Education
Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, 2026
M.A., University of Chicago, 2019
B.A., Capital Normal University, 2018
Profile
I completed my Ph.D. in Psychological and Brain Sciences at Johns Hopkins University in August 2026. My doctoral research focused on how memory works in naturalistic settings: how having agency over the events of a story personalizes what we remember, and how the brain keeps a narrative in mind across interruptions. I am thrilled to continue my work on how memories shape the emotions and social meaning we construct from new experiences at the MemoLab at UCLA. I furthermore hold a particular interest in how the brain builds and holds a model of an unfolding situation over minutes, in naturalistic experimental designs, and in large language models as tools for analyzing narrative recall and as model comprehenders to compare with people.
Outside the lab, I enjoy music in every form: making it, playing piano and guitar, singing, and going to classical concerts and musicals. I also enjoy movies, museums, art galleries, and gardens; hiking, beaches, and travel; photography and fashion; and designing and making things that are functional, beautiful, or both.