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==Contributions to science==
==Contributions to science==
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===ROI analyses===

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=== ROI analyses ===

In some of his early work Nieto-Castanon helped develop novel methods for region of interest (ROI) analyses of [[Functional magnetic resonance imaging|fMRI]] data,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nieto-Castanon |first1=Alfonso |last2=Ghosh |first2=Satrajit S. |last3=Tourville |first3=Jason A. |last4=Guenther |first4=Frank H. |date=August 2003 |title=Region of interest based analysis of functional imaging data |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12948689 |journal=NeuroImage |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=1303–1316 |doi=10.1016/s1053-8119(03)00188-5 |pmid=12948689|s2cid=7230124 }}</ref> with a focus on multivariate techniques and the use of subject-specific ROIs, where regions of interest are defined differently for each person based on common anatomical or functional landmarks.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nieto-Castañón |first1=Alfonso |last2=Fedorenko |first2=Evelina |date=2012-11-15 |title=Subject-specific functional localizers increase sensitivity and functional resolution of multi-subject analyses |journal=NeuroImage |volume=63 |issue=3 |pages=1646–1669 |doi=10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.06.065 |pmc=3477490 |pmid=22784644}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fedorenko |first1=Evelina |last2=Hsieh |first2=Po-Jang |last3=Nieto-Castañón |first3=Alfonso |last4=Whitfield-Gabrieli |first4=Susan |last5=Kanwisher |first5=Nancy |date=August 2010 |title=New method for fMRI investigations of language: defining ROIs functionally in individual subjects |journal=Journal of Neurophysiology |volume=104 |issue=2 |pages=1177–1194 |doi=10.1152/jn.00032.2010 |pmc=2934923 |pmid=20410363}}</ref> Subject-specific ROIs allowed researchers to probe the limits of the functional localization hypotheses common in neuroimaging, and better understand the spatial and functional specificity of different brain areas.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.02.023 | doi=10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.02.023 | title=The early origins and the growing popularity of the individual-subject analytic approach in human neuroscience | year=2021 | last1=Fedorenko | first1=Evelina | journal=Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences | volume=40 | pages=105–112 | hdl=1721.1/138409.2 | s2cid=232265279 | hdl-access=free }}</ref>
In some of his early work Nieto-Castanon helped develop novel methods for region of interest (ROI) analyses of [[Functional magnetic resonance imaging|fMRI]] data,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nieto-Castanon |first1=Alfonso |last2=Ghosh |first2=Satrajit S. |last3=Tourville |first3=Jason A. |last4=Guenther |first4=Frank H. |date=August 2003 |title=Region of interest based analysis of functional imaging data |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12948689 |journal=NeuroImage |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=1303–1316 |doi=10.1016/s1053-8119(03)00188-5 |pmid=12948689|s2cid=7230124 }}</ref> with a focus on multivariate techniques and the use of subject-specific ROIs, where regions of interest are defined differently for each person based on common anatomical or functional landmarks.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nieto-Castañón |first1=Alfonso |last2=Fedorenko |first2=Evelina |date=2012-11-15 |title=Subject-specific functional localizers increase sensitivity and functional resolution of multi-subject analyses |journal=NeuroImage |volume=63 |issue=3 |pages=1646–1669 |doi=10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.06.065 |pmc=3477490 |pmid=22784644}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fedorenko |first1=Evelina |last2=Hsieh |first2=Po-Jang |last3=Nieto-Castañón |first3=Alfonso |last4=Whitfield-Gabrieli |first4=Susan |last5=Kanwisher |first5=Nancy |date=August 2010 |title=New method for fMRI investigations of language: defining ROIs functionally in individual subjects |journal=Journal of Neurophysiology |volume=104 |issue=2 |pages=1177–1194 |doi=10.1152/jn.00032.2010 |pmc=2934923 |pmid=20410363}}</ref> Subject-specific ROIs allowed researchers to probe the limits of the functional localization hypotheses common in neuroimaging, and better understand the spatial and functional specificity of different brain areas.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.02.023 | doi=10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.02.023 | title=The early origins and the growing popularity of the individual-subject analytic approach in human neuroscience | year=2021 | last1=Fedorenko | first1=Evelina | journal=Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences | volume=40 | pages=105–112 | hdl=1721.1/138409.2 | s2cid=232265279 | hdl-access=free }}</ref>


