A Little Bit About Me
While my research is very important to me, a lot of other things are too! I grew up in small towns in the midwest (Radcliffe, IA, and Ellsworth, KS), an experience that is very different from most of the people I run into these days. I have a big family including 1 brother, 2 sisters, and now 4 nephews and a neice! I attended the University of Kansas for my undergraduate degree and loved my four years there, learning a lot and making great friends. Afterwards I moved to San Diego to begin my PhD at UC San Diego. I love San Deigo - the diversity, the food, the weather, the ocean. Yes, I have tried surfing. It's fun, but no, I'm definitely not a surfer. Some of my other non-neuroscience interests include:
Outdoor fun!
In my time in the northeast, I've grown to love getting out of Boston and up into the mountains! We like to hike, bike, and snowboard, and the northeast US is a great place for all of those activities!
Playing Basketball and Soccer
I've been playing basketball all of my life and am always ready for a game of pickup. Since moving to Boston, this has really dropped off, unfortunately. I'm hoping to pick it back up now that I'm at Brandeis. I am a KU alum and huge fan (Rock Chalk!) but also support the lovable loser of Iowa State, my parents' alma mater.
Soccer is a different story - I did not play growing up, and while I really enjoy playing, my best quality is probably that I'm willing to run a lot. I still like to play however! I came to love the game when watching the fast passing and ball movement style played most notably by Barcelona. The vision and coordination has many parallels to good basketball and is beautiful to watch when a team is moving in rhythm.
Live Music
I love going to concerts! Some of my favorites:
- Bonnaroo
- San Fermin
- Niki & the Dove
- Lord Huron
- Dr. Dog
- CHVRCHES