People

Principal Investigator

Tobias Overath (CV)

Graduate students

	Jiayue Liu Jiayue is generally interested in how the acoustic signal that reaches the eardrum is processed in the auditory system. More specifically, she is devoted to understanding how hearing loss and hearing aids (including cochlear implants) affect human auditory perception. Her current work focuses on quantifying the perceptual cost of auditory nerve fiber loss.
	Evan Hare Evan is interested in how auditory information and speech are processed in the brain. Specific topics of interest include: (1) auditory scene analysis, (2) representations of acoustic vs speech perception, (3) the mechanisms of auditory attention and phenomena such as the “cocktail party effect.”

Undergraduate Research Assistants

	Julia Leeman Julia is an undergraduate student from Charlotte, NC, double majoring in neuroscience and music. She is interested in how music and language are processed in the brain, specifically music’s connection to memory and emotion. In addition to research, Julia is a singer-songwriter and performs with Duke’s Opera Theater, Chorale, and Chamber Choir. In the future, she plans to become a professor, hoping to implement evidence of lifelong musicianship’s ability to delay the symptoms of dementia to advocate for expanded music education.
	Carlos Montes Carlos is an undergraduate studying a Program II curriculum centered around Cognitive Musicology. He is particularly interested in how cultural and societal upbringings influence the way humans perceive music, with a specific interest in cognition and auditory processing. He also works under Dr. Laurie Sanders in the Neurology department studying protein interactions and their connections to the onset of Parkinson’s Disease. Carlos likes to spend his time playing the oboe in various ensembles on campus and playing or watching soccer.
	Mary Kate Merenich Mary Kate is majoring in neuroscience with a minor in psychology. Her broad research interests include language, music, and sensory impairment, but she is more specifically drawn to the impact of hearing and vision loss on childhood language development. Apart from being a student, Mary Kate is also a flute player and distance runner. Her time is often spent both playing and listening to music, going for runs, and watching movies with her friends.
	Jamie Kurzer Jamie is an undergraduate student majoring in neuroscience. As a dancer and former dance teacher, her unique perspective on how music and sound influence people has fueled her fascination with the brain’s response to rhythm and melody. In addition to research, Jamie is a member of Momentum Dance Company and a volunteer at Duke’s Puppy Kindergarten.
	Sarayu Kodali Sarayu is an undergraduate student majoring in neuroscience with minors in music and chemistry. She is specifically interested in the therapeutic effects of music and how music is processed differently in the brain compared to other forms of sound. In addition to research, Sarayu is a member of Duke Dhamaka, a South Asian dance group, and plays the viola in the chamber music program. In her free time, she likes to watch psychological thrillers and discover new genres of music.

Lab alumni

	Annie Vila Undergraduate Research Assistant. Next stop: medical school.
	Paige Sevchik Undergraduate Research Assistant.
	Ying Yu Undergraduate Research Assistant. Next stop: Research Assistant with Daniel Bowling
	Medy Mu Undergraduate Research Assistant. Next stop: Neurobiology graduate student at Duke University.
	Justine Shih CNAP rotation student; next stop: graduate student with Jenni Groh
	Kees Heetderks Undergraduate Research Assistant
	Divya Nataraj Undergraduate Research Assistant
	Allen Zhang Undergraduate Research Assistant
	SG (Seung-Goo) Kim Postdoc; next stop: postdoc at the MPI for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt, Germany
	Akshay Maggu Postdoc; next stop: faculty in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at Hofstra University.
	Jasmine Leahy Undergraduate Research Assistant; next stop: Medical School at Mount Sinai
	Jie Wan Lab manager; next stop: graduate student at UC Irvine with Greg Hickok
	David Murphy Graduate student (with Jenni Groh)
	Taylor Fistel Undergraduate Research Assistant
	Saqib Shahid Rotating Masters student
	Charlie Todd Undergraduate Research Assistant
	Maddie Hsiang Undergraduate Research Assistant; next stop: IRTA Postbaccalaureate fellow at NIH
	Preethi Kannan Undergraduate Research Assistant
	Valeria Caruso Postdoc; next stop: Research Investigator at the University of Michigan
	Jackson Lee Research Assistant / Lab Manager; next stop: MS in Computer Science at Georgia Tech
	Anthony Sali Postdoc; next stop: Assistant Professor at Wake Forest University
	Yoshie Mizuguchi Undergraduate Research Assistant
	Paul Dickinson Undergraduate Research Assistant
	Aurelio Falconi Undergraduate Research Assistant
	Matt Fecteau Lab manager; next stop: Duke Track team
	Paige Mihalsky Lab manager / Research assistant; next stop: Medical School at the University of Oklahoma
	Joon Paik Undergraduate and Graduate Research Assistant; next stop: preparing for Med/Grad School
	Jade Wu North Carolina School for Science and Mathematics Mentorship Program; next stop: University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill