I am an Assistant Professor at UC Santa Barbara, where I direct the Geometric Intelligence Lab and co-direct both REAL AI for Science and the AI Core of the Bowers Women’s Brain Health Initiative.

My research sits at the intersection of mathematics, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, and human health. In my lab, we study the geometry of intelligence—how brains and machines organize, transform, and adapt data to make sense of the world. By uncovering the mathematical principles behind intelligent systems, we design next-generation AI models that thrive where most fail: on small, noisy, and complex (graphs, shapes) datasets. These models improve accuracy by up to 38% in challenging settings, making them powerful tools for real-world science, from neuroscience to healthcare.

Through REAL AI for Science, I lead efforts to build AI-powered digital twins of the brain—integrating imaging, cognition, and molecular data to forecast brain health, detect disease early, and support personalized care. With the Bowers Women’s Brain Health Initiative, I focus specifically on women’s brains, building digital twins to model changes across pregnancy, menopause, and aging—helping to close long-standing gaps in women’s health research.

My work has been recognized by the Hellman Fellowship, the NSF CAREER, the UC Regent’s Junior Faculty Award, the L’Oréal-Unesco Award for Women in Science, and as a Public Voice Fellowship for the OpEd Project whose mission is to change who writes history.

Find me on: Github, LinkedIn, Twitter: @ninamiolane, Bluesky: @ninamiolane.bsky.social, Google Scholar, ORCID.

Contact: ninamiolane at ucsb.edu.