=== Brain-computer interfaces ===
===Brain-computer interfaces===
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In collaboration with Boston University's Neural Prosthesis Laboratory, Nieto-Castanon helped build a [[Neuroprosthetic]] device for real-time speech synthesis.<ref>{{Cite patent |country=US|number=10553199|pubdate=2020-02-04|title=Low-dimensional real-time concatenative speech synthesizer|assign1=[[Trustees of Boston University]]|inventor1-last=Guenther|inventor1-first=Frank Harold|inventor2-last=Nieto-Castanon|inventor2-first=Alfonso}}</ref> This system was designed to allow patients with [[locked-in syndrome]] to produce speech by decoding signals from a [[neurotrophic electrode]] implanted in the brain.<ref name="PBS News Hour">“Brain-Powered Technology May Help Locked-In Patients” [[PBS NewsHour]], October 14, 2011, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/10/brain-powered-technology-may-help-locked-in-patients.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140122182646/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/10/brain-powered-technology-may-help-locked-in-patients.html |date=2014-01-22 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Keim |first=Brandon |title=Wireless Brain-to-Computer Connection Synthesizes Speech |language=en-US |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/2009/12/wireless-brain/ |access-date=2023-08-11 |issn=1059-1028}}</ref>


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===Functional connectivity===
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In collaboration with Boston University's Neural Prosthesis Laboratory, Nieto-Castanon helped build a [[Neuroprosthetic]] device for real-time speech synthesis.<ref>{{Cite patent | invent1=Guenther, F. H.| invent2=Nieto-castanon, A.| gdate=2018-2-4| title=Low-dimensional real-time concatenative speech synthesizer|number=US10553199B2}}</ref> This system was designed to allow patients with [[locked-in syndrome]] to produce speech by decoding signals from a [[neurotrophic electrode]] implanted in the brain. <ref name="PBS News Hour">“Brain-Powered Technology May Help Locked-In Patients” PBS News Hour, October 14, 2011, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/10/brain-powered-technology-may-help-locked-in-patients.html</ref><ref>Keim, B. “Wireless Brain-to-Computer Connection Synthesizes Speech.” Wired 9 December 2009. https://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/12/wireless-brain/</ref>
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Nieto-Castanon also developed multiple influential mathematical and computational techniques for [[functional connectivity]] analyses,<ref>Nieto-Castanon, A. (2020). Handbook of functional connectivity Magnetic Resonance Imaging methods in CONN. Hilbert Press.</ref> with a special emphasis on the robust estimation of functional connectivity measures in the presence of subject-motion and physiological noise sources.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chai |first1=Xiaoqian J. |last2=Castañón |first2=Alfonso Nieto |last3=Ongür |first3=Dost |last4=Whitfield-Gabrieli |first4=Susan |date=2012-01-16 |title=Anticorrelations in resting state networks without global signal regression |journal=NeuroImage |volume=59 |issue=2 |pages=1420–1428 |doi=10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.08.048 |pmc=3230748 |pmid=21889994}}</ref> In 2011 he developed [[CONN (functional connectivity toolbox)|CONN]] to integrate and facilitate best practices in functional connectivity studies.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Whitfield-Gabrieli |first1=Susan |last2=Nieto-Castanon |first2=Alfonso |date=2012 |title=Conn: a functional connectivity toolbox for correlated and anticorrelated brain networks |journal=Brain Connectivity |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=125–141 |doi=10.1089/brain.2012.0073 |pmid=22642651}}</ref> CONN included a combination of novel methods such as multivariate connectivity analyses and dynamic connectivity estimation, together with multiple well known techniques such as psycho-physiological interactions, graph analyses, or independent component analyses. His software has been since widely adopted in the field<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1073/pnas.1715766115 | title=Heterogeneity within the frontoparietal control network and its relationship to the default and dorsal attention networks | year=2018 | last1=Dixon | first1=Matthew L. | last2=de la Vega | first2=Alejandro | last3=Mills | first3=Caitlin | last4=Andrews-Hanna | first4=Jessica | last5=Spreng | first5=R. Nathan | last6=Cole | first6=Michael W. | last7=Christoff | first7=Kalina | journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume=115 | issue=7 | pages=E1598–E1607 | pmid=29382744 | pmc=5816169 | bibcode=2018PNAS..115E1598D | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2135-15.2015 | doi=10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2135-15.2015 | title=Default Mode Dynamics for Global Functional Integration | year=2015 | last1=Vatansever | first1=D. | last2=Menon | first2=D. K. | last3=Manktelow | first3=A. E. | last4=Sahakian | first4=B. J. | last5=Stamatakis | first5=E. A. | journal=Journal of Neuroscience | volume=35 | issue=46 | pages=15254–15262 | pmid=26586814 | pmc=4649001 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awv228 | doi=10.1093/brain/awv228 | title=Network localization of neurological symptoms from focal brain lesions | year=2015 | last1=Boes | first1=Aaron D. | last2=Prasad | first2=Sashank | last3=Liu | first3=Hesheng | last4=Liu | first4=Qi | last5=Pascual-Leone | first5=Alvaro | last6=Caviness | first6=Verne S. | last7=Fox | first7=Michael D. | journal=Brain | volume=138 | issue=10 | pages=3061–3075 | pmid=26264514 | pmc=4671478 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1093/brain/awv169 | title=Intrinsic functional connectivity differentiates minimally conscious from unresponsive patients | year=2015 | last1=Demertzi | first1=Athena | last2=Antonopoulos | first2=Georgios | last3=Heine | first3=Lizette | last4=Voss | first4=Henning U. | last5=Crone | first5=Julia Sophia | last6=De Los Angeles | first6=Carlo | last7=Bahri | first7=Mohamed Ali | last8=Di Perri | first8=Carol | last9=Vanhaudenhuyse | first9=Audrey | last10=Charland-Verville | first10=Vanessa | last11=Kronbichler | first11=Martin | last12=Trinka | first12=Eugen | last13=Phillips | first13=Christophe | last14=Gomez | first14=Francisco | last15=Tshibanda | first15=Luaba | last16=Soddu | first16=Andrea | last17=Schiff | first17=Nicholas D. | last18=Whitfield-Gabrieli | first18=Susan | last19=Laureys | first19=Steven | journal=Brain | volume=138 | issue=9 | pages=2619–2631 | pmid=26117367 | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2014.53 | doi=10.1038/npp.2014.53 | title=Modulation of Resting-State Amygdala-Frontal Functional Connectivity by Oxytocin in Generalized Social Anxiety Disorder | year=2014 | last1=Dodhia | first1=Sonam | last2=Hosanagar | first2=Avinash | last3=Fitzgerald | first3=Daniel A. | last4=Labuschagne | first4=Izelle | last5=Wood | first5=Amanda G. | last6=Nathan | first6=Pradeep J. | last7=Phan | first7=K Luan | journal=Neuropsychopharmacology | volume=39 | issue=9 | pages=2061–2069 | pmid=24594871 | pmc=4104324 }}</ref> and it is now regularly used in functional connectivity studies, with over 900 citations during 2021 alone<ref>[https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_vis=1&q=%22conn+toolbox%22+OR+%22nitrc.org/projects/conn%22+OR+%22Conn+*+functional+connectivity+toolbox%22 Google Scholar CONN references]</ref>

