Dillan Elise C
- Research Program Mentor

PhD candidate at University of California San Diego (UCSD)

Expertise

Neuroscience, electrophysiology of the brain, digital signal processing, psychology, data science, coding, programming, neuroimaging, ethics, social science

Bio

Hello! I'm Dillan, and I am excited to share my passion for research with you! My research at UCSD mostly focuses on the electrical activity of the brain: what does the brain do when we're focusing on some difficult task, or thinking about something abstract (like the idea of a dog, or love)? How is that different than other brain states, such as when we're asleep or anesthetized? Other topics of interest to me include those that intersect with Cognitive Science. If you don't know what Cognitive Science is, it can basically be explained as the "study of the mind"-- whether that be the mind of a human, a dolphin, or even of an artificial intelligence. Cognitive Science draws from fields such as: neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and computer science. I personally am very interested in the philosophy around consciousness and ethics, as well as evolutionary psychology and anthropology. When I'm not science-ing, you can also find me painting, running, and going on scenic hikes in San Diego ~ Thanks for reading! :~)

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Game theory and social context

Question(s): how does social context change the way that people behave in a game theoretic task such as the Prisoner's Dilemma? If people are given different conditions under which they might experience social pressure, does this change their rates of cooperation and competition? Skills required: experiment or survey design, data collection, behavioral data analysis & visualization (likely using Python coding) Potential outcome: blog post, science communication, research paper

Using Spotify to predict mood throughout the day

Question: can you use your personal spotify data to build a model of what kinds of genres you listen to throughout the day and their associated moods, and to predict how your mood might change if you switch between genres? Approach/skills: data wrangling (data science), data analysis, basic statistical modeling, data visualization. Experience with Python coding. Product: cool data visualization of your own listening habits, software tool for others to enter their data and get personalized results

Coding skills

Python, matlab, javascript (beginner)

Teaching experience

I have taught a variety of undergraduate classes at UCSD as a teaching assistant, which entails a mixture of giving lectures, leading discussions, and assignment curation. The courses covered topics ranging from introductory coding (Python), data science, and neuroscience. I have also been a mentor to many undergraduates who are just getting involved in research! I love distilling and conveying information about the fundamentals of my field, and seeing a mentee grow in their understanding such that they are able to contribute novel and effective ideas to a research project.

Credentials

Work experience

University of Iowa (2018 - 2020)

Post-baccalaureate Fellow

Education

University of California Berkeley (UC Berkeley)

BA Bachelor of Arts (2018)

Cognitive Science

University of California San Diego (UCSD)

PhD Doctor of Philosophy candidate

Cognitive Science/Cognitive Neuroscience

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Dillan Elise C - Research Program Mentor