Fellowships

In our commitment to supporting students, trainees and early-career scientists and broadening participation in neuroscience to those from backgrounds underrepresented in our field, we have worked with our partners to offer travel fellowships to attend #LEARNMEM2023. Travel awards are possible thanks to government, industry and nonprofit partners who are dedicated to supporting our early-career scholars. If you are interested in sponsoring a travel award, please contact Manuella Oliveira Yassa at manuella.yassa@uci.edu.

BRIGHTFOCUS DIVERSITY TRAVEL FELLOWSHIPS

Five travel fellowships were awarded to researchers broadly studying age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. These Fellowships are supported by a generous grant from the BrightFocus Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports research to end Alzheimer’s disease, macular degeneration and glaucoma. BrightFocus is at the forefront of brain and eye health, advancing early-stage, investigator-initiated research around the world. BrightFocus also provides educational materials to people affected by or interested in these diseases, empowering them to take action for themselves and others.

Aleyna Ross
Graduate Student
University of Florida

More about Aleyna

Alenya Ross is a PhD student at the University of Florida. Her research aims to understand the neural mechanisms responsible for cognitive decline. Aleyna is committed to mentoring women from backgrounds underrepresented in science to expose them to the various careers that are possible in science. As an undergraduate student she created an organization that inducted over 80 minority women to illuminate career paths beyond being a medical doctor.

Meet Aleyna at LEARNMEM2023! Stop by her poster titled Validation of an Operant-Based Touchscreen Test of Mnemonic Similarity for Rodent Models of Cognitive Aging.

Joshua Gills
Postdoctoral Fellow
Rutgers University

More about Joshua

Joshua Gills is a postdoctoral fellow at Rutgers University. His research focuses on understanding the relation between exercise and cognitive health in older African Americans and individuals from other underrepresented groups. He is engaging in health equity and health disparity research with the Black community in Newark, New Jersey to help close gaps in risk for diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.

Meet Joshua at LEARNMEM2023! Visit him at his poster titled Hypertension is associated with reduced medial temporal lobe neural flexibility in older African Americans.

Lidiette Angeles-Perez
Graduate Student
University of Texas Southwestern

More about Lidiette

Lidiette is a PhD student at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Her research explores the impact of cerebellar activity and the hippocampal-dependent social and cognitive behaviors that are impaired in age-related dementias. Lidiette is a board member for the UTSW chapter of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) where she leads outreach, social, mental health, networking and professional development activities.

Meet Lidiette at LEARNMEM2023! Visit her at her poster titled Investigating the contributions of cerebellar-hippocampal circuitry to social behaviors and cognition.

Annalysa Lovos
Graduate Student, University of Arizona

More about Annalysa

Annalysa Lovos is a PhD student at the University of Arizona. Her research investigates the impact of sleep on episodic memory, working memory, and cognitive control. She evaluates circadian rest-wake rhythms in typically developing children and children with Down syndrome, a genetic disorder with known memory impairments. Annalysa is committed to promoting equitable inclusion of individuals with disabilities in science and serves on her department’s wellness committee to promote the health of scientists at the University of Arizona.

Meet Annalysa at LEARNMEM2023! She is chairing Symposium 4.4.1: Developmental transitions in sleep states: implications for memory. She’s also on the postdoc market! Be sure to say “Hi”.

Kirk Geier
Graduate Student, University of Toronto

More about Kirk

Kirk Geier is a PhD student at the University of Toronto. Kirk’s research focuses on understanding the etiology and pathology of Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia by exploring the modulation of cortical function by the cortex’s interactions with mediodorsal thalamus using functional MRI. Kirk is dedicated to equity and inclusion exemplified by helping Turkish refugees with English, bridging language gaps with colleagues from Sierra Leone and Japan in grant competitions, and protesting infringement of indigenous land rights in Canada.

Meet Kirk at LEARNMEM2023! Visit him at his poster titled Analysis of Memory and Executive Function Performance and Cortico-Cortical Connectivity After Stroke to Higher Order Thalamic Nuclei. He’s also on the postdoc market! Be sure to say “Hi”.

