Student Spotlight
Rachel Nauer
A fourth-year PhD student in the Brain, Behavior, and Cognition (BBC) track, Rachel works in both the Cognitive Neuro-imaging Laboratory and the Brain Plasticity and Neuro-imaging Laboratory at BU. Through her research, she seeks to better understand the neural correlates of memory through behavioral and neuro-imaging methods. As part of a project funded by means of a pre-doctoral fellowship awarded by the National Institute on Aging, Rachel is studying the effects of aerobic exercise on memory and the brain across the adult lifespan.
Her time as a student in the BBC program has taught her a new approach to problem solving. With a supportive and equally engaged network of faculty and students, the program has enabled her to expand her understanding of human memory. According to Rachel, “The design of the program and the encouraging collaborations with renowned faculty have been extraordinarily facilitative in my academic success and development towards a scientific career.”
Olivier (Ollie) Barthelemy
Through the PhD program in clinical psychology, Olivier has delved into diverse areas of research—examining the effects of prenatal drug exposure and psychosocial exposure on inner-city youth, studying the effects of an attention training intervention on individuals with Parkinson’s disease, and learning about the nature of deficits in cognitive/motor dual tasking in individuals with Parkinson’s disease. He has learned how to provide clinical psychological and neuropsychological intervention alongside conducting primary research in these areas.