Simon Overduin

Simon Overduin
contact: MIT 46-6177, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge MA, 02139
617-253-0771 • overduin@mit.edu • http://overduin.com/simon/
Education Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ph.D. (GPA: 3.92/4.00)
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge MA, 2000–2006
Wilfrid Laurier University Honors B.Sc. (GPA: 3.92/4.00)
Departments of Biology and Psychology, WLU, Waterloo ON, 1997–2000
Research Postdoctoral Fellowship
Advisor: Frank Guenther, Boston University, Boston MA, 2007–present
Graduate Research Assistantship
Advisor: Emilio Bizzi, MIT, Cambridge MA, 2000–2006
Undergraduate Research Assistantship
Advisor: Philip Servos, WLU, Waterloo ON, 1999–2000
Teaching Undergraduate Student Mentoring
Nine projects in robotic control (1), animal training (1) and data analysis (1), human psychophysics
data collection (2), neurophysiology electronics (1), and kinematic glove design (3), 2001–2006
Teaching Assistantships
Professor: Suzanne Corkin, MIT, Cambridge MA, 2004 (Third-year cognitive neuroscience)
Professor: Jim DiCarlo, MIT, Cambridge MA, 2003 (Fourth-year neurobiology laboratory)
Professor: Steven Pinker, MIT, Cambridge MA, 2001 (First-year introductory psychology)
Awards National
CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2009 (of 45 awarded nationally)
NSERC of Canada Postgraduate Scholarship B, 2002–2004 (of 88 awarded nationally)
NSERC of Canada Postgraduate Scholarship A, 2000–2002 (of 47 awarded nationally)
NSERC of Canada Undergraduate Student Research Award, 1999 (of 11 awarded at university)
Institutional
Tomlinson Postdoctoral Fellowship in Psychology, 2006 (of 1 awarded; declined)
Schoemaker Award, 2004 (of 1 awarded)
Garfield Weston Scholarship, 1999 (of 4 awarded every 3 years)
Centennial-Anniversary Scholarships, 1997–1999 (of 22 awarded)
University of Toronto National Book Award, 1996 (of 1 awarded)
Highest Senior Academic Achievement Awards, 1995–1996 (of 2 awarded)
Departmental
Walle Nauta Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching, 2005 (of 3 awarded)
Alumni Gold Medal for Biology, 2000 (of 1 awarded)
Department of Psychology Scholarship, 1999 (of 1 awarded)
German Book Prize Award, 1997 (of 1 awarded)
Regional Winner, OAC English Achievement Award, 1996 (of 1 awarded)
Blanche Marie Claire Detweiler French Scholarship, 1996 (of 1 awarded)
Departmental Proficiency Award in Chemistry, 1996 (of 2 awarded)
Scores GRE General (1999): 730 / 99% (verbal), 730 / 91% (analytical), 800 / 99% (quantitative)
GRE Subject (1999): 790 / 99% (psychology)
SCAT IQ (1997): 99%
Skills UNIX, Windows operating systems
LabVIEW, MATLAB, Perl, PHP, SQL languages
BrainVoyager, SPM, FreeSurfer, Dreamweaver, Office, Photoshop, Illustrator software
French (intermediate), German (basic), Russian (basic)

Simon Overduin
Publications Peer-Reviewed Papers
Overduin SA, Zaheer F, Bizzi E, d’Avella A. (2009 online) An instrumented glove for small primates.
Journal of Neuroscience Methods, in press.
Overduin SA, Servos P (2008) Symmetric sensorimotor somatotopy. PLoS ONE 3(1): e1505.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001505.
Overduin SA, d’Avella A, Roh J, Bizzi E (2008) Modulation of muscle synergy recruitment in primate
grasping. Journal of Neuroscience 28: 880-892.
Overduin SA, Richardson AG, Bizzi E, Press DZ (2007 online) Simultaneous sensorimotor adaptation
and sequence learning. Experimental Brain Research 184: 451-456.
Overduin SA, Richardson AG, Lane CE, Bizzi E, Press DZ (2006) Intermittent practice facilitates
stable motor memories. Journal of Neuroscience 26: 11888-11892.
Richardson AG, Overduin SA, Valero-Cabré A, Padoa-Schioppa C, Pascual-Leone A, Bizzi E, Press
DZ (2006) Disruption of primary motor cortex prior to learning impairs memory of movement
dynamics. Journal of Neuroscience 26: 12466-12470.
Overduin SA, Servos P (2004) Distributed digit somatotopy in primary somatosensory cortex.
NeuroImage 23: 462-472. (Recommended by Faculty of 1000)
Book Chapters
Overduin SA, Richardson AG, Bizzi E (2009) Cortical processing during dynamic motor adaptation.
In: Sternad D (ed) Progress in Motor Control V - A Multidisciplinary Perspective. NY: Springer.
Manuscripts in Submission or Preparation
Overduin SA, d’Avella A, Bizzi E. Generalization of muscle synergies across grasping behaviors.
Overduin SA, d’Avella A, Richardson AG, Bizzi E. Primate reaching decomposed as a linear
combination of muscle synergies.
Overduin SA, d’Avella A, Bizzi E. Coordination of muscle synergies in the adaptation of grasping.
Overduin SA, d’Avella A, Bizzi E. Cortical localization of muscle synergies in primate reaching.
Overduin SA, Richardson AG, Bizzi E. Resistance of muscle synergies to myofeedback perturbations
experienced during reaching.
Overduin SA, Richardson AG, Bizzi E. Relationship of motor cortical local field potentials and muscle
synergies in forelimb behaviors of the primate.
Overduin SA, Guenther FH. How the brain silences overt speech.
Overduin SA, Guenther FH. Brain structures differentially responsible for controlling simple and
complex speech sequences.
Posters Society for the Neural Control of Movement (2002, 2003, 2006, 2007)
Society for Neuroscience (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009)
Progress in Motor Control (2005)
Peer Review Acta Psychologica, Behavioural Brain Research, Brain & Language, European Journal of
Neuroscience, Human Brain Mapping, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Journal of
Neurophysiology, PLoS ONE, Speech Communication (2006–present)
Membership Society for the Neural Control of Movement (2002–2003, 2006–2007)
Society for Neuroscience (2001–2006, 2009)
International Society for Motor Control (2005)
Leadership Science Capital, co-founder (2009–present)
Neurecall LLC, founder and president (2008–present)
Citizendium Editorial Council, member (2008–present)
MIT European Career Fair, organizer (2007–2008)
MIT Kokikai Aikido Club (2004–present); president (2004–2006)
Interests travel (Eastern/Western Europe, Japan, Indian Ocean, Canada/US), camping, aikido, poker
literary and science fiction, classical and electronic music, foreign and alternative film