Principal investigator

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Throughout my scientific career, I have sought ways to study how behaviors important to the life history of an animal are adapted by experience.  As a master’s student with Dr. Peter Slater at the University of St. Andrews, I conducted fieldwork to quantitatively study the similarity of songs in a population of chaffinches (Fringilla coelebs) inhabiting a small chain of islands.  This research examined the interactions of geographic isolation upon song learning, and found that the acoustic structure of songs was learned on birth islands, while song sequencing was determined by the location of adult territories.  My master’s work motivated a more mechanistic approach for my doctoral thesis with Dr. Michael Brainard at the University of California, San Francisco.  I examined the relationship between motor neuron variability and variability in song structure.  As a postdoc with Dr. Cynthia Moss at Johns Hopkins University (and formerly at the University of Maryland), I extended my work on sensorimotor processing by examining the role of sensory feedback in audio-vocal integration in the echolocating bat.  I conducted both behavioral and neurophysiological studies in bats performing natural tasks to determine how sensory feedback in the form of sonar echoes is used to modify subsequent sonar vocalizations, as well as head and ear movements.   

I am a graduate student in the GIDP Neuroscience program. I completed my Masters in Medical Physiology from Manipal University, India following which I worked with Dr. Supratim Ray at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India studying the brain rhythms underlying high-level cognitive tasks such as attention in non-human primates. I then moved to Washington, DC and worked with Dr. David Leopold at the National Institute of Mental Health studying social interactions in non-human primates in naturalistic paradigms. In the bat lab I am interested in studying behavior and understanding the circuit mechanisms that drive behavior during natural tasks. In addition to research, I am also interested in science communication, policy and advocacy.

Having recently graduated from Northern Arizona University with a degree in Physics and a minor in Photography, I am now looking to expand my research background as I look forward to graduate school. The BatLab offers a unique opportunity to apply my quantitative knowledge and explore my research interests while getting to work alongside some brilliant scientists and amazing creatures. I’m excited to explore both Tucson and the University of Arizona but that might have to wait until things cool down. My interests include applied physics, engineering, quantitative biology, and the outdoors. 

 I'm a PreMed majoring in Neuroscience, Math (B.S.), and World Literature with minors in Biochemistry, Math (B.A.), and Spanish. As I had worked extensively on an ADHD project during high school, the Batlab naturally appealed to me in researching attention with scientific rigor with the added bonus of bats! Hence my desires with the Batlab are to explore how research is done, the nature of attention in bats, as well as how to apply what I'll learn to ADHD in the future, with some added hopes such as potentially tying math and programming into modeling bats. I look forward to working in the bat lab during my time at UofA and getting to know our little friends, and when I'm not indulging in my passion to learn anything and everything, you could catch me volunteering, at the rec, getting Thai Tea boba, and the like. 

 I am an undergraduate student here at the University of Arizona, majoring in Physiology and Medical Sciences on the pre-medical track. I hope to become a physician in the future and am interested in pursuing pediatric emergency medicine. I am originally from Oregon so when I have free time I love spending time outside, soaking up the Arizona sun. I also enjoy working out and staying active in any way I can. I joined this lab because of my interests in the function of the brain and the ability to be hands-on in exploring data that can be applied to neurological disorders such as ADHD and autism found in humans.

I'm an undergraduate at the University of Arizona majoring in Computer Science with an interest in Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence further down the road. I joined this lab with the intention of experiencing first-hand how my field of study is being applied to extract and parse information that will be beneficial to the project in the long run. I aim to contribute to this lab by advancing the technological capabilities of bat lab to the best of my abilities. Even besides that, working with animals and observing their behaviors is something that I have never done before, and the bat lab offers plenty of opportunities for me to explore such fresh paths of research which excites me! In my free time, you can find me at the gym, playing soccer with my mates, exploring the wilderness, or just watching some cool movies/tv shows. 

Cheers!

I am an undergraduate at the University of Arizona, and I am majoring in Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB). My goal is to become a physician, preferably something having to do with the brain. I have interests in neuroscience as my father does work relating to the brain, so I have grown up surrounded by neuroscience, and this is a great segway for me to start learning about the brain and further my knowledge about science and anatomy. Aside from academics, I enjoy playing hockey, working out, and traveling!
 

 I’m an undergraduate studying Biomedical Engineering, and minoring in Math at the University of Arizona. I was born in Colorado, but grew up in Goodyear, Arizona. I joined the lab to explore the electrical circuits found naturally in biology - neuron connections! In the lab I mostly process flight data and analyze it using Matlab, though I have also grown fond of the bats and their individual personalities. In my free time I enjoy working on various crafty projects, from crochet to embroidery to pressing flowers. I also love the outdoors and can be found rock climbing on Mt. Lemmon on the weekends.
 

Hi! I am an undergraduate student studying biomedical engineering at the University of Arizona. My aspiration is  to become a physician specializing  in pulmonology. I joined the lab to learn more about cognitive processing and biomimicry and how it could have applications in medicine and neuroscience.  Outside of lab, I enjoy hanging out with friends, dancing, and volunteering.