Research Experience

 

August 2017 - Present

Graduate Student Researcher

Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow

Advisor: Jose M. Carmena

  • Designed and conducted experiments in awake, behaving nonhuman primates using closed-loop brain-computer interfaces, and multi-site electrophysiology recordings to study large-scale network plasticity.

  • Designed and conducted experiments comparing the effects on mood of closed-loop microsimulation of prefrontal

  • cortical brain regions to known anxiolytic drugs to develop systems-based neurotherapies.

  • Analyzed time-series neural, physiological, and kinematic data using machine learning and statistical analysis.

  • Decoded information about action-intention and mood-state from bio-signals acquired in real-time using supervised learning techniques.

  • Presented key findings at international conferences (IEEE Neural Engineering, Society for Neuroscience) and local conferences (UC Berkeley Neuroscience, Center for Neural Engineering & Prosthesis).

  • Awarded National Science Foundation Graduate Student Research Fellowship.

July 2024 - May 2025

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Center for Learning and Memory, University of Texas, Austin

Dean's Scholar, Junior Fellow

Advisor: Alison R. Preston

  • Investigated cortical representations of semantic memory using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

  • Quantified semantic similarity between famous people and places by constructing models of semantic similarity using natural language processing techniques and online text corpora.

  • Analyzed behavioral and neuroimaging data using regression modeling, representational similarity analysis, and multi-variate pattern analysis.

  • Presented key findings at international conferences (Cognitive Neuroscience Society, Society for Neuroscience) and local conferences (Gulf Coast Undergraduate Research Symposium).

  • Awarded Society for Neuroscience Trainee Professional Development Award and the College of Natural Sciences Undergraduate Research Fellowship.

May 2015 - August 2015
May 2016 - August 2016

Visiting Research Assistant

Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany

DAAD RISE Summer Research Fellow

Advisor: Manfred Gahr

  • Studied the effect of breeding conditions on zebra finch communication and vocal repertoire composition using vocal recordings obtained from light-weight telemetric microphone backpacks. 

  • Analyzed vocal and behavioral data using hierarchical linear models and unsupervised clustering analysis. 

  • Awarded DAAD Research in Science & Engineering fellowship and Marion Burke travel award.