Spyridon Mylonas

Spyridon Mylonas, Ph.D.,as the Managing Director of the NSF AI Institute for Artificial and Natural Intelligence (ARNI), works closely with ARNI Director, Professor Rich Zemel to establish ARNI as a national nexus point for interdisciplinary research collaborations that explore the bidirectional relationship between AI and the brain, with the goal both to create humanlike artificial intelligence and advance our understanding of the human brain.

Spyridon has over 12 years of experience supporting research and creating innovative education programs from high school to faculty. He holds a Biology bachelor's degree from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, and a Ph.D. in Natural Sciences from the University of Hamburg/Max Planck Unit for Structural Molecular Biology, Germany. He completed postdoctoral training at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and Rockefeller University (NYC). Prior to coming to Columbia, Dr. Mylonas was at the Weill Cornell Medicine in NYC where he helped established a successful college-wide junior faculty research mentorship and grant writing support program, achieving an exceptional 60% funding success rate compared to the national average. He also led the development of an institutional National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded T32 postdoctoral training program in Molecular and Translational Oncology Research. In 2020, he initiated an outreach K12 and College summer program, mentoring over 170 students from high school to college.

Dr. Mylonas has promoted diversity by collaborating with institutions like Hunter College (CUNY) and Harlem Biospace. He has worked closely with faculty to design educational courses and workshops. He has also taught the "Responsible Conduct of Research" course for over six years at Weill Cornell.

Of note, he is passionate about integrating arts and humanities into science curricula and collaborates with the Museum of Modern Art on projects addressing societal issues, including health disparities.