A co-director of Cracking the Neural Code, he is a faculty member of the neuroscience, biophysics and molecular imaging programs in the Stanford School of Medicine as well as the Stanford Neurosciences Institute and Stanford Bio-X. Schnitzer has longstanding interests in neural circuit dynamics and optical imaging, and his optical innovations are used in neuroscience labs in the U.S., Europe and Asia. He has received the National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award, the Biophysical Society's Michael and Kate Barany Award and a Presidential Young Investigator Award. Schnitzer is also a member of the NIH working group for President Obama's BRAIN Initiative (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies).