Neuroscience Major, Class of 2021

Neuroscience Major, Class of 2021

Chief Lab Morale Officer. Received his theraPets degree at Carnegie Mellon University in 2017. Has established work with the retirement community. Extremely good boy.

Maddie is a class of 2023 undergraduate studying Neuroscience and Religious Studies. She is interested in the contemplative neuroscience, specifically the effect of meditation and breath training on neural networks.

Lisa Calegari is a Class of 2024 undergraduate student majoring in Neuroscience, with a possible double-major or minor in Computer Science. She is interested in neural networks, especially in terms of how breakdowns in them relate to psychiatric illnesses and neurodegenerative diseases.

I am a Research Coordinator and Lab Manager for the Gratton Lab. I grew up in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area of Texas. I earned my undergraduate degree in Cognitive Science from the University of California: Berkeley, where I first studied neuroscience. I am interested in how individual differences in brain networks affect performance at different tasks and how these brain networks change over time. In the future, I am hoping to explore the relationship between brain networks and circadian rhythms.

Class of 2022, Majoring in Neuroscience with a concentration in Human Behavior and Cognition and a minor in Computer Science. Research interests include the neural networks involved with the emotional brain, with the goal of understanding psychiatric illnesses more in order to improve treatment.

Class of 2020, Neuroscience major with a Biology concentration. Outside of her lab work, Brittany is interested in studying neurodegenerative diseases and drug addiction.

Zach is a Neuroscience Ph.D. student. He has a B.S from Tufts University and worked for several years as a Data Scientist for software companies before starting at Northwestern in 2019. He is interested in functional brain networks - their neurobiological mechanism, development throughout life, responsiveness to changes, and how changes manifest in our perception.

Neuroscience Major w/ Chemistry Minor, Class of 2020 Shawn Ohazuruike was raised in Newark, New Jersey and attends Dartmouth College where he is currently pursuing a major in Neuroscience with a minor in Chemistry. He runs the hurdles for the Dartmouth Track and Field Team; serves as the vice president for Dartmouth’s chapter of the Kidney Diseases Screening Awareness program (KDSAP); and works as an undergraduate advisor through Dartmouth Residential Operations in addition to his neuroscience research in motivation and reward. After graduating from college, he plans on taking a gap year to engage in clinical research before applying to MD/Ph.D. programs throughout the country.

Jennifer Pius-Alonee, Class of 2022, Weinberg College of Arts of Sciences majoring in Neuroscience and minoring in French. Research interests broadly include brain structure and function, as related to behavior, cognition, and disease.

I am currently a graduate student in the Gratton Lab. I earned my bachelor's degree in psychology at Utah State University in 2016 doing research on neural differences associated with Attention Restoration Theory (ART) using EEG in the Multi-sensory Cognition Lab under Dr. Kerry Jordan. After graduating I worked as a lab manager at Carnegie Mellon University under the Cognitive Axon Lab under Dr. Timothy Verstynen. My primary focus involved investigating the association between physical health and the integrity of major white matter pathways. My current work in the lab is focused on studying individual differences in brain networks that relate to symptoms and behavior in psychiatric disorders.

I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Gratton lab. Meeting the demands of everyday life requires one to inhibit prepotent responses, ignore irrelevant stimuli, and complete extended action sequences. These behaviors fall under the domain of cognitive control. My research has focused on adjustments in cognitive control and task representation. Individual differences in cognitive control and the neural substrates of these differences are my primary interest areas. More generally, I am interested in the challenges facing network neuroscience that stem from human heterogeneity.

Class of 2022. Neuroscience Major with a Biology Concentration and Global Health Minor.

I was born in upstate New York and earned my undergraduate degree at SUNY Buffalo. I then went on to earn my MA in clinical psychology at Ball State University where I first was exposed to neuroscience research with EEG. I continued my work with EEG under Shinobu Kitayama at the University of Michigan until joining the Gratton Lab in 2018. My work is primarily focused on finding neural correlates of individual differences in behavior. To this end, I have used fMRI and EEG methodology to investigate neural correlates of creativity, culture, and psychopathology. Currently, my work is focused on how longitudinal (or “precision”) fMRI can inform the neural basis of psychopathology.

I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Gratton Lab. My research interest is on cognitive control as I am intrigued by how human cognition pursues optimization in information processing despite its innate capacity limits. I am interested in how the implementation of cognitive control affects attention and learning. Before my postdoctoral training, I received my bachelor’s degree in psychology at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and my Ph.D. at Korea University (PI: Dr. Yang Seok Cho).

I am a Research Coordinator for the Gratton Lab. I grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada before earning my Bachelor of Science in Psychological Science from University of Nevada, Reno in 2022. During my undergrad, I worked in Dr. Edward Ester’s lab where we focused on how limits of our working memory constrain our ability to make decisions and plan actions. In the future, I hope to research how differences in brain networks relate to aging and working memory. I also plan to attend graduate school to further my research interests.

My name is Elena Housteau and I am a sophomore at Northwestern University majoring in neuroscience and global health on the premedical path. I am originally from New Albany, Ohio and at Northwestern I participate in student groups such as NU Global Brigades and NU Model United Nations. I am most interested in learning about the technical aspects of conducting and analyzing neuroscience research and how malfunctions in our neural networks can lead to different illnesses.

I am a Research Coordinator for the Gratton Lab. I grew up in Oswego, Illinois - a southwest Chicago suburb - and earned my bachelor’s degree from Florida State University in 2022 where I studied cell and molecular neuroscience. I have previous research experience in molecular neuroscience where I studied schizophrenia associated behavior and auditory sensory neurons in mice. In the future, I would like to attend graduate school for cognitive neuroscience and I am very interested in the effects of long-term behavior and other factors on individual differences in brain networks.

I was raised mainly in Gambier, Ohio, and earned a bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020. The majority of my undergraduate research focused on studying the factors that underly a lack of empathy in kids with callous-unemotional traits. I then spent a year as a post-bac at Northwestern with Thorsten Kahnt focused on neuroimaging and model-based decision making. I’m currently a first-year in NUIN rotating in the Gratton lab – my general interests are in using neuroimaging to look at learning, decision-making, and affect.

I am a Research Coordinator for the Gratton Lab. I grew up in Chicago and earned my bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University. I studied cognitive science with a concentration in communication sciences and disorders, and I have previous research experience in applied psychophysiology and behavioral medicine. In the future, I would like to attend graduate school for psychology, and I am particularly interested in studying individual brain differences and how they relate to learning disabilities.

I am originally from Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, but I lived in Tucson, Arizona most of my life. I earned my bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science from the University of Arizona in 2018. My undergraduate research focused mainly on how our memory representations change the subjective appearance of the objects that we perceive. I am now a graduate student in the Gratton Lab and I am interested in exploring how functional networks can predict behavior and how these networks break down during aging and disease. My current projects focus on applying a precision approach to study age-related effects and hemispheric asymmetries in individual differences seen in brain organization.

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My name is Isabella Ramirez and I am a sophomore at Florida State University. I am majoring in Psychology with a minor in Spanish and an interest in neuroscience. I was born in Naples, Florida and I moved to Tallahassee to attend FSU. I plan on going to graduate school and earning my PhD in Psychology. I hope to study the connection between art and its effects on the brain, and the benefits of art therapy.

I am currently a third-year undergraduate student (Class of 2024) at Florida State University majoring in behavioral neuroscience. I've had previous research experience with analyzing mental health stigmatization in video games. I hope to attend graduate school and continue pursuing my interests in cognitive neuroscience. I'm still exploring my interests but am most interested in the neurobiology of brain dysfunction and how different psychiatric/neurological disorders affect brain anatomy, as well as how we can treat those disorders.

I am a third year (Class of 2023) at FSU and am originally from Gulf Breeze. I am majoring in Psychology with a minor in Spanish and am also an Undergraduate Research Assistant for the Nee Lab, Kaschak Lab, and the ENHANCE Lab. I plan on going to graduate school to get my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and later specializing in Clinical Neuropsychology. I am interested in studying cortical atrophy in Alzheimer's Disease utilizing fMRI, MRI, PET, and neuropsychological testing.

I am currently a graduate student in the Gratton Lab. In 2016, I earned my bachelor's degree in psychology from Colorado State University, where I worked with Dr. Jessica Witt on research in sensation and perception psychology. After graduating, I taught English in Vietnam and Taiwan for 5 years before completing a Master's degree in Cognitive Neuroscience at National Taiwan University in 2022, working with Dr. Joshua Ooh Son Goh and Dr. Susan Shur-Fen Gau to investigate developmental functional connectivity differences in adolescent children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing children (TD). My current research plans at the Gratton Lab include examining and identifying specific brain networks with precision fMRI to better understand brain network development differences in specific developmental disorders.

My name is Sarah Drake and I am currently a senior at Florida State University. I am studying Psychology + Chemistry and have a passion for Neuroscience. I was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida and from a young age knew I was interested in studying Science and Psychology at Florida State. I plan on going to graduate school and earning my PhD in either Psychology or Neuroscience. I hope to study the brain’s sleep interactions & functions in children with sleep disorders, such as Insomnia.

