Arianna C
- Research Program Mentor
PhD Doctor of Philosophy candidate
Expertise
neuroscience, psychology, cognitive science, human neuroimaging, neurodevelopmental disorders, neurodegeneration
Project ideas
Network Neuroscience
The brain is a complex system made up of hundreds of billions of neurons that interact with one another. But what if I told you that we can use a branch of mathematics to represent the entire human brain as networks of brain regions that communicate with one another? Graph theory does just that! Using graph theory, we can consider brain regions (nodes) and the connections among them (edges) on a network level. This gives us the ability to quantify how information is transferred across the brain! We can also investigate neurological insult or injury through the lens of graph theory, which allows us to understand more about how specific diseases impact the brain on a large scale. In this project, you will learn more about how the brain can be examined using a graph theoretical lens. You'll be introduced to the foundation of graph theory and its applications to neuroscience. Additionally, you will investigate the role of specific brain networks networks in cognition, behavior, and/or disease!
Neuroscience Communication
Part of being a great scientist is the ability to effectively communicate your knowledge and findings with the public at large. In this project, you will become an expert in a subfield of neuroscience by reading a variety of review articles, primary literature articles, and even science communication pieces. We will work together to distill these complex pieces down to their most salient parts, so that you can share your expertise with a large audience. This project will culminate with a popular-science-style magazine article, a blog post, a podcast, or something of the sort!