index.Rmd

---
title: ""
pagetitle: "Connor Brennan"
classoption: twocolumn
editor_options: 
  markdown: 
    wrap: 72
---

```{=html}
<style>
body{
  font-size: 12pt;
}
.column-left{
  float: left;
  width: 30%;
  text-align: center;
}
.column-right{
  display: inline-block;
  width: 70%;
  text-align: left;
}
</style>
```
<br> <br> <br>

::: column-left
![](files/images/profile_1.png){width="140px"}

**Connect with me** <br> sharnik at hotmail.com <br>
[![](files/images/github.png){width="30px"}](https://github.com/con-bren)
[![](files/images/googlescholar.png){width="30px"}](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=asa20tUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao)

<br>

**Resumes**<br> <font size="-1">
[Resume](files/ConnorBrennanResume.pdf)<br> </font>
:::

::: column-right
I am a postdoctoral scholar at the Machine Learning and AI institute,
Mila. I recieved my Ph. D. in Neuroscience from the University of
Pennsylvania and hold a B.S. in Physics from the University of
Washington. I am interested in understanding the mechanisms that allow
intelligent systems (for example, biological brains and artificial
neural networks) to behave adaptively in the environments they have been
selected for.

<br>

During grad school, this meant studying how living and artificial
systems performed the necessary computations to react and adapt to their
environments. My Thesis focused on using Dynamical Systems Theory to
understand the way information flows about the brain.

<br>

In my postdoc, I'm taking a more direct approach by training large
models in carefully constructed artificial environments that force them
to learn to be adaptive. This boils down mostly to building custom RL
environments and developing high performance computing solutions on some
of the biggest super computers in the US.

<br>

When I'm not trying to create the singularity, I spend most of my time
doing game development. This is my first passion. Fresh out of college I
spent 3 years in the game industry before returning to academia. I hope
someday to be able to combine both my academic studies and game
development into one super awesome project! <br> <br>

<br> <br> <br> <br>
:::