Narayan Sankaran

Narayan Sankaran, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of San Francisco, where he leads the Auditory Neuroscience & Perception Lab. His research combines neuroscientific investigation of auditory processing (focusing on music and speech perception through computational modeling and neurophysiological measurements) with neuroethical studies on emerging neurotechnologies.

Education:

• PhD in Neuroscience, University of Sydney (2018)
• BA in Physics with Music minor, University of California, Berkeley

Research Focus: Dr. Sankaran's interdisciplinary work spans auditory neuroscience and neuroethics. He employs intracranial and scalp-based electrophysiology, machine learning, and computational models to study how humans perceive complex sounds. His neuroethics research examines societal implications of brain-computer interfaces, particularly regarding user agency and ethical design frameworks.

Awards & Honors:

• Civic Science Fellowship, Rita Allen Foundation (2024)
• Berkelhammer Postdoctoral Award, UCSF (2020)
• University of Sydney Postgraduate Research Award (2014)

Professional Experience: Prior to joining USF, Dr. Sankaran completed postdoctoral fellowships at UCSF's Department of Neurological Surgery and UC Berkeley's Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public. He also served as Lecturer in Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley.

Laboratory Leadership: Heads the Auditory Neuroscience & Perception Lab at USF, focusing on neural mechanisms of sound perception and ethical neurotechnology development.