Cougar Queries is a series profiling BYU employees by asking them questions about their work, interests and life.
BYU employee since: 2017
My job at BYU is... teaching brains about brains! I direct the Brain, Behavior, and Movement course for the School of Medicine and teach undergraduate neuroscience majors, too.
I'm currently working on... building curriculum for the medical school; trying to get Italian bus companies to respond to my emails planning for Neuroscience in Europe 2027 study abroad.
Students don't think I notice... how delightfully lovable they are, in all their infinite specificity.
My favorite Cougar athlete is... any one of my students. We’ve had neuroscience scholar-athletes that are swimmers and divers; gymnasts; athletes in track and field, volleyball, soccer, baseball, tennis, rugby, lacrosse. Champions ALL.
My favorite lecture to teach is... the basal nuclei. But then, I can make ANY lecture into a lecture about the basal nuclei. Or any conversation, for that matter. Try me.
A daily habit that has changed my life is… the New York Times crossword puzzle. Has it changed my life for the better? Unclear, but my streak of doing it on the day it was posted without any hints is 3423.
I’m currently reading… "Thirst," by John Robins; "When We Cease to Understand the World," by Benjamín Labatut; "Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler’s Ninth Symphony," by Lewis Thomas; and two books by friends: "Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight," by Bobo Fuller, and "Adventure Divas," by Holly Morris.
If I could travel anywhere, I would go to... the moons of Jupiter because my brother is an orbits engineer and he must be useful for something.
You’ll never find me without… my effort to try to develop nonattachment to things. During graduate school, I traveled from New York to Chicago with only my phone — no charger, no money, no wallet — just to see if I could. It turns out I could.
Three things that are always found in my refrigerator are… highbrow cheese, middlebrow cheese and lowbrow cheese.
The title of my autobiography would be… "Highbrow Cheese, Middlebrow Cheese, and Lowbrow Cheese."
My favorite TV show growing up was… "Jeeves & Wooster." I mostly aspired to be the female Bertie Wooster when I grew up.
My favorite podcast to listen to regularly is… TreeNote with Dr. Nalini Nadkarni, a professor at the U. You learn SO MUCH about trees in less than three minutes every Friday. And Desert Island Discs, the protopodcast, still going strong.
My dream car is... Jaguar E-type series 1 OTS convertible, in British racing green.
