Graduate Students

Melina Acosta

Email: melina.acosta@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Wendy Saltzman

Degree Program: Ph.D.

Research Focus

I am interested in the role of catecholamines in modulating the expression of parental behavior

Camila Alvarez

Email: camila.alvarez@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Rotating

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Sushmitha Arumugam

Email: sarum004@ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Michael Adams

Degree Program: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Neuroendocrine signalling in Drosophila Melanogaster.

Angela Avitua

Email: angela.avitua@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Byron Ford

Degree Program: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Repair and regeneration following traumatic brain injury; Neuregulin-1

Tyler Bailey

Email: tyler.bailey@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Edward Korzus

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Development of the neocortex, Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

Alexander Bilas

Email: alexander.bilas@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Todd Fiacco

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Crisylle Blanton

Email: crisylle.blanton@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Rotating

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Hogyu Choi

Email: hchoi117@ucr.edu

Major Professor: Rotating

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Kathleen Conner

Email: kathleen.conner@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Kelly Huffman

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Christopher Creighton

Email: christopher.creighton@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Rotating

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Katilynne Croom

Email: katilynne.croom@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Khaleel Abdulrazak

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Paula Da Silva Frost

Email: paula.dasilvafrost@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Monica Carson

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

My interest in research include how peripheral inflammatory responses can influence the central nervous system, particularly in the gut-brain axis and how viral infections cause brain pathologies.

Payton DePalma

Email: payton.depalma@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Edward Zagha

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Manali Dey

Email: manali.dey@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Anupama Dahanukar

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Zoe Figueroa

Email: zoe.figueroa@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Emma Wilson

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Dominic Garcia

Email: dominic.garcia003@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Rotating

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Indira Harahap-Carrillo

Email: indira.harahapcarillo@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Marcus Kaul

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Lucas Hodge

Email: lucas.hodge@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Rotating

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Anjum Hussain

Email: anjum.hussain@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Rotating

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Sarah Kabbara

Email: sarah.kabbara@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Rotating

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Mawaheb Kassir

Email: mawaheb.kassir@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Khaleel Abdulrazak

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Foucs

Alexander King

Email: alexander.king@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Garret Anderson

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Elena Kozlova

Email: elena.kozlova@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Margarita Curras-Collazo

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Yuqi Ma

Email: yuqi.ma@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Anand Ray

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Kamryn Mattingly

Email: kmatt014@ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Aaron Seitz

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

I am interested in studying executive function and inhibitory control in humans using fMRI.

Vaibhav Menon

Email: vaibhav.menon@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Anupama Dahanukar

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Neuronal circuitry guiding gustatory behavior in Drosophila and its intersection with metabolic control

Seung Moon

Email: seung.moon@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Rachel Wu

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Quynh Anh Nguyen

Email: quynhanh.nguyen@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Sachiko Haga-Yamanaka

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Neural activation following olfactory-mediated defensive behaviors

Susan Nguyen

Email: susan.nguyen004@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Viji Santhakumar

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Neural-Immune signaling following brain injury

David Nikom

Email: david.nikom@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Rotating

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Brandon L. Oliver

Email: brandon.oliver@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Rotating

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Haneal Pae

Email: haneal.pae@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Jun Cho

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Noorhan Rahmatullah

Email: noorhan.rahmatullah@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Anu Goel

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Courtney A. Scaramella

Email: courtney.scaramella@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Rotating

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Thomas A. Shoff

Email: thomas.shoff@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Rotating

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

John Speigel III

Email: jspei003@ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Edward Korzus

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

The role of sub-regional specialization and connectivity of the medial prefrontal cortex in the acquisition and expression of contextual fear memory

Sandhya Sriram

Email: sandhya.sriram@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Rotating

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Xin Tao

Email: xin.tao@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Khaleel Abdulrazak

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

My current research focuses on Fragile X Syndrome. In human, FXS patients represent hypersensitivity to sound, and this characteristics is measured by audiogenic seizures in animal models. My goal is to see if Fmr1 knock-out mice (a mouse model of FXS) will display sound hypersensitivity as human beings by designing a new behavior paradigm (less drastic than audiogenic seizures). And if that's the case, I'll further pursue the behind mechanisms.

Teresa Ubina

Email: teresa.ubina@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Martin Riccomagno

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Molecular mechanisms of pruning

Andrew P. Villa

Email: andrew.villa@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Rotating

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Victoria Wagner

Email: victoria.wagner@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Iryna Ethell

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Courtney Wood

Email: courtney.wood@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Nicholas DiPatrizio

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

The endocannabinoid system, vagus nerve signaling, gut-brain axis

Chia Wei Yeh

Email: cyeh036@ucr.edu

Major Professor: Rotating

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Gohar Zavradyan

Email: gohar.zavradyan@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Rotating

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Zhaoran Zhang

Email: zhaoran.zhang@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Dr. Edward Zagha

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Understanding the neuronal mechanism underlying animal's behavior, such as paying attention and making decisions.

Shan Zhong

Email: shan.zhong@email.ucr.edu

Major Professor: Rotating

Degree: Ph.D.

Research Focus

Trevor E. Zimmerman-Thompson

Email: tzimm002@ucr.edu

Major Professor: Rotating

Degree: Ph.D.

Graduate Students

Neuroscience Graduate Students

(For additional information about each, click on the card)

Melina Acosta

Research Focus

Camila Alvarez

Research Focus

Sushmitha Arumugam

Research Focus

Angela Avitua

Research Focus

Tyler Bailey

Research Focus

Alexander Bilas

Research Focus

Crisylle Blanton

Research Focus

Hogyu Choi

Research Focus

Kathleen Conner

Research Focus

Christopher Creighton

Research Focus

Katilynne Croom

Research Focus

Paula Da Silva Frost

Research Focus

Payton DePalma

Research Focus

Manali Dey

Research Focus

Zoe Figueroa

Research Focus

Dominic Garcia

Research Focus

Indira Harahap-Carrillo

Research Focus

Lucas Hodge

Research Focus

Anjum Hussain

Research Focus

Sarah Kabbara

Research Focus

Mawaheb Kassir

Research Foucs

Alexander King

Research Focus

Elena Kozlova

Research Focus

Yuqi Ma

Research Focus

Kamryn Mattingly

Research Focus

Vaibhav Menon

Research Focus

Seung Moon

Research Focus

Quynh Anh Nguyen

Research Focus

Susan Nguyen

Research Focus

David Nikom

Research Focus

Brandon L. Oliver

Research Focus

Haneal Pae

Research Focus

Noorhan Rahmatullah

Research Focus

Courtney A. Scaramella

Research Focus

Thomas A. Shoff

Research Focus

John Speigel III

Research Focus

Sandhya Sriram

Research Focus

Xin Tao

Research Focus

Teresa Ubina

COLLEGE OF NATURAL &
AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES