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Jacob Yates is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Optometry & Vision Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He completed his doctoral research in neuroscience at the University of Texas, Austin, where he worked with notable researchers including Alex Huk and Jonathan Pillow. Following his PhD, Jacob pursued postdoctoral work at the University of Rochester with Jude Mitchell, Greg DeAngelis, and Michele Rucci, and later at the University of Maryland, collaborating with Dan Butts. His research focuses on how populations of neurons in the cortex encode the visual world. By employing statistical machine learning models, his lab seeks to understand the neural activity related to human perception, particularly the information generated by eye movements and its utilization in cortical circuits. Jacob is thrilled to return to the Bay Area, where he grew up in San Francisco and completed his undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley. Outside of academia, he enjoys cycling, hiking, traveling, and exploring culinary experiences. Jacob looks forward to contributing to the optometry community at UC Berkeley.
University of California, Berkeley • Berkeley, CA
Teaching and conducting research in the field of Optometry and Vision Science.
The Mathematics Subject GRE is required for the Fall 2026 admissions cycle. General GRE is optional.