The ECSU Team

Tom FROESE, Assistant Professor
E-mail: tom.froese at oist.jp
Location: Lab2 B664
ORCID:  0000-0002-9899-5274

Tom is a cognitive scientist with a background in computer science and cybernetics. He works in the areas of artificial life, human-computer interaction, agent-based modeling, and philosophy of mind. He coordinates the Embodied Cognitive Science Unit, and is Editor-in-Chief of Adaptive Behavior.

Kaori YAMASHIRO, RUA
E-mail: kaori.yamashiro at oist.jp
Location: Lab2 RUA

Kaori helps us to run this unit smoothly. She manages our equipment purchases, travel and visits, workshops, and supports us in all of our activities. Please contact her with any requests you may have.

Sébastien LERIQUE, Postdoc
E-mail: sebastien.lerique at oist.jp
Location: Lab2 B656
ORCID: 0000-0002-5787-8397

Sébastien has a PhD in Cognitive Science with an anthropological flavour, a BSc in Physics, and strong interests in general hacking and philosophy of technology. In this unit he will work on analysing the systemic physiological and neurological couplings that arise when two people interact with each other.

Mark JAMES, JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow
Email: mark.james at oist.jp
Location: Lab2 B600

Mark's has a PhD in the philosophy of embodied cognitive science, a MA in philosophy and a BA in philosophy and psychology. His PhD work was focused on how culture is reproduced through embodied social interaction. Mark's postdoctoral efforts will focus on questions of wellbeing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, exploring the intersection between embodied cognitive science, design and digital technologies.

Andrés G. MEJÍA RAMÓN, Postdoc
Email: andres.mejiaramon at oist.jp
Location: Lab2 B600
ORCID: 0000-0002-9006-2381

Andrés is an archaeologist and ecologist who uses geophysical and computational methods to understand the relationship between humans and the environment across deep time. His research includes the development of agriculture, religious ideology, and sociopolitical structures in Central Mexico, the Maya area, and Lower Central America. His more-theoretical work includes investigating the consequences of statistical mechanical constraints on human and non-human movement and organization across the landscape.

Finda Dwi PUTRI, Postdoc
Email: finda.putri at oist.jp
Location: Lab2 B600
ORCID: 0000-0003-2672-7032

Finda has a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, M.Sc. in Biology of Human Performance and Health, and B.Sc. in Biology. She has a research background in Brain-Computer Interface, neurofeedback, and hyperscanning recording, and mostly worked around EEG. She joined the group to take part in the perceptual crossing hyperscanning EEG experiment and analyses.

Leonardo ZAPATA-FONSECA, Postdoc
Email: l.zapata@oist.jp
Location: Lab2 B600c
ORCID: 0000-0001-9793-9791

Leonardo has a PhD in medicine, as well as a medical degree. He works in the perceptual crossing experiment project and is interested in the statistical modelling and the dynamics of dyadic embodied interactions.

Stephen ESTELLE, Technician
Email: stephen.estelle at oist.jp
Location: Lab2 B600

Stephen has a BSc in biomedical engineering and MEng in mechanical engineering. He has industry experience in reverse engineering. In this unit he will apply his mechanical engineering skills to support work with robotics and human-computer interfaces.

Brian MORRISSEY, Technician
Email: brian.morrissey at oist.jp
Location: Lab2 B600

Brian served for 20 years in the U.S. Air Force as an Aircraft Electrical and Environmental Systems Specialist before pursuing a BSc in Psychology. With a growing interest in embodied cognition, he joined the unit which aligns with his passions and now works as Lead Technician. Looking ahead, Brian will play a key role in coordinating unit projects with an excellent group of team members.

Tae MORRISSEY, Research Assistant
Email: tae.morrissey at oist.jp
Location: Lab2 B600

Tae is a certified medical translator. She supports the unit with ethics applications, participant recruitment, data collection and administration matters.

Chen Lam LOH, OIST Doctoral Candidate
Email: chen.loh at oist.jp
Location: Lab2 B600

Chen Lam has a BSc in Biomedical Sciences and MSc in Computational Neuroscience and Neuroinformatics. His interests lie in multi-agent social interaction, non-representational theories of cognition and neurolinguistics. In this unit, he studies interpersonal synchrony using mathematical modelling and experimental approaches.

Ivan SHPUROV, OIST Doctoral Candidate
Email: ivan.shpurov at oist.jp
Location: Lab2 B600
ORCID:  0000-0001-5381-8250

Ivan has a Bachelor's in Neurobiology and a Master's in Synthetic Biology and Biotechnology. During his rotation he will be setting up an evolutionary robotics environment to test the role of bodily degrees of freedom on the degrees of freedom of neural activity.

Natalya WEBER, OIST Doctoral Candidate
Email: natalya.weber at oist.jp
Location: Lab2 B600
ORCID: 0000-0002-1955-3612

Natalya has a BSc in chemistry and MSc in theoretical chemistry. During her rotation she used network analysis to characterize active learning environments. In this unit she is studying the fundamental principles of learning and its relationship to emergent creativity in complex adaptive systems through computational modeling.

Shannon HAYASHI, OIST Doctoral Candidate
Email: shannon.hayashi1 at oist.jp
Location: Lab2 B600

Shannon has a Bachelor's in Art, Psychology, and Neuroscience. Currently, Shannon is interested in cognition, especially ways to improve cognition, and comparative studies. During rotation Shannon will be participating in the Video Interactions project to study realtime social interactions.

Kazuma TAKADA, OIST Doctoral Candidate
Email: k.takada at oist.jp
Location: Lab2 B600

Kazuma has a BSc and MSc in computer science. His interest is “Self-Dynamics” in the human-computer integration experience. He works on this topic through the demonstration and the psychophysical/cognitive experiment. He is not only a Ph.D. student at OIST, but also he is a Research Assistant of SonyCSL and a Visiting Researcher of Keio Media Design. He approaches his theme from various perspectives and aspires to work across disciplines.

Georgii KARELIN,OIST Doctoral Candidate
Email: georgii.karelin at oist.jp
Location: Lab2 B600

Georgii has a combined BSc and MSc in theoretical astrophysics. Currently, his interests in intersection of astrobiology and artificial life.

Kensei KIKUCHI, OIST Doctoral Candidate
Email: kensei.kikuchi at oist.jp

Kensei obtained Bachelor’s in Engineering (Material Science) in 2020. His previous work was focused on developing autonomous robots and molecular computers using DNA as building blocks. After enrollment of OIST, his interest shifted to evolution of animal sociality and collective behavior. Under co-supervision by Dr.Tom Froese, Kensei is now studying macroscopic trends in social evolution of animals, exploring the relationship between brain development and animal behavior.

Hinako IREI, Research Intern
Email: hinako.irei at oist.jp
Location: Lab2 B600

Hinako has an M.A. in Positive Developmental Psychology and Evaluation and an Ed.M. in Education focusing on human development and early childhood. Her research experiences focused on the social emotional learning of children and equitable practices in research, and she was trained to understand and value the importance of science-driven innovation in educational practice and policymaking. She is from Okinawa and is excited to continue to expand her research interest back home after seven years in the US.