⚫
=== Functional connectivity ===

⚫
Nieto-Castanon also developed multiple influential mathematical and computational techniques for [[functional connectivity]] analyses,<ref>Nieto-Castanon, A. (2020). Handbook of functional connectivity Magnetic Resonance Imaging methods in CONN. Hilbert Press.</ref> with a special emphasis on the robust estimation of functional connectivity measures in the presence of subject-motion and physiological noise sources.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chai |first1=Xiaoqian J. |last2=Castañón |first2=Alfonso Nieto |last3=Ongür |first3=Dost |last4=Whitfield-Gabrieli |first4=Susan |date=2012-01-16 |title=Anticorrelations in resting state networks without global signal regression |journal=NeuroImage |volume=59 |issue=2 |pages=1420–1428 |doi=10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.08.048 |pmc=3230748 |pmid=21889994}}</ref> In 2011 he developed [[CONN (functional connectivity toolbox)|CONN]] to integrate and facilitate best practices in functional connectivity studies.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Whitfield-Gabrieli |first1=Susan |last2=Nieto-Castanon |first2=Alfonso |date=2012 |title=Conn: a functional connectivity toolbox for correlated and anticorrelated brain networks |journal=Brain Connectivity |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=125–141 |doi=10.1089/brain.2012.0073 |pmid=22642651}}</ref> CONN included a combination of novel methods such as multivariate connectivity analyses and dynamic connectivity estimation, together with multiple well known techniques such as psycho-physiological interactions, graph analyses, or independent component analyses. His software has been since widely adopted in the field<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1073/pnas.1715766115 | title=Heterogeneity within the frontoparietal control network and its relationship to the default and dorsal attention networks | year=2018 | last1=Dixon | first1=Matthew L. | last2=de la Vega | first2=Alejandro | last3=Mills | first3=Caitlin | last4=Andrews-Hanna | first4=Jessica | last5=Spreng | first5=R. Nathan | last6=Cole | first6=Michael W. | last7=Christoff | first7=Kalina | journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume=115 | issue=7 | pages=E1598–E1607 | pmid=29382744 | pmc=5816169 | bibcode=2018PNAS..115E1598D | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2135-15.2015 | doi=10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2135-15.2015 | title=Default Mode Dynamics for Global Functional Integration | year=2015 | last1=Vatansever | first1=D. | last2=Menon | first2=D. K. | last3=Manktelow | first3=A. E. | last4=Sahakian | first4=B. J. | last5=Stamatakis | first5=E. A. | journal=Journal of Neuroscience | volume=35 | issue=46 | pages=15254–15262 | pmid=26586814 | pmc=4649001 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awv228 | doi=10.1093/brain/awv228 | title=Network localization of neurological symptoms from focal brain lesions | year=2015 | last1=Boes | first1=Aaron D. | last2=Prasad | first2=Sashank | last3=Liu | first3=Hesheng | last4=Liu | first4=Qi | last5=Pascual-Leone | first5=Alvaro | last6=Caviness | first6=Verne S. | last7=Fox | first7=Michael D. | journal=Brain | volume=138 | issue=10 | pages=3061–3075 | pmid=26264514 | pmc=4671478 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awv169 | doi=10.1093/brain/awv169 | title=Intrinsic functional connectivity differentiates minimally conscious from unresponsive patients | year=2015 | last1=Demertzi | first1=Athena | last2=Antonopoulos | first2=Georgios | last3=Heine | first3=Lizette | last4=Voss | first4=Henning U. | last5=Crone | first5=Julia Sophia | last6=De Los Angeles | first6=Carlo | last7=Bahri | first7=Mohamed Ali | last8=Di Perri | first8=Carol | last9=Vanhaudenhuyse | first9=Audrey | last10=Charland-Verville | first10=Vanessa | last11=Kronbichler | first11=Martin | last12=Trinka | first12=Eugen | last13=Phillips | first13=Christophe | last14=Gomez | first14=Francisco | last15=Tshibanda | first15=Luaba | last16=Soddu | first16=Andrea | last17=Schiff | first17=Nicholas D. | last18=Whitfield-Gabrieli | first18=Susan | last19=Laureys | first19=Steven | journal=Brain | volume=138 | issue=9 | pages=2619–2631 | pmid=26117367 | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2014.53 | doi=10.1038/npp.2014.53 | title=Modulation of Resting-State Amygdala-Frontal Functional Connectivity by Oxytocin in Generalized Social Anxiety Disorder | year=2014 | last1=Dodhia | first1=Sonam | last2=Hosanagar | first2=Avinash | last3=Fitzgerald | first3=Daniel A. | last4=Labuschagne | first4=Izelle | last5=Wood | first5=Amanda G. | last6=Nathan | first6=Pradeep J. | last7=Phan | first7=K Luan | journal=Neuropsychopharmacology | volume=39 | issue=9 | pages=2061–2069 | pmid=24594871 | pmc=4104324 }}</ref> and it is now regularly used in functional connectivity studies, with over 900 citations during 2021 alone<ref>[https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_vis=1&q=%22conn+toolbox%22+OR+%22nitrc.org/projects/conn%22+OR+%22Conn+*+functional+connectivity+toolbox%22 Google Scholar CONN references]</ref>


