Spearker: Rebecca R.G. 
Assistant Professor
Department of Mathematical Sciences
George Mason University

Title: Classifying neural ideals

Abstract: The neural ideal was introduced by Curto, Itskov, et al in 2013 to study the firing patterns of a set of neurons (called a neural code), turning problems in neuroscience and coding theory into algebraic questions. They also introduced the canonical form of a neural ideal, a set of generators uniquely tied to the original neural code. In this talk I will give an overview of neural ideals, describe a simple criterion for determining whether a neural ideal is in canonical form, and give an improved algorithm for computing the canonical form of a neural ideal. I will also discuss research in progress on the homological properties of neural ideals. This work is joint with Hugh Geller.