Team — Williamson Laboratory

ROSS S WILLIAMSON
Assistant Professor
Otolaryngology, Neurobiology, & Bioengineering
University of Pittsburgh

PhD | University College London
MRes | University College London
MSc | University of Edinburgh
BSc | Heriot-Watt University

rsw@pitt.edu

Ross grew up in Edinburgh where he studied Computer Science and Neuroinformatics as an undergraduate. In 2007, he moved south of the border, and in 2012 he received his PhD from University College London, where he worked at the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit with Profs. Maneesh Sahani and Jennifer Linden. Ross then worked as a postdoctoral research fellow with Prof. Daniel Polley at the Eaton-Peabody Laboratories (Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary) and Department of Otolaryngology (Harvard Medical School). In his spare time, Ross enjoys the outdoors, endurance sports, reading, and listening to music (especially Phish).

**RACHEL M CASSIDY**
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
rmc185@pitt.edu
Rachel received a bachelor's degree in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University, where she studied BCIs in behaving monkeys. After researching multisensory integration as a technician at Baylor College of Medicine, she completed a PhD in Computational Neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego. In the lab of Dr. Ed Callaway at the Salk Institute, Rachel's doctoral work focused on the organization and function of the mouse visual thalamocortical system. Returning to her hometown of Pittsburgh for postdoctoral research, she now studies the role of cortical-subcortical projections in naturalistic, auditory-guided behavior. Outside of the lab, Rachel enjoys cooking, traveling, and spending time with her entourage of pets.

**MADAN GHIMIRE**
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
mag607@pitt.edu
Madan completed his bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from the Rajeev Gandhi University of Health Science followed by a master’s degree in Pharmacology from the Jamia Hamdard, in India. After receiving his master’s degree, in 2017 Madan joined SIU School of Medicine for PhD, where he worked with Prof. Donald Caspary in the department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience. His research interests include understanding the nature of information sharing by collateralizing projection neurons of the auditory cortex during passive and active listening. In his free time, Madan loves to cook, eat, hike, and sometimes play soccer.

REBECCA F KRALLPostdoctoral Research Fellowrfk12@pitt.edu — **REBECCA F KRALL**
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
rfk12@pitt.edu
Becca is a Postdoctoral scientist using machine learning and computational techniques to understand the neural mechanisms that underlie sensory-guided behaviors. She received her PhD in Neurobiology from the University of Pittsburgh in 2020 where she used electrophysiology to examine the role of zinc in synaptic transmission. Outside of the lab, Becca spends her time biking, rock climbing, and spoiling her two dogs, Max and Rudy.

**SUNREETA BHATTACHARYA**
PSN Graduate Student
sunreetb@andrew.cmu.edu
Sunreeta (Rito) is in his second year of CMU's PhD Program in Systems Neuroscience. He graduated with a dual BS-MS (Research) degree from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 2022, majoring in Biology. In his undergrad days he studied neural coding in monkey visual cortex, comparing the information content and patterns in spikes and field potentials. His interests range from animal behavior and psychology to building network models that explain emergent phenomena. Currently he is psyched about studying neuroethological motifs in mouse acoustic communication and other auditory-guided behaviors. He is also passionate about cricket, literature and music, and loves chatting about them over a cup of tea.

KEITH J KAUFFMANCNUP Graduate Studentkjk117@pitt.edu — **KEITH J KAUFMAN**
CNUP Graduate Student
kjk117@pitt.edu
Keith is a 4th year PhD student in the CNUP program at the University of Pittsburgh. After receiving his bachelor's degree in Music Business from SUNY Oneonta, he spent a decade in NYC working various jobs related to music before making a career change into neuroscience. This included receiving a master's degree in Experimental Psychology and working in a rat lab studying the role of the ventral striatum in reward behavior. His current project investigates arousal-dependent changes to neural activity within the auditory cortex. For fun, he watches too many movies and shreds on the guitar.

MICHAEL MALINA

PSN Graduate Student

mmalina@andrew.cmu.edu

Mikey is in his second year of a PhD Program in Systems Neuroscience at Carnegie Mellon University. He completed his bachelor's degree in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience at UC San Diego. After receiving his undergraduate degree he worked for three years as a neuroimaging analyst at the University of Chicago. His interests are in top-down modulation of encoding schemes in the auditory cortex and he plays drums, hikes and reads Haruki Murakami for fun.