People

Our team: Extremely nerdy. A little quirky. A lot of fun.

who we are

We're a motley crew of science nerds united in the pursuit of understanding the inner workings and limits of human memory.  

Read on to meet the team!

active lab members | lab alumni | collaborators


 

jeremy manning  |  lab director 

Jeremy is an Assistant Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth and directs the Contextual Dynamics Lab. He enjoys thinking about brains, non-brain brain-related things (e.g. zombies), computers, annoying-to-solve puzzles, and cats.

[CV]  [Google Scholar]

 

paxton fitzpatrick | grad student

Paxton graduated from Dartmouth in 2019 with a BA in neuroscience and is continuing his research in the lab while applying to grad school. He’s interested in creating new experiments and software tools to study classroom learning and model how memories change over time. Outside the lab, Paxton enjoys hiking, renovating old houses, and teaching Python.

xinming_xu.png

xinming xu | grad student

Xinming's research uses memory retrieval paradigms to probe how narrative and real-life events are transformed into memory. He has a particular interest in memory for temporal structure. His outside-of-the-lab interests include exploring narratives, frisbee, and squash.

aaryan agrawal | undergrad

Aaryan is majoring in systems engineering and physics. He also takes courses in design, data science, and economics. Aaryan loves working out, slow meals, and playing games with his friends. He is an avid traveler and enjoys chasing new food and sights.

 

daniel carstensen | undergrad

Daniel is a member of the class of 2024 from Munich, Germany and intends to major in mathematical data science and Japanese culture and language. His research interests revolve around the intersection of neuroscience and machine learning. Outside of lab work, he enjoys photography, reading, and skiing.

mira chiruvolu | undergrad

Mira is a member of the class of 2025 studying cognitive science and creative writing. She is from the Bay Area, CA and outside of the lab she loves to write poetry, play basketball, and watch movies.

kunal jha | undergrad

Kunal is a member of the class of 2024, majoring in computer science and philosophy. His research interests lie at the intersection of machine learning and cognitive science, and he enjoys thinking about multi-agent systems. Outside of the lab, he spends most of his time training MMA, drumming, or playing video games.

 

wendy liang | undergrad

Wendy is a member of the class of 2025 from Shenzhen, China and is double majoring in mathematical data science and economics. She enjoys sports, the outdoors, and would be very happy to chat about puzzles, board games, and problem-solving.

jake mcdermid | undergrad

Jake is a member of the class of 2025 from England, majoring in neuroscience. Outside of the lab, he enjoys watching sports, skiing, and spending time with friends outdoors.

ansh patel | undergrad

Ansh is a member of the class of 2024 from Grafton, MA. He is studying mathematics and computer science to better explore his interests in finance and data science. Outside of the lab, he enjoys New England sports, traveling, and watching movies.

 

emma reeder | undergrad

Emma is a member of the class of 2025, studying psychology and neuroscience. Outside of school, she enjoys skiing, reading, and making coffee.

om shah | undergrad

Om is a member of the class of 2026 from Morganton, NC. He is on the pre-med track, and has many different interests ranging from biology to computer science.

zack somma | undergrad

Zack is a member of the class of 2025 from New Hampshire, who plans on pursuing a double major in neuroscience and biomedical engineering sciences while on the pre-health track. In his free time, he plays hockey and tennis, enjoys spending time outdoors, and likes to explore various finance topics.

 
Hiring-43.png
 

your name here?

The Contextual Dynamics Lab is looking for fresh new brains! If you have a Dartmouth NetID, click here to view the projects for which we are actively hiring. If you are not in the Dartmouth system, use the button below to let us know you're interested.

 
 

 
Fledging Brain-44.png

Who we were

Our vast network of fledgling influencers is taking the world by storm.

Check out our list of illustrious lab alumni and what they’re up to now!

