Students

There are 16 UC San Diego PhD students currently enrolled in the anthropogeny specialization:

Raihan Alam Raihan Alam is a first year PhD student in management at UC San Diego. He works with Dr. Tage Rai in the Ethics and Conflict lab and Dr. Adam Aron in the Climate Psychology and Action lab. Broadly, he is interested in morality, punishment, and violence. In his current work, he is investigating when and how punishment promotes cooperation and the different approaches that are required for reducing violence that is motivated by moral rather than material ends. Going forward, he is interested in... more	Felix Binder Cognitive Science Felix is a second year PhD student in the cognitive science department working on cognitive tools for planning and physical reasoning. Humans use cognitive tools: tools that help think. How do such cognitive tools support humans in making efficient use of their limited cognitive capacities on hard computational problems such as planning? Felix researches the computational nature of such tools using agent-based simulations. This research—best described as computational cognitive science—aims to... more
Patrick Bruck Biomedical Sciences I am a PhD student in the UCSD Department of Biomedical Sciences, working with Drs. Alysson Muotri & Keolu Fox to explore brain development from an evolutionary perspective. Just as ancient DNA sequencing technologies have begun to reveal the genetic makeup of our extinct relatives, such as Neanderthals and Denisovans, breakthroughs have similarly occurred in the fields of genome engineering (e.g. CRISPR/Cas9) and stem cell modeling of neurodevelopment (e.g. brain organoids). Our research... more	Mika Caplan Biomedical Sciences Mika is a PhD student in the UCSD Biomedical Sciences Program in the lab of JoAnn Trejo in the Pharmacology Department. She is currently working to understand the role of the Src family kinases (SFKs) in G protein-coupled receptor signaling to the Hippo pathway as a regulator of breast cancer progression. In addition, she is interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms that regulate a tumor suppressor known as ARRDC3 in the context of breast carcinoma and to elucidate the networks that... more
Liam Conaboy Psychology Liam is a PhD student in the Psychology Department at UCSD. He studies neuropsychopharmacology in the Molecular Cognition Laboratory with Dr. Stephan Anagnostaras. He is interested in a transdisciplinary approach to understanding complex biopsychological relationships between organisms and the bioactive substances in their environment. He is currently seeking deeper understanding of sustained alterations to neurocircuitry resulting from psychostimulant and opioid addiction. In addition to... more	Carlos Escalante Vera Neurosciences Carlos Escalante Vera is a Fulbright Scholar and a PhD student of the Neurosciences Graduate Program in University of California San Diego. Upon being awarded the Chevening Scholarship in 2018, Carlos began his career in neuroscience doing a Master's Degree in University College London, focusing on the anxiolytic action of antidepressant medications; he is currently investigating the computational principles that guide neuronal architecture, under the supervision of Dr. Gabriel Silva.
Julia Gorman Neurosciences Julia Gorman is a PhD student in Neurosciences at UC San Diego in the Gentner lab. She uses artificial neural networks to understand how populations of neurons efficiently carry information. She studies both how context affects auditory perception and signaling in the auditory cortex of European starlings as well as how networks can create open learning for vocal communication. Her interests in CARTA lie in understanding how language and perception arises from populations of neurons and... more	Juston Jaco Biomedical Sciences Juston Jaco is a third-year PhD student in the Biomedical Sciences Program who brings a wealth of knowledge and experience. His academic career began at the University of Michigan, where he graduated with Highest Honors in Environmental Science from the College of Literature, Science, & the Arts. Juston then went on to serve three years as an AmeriCorps service member where he built gardens in outdoor urban school environments, transforming vacant concrete patches into fully functioning “... more
Kendall Kearns Biomedical Sciences Kendall is a Ph.D. student in the Biomedical Sciences program at UCSD. She works in Bjoern Peters's lab at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology and is currently investigating the immune signatures of unconventional T cells in multiple diseases. She is using cell analysis techniques and bioinformatics to analyze the differences between T cell subsets and disease state and will also be using biochemical techniques to identify ligands of selected T cell receptors identified through computational... more	Lora Khatib Neurosciences Lora Khatib is a PhD student in the UCSD Neurosciences Graduate Program mentored by Dr. Rob Knight. Her research focus revolves around employing computational models to explore the intricate relationship between microbial cells in the body and their influence on neurotransmitter regulation and neuroinflammation. Her work aims to uncover the impact of these mechanisms on mental health and the onset of neurodegenerative diseases. Lora is interested in the variations in microbial composition... more
Reid Larsen Biomedical Sciences Reid is a Ph.D. student in the Biomedical Sciences program at UCSD. His research in Dr. Richard Daneman’s lab focuses on the tight regulation of substances entering and exiting the brain, controlled by the special properties of the brain’s blood vessels. This “blood-brain barrier” is critical to maintaining homeostasis and its dysfunction plays a role in the in the pathology of diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease. Specifically, Reid is studying the role of the sugar... more	Coral Pereda Serras Visual Arts Coral is a research-based media artist and designer originally from Spain. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Art Practice at UC San Diego. Her interdisciplinary research explores the interconnectedness between bodies and their surroundings. She is interested in the power of images to reflect the impact of culture on biological systems. Her practice relies on tools such as new media technologies, video, installation and scientific material to question the gap between science and art. Her most... more
Chantal Rabay Anthropology Chantal Rabay is a Ph.D. student in the Anthropology department working with Dr. Amy Non. She is investigating associations between maternal perceived stress, anxiety, and depression and microRNA (miRNA) expression in human breast milk. This project explores miRNAs within exosomes, which are vesicles that prevent miRNA degradation and present a potential pathway for maternal miRNA to influence developmental programming in infants. Additionally, Chantal is interested in exploring potential miRNA... more	Hande Sever Visual Arts Hande Sever is a transdisciplinary artist and art historian working at the intersections of ecosophy, vernacular architecture and emerging technologies. Her interest in CARTA stems from her research pertaining to archeological sites in Anatolia, such as Göbekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe, and the impact their discovery and excavation had on artistic production both locally and globally, especially with regards to artists occupied with questions related to human origins. Her writing has been... more
Sheila Steiner Neurosciences Sheila Steiner is a 3rd year PhD student in the UCSD Neurosciences Graduate Program. She is co-advised by Dr. Rusty Gage and Dr. Carol Marchetto. She uses stem cell-derived neurons to understand how energy metabolism changes across neuronal development and neuronal aging in humans as compared to other primate species. She is broadly interested in whether there is a trade-off between both humans' unique level of cognitive functioning and humans' relative longevity compared to other primates and... more	Yaohan Wu Anthropology Yaohan is a PhD student in the Department of Anthropology working with Dr Jade d’Alpoim Guedes. She is a bioarchaeologist interested in employing interdisciplinary research to understand how past people from different cultures in prehistoric times utilized different foodways to adapt to the geoenvironmental stressors around them. In particular, she is interested in studying the changes in dietary intake and temporal trends in plant and animal domestications in prehistoric China. Some of Yaohan’... more