Principal Investigator
Valerie Carr, PhD
Valerie earned a BS in Biological Psychology from the College of William and Mary and a PhD in Neuroscience from UCLA. As a PhD student and later as a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, Valerie used structural and functional MRI to investigate the neural basis of episodic memory in both younger and older adults. As an Associate Professor at SJSU, Valerie's goal is to leverage her cognitive neuroscience background to elucidate strategies for improving brain health, memory, and executive function across the lifespan. She teaches courses relating to neuroscience, learning and memory, and computer programming. Regarding the latter, she is actively involved in pedagogical research examining optimal strategies for teaching interdisciplinary computing.
valerie.carr at sjsu.edu
Graduate Students
Berenice Ayala Ramirez, BA
Berenice earned her undergraduate degree in Psychology from CSU Stanislaus, where she conducted visual perception research. She is currently a graduate student in the Research and Experimental Psychology program, where she is exploring the effects of ASMR on memory consolidation.
berenice.ayalaramirez at sjsu.edu
Carlos Lazarte, BA
Carlos graduated with a BA in Psychology from UC Berkeley, where he studied decision making in children. After graduating he gained additional experience at Stanford conducting research on brain differences in PTSD. He is currently developing his thesis proposal, which relates to potential differences in episodic memory performance across individuals who engage in different forms of exercise .
carlos.lazarte at sjsu.edu
Victoria Paoloni, BA
Victoria earned her undergraduate degree in Psychology from San Francisco State University where her senior thesis focused on time perspective. She is currently working towards a Master's degree in Research and Experimental Psychology where her thesis relates to the relationship between individual differences in susceptibility to false memories and differences in aerobic fitness.
victoria.paoloni at sjsu.edu
Dewey Tran, BA
Dewey graduated from UC Merced where he majored in Psychology and minored in Cognitive Science, and afterwards worked as full-time Homeless Youth Counselor and research assistant at CSU Monterey Bay. His thesis examines the relationship between depression symptoms, rumination, and working memory performance.
dewey.tran at sjsu.edu
Research assistants
Simran Dulku
Simran is a second-year undergraduate Psychology student interested in developmental, social, and biological psychology. She currently works as a Registered Behavioral Technician (RBT) and is interested in pursuing a career in business or education, specifically working with children.
simran.dulku at sjsu.edu
Stephanie Menjivar Quijano, BA
Stephanie is a graduate student in the Research and Experimental program working with both CLIMB and Dr. Cary Feria's Vision Laboratory. Stephanie is leading a study that investigates the effects of caffeine on false memory, and she is also developing her thesis project pertaining to the emotional attentional blink.
stephanie.menjivarquijano at sjsu.edu
Ulises Quintero, BS
Ulises graduated from UC Davis where his research focused on aging and language processing. He is currently pursuing his Master's degree in Research and Experimental Psychology and is investigating sociolinguistic perceptions based on who we see speaking. As a CLIMB member, he is exploring the relationship between aerobic fitness and false memory.
ulises.quintero at sjsu.edu
Ria Ramani
Ria is a fourth year undergraduate Psychology student. She is passionate about the human mind and is interested in pursuing either healthcare or business and applying her knowledge of psychology to these fields.
ria.ramani at sjsu.edu
Lab alumni
Graduate Students
David Amy, MA
Chalise Carlson, MA
Hyong Woo (Alex) Hahm, MA
Nicole Henderson, MA
Madison Morocco, MA
Matthew Reynolds, MA
Research Assistants
Santiago Alba
Niyathi Annamaneni
Natalie Belen
Grace Butler
Ashley Cabrera
Liliana Cuenca
Shannon Desmangles
Stephanie Do
Crystal Fausett
Jose Garcia
Tanya George
Lluvia Gonzalez
David Han
Nicole Huffman
Shruthi Kamath
Ramen Kanda
Gurroop Khalsa
Lucy Khuu
Angelica Martinez
Manny Narwal
Elizabeth Nash
Meher Pahwa
Michael Ricasa
Alondra Ruiz
Kristi Sadler
Dario Sarmiento
Eldita Tarani
Lynna Tu
Case Van Der Berg
Rachel Windsor
Jason Zamorano
