Behind the Labyrinth
I’m Allisin, and I’ve never been particularly good at staying in one lane.
Physics, neuroscience, mathematics, animal behavior, music, and the occasional programming rabbit hole have all found their way into my life. Usually because one question led to another, and somewhere along the way I discovered six tangent things I didn’t know I needed to learn.
I have a habit of following those threads.
The path here
I studied applied physics at UC Santa Cruz, where I had the opportunity to explore the wonderfully particular world of experimental science.
In Dr. Sue Carter’s lab, I was introduced to research involving photovoltaic materials and thin-film technologies. Later, in Dr. David Lederman’s lab, I worked with thin-film materials, molecular beam epitaxy, and atomic force microscopy, while also gaining experience with the processes involved in pulsed laser deposition.
One of the most memorable influences on my thinking was the late mathematician Dr. Ralph Abraham. His course on fractals and chaos theory opened an entirely different way of looking at complex systems. Ideas such as attractors, nonlinear dynamics, and the behavior of interacting systems have stayed with me, especially as my interests have expanded toward biology and neuroscience.
I’ve been drawn to neuroscience for well over a decade. Personal experiences deepened that interest, raising questions about the relationship between the physical brain, perception, and the experiences it makes possible.
Those questions have a way of reaching into nearly every field.
Following the questions
My approach to learning tends to run a little backward.
I’m often drawn to advanced questions first. Once I can see what I’m trying to understand, I work my way back toward the fundamentals, filling in what I need along the way.
Sometimes that means studying a mathematical model, learning a programming language, exploring a biological mechanism, or figuring out how to build an interactive explanation.
Working with animals has added another dimension to these interests. Their varied forms of communication continually raise questions about perception, behavior, and how living systems interpret and respond to the world around them.
I tend to approach a question by pulling at its edges. What are we assuming? What changes if we look at a different scale? Is there something another field has already learned that might help us understand this one?
Sometimes the connections hold up. Sometimes they fall apart under closer inspection.
Both outcomes are useful.
What I’m building
Aliceisin is a place for questions that don’t always have an obvious home.
The Labyrinth brings together research, writing, programming, visualizations, and interactive models to explore ideas across disciplines. Some projects begin with a scientific paper. Others begin with an observation that refuses to stop being interesting.
I’m interested in what happens when we take ideas seriously enough to test them, but not so seriously that we forget to question them.
Much of what you’ll find here is still evolving. That’s part of the point.
Come say hello
If something here sparks a question, an idea, a disagreement, or an interesting possibility, I’d love to hear about it.
I’m always interested in thoughtful conversations, research opportunities, and creative collaborations.
After all, you never quite know where a good question might lead.