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George Mason University

Faculty & Staff Directory

Paul So

  • Professor

    Contact Info

    Dr. So
    Name
    Dr. Paul T. So
    Job Title
    Professor
    Website
    Profile
    Phone Number
    703-993-4377
    Office Number
    Krasnow 104

    Affiliations

    Departments

    Research Areas

    • Applied Science
    • Neuroscience
    • Physics

    Education

    - PhD, Nonlinear Dynamics, University of Maryland at College Park, (1995)

    - BS, Physics & Math, Harvey Mudd College, (1988)

    Download CV

    Current Research

    Dr. Paul So is a theoretical physicist specialized in dynamical systems analysis and its application to neuroscience. His work on dynamical systems spanned the development of control and observer techniques for high dimensional chaotic systems, theory and experimental work in quantum chaos, analysis of synchronization and coherence in chaotic systems, and the dynamical reconstruction of complex systems using unstable periodic orbits. The overarching goal of his research is the application of these tools from dynamical systems and other physical insights from statistical physics to a better understanding on the mechanisms for information processing in the brain and on dynamical causes related to different pathological neural diseases such as epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease.

    Teaching Focus

    Dr. Paul So teaches both introductory as well as advanced physics courses. He has more than 20 years of experience teaching and advising students in the department’s graduate programs.

    Selected Publications

    1. T. B. Luke, E. Barreto, and P. So, “Complete Classification of the Macroscopic Behavior of a Heterogeneous Network of Theta Neurons,” Neural Computation, 25: 3207-3234 (2013).
    2. E. A. Martens, E. Barreto, S.H. Strogatz, E. Ott, P. So, and T.M. Antonsen, Exact Results for the Kuramoto Model with a Bimodal Frequency Distribution, Physical Review E, 79: 026204 (2009).
    3. P. So, J. T. Francis, T. I. Netoff, B. J. Gluckman, and S. J. Schiff, “Periodic Orbits: A New Language for Neuronal Dynamics,” Biophysical Journal, 74: 2776 (1998).
    4. P. So, E. Ott, S. J. Schiff, D. T. Kaplan, T. Sauer, and C. Grebogi, “Detecting Unstable Periodic Orbits in Chaotic Experimental Data,” Physical Review Letters, 76: 4705 (1996).
    5. S. J. Schiff, P. So, T. Chang, R. E. Burke, and T. Sauer, “Detecting Dynamical Interdependence and Generalized Synchrony through Mutual Prediction in a Neural Ensemble,” Physical Review E, 54: 6708 (1996).

    Contact Info

    Dr. So
    Name
    Dr. Paul T. So
    Job Title
    Professor
    Website
    Profile
    Phone Number
    703-993-4377
    Office Number
    Krasnow 104

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