Alumni

Name2 – development

Name3 – development

Malaya Hsieh is a student of Class 2023 at Santa Clara University studying as a Biology and Neuroscience double major with a Spanish and Public Health minor. She is from Snohomish, Washington, and is currently on the Pre-Med track. Her main area of interest is cognitive neuroscience, focusing on various neuropathies, as well as autism spectrum disorders and ADHD. This is her first year working in the lab and is excited to be in an environment that promotes hands-on learning. Outside of school, she loves the outdoors and enjoys hiking, skiing, and swimming in her free time. 

Jordan Yaldaei is a student of class 2023 from San Jose, California, double majoring in Neuroscience and Biology with a minor in mathematics. He joined the research lab in Fall 2020 and is interested in neuroscience for its relation to neurological disorders and finds it very interesting to look more deeply into. Additionally, he finds the interaction between the concepts of neuroscience and methods of computer science to be very interesting and useful.

Anna Riggs (DeNardo Scholar), Originally from Seattle, WA, Anna is currently a student of class 2023 majoring in neuroscience and minoring in biology and women’s & gender studies. Her wide range of academic studies helps her think holistically about all the work she does, inside and outside of the lab. Anna joined the LCCN lab in the summer of 2020 and first worked alongside fellow research assistants doing literature searches and data aggregation looking to characterize the functional connectivity differences between ASD and ADHD. She is currently heading her own project characterizing the behavioral and neurobiological profiles of ADHD-ASD comorbid patients and observing the differences when comparing their profiles to pure ASD patients. She hopes to present her research, co-authored with Nick Luckenbach, in the upcoming year at the Western Psychology Association conference. Outside of the lab, Anna is interested in Alzheimer’s research as well as learning and memory. In her free time, Anna works as an Organic Chemistry TA and is a part of the pre-health sorority on campus, Rho Psi Eta. Anna is also an avid backpacker and is always looking for new trails! Although her future plans are relatively up in the air, Anna is interested in pairing neurotechnology with personalized patient care and hopes to pursue that in the future. 

Lani Krossa (DeNardo Senior Awardee) is a student of Class 2023 at Santa Clara University studying computer science with a chemistry minor. She is interested in applying machine learning to neuroimaging data to reveal trends in abnormal brain function and structure. Her current projects include creating a machine-learning model of a dyscalculic brain and conducting a meta-analysis of neuroimaging data to better understand dyscalculia. As a computer science major, chemistry minor, and Vice President of the biology club, computational neuroscience combines her love of problem-solving, coding, and natural science.  

Karishma Batra is a student of Class 2023 at Santa Clara University with a major in psychology and a minor in biology. Karishma is originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and aspires to become an MD in the future. She has previously spent time in another lab in Detroit where she studied long-term drug abuse and its implications on the brain using microscopy and neuroimaging of the hippocampus. In her future research, she is interested in exploring topics such as abnormal psychology, cognitive neuroscience, ADHD, and anxiety. Outside of the lab, Karishma enjoys drawing and playing tennis in her spare time. 

Alex Edwin is a student of Class 2022 majoring in Neuroscience and minoring in Spanish. He is originally from Phoenix, AZ. In the CCN Lab, Alex is working on a meta-analysis project focused on understanding resting-state functional connectivity for ASD patients with relation to neurotypicals. Alex hopes to go to medical school and continue learning about the topics of neuroscience while finding a career in medicine. Eventually, he hopes to combine his expertise in Neuroscience with his passion for social justice and work in underserved communities on the US-Mexico border. Outside of the lab, Alex enjoys physical fitness, is in the motorsports club on campus, and is the community service coordinator for Sigma Chi.

Aidan Williams is a student of Class 2022 at Santa Clara University majoring in Cognitive Science (Yes, I created my own major). This major was designed by Aidan under the Individual Studies program, allowing him to pursue his academic interests more directly. Originally from Berkeley, California, Aidan is interested in human-centered designs, consciousness, linguistics, human behavior, and hopes to pursue a career in cognitive science. In the lab, Aidan is building a neural network model to understand cultural differences in semantic representation in English and Mandarin speakers. Beyond his academic interests, Aidan enjoys playing sports, as he is a member of the club golf team.

Huy Pham is a student of Class 2022 studying Neuroscience, with hopes of entering the field of dentistry after graduation. Before going to dentistry school, he will be completing a Post-BAC to supplement his studies. He is currently working on a meta-analysis looking at commonalities between resting-state fMRI imaging of patients with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. He has focused on learning different computational methods and applying this knowledge to the analysis of data through programs such as R and Python. In his free time, Huy enjoys cooking and trying out new recipes! 