Nieto-Castanon has given numerous courses and lectures worldwide<ref>[https://education.martinos.org/home/using-the-conn-toolbox-for-functional-connectivity-analysis/ Harvard/MGH courses]</ref><ref>[https://neurometrika.org/BCM_MIT Neurometrika courses]</ref><ref>[https://education.martinos.org/home/connectivity-course/ Harvard/MGH courses]</ref><ref>[http://www.martinos.org/CONN_in_Cincinnati University of Cincinnati & CHMC]</ref><ref>[https://www.bcbl.eu/en/noticias/eventos-pasados/alfonso-nieto-castanon-analysis-methods-challenges-resting-state-functional BCBL]</ref> and his work has been cited in over 8000 refereed journal articles to date.<ref>[https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=PcD1M7kAAAAJ Google Scholar Nieto-Castanon profile]</ref>
Nieto-Castanon has given numerous courses and lectures worldwide<ref>[https://education.martinos.org/home/using-the-conn-toolbox-for-functional-connectivity-analysis/ Harvard/MGH courses]</ref><ref>[https://neurometrika.org/BCM_MIT Neurometrika courses]</ref><ref>[https://education.martinos.org/home/connectivity-course/ Harvard/MGH courses]</ref><ref>[http://www.martinos.org/CONN_in_Cincinnati University of Cincinnati & CHMC]</ref><ref>[https://www.bcbl.eu/en/noticias/eventos-pasados/alfonso-nieto-castanon-analysis-methods-challenges-resting-state-functional BCBL]</ref> and his work has been cited in over 8000 refereed journal articles to date.<ref>[https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=PcD1M7kAAAAJ Google Scholar Nieto-Castanon profile]</ref>


== International competitions ==
==International competitions==

Beyond his research, Nieto-Castanon is also recognized for his participation in international programming and data-analysis competitions. Programming in [[Matlab]], Nieto-Castanon won in 2009 and in 2011 the ''Color Bridge'' and ''Vines'' [[MathWorks]] collaborative-programming competitions.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140111125250/https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/contest/hall_of_fame Matlab contest Hall of Fame]</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Saez|first= Juan Manuel|title=Alfonso Nieto Castanon gana por segunda vez este concurso de programacion online de MathWorks|url=https://www.developersti.es/noticias-developer/1alfonso-nieto-castanon-gana-por-segunda-vez-este-concurso-de-programacion-online-de-mathworks456|newspaper=Developers TI|date=}}</ref> He was also the winner in 2011 of the [[Microsoft]] Kinect video gesture identification competition,<ref>{{cite news|last=Byrne|first=Ciara|title=Kaggle launches competition to help Microsoft Kinect learn new gestures|url=https://venturebeat.com/2011/12/12/kaggle-competition-microsoft-kinect-learn-new-gestures/|access-date=13 December 2011|newspaper=VentureBeat|date=December 12, 2011}}</ref><ref>[http://www.kaggle.com/c/GestureChallenge/leaderboard Kaggle Microsoft Kinect competition]</ref> obtained second place at the Marinexplore and Cornell University ''Whale Detection'' audio classification challenge,<ref>{{cite news|last=Marlow|first=Jeffrey|url=https://www.wired.com/2013/02/wanted-right-whale-caller-id/|title=Wanted: Right Whale Caller ID|date=February 12, 2013|newspaper=Wired}}</ref> took first prize in 2013 [[Genentech]]'s ''Flu Forecasting'' predictive model competition,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://blog.kaggle.com/2014/03/24/kaggle-newsletter-join-the-team|title=Join the team|newspaper=Kaggle newsletter|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423022802/http://blog.kaggle.com/2014/03/24/kaggle-newsletter-join-the-team|archive-date=2016-04-23}}</ref> and placed second in MathWorks 2014 bin packing optimization competition.