 

Postdoctoral Researchers

Gina Notaro (2017-2018; now at Lockheed Martin)
Andrew Heusser (2016-2018; now at Akili Interactive)

Graduate Students

Kirsten Ziman (PBS Doctoral Student, 2017-2022; now at Princeton University)
Lucy Owen (PBS Doctoral Student, 2016-2021; now at Brown University)
Mark Taylor (QBS Masters Student 2021)
Max Bluestone (QBS Masters Student 2018-2019)
Tom Hao Chang (CS Masters Student 2016-2017; now at Amazon)
Hanli Li (CS Masters Student 2016)

Lab Managers

Paxton Fitzpatrick (2019-2021; now a CDL grad student!)
Emily Whitaker (2017-2018; now at U Wisconsin-Madison)
Kirsten Ziman (2016-2017; then a CDL grad student!)

Undergraduate Researchers

Ameer Talha Yasser (2023)
Charlie Baker (2023)
Will McCall (2023)
Natalie Schreder (2023)
Grace Wang (2023)
Anna Mikhailova (2022)
Swestha Jain (2022)
Thomas Corrado (2022)
Aidan Adams (2021)
Daniel Ha (2021)
Damini Kohli (2021)
Brian Chiang (2021-2022)
Darren Gu (2020-2021)
Tyler Chen (2020-2022)
Tehut Biru (2020-2021)
Chris Suh (2020-2021)
Helen Liu (2020)
Kelly Rutherford (2020)
Chris Jun (2020-2021)
Ethan Adner (2020-2021)
Chris Long (2020-2021)
Esme Chen (2020-2021)
Luca Lit (2020)
Vivian Tran (2020)
Greg Han (2020)
Austin Zhang (2020)
Chelsea Uddenberg (2020)
Shane Hewitt (2020)
Chetan Pavuluri (2020)
Aaron Lee (2019-2020)
Sarah Park (2019-2020)
Shane Park (2019-2021)
William Chen (2019-2020)
Tudor Muntianu (2019-2022)
Will Baxley (2018-2021)
Seung Ju Lee (2018)
Mustafa Nasir-Moin (2018)
Iain Sheerin (2018)
Darya Romanova (2018)
Alex Martinez (2018-2020)
Rachael Chacko (2018)
Kirsten Soh (2018)
Ann Carpenter (2018)
Stephen Satterthwaite (2017-2018)
Bryan Bollinger (2017-2018)
Christina Lu (2017)
Armando Oritz (2017)
Campbell Field (2016-2018)
Maddy Lee (2016-2021)
Wei Liang Samuel Ching (2016-2018)
Marisol Tracy (2016-2017)
Allison Frantz (2016-2017)
Aamuktha Porika (2016-2017)
Jake Rost (2016)
Clara Silvanic (2016)
Aman Agarwal (2016)
Joseph Finkelstein (2016)
Sheherzad Mohydin (2016)
Peter Tran (2016)
Gal Perlman (2016)
Jessica Tin (2016)

 

 

Friends of the lab

taming_science

Science is a collaborative beast— it takes a village to tame it! 

We are fortunate to have a wonderful team of collaborators and science superheroes to brainstorm with, help us notice when our ideas get a bit too crazy for the "lay scientist," and complain to when our code doesn't compile. Here are links to the fine upstanding citizens we've been hanging out with lately:

 

Neural Basis of Attention EPSCoR Team, Dartmouth College, Brown University, University of Nevada at Reno, and Montana State University (Collaborative team lead by Peter Tse and David Sheinberg)

Computational Memory Lab, University of Pennsylvania (Director: Mike Kahana)

Computational Memory Lab, Princeton University (Director: Ken Norman)

Machine Learning at Columbia, Columbia University (Director: Dave Blei)

Memory Dynamics Lab, Bard College (Director: Justin Hulbert)

Computational Social Affective Neuroscience Lab, Dartmouth College (Director: Luke Chang)

van der Meer Lab, Dartmouth College (Director: Matt van der Meer)

Epilepsy and Cognition Lab, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (Director: Barbara Jobst)

Brainard Lab, University of Pennsylvania (Director: David Brainard)

Chameleon Studios (Director: Talia Manning)