Hi, Welcome to Pengcen’s homepage!

Hi! I’m Pengcen Jiang (蒋朋岑), a Ph.D. student at the Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute (HDSI) at UCSD. I’m advised by Dr. Mikio Aoi.

Prior to my Ph.D., I attended the School of the Gifted Young at University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), where I earned a B.S. in Physics with a double major in Statistics and Applied Mathematics. During my time at USTC, I conducted undergraduate research with Dr. Guangyu Robert Yang (MIT) and completed my undergraduate thesis under the supervision of Dr. Quan Wen (USTC).

I develop machine learning models and neural networks to study how the brain gives rise to behavior and computation. My current research focuses on:

1. Building artificial neural networks that replicate animal behavior in experiments, and analyzing the mechanisms that emerge through learning.
2. Investigating the effectiveness and interpretability of artificial neural networks – particularly recurrent neural networks (RNNs) – as models of data generated by complex biological systems such as the brain.
3. Studying how neural connectivity (the connectome) constrains and enables computation.

News

2025.12 – My submission, Indoctrination is harder than you think: On the use and misuse of RNNs as surrogates for the brain, has been accepted at Computational and Systems Neuroscience (Cosyne) 2026.

2025.07 – Invited talk at the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) seminar, California State University, Northridge.

Fun fact about me

When typing my name, Pengcen, autocorrect insists on changing it to “Penguin”. Possibly the first penguin 🐧 in computational neuroscience.