Graduate Student

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Steffie is a native Houstonian, graduating from St. John's School in 2002, Rice University in 2006, and spending the first year of graduate school at Tulane in New Orleans. Synesthesia brought Steffie back to Houston, where she uses functional MRI to understand how neighboring brain areas communicate to produce the colored sequences and sounds experienced by synesthetes. As a synesthete herself, Steffie is particularly in tune with this fascinating condition.

Publications

Tomson S, Avidan N, Lee K, Sarma AK, Tushe R, Milewicz D, Bray M, Leal S, Eagleman DM (2011). The genetics of colored sequence synesthesia: Suggestive evidence of linkage to 16q and genetic heterogeneity for the condition. Behavioural Brain Research. 223(2011):48-52. [Full text]

Eagleman DM, Kagan AD, Nelson SS, Sagaram D, Sarma AK (2007). A standardized test battery for the study of Synesthesia. Journal of Neuroscience Methods. 159: 139-145.

Graduate Student

Our perception of the duration of an event, and the temporal order between events can be distorted in various situations.  Through these temporal illusions, I am combining psychophysics, computation modeling and functional imaging to explore the mechanism underlying time perception.

Graduate Student

Scott is a Ph.D. student in Rice University's Electrical & Computer Engineering department, working under Dr. Eagleman as his advisor. He received his Masters from the same department, but with a focus on cognitive wireless protocol design. His current research interest is figuring out ways to exploit brain plasticity for developing new ways of sensing information and controlling devices. He also works with apparatus design for the group's timing work, as well as performing analysis of the group's synesthesia database.

Graduate Student (MD/PhD) 

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I have been forever challenged by the mysteries of neuroscience. As an undergraduate at MIT, I quickly realized the power of computational modeling as a tool in understanding the brain. I wanted to integrate both of these sciences in a unique way and earned dual degrees in Brain and Cognitive Sciences as well as Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. I soon became interested in translating these discoveries to people and patients and am currently pursuing an MD/PhD through Texas A&M. At the Eagleman Lab, I want to help bring the innovating science to the clinic.

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Research Assistant

I began neuroscience research in 2003 as a Junior in High School after meeting Dr. Eagleman at a High School Science Day in San Diego.  My initial research focused on perceptual flexibility - how your perception of time and visual stimuli is not constant but instead, variable based on circumstances.  In 2008 I completed dual degrees in Physics and Economics at Stanford University and after backpacking through South America I moved to re-join the lab in November of 2008.  Currently, I use functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to investigate freewill and group social dynamics.

Publications

Vaughn DA & Eagleman (in press) "Briefly Glimpsed People are More Attractive"

Vaughn DA & Eagleman (in press) "Radial Motion Induces Hering Illusion"

Research Assistant

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Hannah is an undergraduate student at Rice University majoring in Psychology and Linguistics with a concentration in Cognitive Science.

She plans to pursue postgraduate education in neuroscience after graduating from Rice. Because she personally experiences colored letters and numbers on a daily basis, Hannah is particularly interested in research on synesthesia.

Research Assistant

Research Assistant

Mark is an undergraduate at Rice University studying biochemistry and cognitive sciences with a neuroscience specialization.

After graduating from Rice, Mark hopes to pursue postgraduate education in medicine and/or neuroscience. Mark is currently working on a variety of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments investigating moral decision making and perception.

Adjunct Research Assistant

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A Texan from birth, Sarah is currently working with the Initiative on Neuroscience and the Law. Sarah took her bachelor's degree from Northwestern University and completed her thesis on the Americanization of British campaign communication at the London School of Economics. She then served as a press secretary on Capitol Hill and Deputy Director of Congressional Communication for the Federal Aviation Administration before deciding to pursue a law degree. While at Harvard Law School, Sarah was President of the Harvard Federalist Society and staffed the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. She then worked at Romney for President, Inc., the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Office of Legal Policy at the Department of Justice, Cooper & Kirk LLP, and Wiley Rein LLP. More recently, Sarah served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Edith Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and as the Political Director for Texans for Ted Cruz. 

Adjunct Research Assistant

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Pablo is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where he won its largest student writing prize, served as co-Editor-in-Chief for the Harvard Latino Law Review, and co-Chair for the Harvard Latin American Law Society.  He has won several fellowships for international work, both for public service and for research abroad. As a Research Fellow in the Initiative on Neuroscience and the Law, Pablo studies patterns of crime and the efficacy of legislation using large scale database analysis.

Research Coordinator

Seán is the Lab Manager, bringing organization and sanity to the activities here. Outside the lab, Seán is one of Houston's most sought-after actors. He is a member of Houston's Catastrophic Theatre Company, and was formerly with Nova Arts Project. Seán has always been fascinated by the inner workings of the human mind, and thrives as part of an exciting research environment.

Lab Programmer

Josh is a computer guru who has been writing software since he first found a book on the subject in his elementary school library. After spending some time in industry he is returning to academia  in hopes of pursuing the hard problem of consciousness and the question of friendly artificial intelligence.