I am a first-year doctoral student in the Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience program at Georgia State University working under Dr. Sarah Brosnan’s advisement. Overall, I am interested in the underlying genetic and neuroanatomical mechanisms of socio-communicative behavior, and how these processes differ among primate species, specifically capuchins, chimpanzees, bonobos, and humans. My master’s thesis titled “The Adaptive Value of Complex Socio-Communicative Behavior” investigated the relationship between social behavior and communication in humanity’s closest living relatives, bonobos and chimpanzees.

Prior to beginning at GSU, I earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Zoology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I studied the long-term effects of early life stress on macaque behavior and neurodevelopment at the Harlow Center for Biological Psychology. After graduating from UW, I went on to be Research Coordinator at the Ape Cognition and Conservation Initiative (ACCI) in Des Moines, Iowa, where I collected data investigating the cognition and language competencies of bonobos. Following ACCI, I completed a Master of Science in Integrative Biology degree at Kennesaw State University.