Pembe Gizem Özdil
Ph.D. Student | Google Ph.D. Fellow
Neuroengineering & Biorobotics Laboratories
École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
(EPFL)
AI 1125 & MED1 1215
CH-1015 Lausanne
Switzerland
pgizemozdil@gmail.com

about me
In Fall 2025, I will be joining the Kempner Institute at Harvard University as a research fellow.
Please feel free to reach out if you'd like to collaborate or learn more about my work.
I recently defended my Ph.D. in Robotics at EPFL, where I was advised by EPFL,
Switzerland, advised by Pavan Ramdya
and Auke Ijspeert.
My research lies at the interface of systems neuroscience and artificial intelligence. I primarily focus on
understanding the underlying mechanisms of motor coordination in Drosophila using behavior, physics-based
simulations and neural networks.
My long-term goal is to leverage biological insights from animals to develop better artificial
systems.
My early Ph.D. was supported by a Swiss Government Excellence Ph.D. Fellowship, and a Google Ph.D.
Fellowship.
Previously, I received my B.S. in Electrical & Electronics Engineering with a double major in Mathematics from
Boğaziçi University, Turkey where I worked on robot
localization at Işıl Bozma's Intelligent Systems
Laboratory.
news
Presented at CNS in Florence, Italy.
Successfully defended my PhD!! 🎓 Here is my thesis, titled "An integrative computational modeling approach for Drosophila motor control."
Our paper Centralized brain networks underlie body part coordination during grooming is available on BioRXiv!
Our paper NeuroMechFly v2: simulating embodied sensorimotor control in adult Drosophila was published at Nature Methods!
Visited the Flatiron Institute in New York as a summer research intern!
Awarded a Google Ph.D. Fellowship! See my interview with EPFL Research Office here.
Presented at Beyond the Connectome and Simulated Bodies at Janelia Research Campus, the USA.
Presented at the 67th Benzon Symposium in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Presented at Neuroscience 2022 in San Diego, the USA.
Our paper NeuroMechFly, a neuromechanical model of adult Drosophila melanogaster was published at Nature Methods!
Virtually presented at the symposium on Adaptive Motion of Animals and Machines and received an Honorable Mention!
Awarded a Swiss Government Excellence Ph.D. Fellowship!
Started my Ph.D. at Neuroengineering and Biorobotics Laboratories at EPFL.
selected publications
For a full list of my publications, please visit my Google Scholar profile.


NeuroMechFly, a neuromechanical model of adult Drosophila melanogaster
Nature Methods, May 2022.