PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Kanaka Rajan

Kanaka Rajan is a computational neuroscientist whose research connects artificial intelligence and neural networks to questions about how the brain works. She earned degrees in industrial biotechnology at Anna University and neuroscience at Brandeis and Columbia, then held a Princeton fellowship; a 2010 paper with Abbott and Haim Sompolinsky showed how external input can suppress chaos in recurrent neural networks. At Mount Sinai, she became an assistant professor in 2018 and a tenured associate professor in 2022. She joined Harvard Medical School's Neurobiology faculty and the Kempner Institute as a founding faculty member in 2023, then received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2025. In 2026, she and colleagues developed CURBD to infer communication between brain regions; as of October 2026, she is an associate professor of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School.

Works
77
Citations
2,896
h-index
20

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 27 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2000–2009

    Degrees in biotechnology and neuroscience

    She earns a BTech in industrial biotechnology at Anna University in 2000, an MS at Brandeis University in 2005, and a PhD in neuroscience at Columbia University in 2009.

  2. 2009–2018

    A Princeton theory fellowship

    From 2009 to 2018, she works as a Biophysics Theory Fellow at Princeton University. In 2010, she coauthors a mean-field study with L. F. Abbott and Haim Sompolinsky showing that external input can suppress chaos in recurrent neural networks.

  3. 2018

    Assistant professor at Mount Sinai

    In 2018, she joins the Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai as an assistant professor.

  4. 2022–2023

    Tenured associate professor

    In 2022, she becomes a tenured associate professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Friedman Brain Institute at the School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and holds the role through 2023.

  5. September 2023

    Harvard and the Kempner Institute

    In September 2023, she joins the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School and becomes a founding faculty member and institute investigator at the Kempner Institute.

  6. 2025

    A Presidential Early Career Award

    In 2025, she receives the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers as one of eight early-career researchers at Harvard Medical School named for the honor.

  7. 2026

    CURBD maps brain communication

    In 2026, she and colleagues develop CURBD (current-based decomposition), a recurrent neural network framework that models experimentally acquired neuronal activity to infer communication between brain regions.

  8. As of October 2026

    Associate professor at Harvard

    As of October 2026, she is an associate professor of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School and a faculty member of the Kempner Institute. Her current research focuses on neurotheory, artificial intelligence, and neural networks.

Career

  1. Since 2023Harvard UniversityFounding Faculty Member and Institute Investigator, Kempner Institute
  2. Since 2023Harvard Medical SchoolAssociate Professor of Neurobiology
  3. 2018–2023Icahn School of Medicine at Mount SinaiAssistant Professor, Tenured Associate Professor
  4. 2009–2018Princeton UniversityBiophysics Theory Fellow

Education

  1. 2009Columbia UniversityPhD
  2. 2005Brandeis UniversityMS
  3. 2000Anna UniversityBTech

From the biography.

Checked career sources: rajanlab.com, news.harvard.edu, kempnerinstitute.harvard.edu.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Kanaka Rajan, PhD rajanlab.com. Checked 27 October 2026.
  2. 566: Dr. Kanaka Rajan: Creating Computational Models to Determine How the Brain Accomplishes Complex Tasks peoplebehindthescience.com. Checked 27 October 2026.
  3. Stimulus-Dependent Suppression of Chaos in Recurrent Neural Networks arxiv.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  4. Kanaka Rajan to join Medical School faculty, will serve as founding faculty member within the Kempner Institute news.harvard.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  5. Awards and Honors from February 2025 brain.harvard.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  6. Extracting brain-wide interactions with CURBD nature.com. Checked 27 October 2026.
  7. Kanaka Rajan kempnerinstitute.harvard.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.