Mengsen Zhang

Prof. Mengsen Zhang is a complex systems scientist and neuroscientist. Her path to complex systems sciences was winding: through the study of psychology, medicine, sociology, and neuroscience, she began to pursue their shared principles. Dr. Zhang earned her B.S. degrees in Psychology and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Peking University (Beijing, China). Soon after graduating, she moved to the US to pursue a M.S. in Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania. Intrigued by the similarity between medicine and criminal justice, that is, the similarity between biological and social systems, she pursued her Ph.D. in Complex Systems and Brain Sciences at Florida Atlantic University (with Drs. Emmanuelle Tognoli and J. A. Scott Kelso). Perplexed by the divergence between data analysis methods and theoretical models of complex systems, she sought after new approaches in the interface between topological data analysis (TDA) and dynamical systems. She expanded this line of computational research as a postdoc at Stanford University (with Dr. Manish Saggar). To expand the domain of application of her computational work to animal research, brain stimulation, and clinical settings, she subsequently joined the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (with Dr. Flavio Frohlich) for a second postdoc position, before joining MSU CMSE as an Assistant Professor in 2023. Besides science, she also enjoys philosophy, hiking, rock climbing, singing, and playing guitar.