Bea Adams, a London-based neuropsychologist, former professional ballet dancer, and MIT Open Learning Fellow, has built a career that spans decades of diverse and connected experiences and a focus on lifelong learning. After earning a BA in Clinical and Behavioral Psychology and working as a psychologist and therapist for several years, she took a sabbatical in her late twenties to fulfill a lifelong dream of hers by studying at the London School of Contemporary Dance and the Royal Ballet.
“Looking back, I think what attracted me most to ballet wasn’t its form, but rather a subconscious desire to understand my body moving in space and time, my emotions and motivations, within a rigorous, meticulous, habit-driven discipline,” Adams says. “It’s an attempt to understand the world and myself.”
After suffering several dance-related injuries, Adams returned to psychology. She completed an online certificate program at Duke University specializing in medical neuroscience, focusing on how pathology arises from the way the brain computes information and produces behavior.
In addition to her clinical work, she works on neural networks at a data science and AI consulting firm.
In 2022, Adams discovered MIT OpenCourseWare from MIT Open Learning when she was looking for something new to learn and apply to both her professional and personal life. She was interested in class 8.04 (Quantum Physics I), which has a specific focus on quantum mechanics, because she hoped to finally be able to understand some of the complex topics she had unsuccessfully tried to learn on her own in the past. She credits the lectures in this course, taught by Alan Adams, a physicist and principal investigator at MIT’s Future Ocean Lab, with helping her finally make sense of these difficult topics.
“I still talk to my friends about these great lecture moments for a long time,” Adams said. “After the first class, I was hooked.”
Through educational resources from MIT Open Learning, Adams quickly developed an interest in computational neuroscience, where she learned to use the tools of mathematics and computer science to better understand the brain, nervous system, and behavior.
She said she gained many new insights from class 6.034 (Artificial Intelligence), especially by watching lectures by the late Professor Patrick Winston. She appreciated learning more about the cognitive psychology aspects of AI, including how pioneers in the field have focused on how the brain processes information, aiming to build programs that can solve problems. She furthered her understanding of AI with the Minds and Machines course onMITx Online, part of Open Learning .
Adams is currently completing the course “Introduction to Computer Science and Programming with Python,” taught by John Guttag and former interim vice president of Open Learning Eric Grimson Anna Bell.
“I’m a multilingual person, and I think the way my brain processes code is the same way a computer processes code,” Adams says. “I think learning to code is like learning a foreign language: it’s exciting and scary at the same time. Learning the rules, deciphering the syntax, and building my own worlds through code has been one of the most exciting challenges of my life.”
Adams is also pursuing a master’s degree at Duke University and University College London focusing on the neurobiology of sleep, specifically how the brain’s biochemistry influences this important function. To complement this research, she is currently taking class 9.40 (Introduction to Neural Computing) taught by Michael Fee and Daniel Zisman. The class introduces the brain and cognitive function, quantitative methods for understanding neurons, and covers basic quantitative tools for data analysis in neuroscience.
In addition to courses directly related to Adams’ field of expertise, MIT Open Learning also provided her the opportunity to explore other academic fields. She delved deeply into philosophy for the first time through a class called “Paradox and Infinity,” taught by MIT Dean of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Kenan Sahin, Professor Agustin Rayo, and Digital Learning Lab Fellow David Barcaras, which focused on the intersection of philosophy and mathematics. She also got to learn more about immunology, which has always interested her, through Professor Adam Martin’s lecture in class 7.016 (Introductory Biology).
“I am forever grateful to MIT Open Learning for making knowledge more accessible and fostering a network of curious people striving to share, extend, and apply this knowledge for the benefit of society at large,” Adams said.
