Curriculum vitae

384K Nieuwland Hall of Science · Notre Dame (IN) USA 46556 · (+1) 574-329-1599 · jmarti53@nd.edu

pROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

Ph.D. candidate in Physics with advanced experience in modeling complex networks (structure, dynamics, and function) with applications to brain neuronal networks.
Working on understanding the connection between anatomical networks and brain physiological functions by studying the communities and hierarchies of the macaque interareal cortical networks generated by tract-tracing datasets.
Advanced coding experience in Python, C++, R, and MATLAB.
Experience creating GitHub repositories.

UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME · Notre Dame (IN), USA · Aug. 2018 - May 2024 (expected)

Ph. D. Physics

Brain neural networks

Advisor: Zoltan Toroczkai

Diploma in High Energy Physics and Cosmology

Advisor: Alexei Smirnov

B.S. in Physics

Advisor: Edgar Carrera

Magna Cum Laude

UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME · Notre Dame (IN), USA · Jan. 2019 – Present

Graduate student, Physics

Advanced analytical, programming, and problem-solving skills applied to anatomical neural networks. Mentored by Dr. Zoltan Toroczkai, I studied the retrograde tract-tracing network from the macaque and mice, creating a novel clustering algorithm to find meaningful functional communities in the cortex despite its complex features (directed, dense, and heterogeneous weights). Moreover, I developed the interpretation of the found structures, making connections with previous studies of the cortical hierarchy and introducing the use of information theoretical tools such as the squared Hellinger distance and α-Rényi divergence as tools to measure information in the brain and in other networks (a connection that none made before).

Extended experience with AI and its applications to brain neural network data. For example, in a recent paper (Molnár et al., 2024, Network Neuroscience), we demonstrated that primate and rodent interareal cortical networks have significant levels of predictability using machine learning algorithms that we adapted to such datasets.

FERMI NATIONAL ACCELERATOR LABORATORY · Batavia (IL), USA · Mar. 2017 – Aug. 2018

Undergraduate Physics Intern

Analyzed models mining data from the Large Hadron Collider CMS experiment to estimate bounds in the statistical significance of masses of dark matter particles at generator level (without detector effects).

EUROPEAN ORGANIZATION FOR NUCLEAR RESEARCH · Geneva, Switzerland · Jun. 2016 – Aug. 2016

Undergraduate Summer Intern

Used 2016 CMS data to estimate bounds on the top quark's anomalous radius and magnetic dipole moment. In a generator-level analysis, we set a threshold of 0.001 TeV-1 for the radius of the top quark, meaning that if the quark is composed of other particles, they cannot be observed at √s = 13 TeV.

UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME · Notre Dame (IN), USA · Jan. 2021 – Present

Graduate Teaching Assistant, Physics

Principles of Physics I. Undergraduate. Fall 2023. Substitution lecturer (two classes).
Physics for Life Sciences II. Undergraduate. Fall 2023. Substitution lecturer (one class).
Mathematical Methods in Physics. Graduate. Fall 2023. Help session.
Review Physics A. Graduate. Summer 2023. TA.
Review Physics C. Graduate. Summer 2023. TA.
Engineering Physics I Lab. Undergraduate. Spring 2023. Lab support.
Engineering Physics I Tutorial. Undergraduate. Spring 2023. Tutorial.
Engineering Physics II Tutorial. Undergraduate. Fall 2022. Tutorial.
Review Physics A. Graduate. Summer 2022. TA.
Review Physics B. Graduate. Summer 2022. TA.
Physics for Life Science I Lab. Undergraduate. Spring 2022. Lab support.
Engineering Physics II Lab. Undergraduate. Fall 2021. Lab support.
Physics for Life Science I Lab. Undergraduate. Fall 2021. Lab support.

Molnár, F., Horvát, S., Ribeiro Gomes, A. R., Martinez Armas, J., Molnár, B., Ercsey-Ravasz, M., Knoblauch, K., Kennedy, H., & Toroczkai, Z. Predictability of cortico-cortical connections in the mammalian brain. Network Neuroscience 2024.

A publication on the functional community algorithm applied to the macaque interareal cortical network is being prepared and is expected to be submitted by February 2024. Please follow this link to read a conference abstract about this research.

Martinez Armas J., Misery P., Lamy C., Knoblauch K., Hou Y., Kennedy H., & Toroczkai Z. Link and node communities of the macaque interareal cortical network. Society for Neuroscience Conference 2013. Nanosymposium: Network analysis and Modeling. November 11-15, 2023. Oral presentation and virtual poster.
Presented Cortex Letter 20 about the link community analysis on the macaque interareal cortical network to Dr. Henry Kennedy's group (INSERM) on September 22, 2023.