People | climbsjsu

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 a 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

Michelle Baca Reinke, BS

Michelle earned her undergraduate degree in Psychology from San Jose State University. She is currently working towards a Master's degree in Research and Experimental Psychology where her thesis investigates factors that influence divergent thinking. Upon completing the program she aims to earn a doctoral degree in cognitive neuroscience.

michelle.bacareinke at sjsu.edu

Eunji Back, BA

Eunji is a graduate student in the Research and Experimental Psychology program. She majored in Psychology at UC Berkeley where she studied memory and sleep. Currently, her thesis explores structural and functional brain differences in individuals with major depressive disorder using a meta-analysis approach.

eunji.back at sjsu.edu

Joanne Ha, BS

Joanne graduated with a BS in Psychology from University of California Riverside. As a graduate student in the Research and Experimental Psychology program, she is currently conducting a meta-analysis relating to differences in brain function during memory encoding in individuals with Alzheimer's Disease. She hopes to pursue a PhD in neuropsychology after earning her Master's degree.

joanne.ha 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. His Master's thesis explores differences in episodic memory performance between young adults who engage in different forms of exercise.

carlos.lazarte at sjsu.edu

Research assistants

Simran Dulku

Simran is a third-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's thesis project pertains 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 investigating sociolinguistic perceptions based on who we see speaking.

ulises.quintero at sjsu.edu

Kurtis Riener, BA

Kurtis completed his undergraduate degree in Psychology at SJSU and is currently a Master's student in the Human Factors and Ergonomics program. Upon graduating, he aims to work in the medical device industry, making improvements to surgical robots and AEDs.

kurtis.riener at sjsu.edu

Lab alumni

Graduate Students

David Amy, MA

Chalise Carlson, MA

Hyong Woo (Alex) Hahm, MA

Nicole Henderson, MA

Madison Morocco, MA

Victoria Paoloni, MA

Matthew Reynolds, MA

Dewey Tran, MA