Academic Appointments
  • 2021 - Present: Postdoctoral Scholar, Gallant Lab, Department of Neuroscience, University of California, Berkeley
  • 2026 - Present: Visiting Researcher, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology
Education
  • 2021: Ph.D., Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley. Advisor: Dr. Jack Gallant. Dissertation: Modeling navigation representations during naturalistic driving.
  • 2015: B.S., Biomedical Engineering, University of Alabama at Birmingham. Minors in Computer Science, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Biology. Summa cum laude.
Publications
  • Zhang T, Cho CJ, & Gallant JL (2026). Reconstructing dynamic preferred visual experiences during naturalistic navigation. bioRxiv. doi:10.64898/2026.09.02.749001
  • Zhang T & Gallant JL (2026). Visual-semantic tuning across the cortex shifts between tasks. eNeuro, 13(9), ENEURO.0183-26.2026. doi:10.1523/ENEURO.0183-26.2026
  • Zhang T, Meschke EX, & Gallant JL (2025). A map of the cortical functional network mediating naturalistic navigation. bioRxiv. doi:10.64898/2025.12.16.694742
  • Tomlin N, Zhou N, Fleisig E, Chen L, Wright T, Vinh L, Ma LX, Eisape S, French E, Du T, Zhang T, Koller A, & Suhr A (2025). Characterizing Language Use in a Collaborative Situated Game. arXiv:2512.03381. doi:10.48550/arXiv.2512.03381
  • Strong C, Stocking K, Li J, Zhang T, Gallant J, & Tomlin C (2024). A framework for evaluating human driver models using neuroimaging. 6th Annual Learning for Dynamics & Control Conference, PMLR 242, pp. 1565-1578. PDF
  • Zhang T, Gao JS, Çukur T, & Gallant JL (2021). Voxel-based state space modeling recovers task-related cognitive states in naturalistic fMRI experiments. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 14, 565976. doi:10.3389/fnins.2020.565976
  • Nunez-Elizalde AO, Gao JS, Zhang T, & Gallant JL (2018). cottoncandy: scientific python package for easy cloud storage. The Journal of Open Source Software. doi:10.21105/joss.00890
  • Yu Y, Zhang T, Meadway A, Wang X, & Zhang Y (2015). High-speed adaptive optics for imaging of the living human eye. Optics Express. doi:10.1364/OE.23.023035
  • Zhang T, Godara P, Blanco E, Griffin R, Wang X, Curcio CA, & Zhang Y (2015). Variability in Human Cone Topography Assessed by Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy. American Journal of Ophthalmology. doi:10.1016/j.ajo.2015.04.034
  • Ach T, Huisingh C, McGwin G Jr, Messinger JD, Zhang T, Bentley MJ, Gutierrez DB, Ablonczy Z, Smith RT, Sloan KR, & Curcio CA (2014). Quantitative autofluorescence and cell density maps of the human retinal pigment epithelium. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. doi:10.1167/iovs.14-14802
Manuscripts in Preparation
  • Zhang T & Gallant JL. Voxelwise encoding model-based high-throughput hypothesis testing in naturalistic neuroimaging experiments.
  • Stocking KC, Zhang T, Strong CA, Li J, Gallant JL, & Tomlin CJ. Representations in a deep end-to-end driving model predict human brain activity in an active driving task.
  • Strong CA, Zhang T, Stocking K, Li J, Gallant JL, & Tomlin CJ. How control-theoretic human driver models and neuroimaging can inform each other.
  • Park J, Zhang T, Kim R, Gallant JL, & Shim W. Cortical tuning reconfigures to prioritize behaviorally relevant representations across changing goals.
  • Park J, Camassa A, Zhang T, Wei Z, Guidera J, Tseng S, Siddhant I, Wang Z, Natsukawa H, Takahashi K, Rungratsameetaweemana N, Mu Y, Smirnov S, Frank LM, Ahrens MB, Sejnowski TJ, Gallant JL, & Pao GM. Mapping neural activity to behavior with manifold dimensional expansion.
Invited Talks
  • Zhang T. Driving in the scanner: mapping the human cortical network underlying naturalistic navigation. iNAV Symposium, July 2026, Banff, Canada.
  • Zhang T. Driving in the scanner: findings from an active navigation experiment. Vision Brunch talks, Department of Psychology, Stanford University. October 2022.
  • Zhang T. Modelling navigational representations in the human brain. Institute for Neuroscience Early Career talk series, University of Nevada, Reno. September 2021.
Presentations
  • Zhang T, Strong C, Stocking K, Li J, Tomlin CJ, & Gallant JL. Brain-AI alignment for naturalistic driving behavior. 4th Neuroscience of the Everyday World Conference. November 2026.
  • Zhang T., Strong C, Stocking K, Li J, Gallant J, & Tomlin C. SoAI: Leveraging Egocentric and Allocentric Representations for Navigation (LEARN). Office of Naval Research Computational Neuroscience Program Review. June 2026.
  • Zhang T. Driving in the MRI: mapping the network in the human cerebral cortex mediating active navigation. UC Berkeley Neuroscience Conference. September 2025.
  • Zhang T., Strong C, Stocking K, Li J, Gallant J, & Tomlin C. Using human brain data to improve navigation in autonomous systems: linking human neuroscience with control systems. Office of Naval Research Science of Autonomy Program Review. August 2025.
