Download CV Visit my Blog Connect With Me

Rishika
Mohanta

I’m a neuroscientist in love with insect brains and animal behavior. I am also an experienced TTRPG Game-Master.

I am a PhD student at The Rockefeller University, jointly advised by Drs. Vanessa Ruta and Daniel Kronauer. My research asks how differences in sensory anatomy between species shape the neural implementation of conserved navigational computations — using clonal raider ants (Ooceraea biroi) and fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) as a comparative system. I integrate connectomics, optogenetics, two-photon calcium imaging, and computational modeling to understand why ants and flies process olfactory information so differently, and what that reveals about the relationship between body, brain, and behavior.

Beyond my graduate research, I co-developed FlyCLOPS and MultiBiOS — custom experimental platforms for virtual odor trail navigation — and contributed to building the first neuroanatomical reference brain for the clonal raider ant, published in Current Biology (2026). I co-organized an HHMI Janelia conference on foraging neuroscience that produced a review in Trends in Neurosciences, and contributed behavioral data to a Google DeepMind collaboration on symbolic cognitive model discovery published at ICML 2025. I also maintain an open-source multi-animal tracking toolkit used beyond my own lab.

In addition to science, I find joy in developing software, designing experimental rigs, and building theoretical models. I believe science should not exist in isolation — as a recreational pursuit, I am also an experienced TTRPG Game-Master, orchestrating sessions of Pathfinder, Dungeons and Dragons, and other Tabletop Roleplaying games, with a focus on immersive collective storytelling.


General Info

  • PronounsShe/Her
  • PronunciationRee-shee-ka Moh-hun-tah
  • Address
    Box 31, 1230 York Ave, New York, NY 10065, United States
  • Work E-mail
    rmohanta [at] rockefeller.edu
  • Personal E-mail
    neurorishika [at] gmail.com


Conferences/Workshops

  • Participant in Neural Systems and Behavior (NS&B) Course, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole 2025
  • Speaker and Poster Co-author at Cosyne 2024
  • Speaker and Co-organizer at HHMI Janelia Conference on Bridging Diverse Perspectives on the Mechanistic Basis of Foraging 2024
  • Participant at SfN Responsible Conduct of Research Short Course on RCR Short Course: Responsible Use of AI in Neuroscience Research and Education 2023
  • Presented a poster at Society for Neuroscience Conference 2022
  • Participated in Janelia Agent Based Modelling Workshop 2022
  • Participated in Janelia Elevator Pitch Workshop 2022
  • Participated in Establishing a brand online Workshop 2022
  • Participated in SFN Responsible Conduct of Research Short Course on Tackling Challenges in Data Management, Collection, Sharing Workshop 2022
  • Presented a poster at SfN Global Connectome 2021
  • Participated in Interactive Track of Neuromatch Academy 2020
  • Attended the FENS Forum of Neuroscience 2020 under ALBA-FKNE-YIBRO Diversity Grant
  • Attended the 2020 International Conference on Mathematical Neuroscience
  • Gave a talk, moderated and attended at the Monsoon Brain Meeting 2020
  • Attended the Vision Researchers Colloquium 2020
  • Participated in the Workshop on Physics in Animal Behavior 2020
  • Presented a poster and attended the Virtual Dopamine Conference 2020
  • Attended the Neurizons Conference 2020
  • Volunteered, Reviewed and attended the Neuromatch 2.0 Conference
  • Attended The Allied Genetics Conference 2020
  • Attended the Neuromatch 1.0 Conference
  • Presented a poster and attended the Asia Pacific Drosophila Research Conference 2020
  • Organised, presented a poster and attended No Garland Neuroscience Conference 2020


