Adrienne Fairhall
{{short description|Neuroscientist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| image =
| name = Adrienne Fairhall
| nationality = Australian
| field = Theoretical Neuroscience
| work_institution = University of Washington
| alma_mater = Australian National University, Weizmann Institute of Science
| doctoral_advisor = Itamar Procaccia
| known_for = Dynamic Neural Computation
Circuit Dynamics
Neural Coding
| prizes = Allen Distinguished Investigator
Burroughs-Wellcome Fellow
McKnight Scholar
Sloan Fellow
Fulbright-Tocqueville Distinguished Chair
| footnotes =
|
}}
Adrienne Fairhall is a University Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics and an adjunct Professor in the Departments of Physics and Applied Mathematics, as well as the director of the Computational Neuroscience Program at the University of Washington.
Fairhall is primarily known for her work on dynamic neural computation, particularly the interplay between cellular and circuit dynamics and coding, and she has received numerous awards for her work in the field including a Sloan Fellowship, a McKnight Scholar Award, a Burroughs-Wellcome Careers at the Scientific Interface Fellowship, and an Allen Distinguished Investigator award. In 2022, she was a Fulbright-Tocqueville Distinguished Chair at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris.
Fairhall leads a theory group at the University of Washington.{{Cite web|url=https://alleninstitute.org/what-we-do/brain-science/about/advisors/advisor-profiles/adrienne-fairhall/|title=Allen Institute|website=alleninstitute.org|access-date=2020-02-02}}
Early life and education
Fairhall was raised in Australia, where she obtained her honors degree in theoretical physics working with Robert Dewar at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia.{{Cite web|url=https://www.simonsfoundation.org/team/adrienne-fairhall/|title=Adrienne Fairhall|date=2015-08-25|website=Simons Foundation|language=en-US|access-date=2019-09-07}} She then joined the lab of Itamar Procaccia at the Weizmann Institute of Science where she completed a masters and PhD in physics.{{Cite web|url=https://fairhalllab.com/people/|title=People|date=2012-09-05|website=Fairhall lab|language=en|access-date=2019-09-07}}
Career
Fairhall held postdoctoral positions at the NEC Corporation with William Bialek and in Princeton University's Department of Molecular Biology before being appointed as an assistant professor at the University of Washington's Department of Physiology and Biophysics in 2004, where she is now a full professor. She serves as the co-director of the University of Washington Computational Neuroscience Program and previously as co-director of the University of Washington Institute for Neuroengineering{{Cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Adrienne_Fairhall|title=ResearchGate {{!}} |website=researchgate.net|access-date=2020-02-02}}{{Cite web|url=https://escience.washington.edu/people/adrienne-fairhall/|title=Adrienne Fairhall|website=eScience Institute|language=en-US|access-date=2019-09-07}}
Fairhall has also been involved in a number of computational neuroscience educational programs and workshops; she directed the Methods in Computational Neuroscience course at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, co-founded the Summer Workshop for the Dynamic Brain, a summer course in collaboration with the Allen Institute on Friday Harbor, and with Rajesh Rao, co-created a Coursera course on computational neuroscience.{{Cite web|url=https://www.coursera.org/instructor/~1282559|title=Adrienne Fairhall on Coursera|website=coursera.org|access-date=2020-02-02}}
Personal life
Fairhall is married to Blaise Agüera y Arcas, whom she met at the Methods in Computational Neuroscience summer course at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole and with whom she has two children.{{cite web |url= http://www.dailytech.com/Top+Microsoft+Graphics+Genius+Defects+to+Google/article33938.htm |title= Top Microsoft Graphics Genius Defects to Google |work= DailyTech |first= Jason |last= Mick |date= December 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131218063839/http://www.dailytech.com/Top+Microsoft+Graphics+Genius+Defects+to+Google/article33938.htm |archive-date= December 18, 2013 }}
Select publications
- {{cite journal |last1=Fairhall |first1=A.L. |last2=Lewen |first2=G.D. |last3=Bialek |first3=W. |last4=de Ruyter van Steveninck |first4=R.R. |title=Efficiency and ambiguity in an adaptive neural code |journal=Nature |date=2001-08-23 |volume=412 |issue=6849 |pages=787–792 |doi=10.1038/35090500 |pmid=11518957 |bibcode=2001Natur.412..787F |s2cid=4354013 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/35090500}}
- {{cite journal |last1=Lundstrom |first1=B.N. |last2=Higgs |first2=M.H. |last3=Spain |first3=W.J. |last4=Fairhall |first4=A.L. |title=Fractional differentiation by neocortical pyramidal neurons |journal=Nature Neuroscience |date=2008-10-19 |volume=11 |issue=11 |pages=1335–1342 |doi=10.1038/nn.2212 |pmid=18931665 |url= |pmc=2596753 }}
- {{cite journal |last1=Fairhall |first1=A.L. |last2=Burlingame |first2=C.A. |last3=Narasimhan |first3=R. |last4=Harris |first4=R.A. |last5=Puchalla |first5=J.L. |last6=Berry |first6=M.J. |title=Selectivity for Multiple Stimulus Features in Retinal Ganglion Cells |journal=Journal of Neurophysiology |date=2006-11-05 |volume=96 |issue=5 |pages=2724–2738 |doi=10.1152/jn.00995.2005 |pmid=16914609 |s2cid=52872206 |url=https://www.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/jn.00995.2005}}
Awards and honors
- University Medal, Australian National University
- Zonta International Amelia Earhart Award
- Sloan Fellowship
- McKnight Fellowship
- Burroughs Wellcome CASI Fellowship
- Allen Distinguished Investigator
- Biophysical Society Margaret Oakley Dayhoff Award
- Fulbright-Tocqueville Distinguished Chair
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Portal|Biography}}
- [https://fairhalllab.com/ Laboratory page]
- [https://depts.washington.edu/neurogrd/people/faculty/adrienne-fairhall/ University of Washington Profile page]
- {{google scholar id|Qd2_0VkAAAAJ&hl}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fairhall, Adrienne}}
Category:Australian neuroscientists
Category:University of Washington faculty
Category:Australian women neuroscientists
Category:Sloan Research Fellows
Category:Australian National University alumni
Category:Weizmann Institute of Science alumni
Category:Princeton University people
Category:21st-century Australian scientists