PhD Students

Phd Student
mdwortz@utexas.edu
Maddie is interested in the neural mechanisms facilitating social rank in group-living animals, specifically how individuals in a group learn and/or recognize social rank relationships between themselves and group-members. Her research examines the neural representation of social rank and social context in the mouse brain using genomic and electrophysiological techniques. She received her B.S. in Biology from the University of Michigan.

Phd Student
Radak1257@utexas.edu
Koll is a PhD candidate in the Curley Lab at The University of Texas at Austin. He is currently working on mechanisms of parental care in mice looking at strain differences in the neurological systems involved in parental care. Additionally, he is investigating the plasticity induced by sexual experience within these regions along with gene expression. Koll received a B.S. in Psychology and a Certificate in Forensic Science at The University of Texas at Austin.

Phd Student
kathryn.mahach@utmail.utexas.edu
Kathryn is interested in how the early life social environment affects stress resilience later in life. More specifically, her research is focused on investigating the changes in glial cell characteristics driven by social experiences and their influence on affective behavior. Before coming to UT Austin, she received a B.S. in Biology from James Madison University.

Phd Student
milewski@utexas.edu
Tyler is interested in how social relationships and environmental context shape social status. Primarily, how behavioral plasticity coordinates with neural and physiological systems to induce metabolic, cellular maintenance, immune, and locomotion changes leading to adaptive and maladaptive fitness outcomes. Tyler’s research looks at how social transitions in status influence an individual’s behavior, physiology, and molecular profiles. Before coming to UT Austin, Tyler received a B.S. in Neuroscience and M.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Scranton.

Phd Student
sydney.seese@utexas.edu
Sydney is interested in studying how social behavior is influenced by developmental environment and how/what influences social status to change. She is currently researching dominance in male and female stable social mouse groups and doing work with how rearing environment influences social behaviors in mice. Sydney received a B.S. in Behavioral Neuroscience at Michigan State University in 2020.
Research Associates

Researcher
Lab Manager
ariel.bellatin@austin.utexas.edu
Ariel is a lab manager and research associate in the Curley Lab at The University of Texas at Austin. Her current roll revolves around structuring and maintaining an easily functioning lab. She is interested in the neurobiological and physiological outcomes of social behavior in animals. Before coming to UT Austin, Ariel received a B.S. in Biology from Texas Tech University.

Researcher
olivia.taliaferro@austin.utexas.edu
Livy is a research associate in the Curley lab at the University of Texas at Austin. They are interested in the neural pathways and structures associated with social behavior in animals. Currently, they are helping research the neural processing of social information within dominance hierarchies. Before joining the Curley lab, they received a B.A in Psychology from Baylor University.
Undergraduate Students

Undergraduate Student
Mia is an undergraduate student in the Curley Lab at The University of Texas at Austin. She is majoring in Psychology (B.S.) and pursuing a Certificate in Applied Statistical Modeling. Mia is working with temporospatial data from social networks of mice, specifically developing code in RStudio to track animal activity and association.

Undergraduate Student
Kenzo Revilla is a Junior at The University of Texas at Austin. He is pursuing a Bachelors of Science in Human Biology and an Art History Minor. As an Undergraduate research assistant in the Curley Lab, Kenzo aides in the research being conducted over the glial morphology of mice after they form social dominance hierarchies.

Undergraduate Student
Arjun is an undergraduate research assistant in the Curley Lab at The University of Texas at Austin. He is pursuing a degree in Biochemistry (B.S.). Arjun’s work revolves around social behavior in mice, more specifically the positions of mice within their social hierarchy and associated hormonal and epigenetic patterns.
Postdocs
Name | Current Position | Interests |
---|---|
Becca Franks Postdoc at the Animal Welfare Program at The University of British Columbia Ph.D. in Psychology, Columbia University (2012) B.A. in Anthropology, New York University (2002) |
Research Scientist of Environmental Studies, New York University Becca’s research interests include animal welfare; curiosity and cognitive enrichment; motivation; animal personality; statistical modeling; and fish behavior. |
Graduate Students
Name | Current Position | Interests |
---|---|
Won Lee Postdoc in Champagne Lab, the University of Texas at Austin (2021) Ph.D. in Psychology, Columbia University (2020) Masters in Psychology, Columbia University (2017) B.S. in Biology Education, Minor in Psychology, Seoul National University (2013) |
Won completed her PhD at Columbia University. She is now an associate In Vivo scientist at The Jackson Laboratory |
Nina So PhD, Sarah Woolley Lab, Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University Masters, Curley Lab, Columbia University B.A. in Biology and Music, University of Virginia |
Nina completed her Masters’ degree at Columbia University in the lab. She is now director of R&D operations at Pfizer. |
Cait Williamson Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience, Columbia University (2018) B.A. in Neuroscience and Behavior, Columbia University |
Cait completed a PhD at Columbia University. She is now an Account Director at 21GRAMS |
Undergraduate Students
Name | Current Position | Interests |
---|---|
Jaxon Paige Bowman B.S., University of Texas at Austin (2019) |
Medical Assistant at Dermatology & Skin Surgery Institute of North Texas, P.A. |
Hanan Brower |
Hanan is an Freshman undergraduate research assistant in the Curley Lab at The University of Texas at Austin. She is pursuing a Bachelors of Science degree in Biology with a specification in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Hanan’s work revolves around social dominance structures and how they affect physiological outputs. |
Jolie Burek B.S. in Biology, University of Texas at Austin (2020) |
|
Olivia Laster |
Olivia Laster is an undergraduate research assistant in the Curley Lab at The University of Texas at Austin. She is pursuing a degree in Biology (B.S.). Olivia’s work revolves around Identifying the gene expression differences between the two sexes of mice. |
Tina Thi Nguyen |
Tina Thi is an undergraduate student pursuing a degree in Neuroscience (B.S.). She is working as an undergraduate research assistant in the Curley lab and her current project revolves around the behavioral analysis of mice social discrimination ability—more specifically, what information is being extracted in the discrimination between social odors of different groups of mice. |