I am a first year undergraduate at Florida State University, and extremely grateful to be working for the Gratton Lab. I grew up in Fort Myers, Florida before moving to Tallahassee to further my education at FSU. I’m currently majoring in Cell and Molecular Neuroscience and am looking into a possible double major in another STEM field. I’ve had previous research experience at the University of Connecticut and am excited to continue my research journey. I plan on attending graduate school and eventually diving into my own research. Currently I’m interested in the connection between genetics and neurodegenerative conditions, diseases, and illnesses; I’m also interested in possible solutions to these problems through developing technology and medicine, although I’m fascinated by most aspects of the brain.

I am an incoming postdoctoral researcher in the Gratton Lab. I am currently a PhD Candidate working with Dr. Jessica Cohen in the Cognitive Psychology program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I graduated with B.S. degrees in Neuroscience and Human Development from the University of Texas at Austin in 2017 and worked as a lab manager with Dr. Jessica Church-Lang after graduation. My research focuses on how functional brain network organization shifts across contexts (e.g., resting vs. exerting cognitive control) and across age (e.g., as children become adolescents). I am particularly interested in how individual differences in brain network organization relate to cognitive control abilities and psychopathology.

I am excited to be a graduate student in the Gratton Lab at Florida State University! Originally from Casa, Grande, AZ, I graduated from Arizona State University in 2020 with degrees in neurobiology and neuroscience. During my undergraduate education, I participated in mouse-model Schizophrenia research and later completed an honors thesis on using transcranial alternating current stimulation on humans to entrain cortical oscillations. I am mainly interested in investigating how individual differences attenuate the impact of injury/disease on network reorganization and plasticity.

Class of 2024 majoring in Neuroscience with a possible double major in Statistics. Interested in studying neural networks and how they affect human behaviors.

My name is Gabby Pineiro and I am a senior majoring in behavioral neuroscience at Florida State University. I'm from Fort Lauderdale, Florida and am currently on a pre-med track and am looking into specializing in neurology or psychiatry. I previously worked in in KATLAB where we were studying biomarkers of anxiety in children through EEG. I am currently exploring how to bridge research and clinical practice together!

My name is Ava Kazerani and I am a senior at Florida State University. I grew up in the Northern Virginia / DC area and moved to Tallahassee to attend FSU after completing my first year abroad in Valencia, Spain. I am currently majoring in Biology on the pre-med track, with an interest in neuroscience and radiology. I am still exploring my interests, but I enjoy learning about how imaging is used to study different neurological disorders.

Dr. Caterina Gratton is a cognitive neuroscientist and Principal Investigator of the Gratton Lab at Florida State University. Dr. Gratton is originally from Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. She has undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Neuroscience from the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of California, Berkeley. She did her post-doctoral work in the Neurology Department at Washington University in St. Louis with Dr. Steve Petersen. Dr. Gratton was previously an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Northwestern, with a secondary appointment in the Neurology Department. She is now an Associate Professor in the Psychology Department at Florida State University.

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I am a Research Coordinator for the Gratton Lab. I grew up near Atlanta, GA, and obtained my B.S. in Neuroscience from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2024. In my undergraduate years, I worked on a variety of projects ranging from behavioral experimentation focusing on cognitive control, fMRI experimentation investigating spatial processing in hierarchical tasks, analyzing differences in language networks between epilepsy patients and healthy controls, and investigating the usage of brain network decomposition techniques such as Multi-Stage Hierarchical Bayesian Modeling and Collaborative Brain Decomposition. I am broadly interested in the functional organization of the brain and how investigating brain networks can give us insights into cognitive processes, with a special interest in better understanding the origins and neural underpinnings of language usage. In the future, I plan on attending graduate school with the hope of furthering my interests in cognitive neuroscience.

I am a Research Coordinator for the Gratton Lab. I grew up in Vancouver, Canada and Philadelphia, PA before earning my bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 2018. There, I studied Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology (on the Cognitive Neuroscience track) and French. Before joining the Gratton Lab, I worked in Dr. Steve Petersen’s lab on a number of projects investigating large-scale functional networks and individual differences in network organization. I am broadly interested in the nature of these individual differences, especially as they pertain to cognitive control and relate to behavior.

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I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Gratton Lab. Before coming to the USA, I worked in the Complex Systems Group at Aalto University in Finland. My academic background lies at the intersection of computer science, complex networks, and neuroscience. I am deeply interested in how brain networks change over time and how these changes relate to behavior, physiology, and symptoms. I am also interested in combining fMRI and digital phenotyping data—data we can collect from smartphones and wearables—to bring insights from daily life into the lab. Lastly, I am fascinated by individual variability and how it relates to group differences. I am happy to work with all sorts of data, models, and statistics as long as they have potential for translational applications. My favorite academic words are simple, understandable, and interdisciplinary.