Xaq Pitkow is a computational neuroscientist who develops mathematical theories of the brain and general principles of intelligent systems. He focuses on how distributed nonlinear neural computation uses statistical reasoning to guide action in naturalistic tasks. Although he is a theorist, he did at one point perform neuroscience experiments, and still collaborates closely with experimentalists to help design experiments, analyze data, and ground his theories. He was trained in physics as an undergrad at Princeton and went on to study biophysics for his Ph.D. at Harvard. He then took postdoctoral positions in the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience at Columbia and in the department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Rochester. In 2013 he moved to Houston to become a faculty member at the Baylor College of Medicine in the Department of Neuroscience, with a joint appointment at Rice University in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. After a decade there he moved to the Carnegie Mellon University, appointed in the Neuroscience Institute and with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Machine Learning. He is currently the Associate Director of the NSF AI Institute for Artificial and Natural Intelligence. On the side, he has been a professional graphic artist since age 12, and enjoys sculpting and digital art, which he sometimes integrates into his scientific work. He also enjoys improvisation on piano, tabla, and a couple dozen other musical instruments.