Graduate Students
Vanalata Bulusu
Advisor: Stephanie Badde, PhD
Area of study: Multisensory Integration
Background: Vanalata graduated with a dual degree in Humanities and Computer Science.
Current research: I am interested in figuring out how the brain integrates information coming from multiple senses.
Future plans: Continue to contribute to knowledge.
David DiStefano
Advisor: Elizabeth Race, PhD
Area of study: Cognitive Science
Background: David graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 2015 having double-majored in Electrical & Computer Engineering and Biomedical Engineering. After pursuing an independent study on EEG signal processing along side a team of neurologists at UMass Medical School, David joined the Tufts Integrative Cognitive Neuroscience (ICoN) Lab as a research coordinator in which he led and conducted projects sponsored by Draper Laboratory and the Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences (CABCS). His background focuses on EEG methodologies, neural markers of attention and memory, and machine learning techniques.
Current research: States of attention, memory, and neurofeedback for use in enhancing cognitive state
Future plans: Consulting in industry for cognitive science and software.
Crista Falk
Advisor: Stephanie Badde, PhD
Area of study: Cognitive Science
Background: Crista Falk graduated with a BS in Computation and Cognition and a minor in Music from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2023. During this time, she spent 2 years in a Brain and Cognitive Sciences lab studying computational modeling of infant locomotion. She has previously worked as a software engineering intern and a machine learning researcher at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.
Current research: Multisensory perception, computational modeling, the effects of cross-modal perturbation of somatosensation, proprioception, and audition.
Future plans: Crista would like to continue working in the perceptual space, either within academia as a professor or within tech working to improve accessibility through human computer interfaces.
Thomas Allen Hansen
Advisor: Gina Kuperberg MD, PhD
Area of study: Cognitive science and Psycholinguistics
Background: Thomas received a BA in Psychology from the University of South Carolina. Here he gained experience as a research assistant in the Early Social Development and Intervention Lab with Dr. Jessica Bradshaw, working on early biomarkers for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). He then received his MA in Psychology at Brandeis University. His research with Dr. Arthur Wingfield in the Memory & Cognition Lab investigated Cochlear Implant users’ ability to comprehend discourse-level texts using pupillometry.
Current research: Neural imaging of language processing (EEG, MEG), naturalistic language processing, discourse comprehension, predictive processing
Future plans: Learning more about MEG and fMRI, mentoring undergraduates/teaching, sleeping, publishing more papers
Ashlynn Keller
Advisor: Holly A. Taylor, PhD
Area of study: Spatial Cognition, Navigation, Cognition
Background: Ashlynn graduated with a B.S. in Psychology and Biomedical Sciences from Rochester Institute of Technology. As an undergraduate, she examined differences between children, orangutans, and raccoons in a problem-solving task. Additionally, she studied object and numerosity discrimination in goldfish while serving as the lab manager of the Comparative Cognition and Perception Lab. At Tufts, Ashlynn has studied cognition in adults, pigeons, starlings, and zebra finches. She completed her M.S. in Experimental Psychology from Tufts University in 2018 in a thesis titled "Auditory object perception in pigeons (Columba livia)."
Current research: Her current research examines what information people seek when they face uncertainty while navigating an environment.
Future plans: Continue learning new skills and become a better scientist and educator.
Ann Kochupurackal
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Advisor: Ariel Goldberg, PhD
Area of study: Cognitive psychology, Psycholinguistics
Background: Ann graduated with a BA in Linguistics from the Macaulay Honors College at Brooklyn College in 2019. Ann was an NSF-sponsored research fellow studying the effects of age, cognitive decline, and hearing impairment on bilingualism in Dr. Katrien Vermeire's lab.
Current research: Ann is interested in investigating how the mechanisms of language production – particularly in typed production – are monitored and regulated at every level of processing.
