Github Readme

Our team

Jeff Hawkins

Founder
More info

Viviane Clay

Executive Director
More info

Niels Leadholm

Research Manager
More info

Celeste Baranski

Treasurer & Secretary
More info

Teri Fry

Director of Operations
More info

Tristan Slominski

Principal Engineer
More info

Will Warren

Community Manager
More info

Hojae Lee

Researcher
More info

Scott Knudstrup

Researcher
More info

Ramy Mounir

Researcher
More info

Board of Directors

Jeff Hawkins

Founder
More info

Celeste Baranski

Treasurer & Secretary
More info

Viviane Clay

Executive Director
More info

Jeff Hawkins

Founder

Jeff is a scientist with a life-long interest in reverse engineering the neocortex. In 2002, he founded and directed the Redwood Neuroscience Institute. In 2005, he co-founded Numenta where he led the research resulting in the Thousand Brains theory of neocortex. In 2024, he created the non-profit Thousand Brains Project to turn the neuroscience theory into a new sensorimotor AI technology. Earlier in his career, he co-founded two companies, Palm and Handspring, where he designed products such as the PalmPilot and Treo smartphone. Jeff has written two books about brain, On Intelligence (2004 with Sandra Blakeslee) and A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence (2021).

Jeff earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University in 1979. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2003.

Viviane Clay

Executive Director

Viviane received her doctorates degree (Dr. rer. nat.) in Cognitive Computing and masters degree in Cognitive Science at University of Osnabrück in Germany, where she focused on sensorimotor learning as a key aspect in artificial and human intelligence. At Numenta she continued to pursue her interest in sensorimotor intelligence and the brain with a passion and has been working on the Thousand Brains Project since it’s inception.


In her free time, she produces movies with her husband, listens to music, and takes care of her adorable, one-year-old sensorimotor learning system.

Niels Leadholm

Research Manager

Niels Leadholm is a research scientist and manager of the Thousand Brains Project research team. His career began as a medical doctor, alongside founding a software company in the educational tech sector, but his dream was always to study and understand the nature of intelligence. This dream career became a reality when he enrolled in a PhD in theoretical neuroscience and artificial intelligence, investigating the basis of primate vision, and how AI systems could be made more robust. Now he is excited to take the principles of the Thousand Brains Theory forward to develop the next generation of truly intelligent systems.


When he’s not thinking about AI or the brain, Niels loves to cook – he’s particularly obsessed with noodles and pasta, and is always experimenting with how to elevate the umami and heat levels in his dishes.

Celeste Baranski

Treasurer & Secretary

Celeste has vast experience in high-tech engineering, design, and management. Celeste has been COO at Numenta, and she was CEO and Co-Founder of Vitamin D, one of the first developers to use Numenta’s NuPIC platform. Celeste also served in VP Engineering roles at Palm and at Handspring, where she led the companies’ engineering efforts for handheld computers and smartphones. Celeste has built effective engineering teams, starting from a few to over 500, and has delivered numerous successful and award-winning products.

Celeste holds both a B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

Teri Fry

Director of Operations

Teri started working with Jeff Hawkins at the Redwood Neuroscience Institute in August 2002. In 2005, Jeff decided to start Numenta, Inc. and asked Teri to join and help support Numenta’s team. As her journey continues, Teri is excited to join and support the Thousand Brains Project team.

Tristan Slominski

Principal Engineer

Experienced in software and product, veteran, former aviator. Here to design, build, and operate current and future Thousand Brains Systems.

Will Warren

Community Manager

Will Warren is the dedicated Community Manager for the Thousand Brains Project, driven by a mission to share this technology’s transformative potential with the world. His career spans leadership roles such as CTO and VP of Engineering. Will brings a wealth of experience scaling teams, driving innovation, and leading initiatives that merge technology with human-centered design. 

 

Will aims to make the Thousand Brains Project a widely adopted reality and to bring this new technology to the world.

Hojae Lee

Researcher

Hojae Lee is a researcher at the Thousand Brains Project, where she focuses on developing biologically-inspired AI systems. She holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, with research expertise spanning deep learning and computational neuroscience. Her interest in understanding biological systems began with her BS degree in Bioengineering, where she explored single-cell level systems. Hojae is passionate about developing a unified theory of intelligence that integrates multiple scales of brain organization, from individual neurons to local circuits and whole-brain dynamics. Outside of her research, she enjoys taking walks with her dog and learning new skills such as judo and wilderness first aid.

Scott Knudstrup

Researcher

Scott Knudstrup received his PhD in Computational Neuroscience from Boston University, where he studied sequence learning, spatiotemporal processing, and predictive coding in the primary visual cortex. While he focused mainly on sensory systems, the dream has always been to unlock the fundamental principles that underlie the neocortex as a whole. As a researcher at the Thousand Brains Project, Scott is thrilled to be part of a team developing new approaches to machine intelligence based on the neocortex and sensorimotor learning. He also holds a BS in Mathematical Biology from the University of Michigan and a BFA in Music from California Institute of the Arts. In his free time, Scott can be found plucking away on his guitar or conducting experiments in the kitchen.

Ramy Mounir

Researcher

Ramy Mounir holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in online compositional learning, biologically inspired perception, and robotics. His research focuses on the learning principles of the brain and the mechanisms underlying perception, reasoning, and prediction, all of which align with the goals of the Thousand Brains Project, which prioritizes understanding the neocortex over achieving benchmark improvements in vision and language applications.