About Me

I received my bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering with honors, with a minor in biomedical engineering from UC Davis. I spent a year working as a post-bach at the UCD MIND institute conducting fMRI research on cognitive control in teens on the autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this time, I was able to serve as a social skills coordinator to work with teens with ASD to help teach and practice social skills. I did my Ph.D. at the University of Delaware, with Dr. Fabrizio Sergi, working on the development of fMRI compatible robotics to study upper extremity motor control (thesis). I additionally studied gait, looking at changes in functional connectivity following splitbelt training of chronic stroke survivors with Dr. Susan Morton, and developed a treadmill controller to apply accelerations during the push-off phase of walking, simulating walking on slippery surfaces like sand or ice, that effectively trained ankle propulsion and increased walking speeds [link].  Following the completion of my thesis, I moved to UC Irvine to do a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. David Reinkensmeyer on rehabilitation robotics for chronic stroke survivors, and began my own independent research into somatosensation and its impact on motor recovery and learning [link]. 

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I'm a huge dog lover, recreational soccer player and boxer. I am dedicated to outreach efforts in STEM, and spend many of my free weekends with the Perry Initiative teaching.