Trainees

Huijing is a PhD student working in Prof. Sarah Bottjer’s lab in the Department of Neurobiology. Her research focuses on vocal learning in songbirds, especially a song-specialized basal ganglia region called Area X. Before joining USC, Huijing got her bachelor’s degree in mathematics and worked at the Salk Institute under the guidance of Prof. Eiman Azim in San Diego. Besides wet lab experiments, she enjoys thinking about connections between math and neuroscience.

Juliana is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. Radha Kalluri’s lab studying the development of biophysical properties in cochlear inner hair cells. Her research began in dissecting the relationship between form and function in the development of normal and pathological neural mechanisms. Attracted by the anatomical complexity of the inner ear, Juliana’s research now focuses on the molecular and biophysical underpinnings of sensory auditory cell development before and after the onset of hearing.

Kevin is a PhD student in the Viterbi School of Engineering and a member of the Signal Analysis and Interpretation Laboratory (SAIL) under Shrikanth Narayanan. Prior to joining USC, he got his MS in Computer Science from UC San Diego. His research is on the usage of machine learning for analyzing speech production, but his interests broadly cover computational audio analysis, processing, and synthesis. In his free time he likes listening to and playing music.

Jean is a PhD student in the Department of Psychology, working primarily with Dr. Leor Hackel. Her work uses a variety of approaches to understand the behavioral and cognitive bases of social connection through analyzing conversations between strangers. More broadly, she is interested in how people learn about themselves and interact with and make choices about others. In her free time, Jean enjoys going on runs by the beach, exploring new neighborhoods, and occasionally performing stand-up comedy.

Ben is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for the Neuroscience of Embodied Cognition led by Dr. Lisa Aziz-Zadeh. Ben completed his PhD in Brisbane, Australia from the University of Queensland, where he investigated auditory localization in healthy adults, as well as implicit sensorimotor adaptation to perturbed visual and auditory feedback. Ben has worked as an MRI technician at the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University, and aims to better understand the relationship between subcortical sensory processing, and higher order cognition—such as embodied semantics. Outside of research, Ben enjoys exploring the beach with family, friends, and his 2-year-old.

Julianna is a Biomedical Engineering PhD student in Dr. Brian Applegate’s lab where her primary focus is exploring new applications of OCT to improve access to the inner ear and further study cochlear mechanics. She received her MS in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University where she built instrumentation for low-cost OCT. She got her Bachelors of Science from UC Irvine where she worked at Beckman Laser Institute and found an interest in neuroscience and optics. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, spending time with family, trying new food/coffee places, and hanging out with her two cats!

Sean is a PhD student in the Department of Linguistics, advised by Louis Goldstein and Shri Narayanan. His research interests are primarily in experimental phonetics and speech processing. Before coming to USC, Sean completed his MA in Linguistics at UNC-Chapel Hill under the advising of Elliott Moreton and Jeff Mielke. Before that Sean was a lecturer at Shanghai International Studies University.

Sarah is a PhD Candidate at the Brain and Creativity Institute and the Brain and Music Lab, working with Dr. Assal Habibi. Her work focuses primarily on the neural mechanisms of music evoked emotions and autobiographical memories, with an emphasis on lifespan development. In the future, Sarah plans to investigate these processes in older adults with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias. Outside of the MRI control room, Sarah enjoys playing violin and sewing.

Ellen is a PhD Student in the Brain and Creativity Institute and the Brain and Music Lab where she is thrilled to have the ability to research the intersection of her two passions of neuroscience and the arts. She graduated from Muhlenberg College with a BA in Neuroscience and a BS in Theatre Performance. She spent several years as an arts educator and performer before working at Northwestern University as a clinical research coordinator studying Parkinson’s disease.  Ellen is interested in creative improvisation, rhythm, synchrony, and music as they relate to neuroplasticity and cognition and communication during development, aging, and in disease populations. She is especially interested in the ways in which shared artistic experiences change people’s perceptions of otherness and belonging. In her free time Ellen enjoys hiking and backpacking with her dog and partner, acting, puppetry, singing, and exploring new places as she travels the world.

Leah Kim is a PhD student mentored by Ksenia Gnedeva. She is interested in investigating the gene regulatory network that centers around p27^kip1, a major cell-cycle inhibitor that determines the developmental pattern of the cochlea. Through her research, Leah hopes to uncover the molecular mechanisms that maintain lifelong regenerative quiescence in the mammalian cochlea.

Rimita is a PhD student in the Viterbi School of Engineering; she is a member of Signal Analysis and Interpretation Laboratory (SAIL) directed by Shrikanth Narayanan. Her research interests broadly focus on deep learning and machine learning with applications in speech and language processing related tasks especially in the clinical domain. She is interested in developing novel frameworks for understanding human behavior in a better way. In her spare time, Rimita enjoys painting, cooking, and traveling.