<ref>{{cite news|title=Packing Santa's Sleigh|url=http://blogs.mathworks.com/pick/2014/03/21/packing-santas-sleigh|date=March 21, 2014|newspaper=MathWorks Blogs}}</ref> In 2013 Nieto-Castanon was ranked as the third best data-scientist in [[Kaggle]],<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/google-buys-kaggle-and-its-gaggle-of-ai-geeks/|title=Google buys Kaggle and its gaggle of AI geeks|date=2017-03-08|work=CNET|access-date=2018-06-01|language=en}}</ref><ref>[https://www.kaggle.com/alfnie Kaggle Nieto-Castanon profile]</ref> and he has been ranked as the best [[Matlab]] programmer in MathWorks Cody games for seven consecutive years between 2013 and 2019.<ref>{{cite news|last=Gulley|first=Ned|title=Cody interview:Alfonso Nieto-Castanon|url=http://blogs.mathworks.com/community/2014/01/29/the-cody-interview-alfonso-nieto-castanon|date=January 29, 2014|newspaper=MathWorks Blogs}}</ref>
Beyond his research, Nieto-Castanon is also recognized for his participation in international programming and data-analysis competitions. Programming in [[Matlab]], Nieto-Castanon won in 2009 and in 2011 the ''Color Bridge'' and ''Vines'' [[MathWorks]] collaborative-programming competitions.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140111125250/https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/contest/hall_of_fame Matlab contest Hall of Fame]</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Saez|first= Juan Manuel|title=Alfonso Nieto Castanon gana por segunda vez este concurso de programacion online de MathWorks|url=https://www.developersti.es/noticias-developer/1alfonso-nieto-castanon-gana-por-segunda-vez-este-concurso-de-programacion-online-de-mathworks456|newspaper=Developers TI|date=}}</ref> He was also the winner in 2011 of the [[Microsoft]] Kinect video gesture identification competition,<ref>{{cite news|last=Byrne|first=Ciara|title=Kaggle launches competition to help Microsoft Kinect learn new gestures|url=https://venturebeat.com/2011/12/12/kaggle-competition-microsoft-kinect-learn-new-gestures/|access-date=13 December 2011|newspaper=VentureBeat|date=December 12, 2011}}</ref><ref>[http://www.kaggle.com/c/GestureChallenge/leaderboard Kaggle Microsoft Kinect competition]</ref> obtained second place at the Marinexplore and Cornell University ''Whale Detection'' audio classification challenge,<ref>{{cite news|last=Marlow|first=Jeffrey|url=https://www.wired.com/2013/02/wanted-right-whale-caller-id/|title=Wanted: Right Whale Caller ID|date=February 12, 2013|newspaper=Wired}}</ref> took first prize in 2013 [[Genentech]]'s ''Flu Forecasting'' predictive model competition,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://blog.kaggle.com/2014/03/24/kaggle-newsletter-join-the-team|title=Join the team|newspaper=Kaggle newsletter|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423022802/http://blog.kaggle.com/2014/03/24/kaggle-newsletter-join-the-team|archive-date=2016-04-23}}</ref> and placed second in MathWorks 2014 bin packing optimization competition.<ref>{{cite news|title=Packing Santa's Sleigh|url=http://blogs.mathworks.com/pick/2014/03/21/packing-santas-sleigh|date=March 21, 2014|newspaper=MathWorks Blogs}}</ref> In 2013 Nieto-Castanon was ranked as the third best data-scientist in [[Kaggle]],<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/google-buys-kaggle-and-its-gaggle-of-ai-geeks/|title=Google buys Kaggle and its gaggle of AI geeks|date=2017-03-08|work=CNET|access-date=2018-06-01|language=en}}</ref><ref>[https://www.kaggle.com/alfnie Kaggle Nieto-Castanon profile]</ref> and he has been ranked as the best [[Matlab]] programmer in MathWorks Cody games for seven consecutive years between 2013 and 2019.<ref>{{cite news|last=Gulley|first=Ned|title=Cody interview:Alfonso Nieto-Castanon|url=http://blogs.mathworks.com/community/2014/01/29/the-cody-interview-alfonso-nieto-castanon|date=January 29, 2014|newspaper=MathWorks Blogs}}</ref>


