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2009-present                        Boston University                                        Boston, MA
Postdoctoral Researcher
Neural network modeling of speech perception.  This research aims to determine how the human brain segregates speech from other voices and environmental noise in order to identify the speech spoken by a single person. This model addresses filtering speech sounds by the ear, streaming acoustical sources, pitch perception, and learning and categorization.
Behavioral and modeling work on speech motor control of aphasics.  In this project, I am coordinating with Boston University, the VA hospital, and Northeastern University to perform a behavioral study investigating the speech motor control of patients with aphasia.  In addition, computational modeling work is being undertaken to better understand how speech sounds are represented in the brain. My responsibilities include computational modeling, being the interface with IRBs at both the VA and BU, overseeing study design, patient recruitment, data analysis, obtaining consent from patients, writing grants, and writing papers for submission to a peer reviewed journal. 
SyNAPSE project team leader.  I am leading a team of graduate students in developing models for the DARPA SyNAPSE (Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics) program. My responsibilities include overseeing technological development and preparing deliverables.
Technology outreach coordinator. I am co-leading an effort to create a centralized resource for transferring technology developed within the NSF-funded CELEST Science of Learning Center to industrial partners. Responsibilities include generating website content, creating a web portal for resources, bridging communication between academia and industry, and hosting events to encourage entrepreneurship for graduate students and postdocs.

2006-present                        Neurala LLC                                                 Boston, MA
Co-Founder and COO
Oversee the day to day operations of Neurala LLC including accounting and business client communications.
Lead engineer and project manager for defense related contract with Biomimetic Systems involving gunshot detection and classification.
Project manager for agriculture related project in a contract with Agren Inc to determine slope length of fields for calculation of soil erosion.
Co-author of business plan.
Assist development of business goals and product design and grant writing.
Project Manager for general research, development, and contract work.

2004-2009                            Boston University                                        Boston, MA
Research Assistant
Neural network modeling of speaker normalization.  This research aimed to determine how the human brain creates a speaker and rate invariant representation of speech sounds and how the brain learns to recognize those signs and categorize them with their associated meaning. 
Behavioral and modeling work on speech motor control of aphasics.  In this project, I coordinated with Boston University, the VA hospital, and Northeastern University to perform a behavioral study investigating the speech motor control of patients with aphasia.  My responsibilities included computational modeling, being the interface with IRBs at both the VA and BU, overseeing study design, patient recruitment, data analysis, obtaining consent from patients, and writing a book chapter and paper for submission to a peer reviewed journal. 
Hi-tech software development project.  I co-led a team of seven CNS graduate students and post docs in a project aimed at developing an innovative software platform for advanced neural modeling.  The software, the KDE Integrated NeuroSimulation Software (KInNeSS, www.kinness.org), has become the primary tool in many departmental research projects in the design and testing of complex neural systems.

2000-2003                            Barons Jewelers                                  San Leandro, CA
Corporate Office Manager and Systems Administrator
Managed office employees at four locations in both day to day operations and sales and accounting issues involving customers, business clients, other employees, and the computer system.
Co-authored a business plan which successfully received multi-million dollar financing.
Managed company LAN hardware and data transfer.
Helped facilitate conversion to a computerized point of sales system.
Conducted employee training sessions and meetings.
Attained accounts receivable experience in billing and maintaining in-house finances.

1998-2000                            University of California, Berkeley       Berkeley, CA
Lab Assistant
Work study position in a water ecology laboratory.
Identified taxonomy of aquatic insects through sample analysis and processing.
Organized data into spreadsheets.

2003-2009                            Boston University                                        Boston, MA
Received PhD degree in Cognitive and Neural Systems, May 2009
Cumulative GPA of 3.9
Concentration: Biologically inspired speech perception and production neural network modeling.
PhD Advisors: Dr. Stephen Grossberg and Dr. Frank Guenther
Dissertation title: Neural dynamics of speech perception and production: from speaker normalization to apraxia of speech
1998-2003                            University of California - Berkeley      Berkeley, CA
Bachelor of Arts degree received in May 2003.
Received departmental honors and cumulative GPA of 3.52.
Majored in cognitive science with an emphasis in neuroscience.

