Tom Clandinin is a systems neuroscientist in the Department of Neurobiology at Stanford University. He came to systems neuroscience with a background in genetics and molecular neuroscience, and investigates fundamental questions in neural circuit function using the fruit fly as a model. Recent work in the lab has leveraged spontaneous behavior to discover that flies plan future actions over many seconds, and select future actions even in the absence of external information that would inform those choices. He uses a wide range of approaches in his lab, ranging from brain-wide imaging to targeted approaches examining single cells, using a variety of sensors for measuring changes in neural activity, cell signaling and metabolic function, allowing his group to simultaneously measure specific computations and behaviors, as well as the energetic expenses of both. He regularly teaches neuroanatomy to medical students, and molecular neuroscience to undergraduates.