Scholarships/Grants/Awards

  • Attendee, Neural Systems and Behavior (NS&B) Course, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole (competitive intensive course) 2025
  • Selected Contributed Talk at Cosyne 2024, Lisbon, Portugal
  • Rockefeller University BIOGROW (Bioscience Initiative for Outreach, Growth, and Research Optimization for Well-rounded Students) Program Scholar 2024
  • Trainee Professional Development Award for Attending SfN Global Connectome 2021
  • ALBA-FKNE-YIBRO Diversity Grant for Attending FENS Forum 2020
  • DAAD-WISE Scholar (2020) but travel cancelled due to COVID-19
  • Special Mention for Best Poster at the Asia-Pacific Drosophila Research Conference 5 (2020)
  • Janelia Undergraduate Scholar (2019)
  • IISER Pune Award for Academic Excellence (2018)
  • Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojna (KVPY) Fellow (2018-2022)
  • DST-Inspire SHE Scholarship (2017-18)
  • US Dept of State Museum Connect Program Exchange Scholar (2015-16)
  • Jagdish Bose National Science Talent Search Junior Scholar (2015)
  • Mamraj Agarwal Award (2015) for exceptional performance in ICSE 2015


Scientific Skills

  • Insect Field Collection (Proficient)
  • Insect Physiology and Anatomy (Proficient)
  • Drosophila Genetics (Competent)
  • Drosophila Brain Dissection and Imaging (Competent)
  • Drosophila Optogenetics (Competent)
  • Insect VR Design and Fabrication (Expert)
  • Neuron/Network Modelling (LIF, HH, Rate-based) (Expert)
  • Epidemiological Modelling (Expert)
  • Frequentist Statistics (Expert)
  • Bayesian Statistics (Expert)
  • Machine Learning techniques (Expert)
  • Bayesian Statistics (Expert)
  • Deep Learning (Expert)
  • Reinforcement Learning (Competent)


Extracurricular Postions

  • Karavaan 2019 Sponsorship Coordinator: Fund negotiation and management for students' cultural festival
  • Karavaan 2018 Design Coordinator: Artwork, Logo, Poster, Website, Banner Design for students's cultural festival
  • Disha Spread the Smile Volunteer (2018-2020): Science Education and Demonstration for Village students
  • Mimamsa 2019 Chemistry Team Leader: Critical Research Thinking Question Design for national science quiz
  • Workshop Instructor for IISER Data Science Club: Teaching basic ML and statistical techniques to Undergraduate and Graduate students.
  • Freelance Graphics Artist and Game Developer (2014-2019): Website, logo and poster design for small local businesses or collectives.


MOOC Certifications

Life Sciences and Medicine


  • Bugs 101: Insect-Human Interactions (University of Alberta) on Coursera
  • Advanced Neurobiology II (Peking University) on Coursera
  • Advanced Neurobiology I (Peking University) on Coursera
  • Fundamentals of Immunology Specialization (3 Courses) (Rice University) on Coursera


Psychology


  • Introduction to Psychology (Yale University) on Coursera
  • Psychological First Aid (Johns Hopkins University) on Coursera


Economics


  • Microeconomics Principles (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) on Coursera
  • Introduction to Economic Theories (Erasmus University Rotterdam) on Coursera
  • Logic for Economists (University of Amsterdam) on Coursera
  • Welcome to Game Theory (The University of Tokyo) on Coursera
  • An Introduction to Consumer Neuroscience & Neuromarketing (Copenhagen Business School) on Coursera


Politics


  • Revolutionary Ideas: Utility, Justice, Equality, Freedom (Rutgers the State University of New Jersey) on Coursera
  • Moral Foundations of Politics (Yale University) on Coursera


Philosophy and Ethics


  • Introduction to Philosophy (The University of Edinburgh) on Coursera
  • Data Science Ethics (University of Michigan) on Coursera


Statistics


  • Bayesian Statistics: From Concept to Data Analysis (University of California, Santa Cruz) on Coursera
  • Bayesian Statistics: Techniques and Models (University of California, Santa Cruz) on Coursera
  • Bayesian Statistics: Mixture Models (University of California, Santa Cruz) on Coursera
  • Stochastic Processes: Data Analysis and Computer Simulation (Kyoto University) on edX
  • Introduction to Linear Models and Matrix Algebra (Harvard University) on edX
  • Statistics and R (Harvard University) on edX


