I am a graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. Aron Barbey at the Beckman Institute here at UIUC. One of my active projects involves analyzing data from the Longitudinally Dynamic Biomarkers of Healthy Brain Aging in the Illinois Elderly Adult Cohort, an interdisciplinary study supported by the Center for Nutrition, Learning, and Memory. One of the key aims of this study is to understand the role of nutrition in the healthy aging brain. The data being analyzed is multi-dimensional in nature, including brain imaging via MRI, nutritional biomarkers, diet history surveys, inflammatory proteins, and a variety of cognitive assessments.

A second project I have been pursuing involves analyzing data from the INSIGHT study, a multi-modal intervention study in young adults. The aim of my project is to characterize the role nutrition might play in the relationship between measures of brain health (structure and function) and measures of cognitive function (decision making and fluid intelligence).