Adrienne Fairhall, professor of neurobiology and biophysics at the University of Washington School of Medicine, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of her achievements in research. Fairhall is also a UW adjunct professor of applied mathematics and physics.
Fairhall is a noted leader in computational neurosciences. Her group at UW Medicine develops theoretical approaches to understand how nervous systems process information. She collaborates with experimental labs across the UW, examining information-processing in systems that range from single neurons — nerve cells that receive and conduct signals — to neural networks.
She has applied her expertise in dynamic neural computation, neural coding and related fields to multidisciplinary studies with her research colleagues. She is a member of scientific teams that explore how the nervous systems of various creatures respond to environmental stimuli and direct behavior.
These studies have included how mosquitoes use heat and chemical cues to forage, and how neural inputs drive muscle activation and biomechanics in hydra — tiny, tentacled invertebrates that live in water.