== References ==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}


Latest revision as of 19:21, 25 April 2024

Alfonso Nieto-Castanon
Alfonso Nieto-Castanon in 2016
BornSeptember 1972
Spain
Alma materUniversidad de Valladolid, Boston University
Known forfunctional neuroimaging, subject-specific ROIs, connectome, CONN
Scientific career
FieldsComputational neuroscience, Neuroimaging
InstitutionsBoston University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Doctoral advisorFrank H. Guenther

Alfonso Nieto-Castanon (born September 1972) is a Spanish computational neuroscientist and developer of computational neuroimaging analysis methods and tools. He is a visiting researcher at the Boston University College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences,[1] and research affiliate at MIT McGovern Institute for Brain Research.[2] His research focuses on the understanding and characterization of human brain dynamics underlying mental function.

Early life and education

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Nieto-Castanon was born in Spain in 1972.[3] He was part of the first Spanish team to participate in the International Physics Olympiad in 1990[citation needed]. He went to college at the Universidad de Valladolid from 1991 to 1995 and earned a B.S./M.S. in Telecommunications Engineering. In 1998 he pursued graduate studies in Boston University Cognitive and Neural Systems Department and was awarded a research training fellowship from Fundación Séneca/Cedetel, and a graduate research fellowship from Boston University. He received a Ph.D. in Computational Neuroscience in 2004.[4]