  • Zhang T. Driving in the scanner: Using fMRI to map brain representations during active navigation. Psychology Colloquium, University of California, Berkeley. December 2024.
  • Zhang T., Strong C, Stocking K, Li J, Gallant J, & Tomlin C. Using human brain data to improve navigation in autonomous systems: linking human neuroscience with control systems. Office of Naval Research Science of Autonomy Program Review. July 2024.
  • Zhang T. Driving in the scanner: Using fMRI to map brain representations during active navigation. Vision Science Oxyopia seminar series, University of California, Berkeley. October 2023.
  • Zhang T. Using human brain data to improve navigation in autonomous systems: Insights into the functional brain networks underlying naturalistic human navigation. Office of Naval Research Science of Autonomy Program Review. August 2023.
Posters
  • Zhang T & Gallant JL. Voxelwise encoding model-based high-throughput hypothesis testing in naturalistic neuroimaging experiments. Society for Neuroscience annual meeting 2026.
  • Zhang T & Gallant JL. Driving in the scanner: a versatile platform for studying naturalistic human spatial navigation. Cognitive Computational Neuroscience, August 2026, New York, NY.
  • Zhang T, Meschke EM, & Gallant JL. Active, naturalistic navigation recruits a distributed network of functionally distinct regions in the human cerebral cortex. Society for Neuroscience annual meeting 2025, San Diego, CA.
  • Park J, Zhang T, Gallant JL, & Shim W. Cortical Representations of Hierarchical Goal-Directed Behavior in a Naturalistic Environment. Society for Neuroscience annual meeting 2025, San Diego, CA.
  • Camassa A, Zhang T, Wagner M, Park J, Gallant JL, Sejnowski TJ, & Pao GM. Decoding human behavior from fMRI using dynamical manifold embeddings. Society for Neuroscience annual meeting 2025, San Diego, CA.
  • Zhang, T & Gallant, JL (2025). The cortical navigation network is organized into distributed functional gradients. Vision Science Society annual meeting, St. Pete’s Beach, FL.
  • Zhang T, Strong CA, Stocking K, Li J, Tomlin C, & Gallant JL. (2024) Cortical representation of formal control-theoretic algorithms for visuomotor control during active navigation. Society for Neuroscience annual meeting, Chicago, IL.
  • Zhang T, Strong CA, Stocking K, Li J, Tomlin C, & Gallant JL. (2024) Control theoretical models for visuomotor control explains brain activity during naturalistic driving. Vision Science Society annual meeting, St. Pete’s Beach, FL.
  • Zhang T, Meschke EM, & Gallant JL. (2023) Active, naturalistic navigation is subserved by three functionally distinct networks in the human brain. Society for Neuroscience annual meeting, Washington, DC.
  • Zhang T, & Gallant JL. (2023) The brain predominantly represents attended semantics rather than global semantics in a naturalistic task. Vision Science Society annual meeting, St. Pete’s Beach, FL.
  • Cho CJ, Zhang T, & Gallant JL. (2023) A variational autoencoder provides novel, data-driven features that explain functional brain representations in a naturalistic navigation task. Vision Science Society annual meeting, St. Pete’s Beach, FL.
  • Zhang T & Gallant JL. (2022) Navigation representations during active navigation are predominantly goal-directed. Society for Neuroscience annual meeting, San Diego, CA.
  • Zhang T & Gallant JL. (2022) Navigation representations during active navigation are predominantly goal-directed. Cognitive Computational Neuroscience, San Francisco, CA.
  • Zhang T & Gallant JL. (2022) An active naturalistic navigation task induces large attentional shifts in semantic representation. Vision Science Society annual meeting, St. Pete’s Beach, FL.
  • Zhang T & Gallant JL. (2020) A naturalistic navigation task reveals rich distributed representations of information across the human cerebral cortex. Vision Science Society annual meeting, St. Pete’s Beach, FL.
  • Zhang T & Gallant JL. (2019) A naturalistic navigation task reveals rich distributed representations of information across the human cerebral cortex. Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL.
  • Zhang T, Gao JS, & Gallant JL. (2016) Supervised and blind voxel-based state space methods recover task-related states from fMRI responses. Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.
Open Data
  • Zhang T, Gao JS, Cukur T, & Gallant JL (2020). Whole-brain BOLD activity recorded by fMRI during a visual attention task and a video game task. CRCNS.org. doi:10.6080/K0668BDF
Awards
  • 2026: Neuroscience of the Everyday World conference travel award
  • Aug 2016 - May 2021: National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
  • Oct 2019: UC Berkeley Graduate Division Travel Grant
  • Aug 2011 - May 2015: UAB Presidential Scholarship (full tuition)
  • Aug 2011 - May 2015: Francis J Dupuis Engineering Scholarship
Software

