Sierra is a Ph.D. student and a Primate Social Cognition, Evolution & Behavior 2CI fellow working with Dr. Sarah Brosnan in the CEBUS Lab. Sierra started in the Cognitive Sciences graduate program at Georgia State University in the fall of 2020. Her research interests begin with the individual’s variations in social cognition, decision-making, and cooperation. Then looking at the implications of these variations on both intragroup/intergroup relationships. To study these variations and relationships, Sierra likes to combine comparative, evolutionary, and biological approaches.

Prior to joining the CEBUS lab, Sierra worked for Dr. John Capitanio from UC Davis and Dr. Karen Parker from Stanford University where they were researching various aspects of using rhesus macaques as a model for the social deficit in Autism Spectrum Disorder. In addition, Sierra has done some work at the Maderas Rainforest Conservancy looking at social energy budgets between white-faced capuchins and black mantled howler monkeys. In 2018, She finished her undergraduate in cognitive science at University of California, Davis.