I am a research scientist curious about the brain, complex systems, and the foundations of intelligence. My work sits at the intersection of statistical physics, network science, and AI/ML, where I use computational and theoretical tools to explore how intelligent behavior emerges from dynamic, interconnected systems.
I enjoy working in interdisciplinary environments and have been a part of diverse academic groups across fields including physics, biomedical engineering, and computer science. I am especially excited by the potential of my research in transforming healthcare and improve lives—whether through advancing brain-machine interfaces, personalized medicine, or foundational AI.
Currently, I am a senior fellow at the US DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory, a Research Assistant Professor at CSEE UMBC, and a Visiting Scholar at Stanford, School of Medicine.
I obtained a PhD in physics (2015) from Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune in my home country, India, for which I received a national fellowship (JRF & SRF) from CSIR, HRD Ministry, Government of India.
Before joining my current position, I was a postdoctoral fellow at Laboratory for Intelligent Imaging and Neural Computing, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University (2017-2020) and at Network Neuroscience Lab, Mathematics Department, University at Buffalo, SUNY (2016-2017).
Contact email: phy(dot)kanika(at)gmail(dot)com
News
July 2025: Paper out in Scientific Reports "Influence of cognitive networks and task performance on fMRI-based state classification using DNN models"
July 2025: Paper out in Communications Biology, "The neuroreceptors and transporters underlying spontaneous brain activity"