Joaquin Rapela
PhD Student
Curriculum Vitae (PDF)
Phone: (213) 821-2070
Fax: (213) 821-2070
E-mail: rapela@usc.edu
Background
Education:
- 2001-Present PhD student. Research area: computational models of the visual system.
- 2000-2001 Complementary studies in electrical engineering and medical imaging.
- 1995-1998 Master in computer science. Thesis: Automatically Combining Ranking Heuristics for HTML Documents in Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Web Information and Data Management 61-67, 2001.
- 1992-1995 Undergraduate studies in computer science.
Employment:
- 2001-Present Research assistant for Dr. N.M. Grzywacz: computational models of the visual system.
- 2000-2001 Research assistant for Dr. R. M. Leahy: medical imaging, MEG, PET.
- 2000 Staff software engineer. IBM Almaden Research Center.
- 1999 Software engineer. Mc Lees Argentina.
- 1998 Software engineer. Oracle Argentina.
- 1994-1998 Fellowship holder, software engineer. IBM Argentina.
I appreciate the complex and refined tasks the brain performs: from controlling our breath to cognition or perception. I enjoy theory: how to to describe the beauty of a mathematical proof? I also like to work with computers: developing computer models that mimic natural processes, solving optimization problems, programming web applications ...
My current research is centered in developing computational models of the visual system. Modeling the visual system is an activity that combines the research interests stated above. I observe the brain closely in order to build physiologically realistic models. I try to use theory skillfully to build generic models. I implement the models in computer programs. Finally, after I have observed the brain, used good theory and implemented efficient computer programs I need to go back to nature and check whether the implemented models explain real data.