Contributions to science

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ROI analyses

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In some of his early work Nieto-Castanon helped develop novel methods for region of interest (ROI) analyses of fMRI data,[5] with a focus on multivariate techniques and the use of subject-specific ROIs, where regions of interest are defined differently for each person based on common anatomical or functional landmarks.[6][7] Subject-specific ROIs allowed researchers to probe the limits of the functional localization hypotheses common in neuroimaging, and better understand the spatial and functional specificity of different brain areas.[8]

Brain-computer interfaces

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In collaboration with Boston University's Neural Prosthesis Laboratory, Nieto-Castanon helped build a Neuroprosthetic device for real-time speech synthesis.[9] This system was designed to allow patients with locked-in syndrome to produce speech by decoding signals from a neurotrophic electrode implanted in the brain.[10][11]

Functional connectivity

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Nieto-Castanon also developed multiple influential mathematical and computational techniques for functional connectivity analyses,[12] with a special emphasis on the robust estimation of functional connectivity measures in the presence of subject-motion and physiological noise sources.[13] In 2011 he developed CONN to integrate and facilitate best practices in functional connectivity studies.[14] CONN included a combination of novel methods such as multivariate connectivity analyses and dynamic connectivity estimation, together with multiple well known techniques such as psycho-physiological interactions, graph analyses, or independent component analyses. His software has been since widely adopted in the field[15][16][17][18][19] and it is now regularly used in functional connectivity studies, with over 900 citations during 2021 alone[20]

Nieto-Castanon has given numerous courses and lectures worldwide[21][22][23][24][25] and his work has been cited in over 8000 refereed journal articles to date.[26]

International competitions

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Beyond his research, Nieto-Castanon is also recognized for his participation in international programming and data-analysis competitions. Programming in Matlab, Nieto-Castanon won in 2009 and in 2011 the Color Bridge and Vines MathWorks collaborative-programming competitions.[27][28] He was also the winner in 2011 of the Microsoft Kinect video gesture identification competition,[29][30] obtained second place at the Marinexplore and Cornell University Whale Detection audio classification challenge,[31] took first prize in 2013 Genentech's Flu Forecasting predictive model competition,[32] and placed second in MathWorks 2014 bin packing optimization competition.[33] In 2013 Nieto-Castanon was ranked as the third best data-scientist in Kaggle,[34][35] and he has been ranked as the best Matlab programmer in MathWorks Cody games for seven consecutive years between 2013 and 2019.[36]