Machine Learning


  • Deep Learning 101 (IBM) on cognitiveclass.ai
  • Zero to Deep Learning™ with Python and Keras (Data Weekends, Jose Portilla) on Udemy
  • Machine Learning (Stanford University) on Coursera
  • Machine Learning and Data Science with Python (Jose Portilla) on Udemy


Miscellaneous


  • Julia Scientific Programming (University of Cape Town) on Coursera
  • Master C Programming (Mohammad el-haj) on Udemy
  • Introduction to Typography (California Institute of the Arts) on Coursera
  • Front End Development Program (FreeCodeCamp) on FCC


Spoken Languages

  • English (Advanced)
  • Hindi (Upper-Intermediate)
  • Bengali (Intermediate)
  • Japanese (Elementary)
  • German (Elementary)


Programming Skills

  • Python (Expert)
  • MATLAB (Proficient)
  • Julia (Competent)
  • R (Proficient)
  • C/C++ (Competent)
  • Java (Competent)
  • Frontend (Proficient)


Design Skills

  • Photoshop (Proficient)
  • Illustrator (Expert)
  • InDesign (Competent)
  • Unreal Engine 4 (Proficient)
  • Unity 5 (Proficient)
  • Blender (Expert)
  • Marvelous Designer 9 (Competent)


TTRPG Systems for Storytelling

  • Pathfinder 2e
  • Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition
  • World of Darkness System
  • Heart the City Beneath
  • Stars without Number
  • Powered by the Apocalypse System
  • Cypher System

Education

  • 2023 onwards

    David Rockefeller Graduate Program in Bioscience

    The Rockefeller University, New York, USA

    Rotations: Dr.Daniel Kronauer, Dr.Priya Rajasethupathy
    Also offered graduate student positions at Harvard University Program in Neuroscience, Princeton Neuroscience Institute Ph.D. Program, Cornell University Neurobiology & Behavior PhD Program, Columbia University Doctoral Program in Neurobiology and Behavior, and Johns Hopkins-Janelia Joint Graduate Program.

  • 2017 - 2022

    Integrated BS-MS Program (Biology)

    Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, India

    Graduated December 2022. The first 2 years include all fields ie. Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, Earth Sciences, and Social Sciences. Specialization courses include Neurobiology I/II, Genetics, Ecology I/II, Vertebrate Zoology, Animal Physiology I/II, Animal Behaviour, Chemical Ecology, Statistical Mechanics I, Nonlinear Dynamics, Operations Research, Graph Theory, Cryptography, Data Science, Select Key Political Concepts, Economics and Public Policy, Development Studies, (Contemporary) Stories from the Subcontinent, Evolution of Cinema. CGPA = 9.8/10
    Completed Masters' Thesis titled "Deciphering value learning rules in fruit flies using a model-driven approach" with Dr Glenn Turner at HHMI Janelia Research Campus.

  • 2010 - 2017

    High School (ICSE-ISC)

    Garden High School, Kolkata, India

    Graduated from high school with All-India-Rank 9 in ISC 2017 (Indian Standard 12th Grade) and All-India-Rank 4 in ICSE (Indian Standard 10th Grade) 2015. Selected as the Student Body Representative for the Academic Year 2016-17.

Research Experience

  • 2024 - Present

    Ruta Lab & Kronauer Lab, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA

    PhD Student (Joint Advisors: Dr. Vanessa Ruta & Dr. Daniel Kronauer)

    Investigating how differences in sensory anatomy between species shape the neural implementation of conserved navigational computations, using clonal raider ants (Ooceraea biroi) and fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) as a comparative system. Co-developed FlyCLOPS (a closed-loop optogenetic virtual odor trail system) and MultiBiOS (a multispecies bilateral odor-delivery platform for functional imaging). Contributed to the first neuroanatomical reference brain for the clonal raider ant, published in Current Biology (2026). Co-wrote the Price Family Center for the Social Brain grant securing two years of funding.

