Gregory Kiar, PhD

Gregory Kiar, PhD, is director of the Center for Data Analytics Innovation and Rigor (DAIR) and a research scientist on the senior scientist track at the Child Mind Institute. As a biomedical engineering student, Greg developed techniques to study biosignal data, turnkey tools that allow researchers to generate maps of brain connectivity from diffusion and functional MRI data. He also developed techniques to assess and improve the stability and credibility of neuroscience and psychiatry research.

Greg has considerable experience in computational statistics, uncertainty quantification, pipeline development and machine learning. His research bridges the fields of numerical analysis and brain imaging to evaluate and improve techniques used to study the brain. He has developed infrastructures that support the reliable evaluation of neuroimaging experiments; studied the role that unavoidable computing errors play in results; and developed techniques to consider such errors when building robust models of the brain. His work seeks to inform decision-making for robust data collection, signal processing and biomarker discovery.

The DAIR Center, formerly known as the Computational Neuroimaging Laboratory, is a highly collaborative group that provides guidance and hands-on support for tool building, large scale data analytics, and study design for researchers and programs within CMI and beyond. Under Greg’s leadership, the DAIR Center develops toolkits to simplify clinician reporting; works to make clinical assessments more accessible; and identifies relationships between biometric data and psychiatric diseases.

Greg has also helped organize over a dozen hackathon-style events focused on training and collaboration and taught several university-level courses. He frequently serves as a mentor, teaching academic writing, fundamental computational skills, and research best practices.

• PhD, Biological and Biomedical Engineering, McGill University
• MSE, Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
• BEng, Biomedical and Electrical Engineering, Carleton University