About me

I am a Ph.D. student in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Rochester, advised by Dr. Martina Poletti. My research focuses on understanding how the visual system allocates attention in the presence of multiple competing, high-salience stimuli. Specifically, I aim to answer the question: How do we selectively process the most relevant sensory information and efficiently allocate visual resources when faced with distracting salient items in the visual field?

In parallel, I am also deeply interested in clinical applications of vision science—particularly in understanding visual processing deficits in individuals with schizophrenia. By examining fixational eye movements and attentional mechanisms, my work seeks to bridge fundamental research with translational outcomes.

Timeline news

March 2024: Recieved best poster award at the Center for Vision Science retreat.
Jan 2024: Recieved the Edward Peck Curtis award for excellence in teaching at the University of Rochester.
Dec 2023: Recieved VISTA BIPOC travel award to attend the vision conference in Toronto.
May 2023: Recieved Elsevier travel award to attend VSS, 2023, St. Pete Beach.
March 2023: Recieved the best Graduate research presentation award at the annual Graduate research symposium held by University of Rochester.
May 2022: I am awarded the Meliora mentor fellowship for the second time.
May 2022: Off to Florida to present at VSS, 2022.
Aug 2021: Joining UR women in neuroscience as a student lead organizer.
May 2021: I am awarded the Meliora mentor fellowship where I’ll be an over-arching mentor for 40 undergraduate students.
Aug 2020: Selected as a graduate student representative for the department.
June 2020: Started graduate school at the University of Rochester.
Sept 2018: Started working as Research Assistant at Active Perception Lab, University of Rochester.
Aug 2018: Off to Munich to present my work at VISART-IV, ECCV.
June 2018: Off for an internship with FluxData, Inc in Rochester.
Jan 2018: Off for an internship with Amazon in Seattle.
Nov 2017: My abstract got selected for a poster presentation at Women in Machine learning Workshop (WiML), 2017, with a travel grant.
May 2017: Started working part-time at Margaret’s House (RIT’s Day Care).
Jan 2017: My paper with Dr. Fedorovskaya was accepted for publication in the proceedings of HVEI, 2017.
June 2016: Off to Europe for a six months internship at Xerox Research Center.
April 2016: Partcipated and won all rounds of 3 Minute Thesis Competition including the people’s choice award conducted by RIT between 8 schools on campus. And guess what I got? –> $750 Cash Prize :D.
Jan 2016: Wuhoo! My first ever research job where I’ll be earning. Dr. Elena Fedorovskaya hired me as her Research Assistant.
Aug 2015: Moved to the States and started graduate school at Center for Imaging Science, RIT!