CV

PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience

• M.Sc. en route Aug 2022

B.Sc. in Biology (Cum Laude)

• Minor in Chemistry
• Quantifying Biology in the Classroom (QBIC) track
• Honors College

Postdoctoral Researcher

• Advisor: Dr. Kristin Bigos
• Developed a custom BIDS converter for multi-session pharmacological fMRI data lacking source DICOM/JSONs, reconstructing metadata from image headers and vendor documentation to enable integration with modern analysis pipelines (GitHub)
• Established the lab's first scalable neuroimaging infrastructure by migrating local GUI-based workflows to reproducible, containerized HPC pipelines using Apptainer with version-pinned neuroimaging tools (e.g., fMRIPrep, AFNI, FSL)
• Built an end-to-end fMRI analysis pipeline using SLURM job arrays and dependencies to parallelize and chain first-level GLM/gPPI modeling, parametric and nonparametric group inference, MNI region labeling, and subject-level cluster beta extraction (GitHub)

Graduate Researcher

• Advisor: Dr. Angela Laird
• Developed and published a k-means clustering pipeline to characterize dynamic brain state transitions in longitudinal fMRI data, identifying distinct transition patterns across timepoints
• Applied mixed effects, structural equation, and latent profile models to multi-session fMRI and behavioral data to identify dissociable brain-behavioral profiles, contributing to two peer-reviewed publications
• Analyzed staff demographic data for the ABCD Study consortium, implementing hypothesis testing and data visualization to inform decisions for a multi-site research task force (GitHub)

Graduate Researcher

Medical Laboratory Scientist I

• Conducted confirmatory diagnostic testing for HIV and syphilis for public health surveillance programs

NIfTI2BIDS

• Developed a Python package for post-hoc BIDS conversion of NIfTI datasets lacking source DICOMs, reconstructing JSON sidecars with acquisition metadata derived from image headers
• Built configurable parsers for Presentation and E-Prime behavioral logs, automating timing and accuracy extraction for block and event-related fMRI designs into BIDS-compliant events files
• Implemented cross-platform testing across Python 3.10-3.14 on Linux, macOS, and Windows, maintaining >90% code coverage

NeuroCAPs

• Built a Python package for brain state classification using k-means, with multiprocessing for multi-subject timeseries extraction
• Incorporated clustering validation (e.g., Davies-Bouldin, Silhouette), KD-tree interpolation for volumetric-to-surface mapping, temporal dynamics metrics (e.g., transition probabilities), and integrated visualizations (e.g., surface maps, network alignment)
• Deployed via Docker with headless VTK rendering and CLI/Jupyter interfaces; maintained >90% test coverage across several OS platforms using pytest and GitHub Actions

vswift

• Created an R package for ML model evaluation, implementing custom stratified sampling, cross-validation, and nested cross-validation for hyperparameter tuning, with parallel processing support at the fold-level
• Designed a unified interface supporting classification algorithms (e.g., Regularized Logistic Regression, SVM, XGBoost, Neural Networks) while preserving algorithm-specific parameter tuning
• Incorporated automated missing data imputation and multi-metric performance assessment (e.g., precision, recall, F1) with CLI output and visualizations, including ROC and Precision-Recall curves with AUC scores

R Workshop

• Designed and delivered an introductory workshop on R programming and Tidyverse for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion program, instructing 10+ graduate students on data analysis, manipulation, and visualization

• Dissertation Year Fellowship ($20,000 across two semesters)

• DEI Doctoral Fellowship ($3,000 over three semesters)

• NIGMS RISE Fellowship

• FIU Ambassador Scholarship (Full-Tuition Merit Scholarship)
• QBIC Scholarship ($1,000 per semester)
• Florida Academic Scholars Award (Highest State Merit Scholarship Tier)

Longitudinal Changes in Dynamic Functional Connectivity Associated with Physics Learning

• Poster at the University of Miami's 34th Annual Neuroscience Research Day, Miami, FL

Longitudinal Changes in Dynamic Functional Connectivity Associated with Physics Learning

• Presented at the Florida Consortium on the Neurobiology of Cognition, Miami, Florida; also accepted at Graduate Student Appreciation Week at Florida International University

Task-based attention & default mode connectivity linked to STEM anxiety in university students

• Presented at the 29th Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Montréal, Canada

• Journal of Open Source Software
• npj Science of Learning