People

Principal Investigator

Narayan Sankaran

Narayan Sankaran is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of San Francisco, where he directs the Auditory Neuroscience & Perception Lab. He completed his Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of Sydney, studying the neural representation of music and speech, before undertaking postdoctoral fellowships in the lab of Edward Chang at the University of California, San Francisco, and at the Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public at UC Berkeley.

His research combines human neurophysiological recordings with machine learning to understand how meaningful representations of music emerge in the brain. This work aims to further our understanding of auditory processing, and to translate that understanding into music-based interventions for treating mood, anxiety, and neurological disorders.

Alongside his experimental research, Narayan writes and speaks publicly about the ethical and societal implications of emerging neurotechnologies, such as brain-computer interfaces, and has been recognized for his efforts to bring neuroscience into conversation with a broader public.

Undergraduate Students

Vivian Schmidt

Lab Manager · Neuroscience major

Alexa Jingo

Intern · Neuroscience major

Ula Young

Intern · Neuroscience major

Graduate Students

Erin Matsushita

Intern