Dr. Priya Sharma

Associate Professor · Machine Learning · Computational Neuroscience

I study how the brain processes information and use those insights to build better machine learning systems. My lab at MIT focuses on the intersection of computational neuroscience and deep learning, developing brain-inspired architectures that are more efficient, interpretable, and robust than traditional approaches. Our work has been published in Nature, NeurIPS, and ICML.

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Years Experience
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Skills
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Publications
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Academic & Professional Experience

Associate Professor of Computer Science

MIT CSAIL · Cambridge, MA

Sep 2020Present
  • Lead the Neuro-AI Lab (8 PhD students, 3 postdocs, 5 undergrads)
  • Secured $4.2M in NSF and DARPA funding over 4 years
  • Published 32 papers with 4,800+ citations (h-index: 28)
  • Developed CS 6.8610 — graduate course on Brain-Inspired ML (120 students/year)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

DeepMind · London, UK

Jan 2018Aug 2020
  • Co-authored 2 Nature papers on neural architecture search
  • Developed energy-efficient training algorithms reducing compute by 40%
  • Collaborated with neuroscience team on biologically plausible learning rules
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Publications

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Sparse cortical coding as a principle for efficient deep learning

Nature Machine Intelligence2024
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Brain-inspired architectures for continual learning without catastrophic forgetting

NeurIPS 2023 (Spotlight)2023
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Energy-efficient training via neural activity sparsification

ICML 20232023
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Cortical microcircuits as templates for artificial neural network design

Nature2022
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Biologically plausible alternatives to backpropagation: a comprehensive survey

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews2021
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Research Competencies

Research Areas

Computational Neuroscience80%
Deep Learning80%
Neural Architecture Search80%
Continual Learning80%
Spiking Neural Networks80%

Technical

Python80%
PyTorch80%
JAX80%
MATLAB80%
C++80%
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Education

Ph.D. Computer Science

Stanford University

20132018

Thesis: Learning algorithms inspired by cortical computation. Advisor: Prof. Surya Ganguli.

18year

B.Tech Computer Science & Engineering

IIT Bombay

20092013

President's Gold Medal (highest GPA in graduating class).

13year
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Awards & Honors

NSF CAREER Award

National Science Foundation

· 2023

$500K grant for research on brain-inspired efficient AI

MIT Technology Review Innovator Under 35

MIT Technology Review

· 2022

Recognized for contributions to neuro-inspired computing

NeurIPS Outstanding Paper Award

NeurIPS

· 2021

For work on biologically plausible learning algorithms

Get In Touch

Open to research collaborations, speaking engagements, and academic opportunities.

Email

p.sharma@example.edu

Location

Cambridge, MA