Sara A. Solla is an Argentine-American physicist and neuroscientist whose research applies ideas from
statistical mechanics
In physics, statistical mechanics is a mathematical framework that applies statistical methods and probability theory to large assemblies of microscopic entities. It does not assume or postulate any natural laws, but explains the macroscopic be ...
to problems involving
neural network
A neural network is a network or circuit of biological neurons, or, in a modern sense, an artificial neural network, composed of artificial neurons or nodes. Thus, a neural network is either a biological neural network, made up of biological ...
s,
machine learning
Machine learning (ML) is a field of inquiry devoted to understanding and building methods that 'learn', that is, methods that leverage data to improve performance on some set of tasks. It is seen as a part of artificial intelligence.
Machine ...
, and
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, development ...
. She is a professor of physics and of physiology at
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
.
Education and career
Solla is originally from
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
, and earned a
licenciatura
A licentiate (abbreviated Lic.) is an academic degree present in many countries, representing different educational levels.
It may be similar to a master's degree when issued by pontifical universities and other universities in Europe, Latin Am ...
in physics in 1974 from the
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one o ...
. She completed a Ph.D. in physics in 1982 at the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
.
She became a postdoctoral researcher at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
and at the
Thomas J. Watson Research Center
The Thomas J. Watson Research Center is the headquarters for IBM Research. The center comprises three sites, with its main laboratory in Yorktown Heights, New York, U.S., 38 miles (61 km) north of New York City, Albany, New York and with ...
of
IBM Research
IBM Research is the research and development division for IBM, an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, with operations in over 170 countries. IBM Research is the largest industrial research org ...
. Influenced to work in neural networks by a talk from
John Hopfield
John Joseph Hopfield (born July 15, 1933) is an American scientist most widely known for his invention of an associative neural network in 1982. It is now more commonly known as the Hopfield network.
Biography
Hopfield was born in 1933 to Pol ...
at Cornell, she became a researcher in the neural networks group at
Bell Labs
Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984),
then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996)
and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007),
is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...
. She took her present position at Northwestern University in 1997.
Recognition
Solla is a Member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
(AAAS), and a
Fellow of the American Physical Society
The American Physical Society honors members with the designation ''Fellow'' for having made significant accomplishments to the field of physics.
The following lists are divided chronologically by the year of designation.
* List of American Physic ...
(APS), Division of Biological Physics, "for applications of statistical physics to problems concerning learning, adaptation, and information coding in neural systems".
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solla, Sara
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Argentine physicists
Argentine women physicists
American physicists
American women physicists
University of Buenos Aires alumni
University of Washington alumni
Scientists at Bell Labs
Northwestern University faculty
Fellows of the American Physical Society
21st-century American women