  • Dec. 2023 - 2024

    Rajasethupathy Lab, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA

    Rotation Student

    Worked on using mesoscope-based wide-field 2-photon imaging to study frontal cortex neural activity in head-fixed mice undergoing training on multisensory delayed non-match to sample (DNMS) and multisensory delayed match to sample (DMS) tasks under the guidance of Dr. Priya Rajasethupathy and Dr. Andrew Luskin. Also, worked on establishing a pilot 4/8 radial maze task in mice to study the interaction between working memory and reference memory.

  • Sep. 2023 - Dec. 2023

    Kronauer Lab, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA

    Rotation Student

    Worked on creating the standard brain for Ooceraea biroi (Clonal Raider Ant) using non-linear registration techniques and assessed Clonal Raider Ant object preference in collaboration with Dr. Alexander Paul under the mentorship of Dr. Daniel Kronauer, Dr. Dominic Frank, and Lindsey Lopes.

  • Jan 2022 - August 2023

    Turner Lab, HHMI Janelia Research Campus, Ashburn, USA

    Masters Student (Research Technician) and Consulting Researcher

    Working on manipulating Fruit-fly olfactory decision-making behavior using choice engineering under Dr Glenn Turner in collaboration with Google Deepmind and Dr. Ann Hermundstad.

  • Aug 2019 - Dec 2021

    Theoretical Neuroscience Lab, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune, India

    Undergraduate Researcher

    Working on building a model of the Locust Olfactory system to develop a theory for odour coding that connects the existing experimental results and conflicting theoretical paradigms under Dr Collins Assisi.

  • May 2019 - Aug 2019

    Turner Lab, HHMI Janelia Research Campus, Ashburn, USA

    Janelia Undergraduate Scholar

    Worked on characterization of how the process of olfactory learning and navigation can affect walking exploratory behaviour in a custom fabricated closed-loop fly-on-ball Olfactory VR arena Dr Glenn Turner and Dr Yichun Shuai.

  • Dec 2018 - May 2019

    Theoretical Neuroscience Lab, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune, India

    Undergraduate Intern

    Worked on developing a simple general-purpose biological neural network simulation framework in python that uses the power of GPU-based parallel processing for speeding up the computation under Dr Collins Assisi.

  • May 2018 - Jul 2018

    Naturalist Inspired Chemical Ecology (NICE) Lab, National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) Bangalore, India

    Summer Intern

    Worked on "Effect of Air Pollution on Giant Honeybee" with Dr Geetha GT and "Modelling Decision Making of Apple Maggot Fly in Virtual Reality" with Pavan Kumar Kaushik under Dr Shannon Olsson.

  • May 2020 - Feb 2021

    iCART (India COVID19 Apex Research Team)

    Lead in Statistics and Data analysis. Co-lead ML and DL. Co-lead www.covidtoday.in

    Working on realtime frameworks tracking transmission dynamics of the COVID-19 epidemic in India and modelling optimal lockdown exit strategies under Dr Giridhara Gopal Parameswaran at AIIMS, Delhi.

Teaching and Mentorship Experience

  • Research Mentor to Ruta Lab Research Assistant 2024–Present
    Mentoring a research assistant on FlyCLOPS operation, experimental design, and data analysis for the comparative olfactory navigation project.

  • Journal Club Mentor, Rockefeller Summer Neuroscience Program 2025
    Serving as journal club mentor for summer students in the Rockefeller University Summer Neuroscience Program.

  • Tri-Institute Mentorship Initiative Mentor 2023 (4 sessions, 6 hours)
    Mentored a student one-on-one to prepare for the 2023-24 Graduate School application season and guided student on finding potential interest areas, networking with potential PIs and preparing research and personal statements.

  • Lead Teaching Assistant for Neuromatch Deep Learning 2023 (3 weeks, 120 hours)
    Supervised a team of 6 teaching assistants on a three-week intensive course on Deep Learning (DL) techniques. Also closely mentored and led daily tutorials on Basic and Advanced Deep Learning using PyTorch for a group of 10 students from different countries and cultures around the world.

