He who has once in his life experienced the joy of scientific creation will never forget it.
-Kropotkin
My interest in cognitive neuroscience was sparked at the University of Houston working in the labs of Dr. Merrill Hiscock and Dr. Arturo Hernandez. In the lab of Dr. Hiscock, I did research on tests commonly employed by neuropsychologists, such as the IOWA Gambling Task, Trail Making Task, and the Dichotic Listening task. In the lab of Dr. Arturo Hernandez, I began research on the neural bases for language processes in bilingual children and adults.
My interest in this research lead me to pursue a Ph.D. program at Rice University in cognitive neuroscience. I am currently in my 5th year as a graduate student in the Cognitive Neuroscience RIG of the Psychology Department at Rice University. In this time I have realized that it was not neuropsychology or language that most interested me, but rather the combination of the two! I currently work with Dr. Randi Martin and my current research looks at working memory processes in aphasic patients and how deficits in working memory processes can affect their language processing.
At Rice University, I also have gained valuable experience in researching issues in mainstream Social Psychology. In particular, I have been involved in a project that investigates gender discrimination in medicine and science fields. As a woman in science, this research is very dear to my heart. I hope that the findings from the current studies will raise awareness that gender discrimination stills exists, even among highly educated persons.