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| Drew Fox Room T510 263-3672 asfox@wisc.edu
Advisor: Davidson / Kalin |
I am interested in the way that emotional and empathetic brain systems influence decision-making and pro-social behaviors. During my graduate career I hope to use functional brain imaging in both humans and rhesus monkeys (macaque mulatta), to investigate how these interactions occur. Eventually I hope my research leads to novel ways of triggering these brain systems to produce positive behavioral outcomes. |
Deok Han |
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| Jamie Hanson Room 527 262-5148 jlhanson5@wisc.edu
Advisor: Davidson / Pollak |
Currently, I am directing a large study examining brain development and early experience. This work seeks to answer how brain development and plasticity give rise to both the commonality and individual differences in a behavioral repertoire. Upon the completion of that project, I plan to investigate the neural substrates of reward from a development perspective. I am interested in normative aspects of these functions and also how they can be altered via early experience. In addition, I hope to interweave and understand individual differences in impulsivity and decision-making in this investigation. |
| Aaron Heller Room S117D 263-0269 aheller2@wisc.edu Advisor: Davidson Clinical |
My research interests include the influence of body states and positions on emotion and memory, as well as the neural underpinnings of approach and avoidant behaviors. Additionally, I plan to pursue a research project investigating the degree to which one's goals may affect or even override the encoding, perception, and memory of stimuli in one's enviornment. |
| Allison Jahn Room S117D 890-0751 aljahn@wisc.edu
Advisor: Davidson
/ Abercrombie |
Generally, my research interests focus on examining how brain and body processes interact with the environment in the etiology and exacerbation of depression. My current interests involve elucidating the underlying mechanisms of information processing and emotional biases in depression. |
| Deb Kerr Room S117D 263-5853 dkerr@wisc.edu Advisor: Nitschke |
I am currently in my first year of a Clinical Neuroscience doctoral program at UW Madison. My present study, advised by Dr. Jack Nitschke, involves neuro-imaging of snake phobia. Specifically, I am interested in how the elements of anticipation and uncontrollability operate in specific phobia, including what brain regions they recruit. I am particularly interested in the cognitive basis of mood and anxiety disorders, specifically: depression, phobia, and generalized anxiety disorder. I am fascinated by the phenomenon of ‘resilience’ and attempting to parcel out its many complex factors. I would like to continue doing research using neuro-imaging methods, but am experienced with other approaches. Ultimately, I would like to be involved in research that will lead to the treatment and prevention of mood and anxiety disorders. |
| Jessica Kirkland Room S117D 263-0269 jzkirkland@wisc.edu
Advisor: Davidson |
My primary research interest is the development of empathy, and the roles that a lack of empathy may play in the severity and persistence of childhood behavior problems. I'm specifically interested in using functional MRI and behavioral measures to investigate various aspects of empathy in children with conduct disorder and conduct problems. |
Hyejeen Lee |
My dissertation investigates individual differences in the ability to voluntarily down-regulate negative affect and how these differences are indicated by the brain and psychophysiological measures. I also have a clinical interest in developing empirically-validated treatment protocols for effective emotion regulation. |
| Sharee Light Room S117D 263-0269 light@wisc.edu
Advisor: Davidson |
My primary research interests are focused on 1) investigating the neural correlates of temperament from a developmental perspective (with an emphasis on positive affect and empathy), and 2) explicating the neural mechanisms underlying treatment response seen in clinically depressed persons who undergo psychotherapy. I use behavioral, psychophysiological, and functional MRI techniques. |
| Jeff Moirano Room T117 262-8772 moirano@wisc.edu Advisor: Converse |
My main research interests include functional imaging of cognitive disorders and neuroreceptor mapping. I am currently working on a project to image dopaminergic neuromodulation using two simultaneous PET tracers. I also collaborate on several studies of novel therapeutic strategies for neurodegenerative disorders. |
| Brendon Nacewicz Room A130 262-5050 bmnacewi@wisc.edu
Advisor: Davidson |
