Cat is currently a PhD student at the Center for Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh working with Dr. Susan Perlman in the Laboratory for Child Brain Development. She first joined the SNAP lab as an undergraduate research assistant in 2012, stayed on as an MR research coordinator after graduating in 2014, and continued to collaborate on this exciting work after leaving to pursue a PhD in 2017. She completed her undergraduate honors thesis in the SNAP lab titled, “The Biology of Worry: Autonomic Responses to Social Stress in Generalized Anxiety Disorder” and dove into developmental affective neuroscience work after graduating. Her main interests are in the development of foundational neural circuitry that gives rise to affect and affect regulation during infancy and early childhood (because child brains are the coolest ever) and this is the focus of her graduate work. Apart from research, Cat also enjoys creating and otherwise enjoying art, much of which is inspired by science, brains, and early childhood.
