Research Inspirations and Interests:

I often think about the Golden Record sent into the cosmos on the 1977 Voyager space probes—a record containing defining information about our world and what makes us human, highlighting music (Glenn Gould performing a Bach prelude), language, and significant scientific discoveries. Among Earth sounds such as songs across world cultures and even whale vocalizations, there is a clip of a crying baby and its mother’s comforting voice, which becomes progressively musical. When I listen to it, I recall moments in my clinical work as a music therapist, watching parents sing or amplify their speech prosody in first communications with their infants. I’m driven to research these interactions at the neural level and investigate our capacity to perceive and produce complex auditory communications: we communicate largely through sound and I want to explore how our brains process these sounds, how they shape who we are, and how research can help develop interventions for hearing-impairments and developmental disorders.

My neurobiology and cognitive neuroscience research in the US and Italy, as well as first-hand clinical observations as a music therapist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Cancer Treatment Centers, drive my interests the neurobiology of music and language, the evolution and development of communication, the dynamics of social interaction, and the use of music in medicine. I also believe in the broader impact music neuroscience can have in understanding the human brain. My passion for SciComm and accessible education (as a Neuromatch Academy volunteer and through my YouTube channel, among other contexts) is fueled by my belief that music, dance, and the arts can play a critical role in facilitating science communication by readily engaging diverse learners and citizen scientists — and connecting communities of learning, research, and healing.

I'm now a Neuroscience PhD student at UCSD, exploring a constellation of neuroscience questions: How are complex auditory communications such as speech and music encoded and processed in the brain? How do these capacities develop? How do particular facets of music perception and production link to other cognitive capacities (e.g. language, attention, social cognition)? What is the neural basis of social interaction in music making — and does interbrain synchrony play a functional role in social interaction? How might music-based assessments measure functioning in other neurocognitive domains? How do adverse childhood experiences change the brain and can targeted music interventions induce beneficial neuroplasticity? How might such insights guide creation of music-based interventions and design of neurofeedback technologies to address clinical goals and improve health?