Current members:
Robert Rawlins, B.S. I earned my B.S. in Neuroscience at UAB in the Spring of 2023. Currently, I am working as a Masters Student at UAB studying Multidisplinary Biomedical Sciences with a focus in neuroscience. I have been working in the Irwin Lab to analyze experimental data through the use of MATLAB and help further the scope of the lab. In my personal life, I partake in a variety of disjointed hobbies ranging from hiking, biking, reading, writing, 3D printing, or even my personal coding projects.
Autum Key M.S. From Atlanta, Georgia, Autum earned her master’s degree in behavioral neuroscience and biomedical research, where she developed skills in cellular and molecular techniques to address neuroscience questions. She later applied these skills in a viral sequencing lab, contributing to efforts to end the pandemic and contain the spread of other RNA viruses. Now, as a graduate student in the GBS program at UAB, Autum aims to acquire computational skills and focus her PhD studies on understanding brain function, particularly in the context of Parkinson’s disease. Outside the lab, she enjoys movies, wellness activities, game nights, and the performing arts.
Zachary Irwin, Ph.D. I have a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan. As a graduate student, I studied neural interfaces in non-human primates and in humans to restore motor control following injuries such as paralysis and amputation. Currently, my lab at UAB intends to use our foundation in translational brain-machine interface research to dive more deeply into the neurophysiology of the sensorimotor system in humans. Outside the lab, I love to tinker with electronics, get beaten up constantly by my sons (one and four years old), and binge-watch TV with my wife.
Past members:
Mohammad Alhefdi, Ph.D. (currently Assistant Professor at King Khalid University). I received my Ph.D. in computer engineering from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2022. I have been working on the smart city domain, emphasizing IoT and Blockchain, by investigating and applying complex and graph theory techniques to analyze and design complex systems. My research interests are in complexity theory and complex systems domains. I have been working as a researcher in Integrated Systems Center at UAB. I like to travel and spend time with my family in my free time. I am also a big fan of the Real Madrid soccer team.
Joseph Olson, Ph.D. (currently CTO at Bobolink AI http://bobolink.ai). I have a B.S. in Mathematics from UAB and a Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard University. As a graduate student, I became interested in neuroscience and joined a computational neuroscience lab. I worked on various projects including computer modeling of plasticity in spiking neural networks, analysis of intra-cranial recordings in epileptic patients, and analysis of calcium imaging in mice. I am generally interested in understanding how both the “outside” and “inside” worlds (e.g. the physics of nature and the mechanics of ourselves). I find motor control and brain-computer interfaces interesting because it involves the interaction of these two systems. For down time, I have lately enjoyed bird watching, dabbling in music, and hanging out with my fiancé and friends.
