Wei-Chen (Eric) Wang

Wei-Chen (Eric) Wang is a PhD candidate who applies innovative computational modeling to solve problems in biology and medicine. Specifically, Eric is building novel predictive models to understand the computational principles underlying movements of biological systems, with the goal of transforming neuromotor rehabilitation, humanoid robotics, and animation. As a MathWorks Fellow, Eric will infer the reward functions of naturalistic movements across subjects and species and examine how they cluster in the reward space using autoencoders and inverse reinforcement learning. His current research is yielding key insights into how rewards affect the motor plans of individuals, how these plans are affected in subjects with neuromotor disorders, and how reward dependent behavior changes through development. MATLAB is indispensable to Eric’s work, and he has contributed numerous open-source tools to empower other researchers. Through his research, Eric is helping to build a more complete understanding of human movement and creating powerful new computational tools to address a broad range of scientific and medical challenges.