The keynote speaker for this year is Dr. Michael N Shadlen. He is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Research Institute and Professor of Neuroscience at Columbia University Medical School. He is a member of the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute (ZI) and the Kavli Institute of Brain Science. Dr. Shadlen obtained his undergraduate and medical degrees at Brown University, his PhD at UC Berkeley with Ralph Freeman. He trained in clinical neurology at Stanford University, where he joined William T. Newsome’s lab, as a postdoctoral fellow. He then joined the Department of Physiology & Biophysics at the University of Washington, where he remained until 2012. His research focuses primarily on the neural mechanisms that underlie decision making. He is also a jazz guitarist and co-curates the Jazz Artist in Residence program at ZI. Honors include the Alden Spencer Prize, Golden Brain, Lashley Award, and elections to the AAAS, National Academy of Medicine, and the National Academy of Sciences.