Hi there! I’m Dani. (01/15/2024)
I’m a 32-year-old Ph.D. candidate at Purdue University. I am in the Neuroscience and Behavior area of the Psychological Sciences Department. My doctoral research primarily focuses on the neurological correlates of lexical semantics using fMRI and behavioral measures, and I have additional ongoing projects looking at visual spatial attention and improving Parkinson’s diagnosis. Even though I am in the Neuroscience and Behavior area, I have invested the majority of my academic career into learning and implementing sophisticated statistical techniques and computational models. This is highlighted by the fact that I primarily teach undergraduate (and assist in teaching graduate) statistics courses, though in the past, I have taught undergraduate courses in Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Research Methods in the past as well. If you’re interested in my academic pursuits, check out my CV.
Outside of my academic pursuits, I am a pretty stereotypical nerd. I like playing D&D/TTRPGs and watching live-stream shows like Critical Role. I also enjoy a myriad of RPG video games, from the Legend of Zelda and Pokémon franchises on the Nintendo Switch to Baldur’s Gate 3 and Guild Wars 2 on the PC. I used to play Magic the Gathering and still have a good amount of cards/decks, but I haven’t kept up with it in the last few years.
I am trying to get back in shape, and try to work out 5 days per week. But if you see me at the gym, don’t try to talk to me; I try to just keep my head down, get my sweat on, and go. (‘Cause I actually hate working out.)
I have a lovely husband named Hayden, and you can read all about him on his website.