Meghan

Looking forward to 2026, I’ll be finishing my PhD, moving somewhere new, and starting the next step in my neuroscience career! There’s so much change coming my way and I’m both extremely nervous and extremely excited. For now, catch me glued to my laptop as I finish this dissertation. Cheers to 2026

This year has been rough to say the least, but when I step back and look at what I’ve managed to accomplish, it makes me so proud of myself.

2025 wrapped: Neuroscientist edition 🧠

📑 Published my first, first author paper
💻 Selected for NeuroStats Bootcamp
🏆 Awarded OSNAP by the NIH
✈️ Presented at 5 national, international, and local conferences
🏅Received a travel award for SfN
👩🏽‍🏫 Gave my first and second ever job talks

SfN is always a blast, but I couldn’t help but feel deeply sentimental experiencing my last SfN as a graduate student. There is a stark contrast between my first ever SfN and this year’s conference as I’ve grown exponentially as a scientist. I am so excited for what my scientific future holds!

If you’re interested in chatting about using an Alzheimer’s disease lens to study brain development you can catch me on Saturday Nov. 15th from 1-5 at poster GG5 or at the Early Career Poster Session from 6:45-8:45 at poster W5.

#SfN20205 @sfn.org

I am currently exploring postdoc opportunities for 2026.
My research interests include:

- Human neuroimaging
- Risk & protective factors for neurodegenerative diseases
- Lifespan brain health & aging

If you're looking for a postdoc (or know someone who is) in these areas, I’d love to connect!

#Flux2025 was truly unforgettable!

Headed to #Flux2025? Stop by my and Abi’s posters! We're exploring how social and environmental factors as well as physical activity and fitness relate to brain structure and cognitive function in kids. If you're curious about temporal lobe development, or just want to say hi, we’d love to see you!

It’s been about a week since #AAIC25, and I’m finally taking a moment to reflect on what an amazing experience it was. I learned so much, had great conversations, and left feeling inspired by all the incredible work happening in the field. Grateful for the chance to be part of it all!

Catch me at poster #433 today at #AAIC25!

I made it to #AAIC25!

Excited to share my research this Tuesday at Poster #433. I’d love to see you there!

I’m also currently exploring postdoc opportunities for Fall 2026. If you're looking for a postdoctoral researcher or would like to connect, I’d be happy to meet and chat.

Honored to be selected as an Outstanding Scholar in Neuroscience by the NIH! Excited to connect with my fellow awardees and share my research!

Looking ahead to postdoc opportunities! If our research interests align and you're anticipating a postdoc opening in 2026, I'd love to connect. I'll be attending Neural, AAIC, Flux, and SfN—feel free to reach out if you're open to a chat!

I was reminded today that sometimes rest is a form resilience 🫶🏼

Sending out my fourth and final letter to my STEM penpal! A little sad that it’s over! Thank you to the Letter to a Pre-scientist organization for putting this all together! This has been such a cool experience that I hope to participate in every year!

Beyond the incredible science, the scenery in Salt Lake is stunning! During down time, we got to go on a few adventures!

What an amazing experience at #NeuroStats! World-class instructors, incredible resources, and so many new friends. If you’re curious about neuroimaging or genetics, this bootcamp is a must.

How fast your brain ages is affected by these 64 genes Nature - Scientists also identified anti-ageing drugs and experimental compounds that could target the genes to reverse decline.

Researchers have identified 64 genes that help to shape how quickly a person’s brain ages

https://go.nature.com/3DV9TvM

Science saves lives

#StandUpForScience2025

List of Stand Up for Science events—official events in red, solidarity events in blue.

SO MANY STAND UP FOR SCIENCE EVENTS TO CHOOSE FROM—153 and COUNTING!

To get more information on our local events and to register your own, head to www.standupforscience2025.org/local-event-information/ ☀️⬇️🌎

Happy International Day of Women and Girls in STEM to every woman and girl breaking down gender biases and defying stereotypes in fields where we’ve long been underrepresented. STEM is stronger and more innovative because we are here!

Underrepresented Populations in the U.S. Biomedical, Clinical, Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Enterprise Individuals from racial and ethnic groups that have been shown by the National Science Foundation to be underrepresented in health-related sciences on a national basis Individuals with disabilities, who are defined as those with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, as described in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended. See NSF data at, https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17310/static/data/tab7-5.pdf. Individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, defined as those who meet two or more of the following criteria: Were or currently are homeless, as defined by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (Definition: https://nche.ed.gov/mckinney-vento/); Were or currently are in the foster care system, as defined by the Administration for Children and Families (Definition: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/focus-areas/foster-care); Were eligible for the Federal Free and Reduced Lunch Program for two or more years (Definition: https://www.fns.usda.gov/school-meals/income-eligibility-guidelines); Have/had no parents or legal guardians who completed a bachelor’s degree (see https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2018/2018009.pdf); Were or currently are eligible for Federal Pell grants (Definition: https://www2.ed.gov/programs/fpg/eligibility.html); Received support from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) as a parent or child (Definition: https://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/wic-eligibility-requirements). Grew up in one of the following areas: a) a U.S. rural area, as designated by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Rural Health Grants Eligibility Analyzer (https://data.hrsa.gov/tools/rural-health), or b) a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services-designated Low-Income and Health Professional Shortage Areas (qualifying zipcodes are included in the file

Before it is all taken down, a good reminder that the NIH has (or maybe had) an expansive definition of what constitutes diversity. So this means less participation by #womeninSTEM, #URMinSTEM, #disabledinSTEM, plus those that grew up rural, #firstgen, unhoused, or low-income.

#academicSky 🧪👩‍🔬 2/n

Cross-ethnicity/race generalization failure of behavioral prediction from resting-state functional connectivity fMRI-based machine learning models predict behavioral measures biasedly against African Americans.

The is particularly true in the area of precision medicine, where models trained in homogeneous populations largely fail to generalize to diverse samples. Eg work by @bttyeo.bsky.social and others. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Excited to have been selected to attend the Training in Advanced Statistical Methods in Neuroimaging and Genetics workshop hosted by the University of Utah this coming spring!

Hi all! I’m a PhD candidate at the University of Nebraska Medical Center studying brain development and Alzheimer’s disease risk factors. I’m looking for potential post doc opportunities in AD, epigenetics and related areas. If that sounds like your jam, I’d love to connect!

Graduate Students of Distinction The Graduate Students of Distinction award is reserved for students who receive national and international recognition.

Honored to be named a Graduate Student of Distinction for my D-SPAN (F99/K00) award! Excited to study social and environmental determinants of health and their association with Alzheimer’s disease risk and resilience!

www.unmc.edu/gradstudies/...

Presenting my recent work using fMRI and a relational memory task in a developing cohort at SfN 2024!

Sharing my work on hippocampal subfield volume and relational memory in children at Flux 2024!

OHBM 2023!!