Dramatis Personae

Students join the lab through independent study projects, research tutorials, or senior thesis projects

Lab Director

Dr. Matt Schalles

Matt Schalles joined the faculty of New College in 2024. He specializes in noninvasive electrophysiological study of human and marine mammal sensory processing, implicit learning, and motor behavior.

Research Apprentices

Jordan Cohen

Hi! My name is Jordan Cohen, and I am a fourth year here at NCF pursuing a degree in psychology & neuroscience. I am currently working on my undergraduate thesis; using ERP techniques to measure feedback related negativity in adults with attention deficit (hyperactivity) disorder when experiencing perceived social rejection during a cyberball task. My interests lie in the fields of social and affective neuroscience, with additional areas of interest including molecular neuro-biology, addiction research, counselling and education. You can find me on LinkedIn

Taylor Combe

I am working on a project analyzing bottlenose dolphins’ auditory evoked potential data to better understand their response patterns. I am co-developing scripts in python to detect and extract targeted segments of brainwave activity that correspond to specific auditory events. This work supports the lab’s broader research into how marine mammals process and responds to sound. I am excited to see how this project develops, and I am grateful to work in such a supportive environment. Linkedin

Kayla Henson

Cori Brand

Nicola Taylor

Thesis Students

2025/26

Break Abisleiman, Neuroscience/Gender Studies

Nate Clark, Psychology & Computer Science

Jordan Cohen, Psychology/Neuroscience

Kayla Henson, Psychology/Neuroscience

Nya Jacobson, Biopsychology

Nya Jacobson (they/he) is a fourth-year student in Biopsychology with a minor in Art. Nya is conducting a senior thesis project on the behavioral and neuroendocrinological impacts of hormonal contraceptive use. They plan to pursue graduate school for research in neuroscience and endocrinology, in hopes of helping to address the underrepresentation of female health in biomedical research. In their spare time, Nya loves to make music, get outdoors, and organize community events! LinkedIn

William Lopez, Biopsychology

Hello! I'm majoring in Biochemistry & Biopsychology with a minor in Music. My thesis experiment will be combining the three by using music to elicit emotion and pairing cortisol, EEG, and subjective emotional measures to test the predictability of the biological measures to the conscious result. I plan to enter a DO-PhD or MD-PhD program to provide holistic and preventative care while also improving the field of mental health through neuroscience research. Outside of class and the lab, I also do martial arts, play piano, go climbing, and participate in student government and student life. You can find me on LinkedIn!

Ali Shariq, Psychology

Abbi Pratt, Biopsychology

2024/25

Charlie Knowlton, Psychology - FIU Cognitive Neuroscience PhD program

RESTING-STATE ELECTRODERMAL ACTIVITY IN ADULTS WITH AND WITHOUT ADHD

Alexys Siagel, Psychology - NCF Masters in Marine Mammal Science program

CEREBELLAR CONTRIBUTIONS TO VOCAL - MOTOR INTEGRATION: A COMPARATIVE TRACTOGRAPHY STUDY

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