Intro post

[capuchin]

Hiya...monkeys are sweet...i like them too =)

http://www.modernhumorist.com/mh/0011/monkey/

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That's a great link--I got kinda sucked into it

[capuchin]

HEY!!!!!!!!!  You and I should carpool!  I live right next to the church, St. Josaphat's.  I mean literally right next to it, in the rectory.

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Oh wow, that is close--I don't actually have a car myself (although my b/f does) so I usually get my daily exercise by walking to school

We've been talking about having a party at our place sometime over the summer, since it's been nearly a year since our last party. If we do, I'll probably make a post about it or something. You should come, being so close by and all...

[Nerdcore]

[SomeDanGuy]

I'm a research assistant in a cognitive neuroscience lab studying the effects of aging on the brain. I'm also developing my senior thesis, which is going to be on primate social behavior.

Whoa, that's awesome. I'd be interested to hear about some of the cognitive psych projects going on. I've got to find a couple more lab to do research rotations in before I start the full PhD at WSU. This summer I'm at Scott Hall doing some stuff with latent respiratory pathways, but I'd like to try some more cognitive stuff in the future

[capuchin]

Whoa, that's awesome.  I'd be interested to hear about some of the cognitive psych projects going on. 

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It's pretty interesting stuff...being that I'm still an undergrad, most of what I do is stuff like doing the pre-screening of participants to see if they meet the health criteria for the study and meeting participants at the hospital to get their bloodwork done. But there's some really interesting stuff being done with fMRIs at the lab. We have this cool software that lets us measure precisely the size of various parts of the brain, and then we also do a variety of cognitive testing for all of the participants. The research is all longitudinal studies, so we (ideally) do this five times for each participant over the course of five years.

Doing the cognitive end of neuroscience is kind of a new thing for me--before this I was a research assistant in a behavioral pharmacology lab, using animal models to study the effects of toluene on development, both prenatally and in adolescence. Working with humans is a totally different thing, since so much time is spent in recruitment and scheduling. Unlike rats, you actually have to get people to consent--you can't just pick 'em up by the tail and toss them in watermaze

[Troy Spiral (13)]

To answer some of the questions I didn't cover in my intro:

Where from? Pennsylvania originally, I've kind of lived all over the U.S. though (California, Arizona, Texas, various parts of the Midwest, etc.)

Work? Lab rat, basically. I'm a research assistant in a cognitive neuroscience lab studying the effects of aging on the brain. I'm also developing my senior thesis, which is going to be on primate social behavior. I'm looking at the Detroit Zoo but may wind up doing it in Manaus,Brazil next summer if I can get all my clearances. I also volunteer as the secretary for psi chi (the national honor society in psychology) where I do a lot of stuff like process memberships, maintain the mailing list and various administrative type stuff.

Kids? No kids and not married--though I live with my boyfriend who I've been with for about five years

Hobbies? Watching movies, I also like to read a lot, and I spend a lot of time writing

Other Stuff? I think that's about it  =)

Wow. Sound like a very interesting person. When you say your "senior thesis" i assume your school offers some sort of alternate graduation process , such as various electives and/or lecture courses that you could have chosen to complete your degree or were you basically "forced" to do a senior thesis?

From your post i assume your degree will be in Zoology or just a general bachelors of science ? (at U of M most everyone ended up with a "of Science" degree regardless if it was Physics or Computer Sci or Psychology as i remember)

[capuchin]

Wow.  Sound like a very interesting person.  When you say your "senior thesis" i assume your school offers some sort of alternate graduation process , such as various electives and/or lecture courses that you could have chosen to complete your degree or were you basically "forced" to do a senior thesis?

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The senior thesis is part of the honors program--basically, I'm going for departmental honors which is an additional 12 credits, where I do a directed study (which is basically working in a lab for credit) a thesis, an honors section of a regular class and then a class specifically offered through the honors department. The thesis is a pretty good deal,though, even if it's a lot of work. It's one of those things graduate schools look favorably on since it means you've already learned some of the skills you'll need to eventually defend your masters.

From your post i assume your degree will be in Zoology or just a general bachelors of science ?  (at U of M most everyone ended up with a "of Science" degree regardless if it was Physics or Computer Sci or Psychology as i remember)

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Just the Bachelor's of Science in Psychology. Wayne State's Psychology department offers two options--a BA or a BS. The BS means 27 credits in science courses outside of Psychology, which for me will be mostly Bio courses, with a few classes in Chemistry, Physical Anthropology and Geology. I'm planning on applying mostly to graduate schools in Psychology that are doing primatology research (Emory, U of M, UC Davis, etc.) which tend to be housed in neuroscience/animal behavior concentrations although there are a few Physical Anthropology programs with particularly strong primate resources (e.g. Duke, who has their own lemur colony.) that I'm interested in as well.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Hrmm interesting. Its been almost a decade (omg im ancient) since I've been actively involved in academia , but hell if i had my choice i think i'd just be a full time student , forever, that'd rock.... sniff...

So your primary interest is in what exactly? Non-human primate behavior? "primatology" i guess that's called?

[capuchin]

Hrmm interesting.  Its been almost a decade (omg im ancient) since I've been actively involved in academia , but  hell if i had my choice i think i'd just be a full time student , forever, that'd rock.... sniff...

So your primary interest is in what exactly?  Non-human primate behavior?  "primatology" i guess that's called?

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Heh, I'm pretty ancient too--I took a "semester off" that lasted more than ten years at one point, so I'm a little slow in getting the undergrad done. But it all evens out in the end since just about everyone who goes to grad school doesn't finish til their sixty anyways

Yeah--my big interest is in primatology. I really kinda dig neuroethology/neuroscience etc. as well, but primate stuff is where my passion is. I especially like some of the comparative work being done with primates and development, such as taking attachment theory that Psychology has typically applied to humans and seeing how it manifests in primates, to get a better sense of the evolutionary component of this stuff...

[GOTHIKA]

Current location? Detroit, mi 4 blocks from wsu

Where from? here, lol

Work? still looking

School? its being an asshole

Kids? 1 daughter name sonya she is 1 year old.

Married? nope; dont need it

Single? sadly yes

Hobbies? video games, movies, partying, clubbing, dancing, ddr, wow

Other Stuff? idk pm me and find out if you dare

[dragonluv]

Hello and Welcome!

[GOTHIKA]

DITTO

[taysteewonderbunny]

Hello and welcome!

[GOTHIKA]

welcome; we shall dine in hell