  • Project Teaching Assistant for Neuromatch Deep Learning 2021 (3 weeks, 120 hours)
    Mentored 7 student groups with 3-7 students each from different timezones, countries and cultures around the world for a three-week projects on utilizing Deep Learning (DL) techniques in the field of neuroscience.

  • Teaching Assistant for Neuromatch Computational Neuroscience 2021 (3 weeks, 120 hours)
    Closely mentored and led daily tutorials on modelling in computational neuroscience for a group of 6 students from different countries and cultures around the world for three weeks.

  • Workshop Instructor for IISER Pune Data Analysis and Machine Learning in Python Bootcamp (3 sessions, 15 hours)
    Instructed a series of workshops on using Python (Numpy, Pandas, Seaborn, and Scikit-Learn) for data analysis and scientific visualization and Introduction to Deep Learning using multilayer perceptrons.

Academic Publications

  • [1] A reference brain for the clonal raider ant. Frank, D.D., Lopes, L.E., Mohanta, R., Seckler, I., Lacroix, I., Kronauer, D.J.C., 2026. Current Biology, 36(1):227-235.e3.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.11.018


    [2] Discovering Symbolic Cognitive Models from Human and Animal Behavior. Castro, P.S.*, Tomasev, N.*, Anand, A., Sharma, N., Mohanta, R., Dev, A., Perlin, K., Jain, S., Levin, K., Éltető, N., Dabney, W., Novikov, A., Turner, G.C., Eckstein, M.K., Daw, N.D., Miller, K.J., Stachenfeld, K.L., 2025. International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) 2025. (*joint first authors)
    https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.02.05.636732


    [3] Foraging as an ethological framework for neuroscience. Grima, L.L., Haberkern, H., Mohanta, R., Morimoto, M.M., Rajagopalan, A.E., Scholey, E.V., 2025. Trends in Neurosciences, 48:877-890.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2025.08.006


    [4] Enumerating and Discovering Highly Discriminative Tasks for Probing Diverse Foraging Strategies. Ma, T.*, Mohanta, R.*, Dev, A., Turner, G.C., Hermundstad, A.M., 2023. Cognitive Computational Neuroscience (CCN) 2023, Oxford, UK. (*joint first authors)
    https://doi.org/10.32470/CCN.2023.1217-0


    [5] Deciphering value learning rules in fruit flies using a model-driven approach. Mohanta, R., 2022. IISER Pune Digital Repository.
    https://dr.iiserpune.ac.in:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/7503


    [6] Parallel scalable simulations of biological neural networks using TensorFlow: A beginner's guide. Mohanta, R. and Assisi, C., 2022. Neurons, Behavior, Data Analysis and Theory. arXiv:1906.03958.
    https://doi.org/10.51628/001c.37893


    [7] A field-based quantitative analysis of sublethal effects of air pollution on pollinators. Thimmegowda, G.G., Mullen, S., Sottilare, K., Sharma, A., Mohanta, R., Brockmann, A., Dhandapany, P.S. and Olsson, S.B., 2020. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(34), pp.20653-20661.
    https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2009074117


    [8] Geographical variation in case fatality rate and doubling time during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mazumder, A., Arora, M., Sra, M.S., Gupta, A., Behera, P., Gupta, M., Agarwal, M., Rao, A., Mohanta, R., Parameswaran, G.G. and Lohiya, A., 2020. Epidemiology & Infection, 148.
    https://dx.doi.org/10.1017%2FS0950268820001685


    [9] Transmission dynamics of the COVID-19 epidemic in India and modelling optimal lockdown exit strategies. Gupta, M.*, Mohanta, R.*, Rao, A., Parameswaran, G. G., Agarwal, M., Arora, M., ... & Kumar, R., 2020. International Journal of Infectious Diseases. (*joint first authors)
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2020.11.206


    [10] Contact Tracing of COVID-19 in Karnataka, India: Superspreading and Determinants of Infectiousness and Symptomaticity. Gupta, M., Parameswaran, G. G., Sra, M. S., Mohanta, R., Patel, D., Gupta, A., … & Babu, G. R. 2022. PLOS ONE, 17(7):e0270789.
    https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270789

Invited Talks/Panels

  • Gave a selected contributed talk titled "Enumerating and Discovering Highly Discriminative Tasks for Probing Diverse Foraging Strategies" at Cosyne 2024, Lisbon, Portugal.


