Ayesha is originally from Pakistan, later settled in California. She received BS in Cognitive Sciences (concentration in Cognitive Neurosciences) along with honors and an Order of Merit from University of California, Irvine, in 2016. Post graduation, she worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator at Stanford University before joining UT Austin’s Neuroscience PhD program. Ayesha is interested in researching how memory processes are influenced by emotion, specifically how memory of when events happened across time is affected by emotional factors. She’ll pursue such questions by leveraging behavioral and neuroimaging techniques under the co-mentorship of Joseph Dunsmoor and Alison Preston. She hopes that some of her research will have clinical implications, especially for PTSD and depression. Ayesha loves animals (especially her two cats!), driving (not in traffic), and trying new adventures. Ayesha received her PhD in Neuroscience Spring of 2024.

Cheyenne received her BS in biomedical engineering with a Pre-Health Professions certificate in May of 2023. As an undergraduate she was involved in sono-optogenetic research with applications to Parkinson’s disease in the Wang Lab and has also worked with Dr. Brode on his Post-COVID-19 Program through the Dell Med HLA program. She is interested in researching the behavioral and long-term effects of fear. In her free time, Cheyenne enjoys reading, attempting new recipes, and playing soccer. Cheyenne is now attending UT Dell Medical School for her MD.

Ameera graduated in May of 2021 from UT Austin with a BSA in Neuroscience with a certificate in Pre-Health Professions. She worked as a Research Assistant in the Preston Lab for two years during her undergraduate studies and plans to earn a PhD in Clinical Psychology. She’s interested in how trauma affects memory in neuropsychiatric clinical populations.

Sophia received her BSA in Neuroscience honors with a certificate in Evidence and Inquiry: The Biological Basis of Sensitivity from UT Austin in May of 2021. She worked as an undergraduate research assistant in the lab since the Summer of 2019 and served as the lab manager/research associate until Spring 2023. Sophia is currently pursuing her PhD at Ohio State University under the mentorship of Stephanie Gorka & Zeynep Saygin. Sophia’s research interests involve the role that temperamental sensitivity plays in how individuals acquire and process trauma, especially PTSD and complex PTSD. In her free time, she dances, does theatre, lifts weights, and cuddles her dog Jersey.

Nicole Keller, a Costa Rican native, received her Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and a Business Foundations Certificate at the University of Texas at Austin. She recently received her PhD in Neuroscience from the Institute of Neuroscience. Nicole’s research interests include, but are not limited to, the opposing roles of reward and fear in human learning and memory–particularly, the effect of reward on fear extinction. Through the use of psychophysiology and neuroimaging methods, she is investigating how the presence of a reward during fear extinction can enhance the function and efficacy of a safe memory, and further prevent relapse of fearful behaviors. Outside of the science, she thoroughly enjoys being in the presence of her cat, Ivy, buying plants, and learning French.

Carola received her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology, Linguistics, and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Milano-Bicocca where she began studying the neural mechanisms underlying creativity. Carola worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University and the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago, where she narrowed her interest to studying idea generation, specifically insight problem-solving (the “Aha!” moment). Carola’s work aims to understand the following: the role played by reward (and the dopamine system) in creativity and insight problem-solving; the involvement of the vision system in idea generation; and the role of the right anterior temporal area when people have creative insights. Carola contributed to pioneering the “accuracy effect” associated with “Aha!” moments, demonstrating that the feeling of certainty that accompanies creative ideas is warranted by high accuracy. Her work counts the first Italian versions of the Compound Remote Associates problems and the Rebus Puzzles, enabling researchers to investigate the insight problem among Italian speakers. She has experience working with TBI, Parkinson’s and neglect patients, and has mastered several techniques of research such as eye-tracking, imaging, and brain stimulation.

Gus Hennings graduated from UT Austin with his Ph.D. in neuroscience in 2022. His dissertation was titled “Contextual processes in Pavlovian conditioning and extinction: insights from episodic memory.” He is currently a post-doctoral research fellow working with Dr. Ken Norman at Princeton University, where he is using real-time fMRI neurofeedback to develop interventions for PTSD. Previously, he graduated with honors with a B.S. in Neuroscience from The College of William and Mary in 2016.

For more Gus, see: achennings.github.io

Mason McClay received his BS from Centre College in Behavioral Neuroscience and a BA in Classical Studies in 2017. Mason’s research interests involve emotion regulation and the flexibility of self-identity and their implications on memory. Mason is currently pursuing a PhD at UCLA under the mentorship of Dr. Dave Clewett and having all his Zoom meetings on poor internet connections in state parks!

Emily earned her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Missouri in 2017, where she investigated how memory content and quality are instantiated in the brain during the act of remembering, using EEG, fMRI, and advanced pattern classification methods. After completing her degree, Emily worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow for the Center for Neurobehavioral Research at Boys Town National Research Hospital, where she contributed to a large-scale longitudinal neuroimaging study of emotion cognition interactions in youth with diverse behavioral and emotional problems and psychopathology. Emily is currently a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Pittsburgh!

Jarid Goodman held a post-doctoral research associate in the laboratory of Joseph Dunsmoor at the University of Texas at Austin from 2017-2018. Jarid received his PhD in Neuroscience at Texas A&M University in 2016 and has previously served as a postdoctoral research scientist in the laboratory of Christa McIntyre at the University of Texas in Dallas. His research interests include the neurobiology of multiple memory systems and emotional modulation of memory. He is now assistant professor of Psychology at Delaware State University!

Carly Hatchell received her Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering and a Business Foundation Certificate from the University of Texas at Austin in 2018. Carly’s research interests include PTSD and the role of early emotional or traumatic experiences in learning and development. She grew up in the Netherlands, and she is passionate about mental health, meditation, science, and her cat, Mr. FitzLokerton McMeowMeow.