torchEDM

A fork of pyEDM for Empirical Dynamic Modelling that use PyTorch as the backend so that computations are vectorized and run on GPUs. It also adds object-oriented fitters with …

It's Complicated

It’s Complicated is a guide and infrastructure for architecting interactive fMRI experiments in Unreal Engine. This forms the basis of my spatial navigation experiment, and work is …

Fast-Pairwise

Fast-Pairwise is a parallelized pairwise distance calculator built as a drop-in replacement for the single-threaded scipy.spatial.distance.pdist. It is written in C++ with Python …

SharpEyes

SharpEyes is a package for eyetracking video analysis and correction to generate retinotopic features. It provides a UI for finding pupils in eyetracking videos, the ability to …

Skills
  • Programming Languages: Python, C, C++, C#, Matlab
  • Tools & Environments: Unreal Engine, git
Teaching
  • Fall 2025: Functional MRI methods, Guest Lecturer. Neu 271 (Graduate level). Lecture on model interpretation.
  • Fall 2025: Cognitive Neuroscience, Guest Lecturer. Psych 127 (Undergraduate level). Lecture on spatial navigation, and brain networks mediating active navigation in humans.
  • Spring 2024: Cognitive Neuroscience, Guest Lecturer. Psych 127 (Undergraduate level). Lecture on functional brain networks mediating active navigation.
  • Fall 2019: Cognitive Neuroscience, Graduate Student Instructor. Psych 127 (Undergraduate level). Course taught by Dr. Jack Gallant.
  • Fall 2016: Teaching Techniques for Bioengineering, Reader. BioE 301 (Graduate level). Course taught by Prof. Terry Johnson.