Doing meaningful science and sharing it with the world
At a broad level, I have three main goals as a neuroscientist:
- Do research that furthers what we know about the brain in a meaningful way. My goal is to publish research that significantly contributes to the world of neuroscience, which translates to publication quality over quanitity. By doing this, I can be proud of the fact that every paper I publish or presentation I give is my best effort to contribute to academia in an eloquent way.
- Commit to open science. To me, open science is complete dissemination of results, methods, and interpretations. Beyond publishing my work in journals, I also want to post anonymized data, analsysis scripts, and experiment code from every study I conduct. Throughout this site, I've posted results that are both finalized and in progress. This approach allows not only for others to see how I got to the conclusions I did, but also allows others to try the process themselves. It is an important step towards being open about how I conduct research and I believe its important for all academics to commit to this ideology.
- Translate theoretical work into applied use. Neuroscience is finally seeing a shift towards real-world settings where we can use our theoretical knowledge to help others. I am a firm beleiver in the idea that doing research is borderline pointless if we can't improve our society in some way with it. To work towards this goal, I am dedicated to always conducting at least one applied project that can directly relate to adressing a problem a certain population faces. This may be assesing cognitive skills of patients with MCIs, or looking at high mental fatigue in dangerous occupations like astronauts and emergency room doctors.
Career Trajectory
Master's Degree in Neuroscience at UVic (2020-2022)
My first real step into academia will start with my upcoming Master's degree in neuroscience. As part of my work for this degree, I will conduct experiments on the relationship between cognitive control and reinforcement learning in decision making systems. First, I will examining the effects of feedback congruency with reward on midbrain learning systems in a reinforcement learning task. Next, I will apply these results to a study on cluster-based learning that manipulates different aspects of cognitive control in a paradigm akin to the Wisconsin Card Sorting task. While these studies will fulfill the requirements of my thesis, I also plan to concurrently conduct applied research. In this area, I will finally begin my exploration of Interbrain Neural Synchrony (IBNS). Specifically, I will examine various methods to move this research into a real-world setting. Here is a project proposal I created for a series of experiments on IBNS. This proposal was fulfilled in satisfaction of application to the NSERC CGS M-Grant, and as such is very technical. When writing this proposal, I found myself often referring back and forth to other colleagues frequently for feedback on explaining concepts. Along the way, every one of them also helped with tips about writing grant proposals that incite interest in the research while remaining technical. It was a very informative experience, especially considering how important grant proposals are for academics.
My first real step into academia will start with my upcoming Master's degree in neuroscience. As part of my work for this degree, I will conduct experiments on the relationship between cognitive control and reinforcement learning in decision making systems. First, I will examining the effects of feedback congruency with reward on midbrain learning systems in a reinforcement learning task. Next, I will apply these results to a study on cluster-based learning that manipulates different aspects of cognitive control in a paradigm akin to the Wisconsin Card Sorting task. While these studies will fulfill the requirements of my thesis, I also plan to concurrently conduct applied research. In this area, I will finally begin my exploration of Interbrain Neural Synchrony (IBNS). Specifically, I will examine various methods to move this research into a real-world setting. Here is a project proposal I created for a series of experiments on IBNS. This proposal was fulfilled in satisfaction of application to the NSERC CGS M-Grant, and as such is very technical. When writing this proposal, I found myself often referring back and forth to other colleagues frequently for feedback on explaining concepts. Along the way, every one of them also helped with tips about writing grant proposals that incite interest in the research while remaining technical. It was a very informative experience, especially considering how important grant proposals are for academics.
Doctorate Degree in Neuroscience at UVic (2022-2026)
After a Master's degree, I can fully dive into a complex neuroscience topic in depth throughout a PhD dissertation. In this series of four studies, I will likely further explore cogntive control and reinforcement learning. By this point I will have become proficient in the skills necessary to create computational models and neural networks, and essential component of any deep-dives into the world of hiearchical processing in the brain. For applied studies, it is hard to know where my current work will have led me by this point. Some likely ideas include, applying IBNS to a real-world education setting and more field studies on the affects of cognitive fatigue in various occupational settings (one I would like to look into is military personnel working long shifts at the Victoria Naval base).
After a Master's degree, I can fully dive into a complex neuroscience topic in depth throughout a PhD dissertation. In this series of four studies, I will likely further explore cogntive control and reinforcement learning. By this point I will have become proficient in the skills necessary to create computational models and neural networks, and essential component of any deep-dives into the world of hiearchical processing in the brain. For applied studies, it is hard to know where my current work will have led me by this point. Some likely ideas include, applying IBNS to a real-world education setting and more field studies on the affects of cognitive fatigue in various occupational settings (one I would like to look into is military personnel working long shifts at the Victoria Naval base).
Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Neuroscience (2026-?)
This goal seems so far in the future, but is an essential step towards a life in academics. Again, it is hard to speak to what research area I will focus on at this point, but I am commited to maintaining a balance of theoretical and applied projects, even during a Post-Doc fellowship.
This goal seems so far in the future, but is an essential step towards a life in academics. Again, it is hard to speak to what research area I will focus on at this point, but I am commited to maintaining a balance of theoretical and applied projects, even during a Post-Doc fellowship.
Principle Investigator of a Research Laboratory
Ultimately, my goal is to be the principle investigator (PI) of my own research lab. My main drive to complete this goal is to maintain and further the ideologies of my current PI, Dr. Olav Krigolson, by conducting research in theoretical and applied spaces. Indeed, my goals as a scientist stem from his approaches to science: conduct outstanding science, convert it into use for the population, and be open about your work while you do it. He is a fantastic role-model, and I hope that I can one day create a working environment that embodies his ideas. I also want the oppurtunity to have a lab called "Hammer Lab" and confuse journeymen trying to buy tools online.
Ultimately, my goal is to be the principle investigator (PI) of my own research lab. My main drive to complete this goal is to maintain and further the ideologies of my current PI, Dr. Olav Krigolson, by conducting research in theoretical and applied spaces. Indeed, my goals as a scientist stem from his approaches to science: conduct outstanding science, convert it into use for the population, and be open about your work while you do it. He is a fantastic role-model, and I hope that I can one day create a working environment that embodies his ideas. I also want the oppurtunity to have a lab called "Hammer Lab" and confuse journeymen trying to buy tools online.