Pentti Kanerva is a research affiliate at the Redwood Neuroscience Institute, and is the author of sparse distributed memory

Sparse distributed memory

Sparse distributed memory is a mathematical model of human long-term memory that was introduced by Pentti Kanerva in 1988. It is used for storing and retrieving large amounts of information without focusing on the accuracy of the information. It uses patterns to serve as memory addresses, where...

. He is responsible for relating the properties of long-term memory to mathematical properties of high-dimensional spaces

Clustering high-dimensional data

Clustering high-dimensional data is the cluster analysis of data with anywhere from a few dozen to many thousands of dimensions. Such high-dimensional data spaces are often encountered in areas such as medicine, where DNA microarray technology can produce a large number of measurements at once, and...

 and compares artificial neural-net associative memory to conventional computer random-access memory

Random-access memory

Random access memory is a form of computer data storage. Today, it takes the form of integrated circuits that allow stored data to be accessed in any order with a worst case performance of constant time. Strictly speaking, modern types of DRAM are therefore not random access, as data is read in...

 and to the neurons in the brain.

Education

Kanerva has an A.A. from Warren Wilson College

Warren Wilson College

Warren Wilson College is a private four-year work college in the Swannanoa Valley, North Carolina, United States near Asheville. It is known for its curriculum of work, academics, and service, called "the Triad," which requires every student to work an on-campus job, perform at least one hundred...

, M.S. in forestry, with a minor in mathematics and statistics from the University of Helsinki

University of Helsinki

The University of Helsinki is a university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but was founded in the city of Turku in 1640 as The Royal Academy of Turku, at that time part of the Swedish Empire. It is the oldest and largest university in Finland with the widest range of disciplines available...

, and has a Ph.D. in Philosophy, from Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

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Employment

After earning his Ph.D. at Stanford in 1984, Kanerva moved to work at the NASA Ames Research Center

NASA Ames Research Center

The Ames Research Center , is one of the United States of America's National Aeronautics and Space Administration 10 major field centers.The centre is located in Moffett Field in California's Silicon Valley, near the high-tech companies, entrepreneurial ventures, universities, and other...

. He also worked at the Swedish Institute of Computer Science

Swedish Institute of Computer Science

The Swedish Institute of Computer Science, SICS, is an independent non-profit research organization with a research focus on applied computer science. The institute carries out research in a number of areas, including networked embedded systems, future Internet technologies, large scale...

, then finally moving on to where he his current position at the Redwood Neuroscience Institute located in Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

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