SciTechEdit INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL FELLOWSHIP

One international travel fellowship was awarded by a generous grant from SciTechEdit International.

SciTechEdit works closely with scientists to produce clear, well-constructed manuscripts describing their scientific, medical, and technical research findings for publication in English-language journals.

Karla Gabriela Medina
Graduate Student, National Autonomous University of Mexico

More about Karla

Karla Gabriela is a PhD student at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Her research aims to shed light on how organisms generate memories for food and how the role of the insular cortex in eating behavior. Karla Gabriela is dedicated to dismantling barriers that hinder the success of women in science and elevating the voices and needs of minoritized individuals.

Be sure to meet Karla Gabriela at LEARNMEM2023! She will be presenting a poster titled Establishment of conditioned taste preference induced by glucose requires glutamatergic and catecholaminergic signaling within the insular cortex.

NIH TRAVEL FELLOWSHIP

LEARNMEM2023 is partially sponsored by a NIH R13 grant which supports travel fellowships to the conference.

Karim Abdelaal
Graduate Student, Duke University

More about Karim

Karim is a PhD student at Duke University. He uses multisite in vivo electrophysiology and machine learning techniques to discover brain wide network organization related to opioid withdrawals, compulsive opioid seeking, and how environmental familiarity may exacerbate these phenotypes. Karim is committed to providing equitable scientific opportunities for young, underrepresented members of the community and has led efforts to develop an 8-week summer neuroscience internship program for high school students.

Be sure to meet Karim at LEARNMEM2023! He will be presenting a poster titled Leveraging Machine Learning to Elucidate an Opioid Withdrawal Network.

Tia Donaldson
Graduate Student, University of New Mexico

More about Tia

Tia is a PhD student at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Her research is focused on the relationship between alcohol exposure and hippocampal function in spatial navigation. Tia is committed to advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion in science, and has been actively working to address systemic racism within academia to make graduate school a more welcoming and supportive environment for everyone.

Meet Tia at LEARNMEM2023! She is chairing Symposium 4.1.3: Neurobiological Basis of Reference Coordination for Spatial Learning and Memory. Be sure to say “Hi”.

Fernanda Morales-Calva
Graduate Student, Rice University

More about Fernanda

Fernanda is a PhD student at Rice University. Her research examines the impact of image memorability and emotional valence on memory discrimination performance at varying delays, with implications for educational and cognitive testing settings. Fernanda is deeply committed to diversity and inclusion and her work aims to promote health equity by recruiting participants from diverse backgrounds to make results more applicable to minoritized populations.

Meet Fernanda at LEARNMEM2023! She will be presenting a lightning talk titled The Impact of Image Memorability on Mnemonic Discrimination.

Nicholas Ruiz
Graduate Student, Temple University

More about Nicholas

Nicholas is a PhD student at Temple University. His research explores how agency over a situation can affect associative memory for items related to a choice. Nicholas mentors and supports students from minoritized backgrounds as part of the R25 ENDURE program at Temple and is working to establish a support network for parents pursuing higher education degrees.

Meet Nicholas at LEARNMEM2023! He will be giving a talk in Symposium 4.4.2: Learning how to choose biases what the brain chooses to remember: behavioral, computational, and neural evidence from humans. Be sure to say “Hi”.

Stephanie Grella, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Loyola University Chicago

More about Stephanie

Stephanie is an assistant professor at Loyola University Chicago. Her lab is interested in the neuromodulatory inputs that govern memory updating and how dysregulation of these circuits contributes to maladaptive cognition and behavior. Stephanie helps underprivileged students attain computing skills needed in an ever-growing digital world and recently started the Loyola Women in Neuroscience Association / Diversity in STEM lunch series to promote diverse genders and empower Black scholars.

Meet Stephanie at LEARNMEM2023! She will be giving a talk in Symposium 2.5.1: Resetting memories when it matters most: The critical role of the locus coeruleus in memory encoding and updating. Be sure to say “Hi”.

CONTACT US

Phone: 949-824-5193 | Email: memory@uci.edu

LEARNMEM™2023 is held in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the