Ellen H
- Research Program Mentor
PhD candidate at University of Southern California (USC)
Expertise
Neuroscience of creativity and music, Parkinson's disease, older adults, Child development, interpersonal entrainment, rhythmic synchrony, arts as a therapeutic intervention, Acting training, Musical Theatre, Auditioning, Writing for the stage, and all artistic creative work
Bio
Ny name is Ellen, and I am an intersectional scientist blending the worlds of creativity and the arts with neuroscience and psychology. My background is in both theatre and music performance and in neuroscience and psychological methods. I've worked in regional theatre performance as an actor as well as as a tap dancer, puppeteer, and vocalist! I also spent several years working as a research coordinator with patients who have Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. In my PhD I am bringing my passions together to study creativity and the arts through a neuroscientific lens. Currently, I study the impact of music and theatre training on child development, singing and meditation on older adults, and synchronous rhythmic movement on social bonding and empathy. In my spare time, I am an avid crocheter, backpacker, and I still sing and tap dance! I'm also the owner of an adorable rescue dog, Korra, who has taught me a lot of about working with trauma and teaching. I also love teaching!Project ideas
Research Proposals and Project Development
If you've never done research before, it can be intimidating to figure out where to start. I can help you develop a research proposal idea, and learn how to put together a written proposal, and possibly even go through the experience of collecting your own data. You want to be passionate about what you study, so we will start with brainstorming what excites YOU! You would then go through a literature review process to identity existing research and find gaps in the literature to discover an interesting question you want to try to answer. We could then put together the project surveys and then possibly even collect your own data through interviews, surveys, or other methods.
Create your own play, musical, or monologue
One of the fun things about working in the arts is it is an opportunity to get creative and express your own work! Your goal would be to put together a short piece, be it a personal monologue, a musical, or a play. You can dream big, and express yourself anyway you want! Once we get some ideas flowing, we would focus on how you tell the story, what your goals are, and how to get them across to your audience. There are no limits in this type of work. We would discover together the best way forward!
Audition Coaching
We all experience audition stress: from doing a great slate, to really nailing your character arc in your 1 minute monologue or 16 bar audition song, there's a lot of pressure! I can help you gain comfort and ease through all parts of your audition process, whether it's for a community theatre audition, auditions for college or conservatory, or your professional career. We will figure out the details of what you need to succeed together.
Data Analysis
In this project, you would learn all the ins and out of analyzing data. This could be anywhere from some coding in R to discover what behavioral data is telling you, to learning how fMRI works and how to analyze, visualize, and report fMRI data. This would be for a highly motivated student who wants to really push themselves and their skillset
