I am a second-year MA student in psychology at SDSU. Before attending this (funded) program, I received my BA in Psychology - Therapeutic and Community Concentration from Point Loma Nazarene University in 2021. After graduating, I worked as a research assistant with a psychology neuroimaging-based lab studying irritability in school-age children and as a lab technician in a startup behavioral neuroscience lab exploring the social transfer (empathy-like behavior) of pain in mice. I worked in these labs around 50-60 hours a week for a year and a half since starting the MA program. I am still a participating lab member in both of those labs. I also contribute to my MA program-specific lab studying autism in various age groups and the auditory, sleep, and aging impacts on the disorder. I am working on my thesis project with this lab. I have a strong and varied background in research! :)

Additionally, I have some clinical life experience from being a caretaker of a sibling on the autism spectrum who also battles a rare form of epilepsy. I believe these experiences have helped me become a competitive graduate school applicant. Please feel free to ask me any program-specific or general university questions! I also have friends who attended SDSU as an undergraduate and others who have received their master's in comp sci and journalism, as well as friends in the Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology. I can also contact them if you have any questions about their experiences! :D