Ole Bialas

I studied Biology at the University of Tübingen, where I first learned how to code using Matlab. Then, I moved to Leipzig, where I did a master’s degree and later a PhD in neurobiology. In my research, I studied how the brain processes sound location using electroencephalography (EEG) and custom experimental setups for spatial audio. During that time, I started using Python and eventually co-authored slab, a Python toolbox for psychoacoustic experiments. After my PhD, I moved to the University of Rochester in New York, where I studied how the brain processes naturalistic speech by modeling EEG that was recorded while the participants listened to audiobooks. For this research I published another toolbox, originally written in Matlab, called mTRFpy. As my postdoc was coming to an end, I was looking for a position where I could combine my interest in neuroscience with my passion for programming. I found such a position at the iBehave Open Technology Support iBOTS where I currently work as a research software consultant. In this position, I develop and teach workshops where neuroscience researchers can improve their software skills and I do one-on-one consulting to help neuroscientists deal with the computational challenges they are faced in their research.