Chris Fink

There are few feelings in life better than "the pleasure of findings things out," as Richard Feynman would say. I enjoy the process of kindling this pleasure in students, first by showing them how concepts from physics are relevant to their everyday lives, then by setting them loose to investigate whatever topics they find fascinating (projects are an important element of many of my courses). As students endeavor to explore new territory, I often learn as much from them as they learn from me.

In my research, I am a biophysicist with a particular interest in questions pertaining to the brain. How do the 86 billion neurons of the human brain collectively generate the ability to run, talk, read, love, do physics, and think about themselves? And how might we better treat people with conditions such as epilepsy and Parkinson's disease? My students and I approach these problems by using tools from physics to conduct computer simulations of brain activity.