My research interests are the structural and functional correlates of social function/dysfunction in the autistic brain, with particular focus on the amygdala. I am interested in the volumes of structures likely involved in processing of social stimuli as assessed by region of interest tracing on MR images. I am also interested in the physical connectivity between these structures as measured using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). I am further interested in how the function of these structures may differ in response to social and nonsocial stimuli when compared with typically developing individuals. |
| Gary Pack Room T117 265-2062 pack@cs.wisc.edu Advisor: Alexander / Chung |
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| David Perlman Room S109 890-1386 dperlman@waisman.wisc.edu Advisor: Davidson IGM |
I am currently working on functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of long-term meditation practitioners. I am also working on realtime fMRI neurofeedback, particularly the possibility of voluntarily up- and down-regulating amygdala activity. This may lead to studies on emotion regulation and affect-immune interactions. I may also work on studies involving thermal imaging. I am currently exploring and developing my research focus, as I have recently come to this field from a background in physics and computers. I also have a strong personal interest in statistics. Eventually I hope to study effects of abstract beliefs and cognitive styles on emotion and psychopathology, and the role of societal factors in this process. |
| Melissa Rosenkranz Room A130 262-5050 marosenk@wisc.edu
Advisor: Davidson |
My research interests include investigating the neural-immune and biochemical mechanisms by which individual differences in affective responding modulate resilience to and progression of disease. I am also interested in the impact of meditation practice on affective responding and, subsequently, on the neural-immune and biochemical mechanisms underlying resilience or vulnerability to disease. |
| Tim Salomons Room A132 263-1968 tvsalomons@wisc.edu
Advisor: Davidson |
I'm interested in the neural mechanisms by which emotion interacts with health. I am specifically interested in understanding how the brain processes nociceptive information, how this information is modulated under various affective states and the implications of this modulation for the co-morbidity of pain and affect disorders. |
| Brianna Schuyler Room S109 890-1387 bschuyler@wisc.edu Advisor: Alexander / Davidson IGM |
I am a graduate student in physics. I am working on analysing MRI data in terms functional connectivity (which tells you the degree of correlation between brain regions) and effective connectivity (which gives causal connections between the regions). |
| Alexander J. Shackman Room T510 263-3672 shackman@wisc.edu
Advisor: Davidson |
My primary research interests are focused on identifying the distributed neural circuitry in which affect and cognition are instantiated and to describe their lawful relations with one another. Within the realm of affect, my major focus is on threat-evoked anxiety and fear conditioning. My armamentarium includes a host of behavioral, psychophysiological, and and functional MRI techniques. |
| Nick Vandehey Room T119 265-6605 ntvandehey@wisc.edu Advisor: Christian |
I'm a graduate student in Medical Physics working towards a Ph.D. I work in the Waisman Center's PET lab, running the accelerator and doing radiochemisty as the steps needed for creating radiotracers. I'm also interested in building custom intrumentation tools through programming in LabView. A current project I'm working on is the development of a blood sampling device with a high-sensitivity for radioactivity as a part of a project aimed at simultaneously quantifying neural function and blood flow. |
| Helen Weng Room S117D 263-0269 hweng@wisc.edu
Advisor: Davidson |
I am interested in different strategies of emotion regulation - how and when one should either attend to or suppress/reappraise negative affect and how one can learn to enhance positive affect. I want to investigate the neural underpinnings of these processes and how they are dysregulated in mood disorders. Currently, I am looking at compassion meditation as an alternate form of emotion regulation. Instead of suppressing negative affect to a distressing picture, can we invoke a more positive compassionate state, and does this show differential brain activation? I will be looking at this process in undergraduates who undergo short-term compassion meditation training. I am also studying how people who undergo an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course or Health Enhancement Program regulate negative emotion before, after, and 4 months after the intervention. I am investigating these questions using neuroimaging and behavioral techniques. |
| Elizabeth Zakszewski Room S109 890-1387 zakszewski@wisc.edu Advisor: Alexander |