The Yale Institute for Foundations of Data Science congratulates Ilker Yildirim, Assistant Professor of Psychology and FDS faculty affiliate, on receiving a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation. The CAREER program is the NSF’s most prestigious award for early-career faculty, recognizing those with the potential to be role models in research and education and to advance the mission of their departments and institutions.
Yildirim’s project, Neurocomputational Principles of Object Cognition, explores how the brain transforms raw sensory input into rich perceptual and cognitive representations. By building and testing computational models that bridge human cognition and neural activity, the research aims to uncover how we perceive objects, predict events, and plan actions in dynamic environments. These insights not only deepen our understanding of the mind, but also lay the groundwork for more adaptive and human-aligned artificial intelligence systems.
For more details on the award and research, see the award abstract.