Juncal has been investigating the underpinning theoretical and computational techniques required to design optimal distributed controllers and estimators for systems with spatiotemporal dynamics. The principal application that motivates her research is soft robotics. These bio-inspired robots exhibit huge potential as they can adapt their form to the environment, making them ideal for exploratory, search and rescue, or surgical applications. As a Schmidt Science Fellow, Juncal will pivot to systems neuroscience to explore how the nervous system encodes and processes information and uncertainty, with the aim to utilize insights from neuroscience for future safety-critical artificial intelligence applications.