Launched in 2025, the Quantitative Scholars Program supports cross-disciplinary undergraduate training intended to advance quantitative approaches used in brain science labs. Scholars are mentored in methods and career development by Jason Ritt, Carney's scientific director of quantitative neuroscience, while being embedded in and contributing research to a host lab within a brain science related department.
The innovative co-mentoring program helps Carney researchers expand their quantitative capabilities while supporting undergraduate training in the application of data science and computational methods to brain science.
Sample projects from 2025:
- Developing deep learning pipelines to identify and score structural abnormalities in lung cancer tissue
- Applying contrastive learning to analyze the shape of action potentials in cultured neurons and quantify how specific gene mutations alter electrical excitability over time
- Refining a closed-loop laser stimulation system to enable precise videographic targeting and high-throughput optogenetic study of peripheral pain pathways
- Computationally merging single-cell RNA sequencing and chromatin accessibility data to map gene regulatory networks that guide axon development in the spinal cord
Students in the program are fully supported by Quantitative Scholars Awards.