References

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  1. ^ [1][2] Boston University
  2. ^ [3] Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  3. ^ Dissertation VITA
  4. ^ Nieto-Castanon, A. (2004). An investigation of articulatory-acoustic relationships in speech production. Boston University
  5. ^ Nieto-Castanon, Alfonso; Ghosh, Satrajit S.; Tourville, Jason A.; Guenther, Frank H. (August 2003). "Region of interest based analysis of functional imaging data". NeuroImage. 19 (4): 1303–1316. doi:10.1016/s1053-8119(03)00188-5. PMID 12948689. S2CID 7230124.
  6. ^ Nieto-Castañón, Alfonso; Fedorenko, Evelina (2012-11-15). "Subject-specific functional localizers increase sensitivity and functional resolution of multi-subject analyses". NeuroImage. 63 (3): 1646–1669. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.06.065. PMC 3477490. PMID 22784644.
  7. ^ Fedorenko, Evelina; Hsieh, Po-Jang; Nieto-Castañón, Alfonso; Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan; Kanwisher, Nancy (August 2010). "New method for fMRI investigations of language: defining ROIs functionally in individual subjects". Journal of Neurophysiology. 104 (2): 1177–1194. doi:10.1152/jn.00032.2010. PMC 2934923. PMID 20410363.
  8. ^ Fedorenko, Evelina (2021). "The early origins and the growing popularity of the individual-subject analytic approach in human neuroscience". Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences. 40: 105–112. doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.02.023. hdl:1721.1/138409.2. S2CID 232265279.
  9. ^ US 10553199, Guenther, Frank Harold & Nieto-Castanon, Alfonso, "Low-dimensional real-time concatenative speech synthesizer", published 2020-02-04, assigned to Trustees of Boston University 
  10. ^ “Brain-Powered Technology May Help Locked-In Patients” PBS NewsHour, October 14, 2011, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/10/brain-powered-technology-may-help-locked-in-patients.html Archived 2014-01-22 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ Keim, Brandon. "Wireless Brain-to-Computer Connection Synthesizes Speech". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  12. ^ Nieto-Castanon, A. (2020). Handbook of functional connectivity Magnetic Resonance Imaging methods in CONN. Hilbert Press.
  13. ^ Chai, Xiaoqian J.; Castañón, Alfonso Nieto; Ongür, Dost; Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan (2012-01-16). "Anticorrelations in resting state networks without global signal regression". NeuroImage. 59 (2): 1420–1428. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.08.048. PMC 3230748. PMID 21889994.
  14. ^ Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan; Nieto-Castanon, Alfonso (2012). "Conn: a functional connectivity toolbox for correlated and anticorrelated brain networks". Brain Connectivity. 2 (3): 125–141. doi:10.1089/brain.2012.0073. PMID 22642651.
  15. ^ Dixon, Matthew L.; de la Vega, Alejandro; Mills, Caitlin; Andrews-Hanna, Jessica; Spreng, R. Nathan; Cole, Michael W.; Christoff, Kalina (2018). "Heterogeneity within the frontoparietal control network and its relationship to the default and dorsal attention networks". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 115 (7): E1598–E1607. Bibcode:2018PNAS..115E1598D. doi:10.1073/pnas.1715766115. PMC 5816169. PMID 29382744.
  16. ^ Vatansever, D.; Menon, D. K.; Manktelow, A. E.; Sahakian, B. J.; Stamatakis, E. A. (2015). "Default Mode Dynamics for Global Functional Integration". Journal of Neuroscience. 35 (46): 15254–15262. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2135-15.2015. PMC 4649001. PMID 26586814.
  17. ^ Boes, Aaron D.; Prasad, Sashank; Liu, Hesheng; Liu, Qi; Pascual-Leone, Alvaro; Caviness, Verne S.; Fox, Michael D. (2015). "Network localization of neurological symptoms from focal brain lesions". Brain. 138 (10): 3061–3075. doi:10.1093/brain/awv228. PMC 4671478. PMID 26264514.
  18. ^ Demertzi, Athena; Antonopoulos, Georgios; Heine, Lizette; Voss, Henning U.; Crone, Julia Sophia; De Los Angeles, Carlo; Bahri, Mohamed Ali; Di Perri, Carol; Vanhaudenhuyse, Audrey; Charland-Verville, Vanessa; Kronbichler, Martin; Trinka, Eugen; Phillips, Christophe; Gomez, Francisco; Tshibanda, Luaba; Soddu, Andrea; Schiff, Nicholas D.; Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan; Laureys, Steven (2015). "Intrinsic functional connectivity differentiates minimally conscious from unresponsive patients". Brain. 138 (9): 2619–2631. doi:10.1093/brain/awv169. PMID 26117367.
  19. ^ Dodhia, Sonam; Hosanagar, Avinash; Fitzgerald, Daniel A.; Labuschagne, Izelle; Wood, Amanda G.; Nathan, Pradeep J.; Phan, K Luan (2014). "Modulation of Resting-State Amygdala-Frontal Functional Connectivity by Oxytocin in Generalized Social Anxiety Disorder". Neuropsychopharmacology. 39 (9): 2061–2069. doi:10.1038/npp.2014.53. PMC 4104324. PMID 24594871.
  20. ^ Google Scholar CONN references
  21. ^ Harvard/MGH courses
  22. ^ Neurometrika courses
  23. ^ Harvard/MGH courses
  24. ^ University of Cincinnati & CHMC
  25. ^ BCBL
  26. ^ Google Scholar Nieto-Castanon profile
  27. ^ Matlab contest Hall of Fame
  28. ^ Saez, Juan Manuel. "Alfonso Nieto Castanon gana por segunda vez este concurso de programacion online de MathWorks". Developers TI.
  29. ^ Byrne, Ciara (December 12, 2011). "Kaggle launches competition to help Microsoft Kinect learn new gestures". VentureBeat. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  30. ^ Kaggle Microsoft Kinect competition
  31. ^ Marlow, Jeffrey (February 12, 2013). "Wanted: Right Whale Caller ID". Wired.
  32. ^ "Join the team". Kaggle newsletter. Archived from the original on 2016-04-23.
  33. ^ "Packing Santa's Sleigh". MathWorks Blogs. March 21, 2014.
  34. ^ "Google buys Kaggle and its gaggle of AI geeks". CNET. 2017-03-08. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  35. ^ Kaggle Nieto-Castanon profile
  36. ^ Gulley, Ned (January 29, 2014). "Cody interview:Alfonso Nieto-Castanon". MathWorks Blogs.
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