People
Rodrigo M. Braga
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology
After a degree in biology at The University of Edinburgh (and some years working as a musician), I obtained my PhD in cognitive neuroscience at Imperial College London, researching auditory attention with Robert Leech and Richard Wise. I received the Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Wellcome Trust and trained with Randy Buckner at Harvard University, where we developed individual-focused approaches to brain network mapping using functional MRI. At Stanford University, I trained with Josef Parvizi and Russ Poldrack in intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) and brain stimulation as an NIH Pathway to Independence (K99/R00) fellow. My research focuses on understanding the functional organization of association cortex, and how distributed brain networks specialize for different forms of cognition, such as language-use and recollection.
Nathan Anderson
Postdoctoral Fellow
I received my PhD from Washington University in St. Louis in 2021, working with Kathleen McDermott on parietal brain networks supporting episodic memory as well as machine-learning approaches to leverage natural language as a predictor of memory outcomes. I am interested in the functional organization of the human brain and how different aspects of episodic memory are neurally represented.
Young Hye (Judy) Kwon
Postdoctoral Fellow
I received my PhD in brain and cognitive engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in 2022. I am interested in understanding what makes a person’s brain similar to and different from others. My research uses behavioral experiments, functional MRI, and machine learning methods to investigate how everyday experience, such as language use, influences executive functioning and shapes the brain.
Chris Cyr
Graduate student
I graduated from the University of Michigan in 2016 with a B.S. majoring in neuroscience and minoring in physics. During that time I studied basal ganglia physiology in rats with the Leventhal Lab. Since then, I have worked in cancer research with the Biobank at UCSF before returning to Northwestern to continue my education in neuroscience. My current interests are in studying human electrophysiology with regard to a variety of topics.
Donnisa Edmonds
Graduate student
I received my B.A. in Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania, where I completed an honors thesis in the EDEN lab studying the underpinning of callous-unemotional traits in children. My current interests are in using neuroimaging to look at human behavior (learning, decision-making, etc).
Ania Holubecki
Graduate student
I graduated from Northwestern University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts in neuroscience, completing my honors thesis through the Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Laboratory (PI: Dr. Molly Losh). After graduation, I collaborated with the Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroergonomics (PI: Tadeusz Marek) at the Jagiellonian University in Poland on a Fulbright research fellowship. Prior to joining the Human Cognitive Neuroscience Lab as a graduate student, I was the lab’s research coordinator for three years. My research interests include utilizing neuroimaging and human electrophysiology to study networks involved in social cognition.
Joey Salvo
Graduate student
I received my B.A. in Neurobiology and English from Northwestern University, where I wrote an honors thesis on distinguishing classes of unipolar brush cells in the mouse cerebellum. My interests range from sensory perception to brain/machine interfacing, and I’m excited to see how the future of Neuroscience impacts medicine and technology.
Anna Shinn
Research Coordinator
I graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2023 with a B.A. in cognitive science, sociology and international studies, where I completed an honors thesis on refugee workers’ experiences of dissonance and perceptions of power dynamics within the Canadian and American refugee resettlement systems. Prior to joining the Human Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, I also collaborated with the Intuitive Computing Lab, investigating the effects of AI-generated confidence intervals on decision-making, and with Dr Monica Lopez-Gonzalez, exploring how language cognition can inform computational speech-to-speech models. I am interested in exploring how combinations of structural and functional connectivity can explain unique variations in and between domains of cognitive functions, such as language and memory, through behavioral, neuroimaging and quantitative methods.
Lindsay Shi
Research Coordinator
I graduated in 2023 with a B.A. in Cognitive Science and Neuroscience and a minor in Data Science from Northwestern University, where I completed a neuroscience honors thesis in the Dynamic Brain Lab (PI: Dr. Elizabeth Johnson). My current research interests focus on understanding the network-level neural underpinnings of cognitive functions--such as memory and executive control--through a variety of neuroimaging and quantitative methods, as well as exploring the consequences of these mechanisms malfunctioning in the context of neuropsychiatric disorders.
Opeyemi Ibitayo
Post-Baccalaureate NUPREP scholar
I graduated from the University at Buffalo in 2023 with a B.S. in Neuroscience. I previously worked in a child health & behavioral lab focusing on young children and their eating behaviors. I am interested in neurodegenerative diseases and human behavior and how neuroimaging can be used to study this.
Alumni
Yesh Vempati - Masters student
Maya Lakshman - Research coordinator
Sophie Ack - Graduate student (rotation)
Qiaohan Yang - Graduate student (rotation)
Ruize Yang - Graduate student (rotation)
Sam Cermak - Graduate student (rotation)
Ethan Houskamp - Medical Student
Steph Maynez - Undergraduate research assistant
Cathy Kim - Undergraduate research assistant