Congratulations to University of Iowa computer science major and HBC Lab undergraduate research assistant Zak Gilliam, who presented his first poster from the lab at the UI Computational Psychiatry Symposium April 19  and won first place. 

For the project, Zak applied machine learning to data generated by functional MRI brain scans in EXTEND, an earlier HBC Lab study, finding correlations between amounts and intensity of exercise and changes in the hippocampus. Machine learning, Zak explains, employs a set of computer algorithms to train other algorithms to make decisions based on data, using ‘“if then, that’ logic thousands and thousands of times.”

Along with a $300 prize and kudos for winning against graduate student competition, Zak received useful comments from judges and conference speakers, including “ways to help with some of the limitations of the projects and ideas on different models and ways of training.”

A sophomore from Geneva, Illinois, studying Informatics-Human-Computer Interaction, Zak says he appreciates the opportunities at the University of Iowa to use his mostly self-taught knowledge of machine learning. “In high school, you don’t get to apply your knowledge all that much. But here, you can apply it literally whatever way you can think of. It’s all about the pursuit of knowledge.”

-- Emery Styron