Meet the Team

Current Lab Members

  • Laurel Joy Gabard-Durnam, Ph.D.

    Lab Director

    she/her/hers

    CV | Google Scholar

  • Sarah A. McCormick, Ph.D.

    Research Scientist

    she/her/hers

    CV | Google Scholar | Website

  • Kelsie Lopez, Ph.D.

    Postdoctoral Fellow

    Former graduate student & NSF GRFP Fellow

    she/her/hers

    CV | Google Scholar

  • Tess Forest, Ph.D.

    Incoming Assistant Professor, University of Notre Dame

    NIH F32 Postdoctoral Fellow

    she/her/hers

    CV | Google Scholar | Website

  • Emma Margolis, M.S.

    Graduate Student

    NIH F31 Fellow

    she/her/hers

    CV | Google Scholar

  • Olivia Schnur, B.S.

    Lab Manager and PINE SEED Project Coordinator

    she/her/hers

  • Georgia Celestin, B.S.

    Graduate Student

    she/her/hers

    Google Scholar

  • Joshua Paul Rodriguez, B.S.

    Graduate Student

    he/him/his

  • Mirola Arian

    Undergraduate Research Assistant

    she/her/hers

  • Lily Ben-Eli

    Undergraduate Research Assistant

    she/her/hers

  • Eva Davies

    Undergraduate Research Assistant

    she/her/hers

  • Cecilia Doherty

    Undergraduate Co-Op Student

    she/her/hers

  • Casey Piston

    Undergraduate Research Assistant

    she/her/hers

  • Isabella Schacknies

    Undergraduate Research Assistant

    she/her/hers

  • Avital Morris

    Undergraduate Research Assistant

  • Charlotte Choi

    Undergraduate Research Assistant

  • Blakely Cummings

    Undergraduate Research Assistant

Co-Investigators

  • Bianca

    Bianca is Laurel’s rescue pup, part Great Pyrenees, part English Setter, all goofball. Bianca is squirrel-detail oriented, and has given many local talks, including “There’s a bird in the tree!” and “Where did the chipmunk go?" She is smart enough to cheat on her cognitive puzzle toys, but her own sneezes scare her on occasion. She also loves cheese.

  • Ziggy & Winston

    Ziggy (bottom left) and Winston (top right) are best friends and longtime scientific collaborators. They often invite their human friend, Emma, onto their projects. Their research, inspired in part by the popular television show Tom and Jerry, focuses on instigating wrestling matches with the other while maintaining the outward appearance of innocence. They are also both experts in “Zoomies” (not to be confused with Zoom) and sitting on top of people at inconvenient times but running away the second that individual moves even a millimeter.

  • Quincy

    Quincy is a small little guy from upstate New York who was adopted quickly after he was born in August 2020. At five years old, he's still very energetic (and loud), but he's super loving and always loves being with people. He loves running around and having fun even when the rest of the family is tired out. An absolute bundle of sunshine.