• Co-PI and program chair for the NSF sponsored inter-Science of Learning Center (iSLC) conference to be held in Boston in May 2010.
• President of the NSF sponsored CELEST (Center for Excellence in Education, Science, and Technology) Science of Learning Center Student Organization (2006-2008).
• Advisory board member for the NSF sponsored CELEST Science of Learning Center Student Organization (2008-2009).
• Co-leader of the NSF sponsored iSLC meeting and co-author of accepted grant to fund a student and postdoc led conference series (2008 and 2009).
• Co-chair of the CELEST student led workshop planning committee for the International Conference on Cognitive and Neural Systems (ICCNS 2008, 2009, and 2010) in Boston, MA.
• Committee member for the CELEST student led Career Day organizational and planning committee (2007 and 2008).

Fall 2004                            Boston University                                    Boston, MA

• Teaching Fellow for CN 510: Introduction to Neural Network Modeling
• Recipient of 2004-2005 Outstanding Teaching Fellow Award

• UC Berkeley Undergraduate Grant Recipient
• Donald Schaefer Physical Sciences Scholar
• H. Wollenberg Grant Recipient
• Iowa Byrd Scholar
• RIA Federal Credit Union Scholarship Recipient
• Girl Scout Silver Award
• Ralston Purina Scholarship Recipient

• Student member of the Acoustical Society of America
• Student member of the International Neural Network Society
• Student member of the Society for Neuroscience

• Joint Fire Science Program Eastern Risk Roundtable 2007
• RUSLE2 & LiDAR Expert Panel 2008
• RUSLE2 Expert Panel 2009

• Spatial Vision, Special Issue on Vision Science and Art
• NSF sponsored inter Science of Learning Centers Workshop (2008)
• International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (2008, 2009)
• Neural Networks
• Neuropsychologia

• Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, Adobe Photoshop, PageMaker, and strong internet skills.
• Operating systems: Unix, Linux, Windows 95/98, 2000, ME, XP.
• Programming languages: Matlab, LISP
• Accounts receivable

• Computational Methods in Cognitive and Neural Systems
• Principles and Methods of Cognitive and Neural Modeling I
• Neural and Computational Models of Vision
• Neural and Computational Models of Adaptive Movement Planning and Control
• Neural and Computational Models of Recognition, Memory and Attention
• Neural and Computational Models of Speech Perception and Production
• Neural and Computational Models of Conditioning, Reinforcement, Motivation and Rhythm
• Advanced Topics in Neural Modeling
• Neural and Computational Models of Planning and Temporal Structure in Behavior
• Models of Visual Perception
• Topics in Sensory-Motor Control
• Qualitative Theory of Ordinary Differential Equations

• Gorchetchnikov A., Ames H.M., Versace M., and Santini F. (2006) Hardware, system and methods for acceleration of massively parallel computations (filed provisional patent application US60/826,892; September 2006).
• Gorchetchnikov A., Ames H.M., Versace M., and Santini F. (2007) Graphic Processor Based Accelerator System and Method(utility patent application US 11/860,254; September 2007).

Journal articles

• Versace M., Ames H.M., Leveille J., Fortenberry B., Mhatre H., and Gorchetchnikov A. (2008).  Kinness: A modular framework for computational neuroscience. Neuroinformatics. 6(4), 291-309.
• Ames H. and Grossberg S. (2008). Speaker normalization using cortical strip maps: A neural model for steady-state vowel categorization. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 124(6), 3918-3936.

