Jacob White

Jacob is a graduate student in medical engineering and medical physics, whose research focuses on the fundamental neuroscience underlying how the brain learns new motor skills. He studies how songbirds—nature’s virtuoso learners—refine complex vocalizations through practice, to identify generalizable neural principles that govern motor learning in humans. Jacob has developed a brain-computer interface for zebra finches that enables direct manipulation and observation of neural activity during vocal learning. This platform allows him to investigate how neural biases are formed at the level of individual neurons, offering new insights into learning, plasticity, and circuit dynamics. MathWorks tools, particularly MATLAB, play a central role in Jacob’s work, supporting real-time neural spike sorting and custom analysis pipelines. As a MathWorks Fellow, he will utilize this system to investigate how specific inputs influence learning trajectories. Jacob’s work could enhance our understanding of learning and recovery after injury, with broad implications for neuroscience, rehabilitation, and neurotechnology.