Nate began his research in auditory neuroscience studying the neuronal response to damage within the mouse cochlea with Paul Fuchs at Johns Hopkins University. After receiving his PhD in neuroscience, Nate joined the lab of Radha Kalluri as a Postdoctoral Fellow in 2021. Nate studies the heterogeneity of spiral ganglion neuron firing properties through patch-clamp electrophysiological recordings with a particular interest in how these responses can be shaped by efferent feedback.

Katherine is a PhD student in the Neuroscience Graduate Program with Radha Kalluri. Her research interests center around understanding how sensory neurons develop into diverse populations capable of representing sensory information using different encoding mechanisms. Before coming to USC, Katherine was a research assistant with Mark Emerson at the City College of New York, where she studied the development of photoreceptors in the vertebrate retina, and with Natalie Brito at New York University, where she studied language acquisition in bilingual (Spanish-English) and monolingual infants. She has a bachelor’s degree in Hispanic Studies from Brown University. 

Will is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Auditory Physics Group led by Christopher Shera. Will completed his PhD at Purdue University, where he studied behavioral and physiological measures of medial-olivocochlear efferent function in humans. Having gained significant interest in continuing research of the inner ear. He now plans to use physiological measures, such as otoacoustic emissions, a non-invasive measure of cochlear function, behavioral measures of peripheral function, and computational methods to better understand the mechanics of hearing in humans. Outside of research, Will enjoys spending time with his wife and his family, eating BBQ, and listening to music.

Originally from Northern Virginia, Jessica now resides in sunny LA, where she is a PhD student studying linguistics. She has a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in linguistics from the College of William & Mary, where her honors thesis focused on the perception of stress by second language speakers. She now focuses on phonetics and articulatory phonology, using real-time MRI and x-ray microbeam data to examine the coordination of movements of the vocal tract in time and how that coordination breaks down in motor speech disorders.

Ravi got his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, doing research in explosive hazard detection in FLIR. After working in research and development for five years in the defense industry, he started his PhD in Neuroscience at USC. He joined the Bionic Ear Lab in the summer of 2021 and is studying novel signal processing methods to improve cochlear implant users speech and music perception. In his free time, Ravi spends most of his time rock climbing, playing board games, running, ultimate frisbee, and playing music badly

Daniel was first introduced to electrophysiology as an undergraduate research assistant for Sarah Bottjer at USC. Daniel continued to study electrophysiology at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, where he worked with Thomas Preuss to study ion channels in the startle circuit of goldfish. After receiving his PhD in 2019, Daniel returned to USC as a Postdoctoral Fellow working with Radha Kalluri. Through patch-clamp recording in rats, Daniel studies the heterogeneity of ion channels in the inner ear and how this diversity may contribute to our sense of hearing and balance.

Lauren earned her bachelor’s degree in cellular/molecular neuroscience at Scripps College. There, she studied the role of dopamine in the monogamous behaviors of zebra finches. In 2018, she entered the Neuroscience Graduate Program at USC and joined the Bottjer lab, where she studied the neural mechanisms that underlie vocal learning and more broadly procedural learning. In her spare time, Lauren enjoys listening to audiobooks, cooking, and spending time with her friends and family.

Tuo Shi is a PhD student with Gage Crump and Neil Segil in the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine. Tuo is interested in the epigenetic regulations during zebrafish otic hair cell development and regeneration. Through his research, Tuo is hoping to help understand how cochlear hair cell regeneration capacity is lost in mammals. 

Trained as an audiologist and a hearing scientist, Sammi is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Carolina Abdala. Her research interests lie at the intersection of basic understanding of peripheral auditory function and clinical applications. She is working on more accurate and sensitive clinical applications of otoacoustic emissions, faint acoustic signals originating from the inner ear that can be measured noninvasively using a sensitive microphone sealed in the ear canal. Sammi’s goal is that one day this tool will be widely used to improve the detection, quantification, and prevention of hearing loss.

Jack is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Applegate lab. His research uses optical coherence tomography to study changes in the cochlea in response to loud noise exposure. Jack received his BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Bioengineering at the University of California, Riverside.

Yubin is a PhD student in the Department of Linguistics. His research interests lie in phonetics, phonology, speech production and speech perception. He studies sound patterns and their acoustic, perceptual and articulatory aspects in the world’s languages. He also investigates the nature of phonological representations and the neurocognitive processes involved in speech production and perception.

Andres Camarena earned his Bachelor of Science in Neurobiology at the University of California, Irvine. He earned his Ph.D. in Neuroscience in the Bionic Ear Lab with Ray Goldsworthy. Andres studied the cues relevant to robust pitch perception in cochlear implant users, hypothesizing that enhancing the temporal precision of electrical stimulation along the auditory nerve will recover pitch perception in CI users