Our Team
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
aleshins@uci.edu
Dr Anna Leshinskaya
Dr Anna Leshinskaya is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Cognitive Sciences and Fellow at the Center for Neurobiology of Learning & Memory at UC Irvine, as well as an affiliated researcher with the AI Objectives Institute. She directs the Relational Cognition laboratory.
She earned a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from Harvard University in 2015. Her background and interests are in human cognitive neuroscience and computational cognitive science. She is broadly interested in the computational principles underlying the learning and representation of concepts and relations and how these are supported by both artificial and natural neural networks. Recent interests include cognitive and moral alignment between humans and large language models.
Follow me on Bluesky: @annaleshinskaya.bsky.social
Dr Michael (Mike) B. McCoy
RESEARCH FELLOW
Dr. McCoy is a mathematician, software engineer, and entreprenuer whose research spans applied mathematics, machine learning, and cognitive neuroscience, with a core focus on understanding how neural networks encode and manipulate abstract ideas, concepts, and memories. Dr. McCoy has a significant industrial background, including technical roles at 5 startups (two of which he founded) with a diversity of applications, including satellite tracking and monitoring, cybersecurity, cryptography, and self-driving cars. Dr. McCoy holds a PhD in Computational and Applied Mathematics from Caltech.
GRADUATE STUDENT
Em Smullen
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT
rylen.choi03@gmail.com
Rylen Choi
Rylen is a first-year Cognitive Sciences major excited to explore how abstractions in mental phenomena (i.e. bias, heuristics, ideology) can be interpreted by and applied to artificial intelligence. During her time at the Relational Cognition Lab, her aim is to develop her technical research skills as well as her conceptual knowledge of relational structures and cognitive frameworks. She is very thankful for this opportunity!
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT
junyil32@uci.edu
Claire Li
Claire is passionate about solving problems using AI and developing innovative ideas by leveraging AI technologies
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT
shrihariat@gmail.com
Shrihari Thirumaligai
Srihari Thirumaligai is a first-year Computer Science major, with a passion for data science and machine learning. He is particularly interested in how Large Language Models function, with a focus on LLM agents.
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT