Niklas Smedemark-Margulies

Niklas Smedemark-Margulies

Senior ML Engineer at Analog Devices

Biography

I’m a machine learning researcher and software engineer with expertise in bioinformatics, immunology, and neuroscience. I’m currently a Senior ML Engineer at Analog Garage, a research division of Analog Devices. My goal is to make a real-world impact for patients and customers at the intersection of biology and computing.

I completed my Ph.D. in Computer Science at Northeastern University, where I was co-advised by Deniz Erdogmus, Robin Walters, and Jan-Willem van de Meent. My research focused on techniques for reducing the amount of calibration data required to train brain-computer interface (BCI) models, and reducing the performance gap between training and test subjects. The purpose of this research was to restore communication for patients with neurodegenerative diseases and enable expressive communication modes for healthy subjects. Some highlights of my work include:

  • Regularization techniques for learning subject-invariant representations
  • Contrastive learning and data augmentation strategies to extrapolate to unseen gesture combinations
  • Error-augmented model feedback to train human subjects

During my Ph.D., I was funded by a long-term research contract with Meta Reality Labs, in which we developed techniques to use electromyography (EMG) for gesture recognition and human-computer interfaces. Previously, I completed two internships at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) under the supervision of Dr. Ye Wang and Dr. Toshiaki Koike-Akino, where I designed regularization techniques for subject transfer learning. I was also a member of CAMBI, a cross-university collaboration focused on applying (BCI) research to restore communication for people with neurological disabilities.

Before starting my Ph.D., I worked for several years as a software engineer focused on the analysis of high-throughput genetic sequencing data. I received my MMSc in Immunology from Harvard Medical School in 2016, and my Bachelor’s in Neuroscience from Amherst College in 2013. Outside of work, I enjoy playing guitar, running, cooking, and reading science fiction.

Selected Publications