Stephanie is a second year GK-12 graduate teaching fellow and a Biopsychology PhD Candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center specializing in Behavioral Neuroscience. After receiving her B.S. in Psychology from Wagner College, Staten Island, NY in 2006, she started her PhD work at Hunter College in the lab of Dr. Shirzad Jenab, where she is investigating the behavioral and neurological effects of cocaine and the development of cocaine-context associated memories which may serve as "triggers" or "cravings" and are a major cause of relapse in recovered cocaine addicts. Specifically, Stephanie is studying the molecular mechanisms that underlie the formation of these cocaine-environment associations in male and female rats. Stephanie expects to complete her PhD in the Spring of 2013.
As a GK-12 graduate teaching fellow, Stephanie is working at the Institute for Collaborative Education with their Neuroscience teacher to further integrate authentic research experiences into the current Neuroscience curriculum. Stephanie's goal is to spark students interest in the fascinating science of the brain and behavior by incorporating aspects of her own research on sex, drugs, and memory into an ARM which will ultimately lead students to "think like scientists" while developing their own independent Neuroscience projects.