Dani Smith Bassett (born
) is an American physicist and
systems neuroscientist who was the youngest individual to be awarded a 2014
MacArthur fellowship
The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...
.
Bassett, whose pronouns are they/them, was also awarded a 2014
Sloan fellowship
The Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded annually by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation since 1955 to "provide support and recognition to early-career scientists and scholars". This program is one of the oldest of its kind in the United States.
...
. They are currently the J. Peter Skirkanich Professor in the Departments of Bioengineering, Electrical & Systems Engineering, Physics & Astronomy, Neurology, and Psychiatry at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
and an external professor of the Santa Fe Institute. Their work focuses on applying
network science
Network science is an academic field which studies complex networks such as telecommunication networks, computer networks, biological networks, cognitive and semantic networks, and social networks, considering distinct elements or actors rep ...
to the study of learning in the human brain
in addition to the study of other complex physical and biological systems.
Early life and education
Dani S. Bassett (born Danielle Perry) was born in 1981 and was raised in
Lock Haven
Lock Haven is the county seat of Clinton County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Located near the confluence of the West Branch Susquehanna River and Bald Eagle Creek, it is the principal city of the Lock Haven Micropolitan Statistical Area ...
and
Reading, Pennsylvania.
Pursuing a passion for medicine, and following in family footsteps, Bassett began higher education in an RN program at the Reading Hospital School of Nursing. After discovering a passion for mathematics, Bassett sought to combine the concepts of physics and mathematics to
neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, developme ...
. Bassett graduated from
Pennsylvania State University with a
bachelor of science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...
in physics in 2004.
[ Basset received the NIH-Cambridge Scholarship and the Winston Churchill Scholarship and studied at the ]University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...
. Bassett received a certificate in postgraduate studies from Churchill College, Cambridge in 2005 and a doctor of philosophy from King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...
in 2009.
Career
Dani S. Bassett became a postdoctoral associate from 2009 to 2011 at the University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...
and a Sage Junior Research Fellow from 2011 to 2013. Bassett is currently on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania as the J. Peter Skirkanich Professor in the Department of Bioengineering.
Bassett's early work used and developed concepts in network science
Network science is an academic field which studies complex networks such as telecommunication networks, computer networks, biological networks, cognitive and semantic networks, and social networks, considering distinct elements or actors rep ...
and complex systems to understand the organization of the brain. Bassett focused on the "small-world" topology
In mathematics, topology (from the Greek words , and ) is concerned with the properties of a geometric object that are preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching, twisting, crumpling, and bending; that is, without closing ...
of the brain, which refers to networks and the way in which they express dense local clustering and how the presence of connections leads to a short path of communication between distant nodes. Bassett's research team applied mathematical concepts in graph theory
In mathematics, graph theory is the study of ''graphs'', which are mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is made up of '' vertices'' (also called ''nodes'' or ''points'') which are conn ...
to small-world analysis to quantify cortical connectivity. The small-world models Bassett produced introduced a means to understanding the brain's structure and function.
These topological measures developed early in Bassett's career were used to examine the cortex and its divisions and wiring to determine the properties that the cortex has. Bassett found that of the various cortical regions, the multimodal portion of the cortex has hierarchical organizations with low clustering, and the transmodal portion was more assortative. Bassett applied these concepts to schizophrenic individuals and noticed that the organization of these portions were abnormal with increasing connection distances. Bassett continues to research the implications of network behaviors on mental disorders, particularly schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wit ...
.
Bassett also has worked with Fabio Pasqualetti (currently at University of California, Riverside
The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...
) to apply control theory
Control theory is a field of mathematics that deals with the control of dynamical systems in engineered processes and machines. The objective is to develop a model or algorithm governing the application of system inputs to drive the system to a ...
to the study of the brain; their initial study on the subject was published in 2015.
Bassett and their team have also been conducting research regarding brain flexibility. Brain flexibility is how often a region of the brain switches communication patterns. The more often the brain switches patterns, the more flexible the brain is. They have also found correlations between the ability for the brain to learn and the flexibility of the brain. Bassett's research may have implications in rehabilitation, particularly in patients who have had a stroke.
Awards and honors
During their undergraduate studies, Bassett was the sole recipient of the Paul Axt Prize, which is given to a student who demonstrates commitment to inquiry and fosters intellectual curiosity. Bassett was also a Schreyer Honors Scholar and was named the Most Achieving Undergraduate Woman of the Year in 2004. Bassett received the Winston Churchill Scholarship and the National Institute of Health- Cambridge Health Science Scholarship to fund their graduate education. Bassett received the Alumni Achievement Award from the Schreyer Honors College
The Schreyer Honors College (or SHC) is the honors program of the Pennsylvania State University. Founded in 1980 as the University Scholars Program, it was expanded and renamed in 1997 in response to a $30 million gift by William and Joan Sch ...
at Pennsylvania State University for extraordinary accomplishment under 35 years of age. Bassett was named American Psychological Society
The Association for Psychological Science (APS), previously the American Psychological Society, is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in ...
"Rising Star" in December 2012. In January 2014, Bassett won the Sloan Research Fellowship
The Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded annually by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation since 1955 to "provide support and recognition to early-career scientists and scholars". This program is one of the oldest of its kind in the United States.
...
. Most notably, Bassett was one of the 21 winners of the MacArthur Research Fellowship in September 2014.
In 2016, Bassett was named one of the ten most brilliant scientists of the year by '' Popular Science'' magazine.
In 2017, Bassett received the Lagrange Prize in Complex Systems. In 2018, Bassett received the Erdős–Rényi Prize for "fundamental contributions to our understanding of the network architecture of the human brain".
Bassett was named a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering
The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) is a non-profit organization founded in 1991, and headquartered in Washington. It represents 50,000 medical and biomedical engineers, and academic institutions, private industry, ...
in 2020
and a fellow of the American Physical Society in 2021.
Personal life
Dani S. Bassett has two children. During Bassett's earlier years, they enjoyed captaining the crew team at King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...
.[ Bassett's twin is Perry Zurn, professor at the Department of Philosophy at American University.]
Selected publications
Books
*''Curious Minds: The Power of Connection'' (2022) : Cambridge: The MIT Press . ()
Articles
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External links
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassett, Danielle
1980s births
21st-century American physicists
21st-century American women scientists
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
American women physicists
American women neuroscientists
American neuroscientists
Living people
MacArthur Fellows
Eberly College of Science alumni
People from Lock Haven, Pennsylvania
Sloan Research Fellows
University of Pennsylvania faculty
Year of birth missing (living people)
American women academics
Network scientists
Fellows of the American Physical Society
University of California, Santa Barbara faculty