Jonathan Tablante is a student of class 2022 at Santa Clara University from San Francisco, CA. He is currently a double major in Neuroscience and Biology with plans to work and attend medical school. He joined LCCN in Fall 2020 because he was interested in advancing his neuroscience knowledge and lab skills. Jonathan appreciates the intersection between the computational methods in computer science and the questions that neuroscience answers.

Sydney Campbell worked in the lab from 2020-2021. She is from Spokane, Washington, and interestingly enough, was deeply rooted in business throughout high school. She worked on a project on quantity processing in MLD.

Tannaz Azimi (DeNardo Scholar) is a student of class 2022 at Santa Clara University with a neuroscience major and a public health minor who is interested in dancing and socializing. In the LCCN, she is currently working on neural networks and symbolic and non-symbolic learning in the context of studying numeric processing disorders such as dyscalculia. After graduation, Tannaz wants to pursue a career in biotech or hospital management with her background as an assistant resident director at SCU and is additionally considering continuing her studies in graduate school.

Nick Luckenbach is a student of Class 2022 with a computer engineering and psychology double major. Nick’s focus is leveraging novel applications of machine learning to improve the methodology of psychology and neuroscience. He is currently working on a machine learning classifier used to distinguish between TD and ASD patients to find biomarkers. He is considering a Ph.D. in machine learning to better contribute to these goals.

Naila Masom (Undergraduate Poster Awardee, WPA 2022) is a student of Class 2022 with a Psychology major who joined the LCCN in the Spring of 2021. For her first project, she created a Camino course for onboarding research assistants including readings, videos, quizzes, and reflections on relevant neuroscience topics. Naila is currently analyzing fMRI data to characterize sex differences in resting-state functional connectivity of the mPFC and ACC in ASD patients. She hopes to contribute to research investigating the underrepresentation of females in ASD diagnoses with this work. Naila works at a psychiatric hospital as a somatic meditation instructor and is currently applying to graduate programs in counseling psychology in her home state of New York. She is passionate about helping survivors of developmental trauma lead embodied, connected, and flourishing lives.

Adriana Moses graduated in 2021, majoring in Neuroscience, with minors in Philosophy and Biology. She initially became interested in neuroscience while taking a Child Development course in high school. She was fascinated with the biological processes involved in the enormous brain development that children undergo. Adriana now works at a preschool and gets the privilege of observing this development at the behavioral level. Through working with culturally and linguistically diverse children, she has become invested in understanding how children learn basic language skills as well as how language development and learning can be impeded by developmental and learning disorders.

Jazzy Benes (De Novo Awardee) graduated in 2021, majoring in Neuroscience, Studio Arts, and Biology. She is part of the EMS program on campus. Jazzy is interested in cognitive neuroscience and excited to be part of the LCCN.

Kimberly Derderian graduated in 2021 with a Neuroscience major and a minor in Computer Science and Biotechnology. She has had a first-author paper on a meta-analysis involving category-specific semantic activation. She is interested in improving our understanding of the brain through computational modeling and, in contrast, using knowledge of the brain to improve artificial intelligence.

Meg Richter was a Psychology major with a music minor. She does not have a lot of prior research experience but is eager to get involved in the opportunities SCU has to offer in neuroscience and psychology. She has a particular academic interest in health and social psychology and hopes to pursue a Ph.D. upon graduating. Professionally, Meg hopes to conduct research as well as work in private practice doing therapy and counseling. On campus, she is a member of SCU EMS and is passionate about music and acting. A field of research Meg would like to pursue in the future would be the psychological effects of music in therapeutic settings. 

Ziwei (Gwen) Gao graduated in 2021 with a psychology and philosophy double major. She worked on a meta-analysis examining the behavioral symptoms of individuals with both autism and ADHD. Gwen is also open to other research ideas that are related to neuroscience and psychology. She is particularly passionate about Aristotle’s virtue ethics. 2022 updates: Currently, I am working as a research assistant under Dr. Thomas Anderson at the Department of Anesthesia of Stanford Hospital. Our research focuses on developing novel, safe, and effective non-opioid pain management for patients after surgery. I help with designing and directing experimental studies with rats on the use of non-opioid pharmacologic agents and regional anesthesia to improve patient safety. I also collect data, analyze results, and keep reports using Matlab, Excel, WinWCP, and Word.