Abstracts

• Ames H.M. and Grossberg S. (2006).  Neural dynamics of auditory streaming, speaker normalization, and speech categorization.  Society for Neuroscience Abstracts, Atlanta, GA (SFN 2006).
• Ames H.M. and Grossberg S. (2006).  Neural dynamics of auditory streaming, speaker normalization, and speech categorization.  NSF SLC PI Meeting Abstracts, Washington, DC (NSF SLC 2006).
• Ames H.M. and Grossberg S. (2007).  Speech categorization through auditory cortical interactions.  CELEST External Advisory Board Review Abstracts, Boston, MA (EASRB CELEST 2007).
• Ames H.M. and Grossberg S. (2007).  Cortical maps used in speaker normalization.  NSF CELEST Annual Review Abstracts, Boston, MA (NSF CELEST 2007).
• Ames H.M. and Grossberg S. (2007).  Neural dynamics of speaker normalization used in steady-state vowel identification.  International Conference on Cognitive and Neural Systems Abstracts, Boston, MA (ICCNS 2007).
• Ames H.M. and Grossberg S. (2007).  Speaker normalization during steady state vowel identification. NSF SLC PI Meeting Abstracts, Washington, DC (NSF SLC 2007).
• Ames H.M. and Grossberg S. (2007).  Speaker normalization using cortical strip maps: A neural model for steady state vowel identification. Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Conference Abstracts, San Diego, CA (CCNC 2007).
• Ames H.M. and Grossberg S. (2007).  Speaker normalization using cortical strip maps: A neural model for steady state vowel identification. Acoustical Society of America Abstracts, New Orleans, LA (ASA 2007).
• Ames H. and Grossberg S. (2008). Speaker normalization using cortical strip maps: A neural model for steady-state vowel identification. NSF sponsored inter-Science of Learning Centers Abstracts, Pittsburgh, PA (NSF iSLC 2008).
• Ames H. and Grossberg S. (2008). Speaker normalization using cortical strip maps: A neural model for steady-state vowel identification. CELEST External Advisory Board Review Abstracts, Boston, MA (EASRB CELEST 2008).
• Gorchetchnikov A., Ames H., and Versace M. (2008). Simulating biologically realistic neural models on graphic processing units. International Conference on Cognitive and Neural Systems Abstracts, Boston, MA (ICCNS 2008).
• Versace M., Ames H., Leveille J., Fortenberry B., Gorchetchnikov A. (2008). KInNeSS: A modular framework for computational neuroscience. International Conference on Cognitive and Neural Systems Abstracts, Boston, MA (ICCNS 2008).
• Versace M., Ames H., Leveille J., Fortenberry B., and Gorchetchnikov A. (2008). KInNeSS: A modular framework for computational neuroscience. CELEST Annual Review Abstracts, Boston, MA (NSF CELEST 2008).
• Ames H. and Grossberg (2008). Speaker normalization using cortical strip maps: A neural model for steady-state vowel identification. CELEST Annual Review, Abstracts, Boston, MA (NSF CELEST 2008).
• Ames H. (2008). Learning technologies: embedding CELEST models in real world applications. NSF SLC PI Meeting Abstracts, Washington, DC (NSF SLC 2008).
• Ames H. and Grossberg S. (2008). Speaker normalization using cortical strip maps: A neural model for steady-state vowel identification. Auditory Perception, Cognition, and Action Abstracts, Chicago, IL (APCAM 2008).
• Ames H., Versace M., and Gorchetchnikov A. (2009). How can computational neuroscience benefit real world technological applications? NSF sponsored inter-Science of Learning Centers Abstracts, Seattle, WA (NSF iSLC 2009).
• Ames, H., Versace, M., Chandler, B., and Lorenz, S. (2009). Applied brain-based learning models. NSF SlC PI Meeting Abstracts, Washington DC (NSF SLC 2009).

Presentations

• Ames H.M. (2007).  Recognition through hearing.  CELEST Education Summer Workshops.
• Ames H.M. and Grossberg S. (2007).  Speaker normalization using cortical strip maps: A neural model for steady state vowel identification. Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Conference Abstracts, San Diego, CA (CCNC 2007).
• Ames H.M., Booth J.L., Hausmann R.G.M., Lee, T., Roll, I., and Zimmerman H. (2007). SLC student workshop presentation. NSF SLC PI Meeting, Washington, DC (NSF SLC 2007).
• Ames H.M., Booth J.L., Hausmann R.G.M., Lee, T., Roll, I., and Zimmerman H. (2008). First Annual iSLC workshop overview presentation. NSF sponsored inter-Science of Learning Centers, Pittsburgh, PA (NSF iSLC 2008).
• Ames, H. (2008). CELEST as a science of learning center. NSF sponsored inter-Science of Learning Centers, Pittsburgh, PA (NSF iSLC 2008).
• Ames H. and Versace M. (2008). Computing with neural interfaces introduction. International Conference on Cognitive and Neural Systems, Boston, MA (ICCNS 2008).
• Ames, H. (2008). How can neural networks help us? RUSLE2 & LiDAR Expert Panel Meeting, Nebraska City, NE (LiDAR 2008).
• Ames H., Kantak K., and Liederman J. (2008). Diversity activities within CELEST. CELEST Annual Review, Boston, MA (NSF CELEST 2008).
• Ames H. (2008). Learning technologies: embedding CELEST models in real world applications. NSF SLC PI Meeting, Washington, DC (NSF SLC 2008).
• Ames H. and Grossberg S. (2008). Speaker normalization using cortical strip maps: A neural model for steady-state vowel identification. Auditory Perception, Cognition, and Action, Chicago, IL (APCAM 2008).
• Ames H., Versace M. and Chandler B. (2009). Neural networks for concentrated flow identification. RUSLE2 Expert Panel Meeting, Nebraska City, NE (RUSLE2 2009).