    Gave a short talk titled "Deciphering the Dynamics of Locust Olfactory System" at the Monsoon Brain Meeting 2020.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xjh9elI_VkA


    Gave a traditional talk titled "Pluralistic Approach to Decoding Motor Activity from Different Brain Regions" at the Neuromatch 3.0 conference 2020.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLC2P358_RM


    Was a panelist for the panel discussion titled “Youth-Led Neuroscience Initiatives” on behalf of DiverseNeuro.org at the NeuroNovember convention organised by Project Encephalon and Stimulus

Posters

  • Enumerating and Discovering Highly Discriminative Tasks for Probing Diverse Foraging Strategies. Ma, T.*, Mohanta, R.*, Dev, A., Turner, G.C., Hermundstad, A.M. Poster presented at Cognitive Computational Neuroscience (CCN) 2023, Oxford, UK; also presented as co-authored poster at Cosyne 2024, Lisbon, Portugal.
    https://doi.org/10.32470/CCN.2023.1217-0


    Deciphering value learning rules underlying in fruit-flies using a model-driven approach. Mohanta, R. & Turner, G. Poster presented at Society for Neuroscience (SfN) 2022 in San Diego.
    https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21383697


    Parallel scalable simulations of biological neural networks using TensorFlow: A beginner's guide. Mohanta, R., Assisi, C. Poster presented at Society for Neuroscience (SfN) 2022 in San Diego.
    https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21383895


    Invariant neural representations of fluctuating odor inputs. Mohanta, R., Adithyan, S, Assisi, C. Poster presented at Society for Neuroscience (SfN) 2022 in San Diego.
    https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21383898


    Intermittent inputs reveal invariant odor representations Mohanta, R., Assisi, C. Poster presented at Society for Neuroscience (SfN) 2021 conference virtually by C. Assisi
    https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.18972815.v2


    Odor coding by attractor switching in the locust antennal lobe. Mohanta, R., Assisi, C. Poster presented at Society for Neuroscience (SfN) virtual connectome 2021.
    https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.18972815.v2


    Pluralistic Approach to Decoding Motor Activity from Different Brain Regions. Mohanta, R., Singh, N., Sharma, V., & Nayak, P. Presented at Neuromatch 3.0 2020.
    https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13164365.v1


    Investigating Odor-based Learning in Closed-Loop Fly-on-Ball VR Mohanta, R., Shuai, Y., Turner G.C. Poster presented at Janelia Undergraduate Scholar Symposium 2019, Asia-Pacific Drosophila Research Conference 5 2020, Virtual DopAmine 2020 conference.
    https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.9751004.v2


    Deciphering the Dynamics of Locust Olfactory System. Mohanta, R. and Assisi, C., 2020. Poster presented at No Garland Neuroscience 2020 conference.
    https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.12073056

References

  • Dr Collins Assisi
    Theoretical Neuroscience Lab, IISER Pune, India
    collins@iiserpune.ac.in


    Dr Glenn Turner
    Turner Lab, Janelia Research Campus Ashburn, USA
    turnerg@janelia.hhmi.org


    Dr Anand Krishnan
    Krishnan Lab, IISER Pune, India
    anandk@iiserpune.ac.in


    Dr Shannon Olsson
    Naturalist Inspired Chemical Ecology Lab, NCBS Bangalore, India
    shannon@nice.ncbs.res.in


    Dr Giridhara Gopal Parameswaran
    Anand Krishnan Lab, AIIMS Delhi
    giridar100@hotmail.com