spontaneous activity to expectation," Biorobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa.
  • "Network dynamics in sensory cortex: from spontaneous activity to expectation," Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai.
  • "Metastable dynamics drive anticipatory neural activity," International Conference on Mathematical Neuroscience, Boulder.
  • "Network dynamics in sensory cortex: from spontaneous activity to expectation," Université Paris Descartes, Paris.
  • "Network dynamics in sensory cortex: from spontaneous activity to expectation," Flatiron Institute, Simons Foundation, New York.
  • "Expectation modulates network dynamics in sensory circuits," Sense2Synapse, The Rockefeller University, New York.
  • "Metastable network dynamics mediate expectation," American Physical Society March Meeting, New Orleans.
  • "Network dynamics in sensory cortex: from spontaneous activity to expectation," Institute of Neuroscience, U. of Oregon.
  • NIH K-award Workshop, School of Medicine, Stony Brook University.​
2016
  • "A bottom-up approach to modeling sensory processing," Colloquium, Brookhaven National Lab. [pdf]
  • "Sensory stimuli reduce the dimensionality of cortical activity," American Physical Society March Meeting, Baltimore.
  • "Dynamics of ongoing and evoked activity in sensory cortex," National Institute for Drug Abuse, Baltimore.
​2015
  • "Stimuli reduce multistability and dimensionality of cortical activity," Initiative for the Theoretical Sciences, CUNY Graduate Center.
  • "Dynamics of ongoing and evoked activity in sensory cortex," Simons Center for Quantitative Biology, Cold Spring Harbor Lab.
2014
  • "Stimuli quench the dimensionality of neural representations," Winter School on Quantitative Biology, International Center for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy.
2011
  • "Anomalous dimensions at strong coupling," 11th Workshop on non-perturbative quantum chromodynamics, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris. [pdf]
  • "Anomalous dimensions at strong coupling," Physics Department, Brown University.
  • "The Konishi multiplet at strong coupling," Perimeter Institute, Waterloo, Canada. [video]
2010
  • "Holographic dual of free field theory," SLAC National Accelerator Lab, Stanford University.
  • "Holographic dual of free field theory," SISSA, Trieste, Italy.
  • "Taming the b antighost with Ramond-Ramond flux," SISSA, Trieste, Italy.
​2009
  • School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
2008
  • "Supersymmetry breaking vacua from M theory fivebranes," Joint High Energy Theory seminar, Newe-Shalom, Israel.
2007
  • "Supersymmetry breaking vacua from M theory fivebranes," Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics, Stony Brook University.
  • "Supersymmetry breaking vacua from M theory fivebranes," Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania.
  • "Supersymmetry breaking vacua from M theory fivebranes," Physics Department, California Institute of Technology.
  • "Supersymmetry breaking vacua from M theory fivebranes," Berkeley Center for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Berkeley.
  • "Supersymmetry breaking vacua from M theory fivebranes," Physics Department, Harvard University.
  • "Supersymmetry breaking vacua from M theory fivebranes," Physics Department, Princeton University.
  • "Supersymmetry breaking vacua from M theory fivebranes," Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, New York University.
​ 2006
  • "Integrability of superstrings on Ramond-Ramond backgrounds," Pure spinors in superstring theory, Institute for Theoretical Physics, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
  • "Pure spinor noncritical superstrings in various dimensions," Eurostrings 2006, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, UK. [pdf] [video]
  • School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
  • SISSA, Trieste, Italy.
  • Physics Department, Milan University-Bicocca, Italy.
2005
  • "Seiberg duality, ADE superpotentials and 2-matrix models," Nonperturbative gauge dynamics workshop, Trieste, Italy.
  • Joint High Energy Theory seminar, Newe-Shalom, Israel.
2004
  • "Chiral rings, anomalies, and Seiberg duality," Gauge theories, gravity and strings, Capri, Italy.
  • Institute for Theoretical Physics, Amsterdam University, The Netherlands. 2004 Physics Department, Pisa University, Italy.
  • International Center for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy. 
2003
  • "Branched matrix models and the scale of supersymmetric gauge theories," Theoretical physics conference, Cortona, Italy.
2002
  • ​"Superembedding origin of the pure spinor formalism," Theoretical physics conference, Cortona, Italy. ​

Lectures at Physics schools

2010
  • "Higher spins and holography," Avogadro meeting on theoretical physics, Galileo Galilei Institute, Florence, Italy.
2009 
  • "Introduction to pure spinors," Fundamental aspects of superstring theory, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara. [video]
2008
  • "Gauge mediation," Avogadro meeting on theoretical physics, Trieste, Italy.
2007
  • "Strings in Anti-de Sitter spaces," Avogadro meeting on theoretical physics, Trieste, Italy.
2006
  • "Counting of BPS states and integrability," Avogadro meeting on theoretical physics, Alessandria, Italy.

Popular science

I organized the Simons Center Outreach Program. I asked scientists about their views on life, work, and everything else.
  • Edward Frenkel, "The formula of love." [html]
  • Sergei Dubovsky, "The axiverse." [html]
  • Erik Verlinde, "Entropic gravity." [html]
  • Valerie Gonzalez, "Geometry and Islamic art," [html]
  • Edward Witten, "Ed Witten's take on string theory." [html]
  • C. N. Yang, "What's in a name? A century of Physics." [html]
  • Itay Yavin, "The dark side of the force." [html]
  • Rajesh Gopakumar, "Holographic gravity." [html]
  • Konstantin Likharev, "Neuromorphic networks." [html]
  • Brian Greene, "The status of string theory." [html]
  • Shmuel Nussinov, "Faster-than-light neutrinos, dark matter, and all that." [html]
  • William Bialek, "When Physics meets Biology." [html]
Various:
  • "Quantum gravity is a magnet" [html]
  • "Fundamental Physics Prize" [html]
  • "Higgs boson" [html]​

Popular science articles in Italian on Oggiscienza.it.