Bio:
Professor Luis Cruz Cruz is an associate professor in Physics at Drexel University. He is a computational biophysicist carrying out research in the field of dynamics of neural networks. The main scientific question of his research revolves around how the structure of neural networks influences their functioning and behavior. In particular, his lab strives to create and computationally simulate realistic networks by implementing biologically-inspired neuronal models. One of the goals of his lab is to subject theoretical networks to different models of network and neuronal damage in the hope of drawing parallels between computational results and brain decline typical in aging and other neuropathological diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.
Professor Cruz, who joined the College of Arts and Sciences in 2008, completed his PhD in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, focusing on the electrical and magnetic properties of conducting polymers. He then went as a post-doctoral fellow to Boston University, where he applied methods of statistical physics to neurological conditions and diseases. Previous research at Drexel University included computer simulations of the dynamics of protein folding in confined environments and applications of statistical methods to understand possible relationships between a neuronal organization in the brain and cognition.