Ann Kennedy is a theoretical neuroscientist and associate professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the Scripps Research Institute. She previously earned her Ph.D. with Larry Abbott at the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience at Columbia University, studying neural representations and learning in the cerebellum-like structures of the mormyrid electric fish and the insect olfactory system. She then pursued a postdoctoral position as a resident theorist in the David Anderson research group at the California Institute of Technology, analyzing and modeling the dynamics of hypothalamic circuits regulating aggression, mating and predator defense.

The goal of the Kennedy lab is to understand how the molecular and circuit architecture of the brain enables it to give rise to flexible and adaptive behavior. As a theorist, she collaborates extensively with experimental groups to analyze and model complex neural and behavioral recording datasets, with an emphasis on essential behaviors such as social interactions, feeding and predator defense. Her lab uses methods from dynamical systems, control theory and machine learning to interpret the dynamics of neural activity, relate this to underlying algorithms that shape animals’ behavioral decision-making and identify general principles that help neural networks produce behavior according to the survival needs of the animal. The lab also develops computer vision and machine learning tools to better understand the structure of complex animal behavior, particularly social interactions.