Future plans: Researching, teaching, and baking
G. R. Marvez
Advisor: Greses Pérez, McDonnell Family Assistant Professor
Area of study: Joint Doctoral Student in STEM Education and Cognitive Science
Background: Marvez is a PhD student in the joint STEM Education and Cognitive Sciences program at Tufts University interested in games, language, and controversial discussions. At MIT, Marvez worked in the Teaching Systems Lab with Dr. Justin Reich and Dr. Joshua Littenberg-Tobias on the development of virtual simulations for teachers to practice leading controversial discussions. They are interested in ways to prepare teachers to facilitate controversial debates with students in STEM classrooms, such as through simulations and games, on topics such as genetic modification, climate change, and public infrastructure. Marvez has also worked on the development of natural language processing models for assessment and personalized feedback in educational settings.
Sydni Nadler
Pronouns: she/her
Advisor: Holly Taylor, PhD and Nathan Ward, PhD
Area of study: Applied Cognitive Science
Background: Sydni graduated from the George Washington University Honors Program with a BA in Psychological & Brain Sciences and Criminal Justice in 2022. As an undergraduate, she was named a Luther Rice Research Fellow and was awarded the Sigelman Undergraduate Research Enhancement Award for her work with the GW Visual Cognition Lab under Dr. Stephen Mitroff. Sydni’s honors thesis investigated the differences in participant visual search performance, self-reported individual differences, and study compliance pre- and peri-COVID-19. Following graduation, Sydni served as a Junior Lecturer in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at Johns Hopkins University.
Current research: Sydni is broadly interested in the intersection of attention, spatial cognition, and individual differences. She has also been studying Cognitive Enhancement and Neuromodulation in collaboration with the Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences.
Future plans: Conducting research on the intersection between emerging technology and cognitive psychology, reading more (for academic reasons and otherwise), and finding the best strawberry matcha in Boston.
Megan Paterson
Advisor: Xandra Kredlow, PhD
Area of study: Psychology and Cognitive Science
Background: Megan graduated from Fairfield University with a degree in Psychology with a concentration on Behavioral Neuroscience. During her time there, she conducted behavioral research on awareness of implicit biases toward individuals with mental health disorders. Following graduation, she served as a Postgraduate Research Associate at Yale University, where she researched the effect of anxiety on decision-making. She also investigated differences in brain activity among individuals with different symptoms of PTSD using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG).
Current research: Translational research on anxiety-related disorders, and understanding cognition, particularly memory, using fMRI.
Future plans: Continue learning and contributing to cognitive research on memory and its translational effects on mental health while mentoring students and fellow researchers.
Anna Sheaffer
Advisor: Robert Jacob, PhD
Area of study: Human-Computer Interaction, Brain-Computer Interfaces
Nicole Toumanios
Advisor: Eileen Crehan, PhD
Area of study: Child Study and Human Development
Current research: I will be pursuing a joint doctoral degree in Human Development and Cognitive Science under the mentorship of Dr. Eileen Crehan. We share an interest in integrating underrepresented populations and voices in autism research.
My research has focused on the physiological, behavioral, and cognitive basis of neurodevelopmental disorders like autism spectrum disorder and dyslexia. I am fascinated in the assessment and intervention tools used to mediate social skills, academic achievement, and neurodevelopment.
Apoorva Vallampati
Advisor: Gina Kuperberg, PhD
Area of study: Cognitive neuroscience, linguistics, psychiatric disorders
Background: Apoorva earned her BS in Neuroscience from The Ohio State University in 2020. Her undergraduate thesis work at The Cognitive Development Lab (PI: Dr. Vladimir Sloutsky) proposed that new words could be added to the semantic network by mere exposure to two fundamental statistical regularities that naturally occur in language, and that this sensitivity only increases with age. After leaving school, Apoorva pursued an analytics career in the banking industry, applying her understanding of cognition and semantic networks to help build AI/ML and behavioral analysis tools to detect fraud.
Current research: Investigating how neurolinguistic processing changes in psychiatric disorders using an integrative approach that combines brain imaging techniques, predictable neural measures associated with semantic context, and large language models.
Future plans: Research, writing, & teaching
Kimberly Young
Advisor: Ariel Goldberg, PhD
Background: Kimberly graduated from Salem State University with a BFA in 2009, and then worked in the web industry for close to ten years. In 2019 Kimberly received a Master's in linguistics from UNH.
Current research: The production of words both in spoken and written language; also interested in ASL and the semantic relationship between words.
Future plans: Continuing research