I-LABS Research & Institute Staff
Staff members play key roles in conducting all aspects of I-LABS’ research and in providing support for the infrastructure of the Institute.
Research Scientists
Rodolfo Cortes Barragan, Ph.D.
Dr. Barragan is a postdoctoral fellow working with Dr. Andrew Meltzoff. His research at I-LABS examines how every-day aspects of children’s experiences, such as the extent to which they engage in reciprocal...
Steven Bierer, Ph.D.
Steven is a Research Engineer and Scientist, managing day-to-day operations at the I-LABS MEG Brain Imaging Center. His current research interests include discerning the cortical pathways involved in language development...
Alexis Bosseler, Ph.D.
Dr. Alexis Bosseler is a research scientist at the Institute of Learning and Brain Sciences and Assistant Director of the I-LABS MEG Brain Imaging Center. She is also a research fellow at the Cognitive Brain Research...
Rechele Brooks, Ph.D.
Dr. Brooks is a research scientist at the Institute. She received her BA from Pomona College and her Ph.D. from Boston University. Her main line of research centers on the development of social cognition in infancy....
Neva Corrigan, Ph.D.
Neva Corrigan is a research scientist in Dr. Patricia Kuhl’s laboratory. Neva earned a BS from Cornell University, and a MS and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of California at Davis, with a focus...
Dario Cvencek, Ph.D.
Dr. Cvencek is a Research Scientist at the Institute of Learning and Brain Sciences. Before coming to the Institute, he earned a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology at the University of Washington, working with Tony Greenwald....
Ashley Drew, Ph.D.
Dr. Ashley Drew is a research scientist at the I-LABS MEG Brain Imaging Center. Her expertise includes EEG and MEG techniques with infants and adults to study sensorimotor processing in the brain. She received....
Yaara Endevelt-Shapira, Ph.D.
Dr. Yaara Endevelt-Shapira is a research scientist at the Institute of Learning and Brain Sciences. She earned her B.Sc. in Food Engineering and Biotechnology from the Technion, Israel. She completed M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the department of Neurobiology....
Libby Huber, Ph.D.
Dr. Libby Huber joins the lab after finishing her PhD in Psychology here at the University of Washington. Her dissertation work in the Vision and Cognition Lab focused on how visual experience shapes cortical development....
Daniel S. Hippe, MS
Dan Hippe is a statistician in the UW Department of Radiology with numerous collaborations within Radiology—including with the Vascular Imaging Lab, the Quantitative Breasting Imaging Lab—and with research...
Eric Larson, Ph.D.
Dr. Larson is a Research Scientist working with Dr. Adrian KC Lee on studies of auditory attention. Before coming to the Institute, he earned a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering at Boston University with Dr. Kamal Sen. Dr....
Dan McCloy, Ph.D.
Dan is a research scientist trained in acoustic phonetics, speech perception, psychophysics, and auditory neuroscience. He is a contributor to various open-source scientific software tools, including the Python packages...
Rey Ramirez, Ph.D.
Rey Ramírez is a Research Scientist in the I-LABS MEG Brain Imaging Center. He received his bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences at Rutgers University with minors in Psychology and Philosophy, and received...
Yael Weiss-Zruya, Ph.D.
Dr. Yael Weiss-Zruya is a research scientist in Dr. Patricia Kuhl’s laboratory. She earned her B.A. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Haifa, Israel, and M.A. and Ph.D. from the....
Research Staff
Akali Barnes
Akali graduated from the University of Washington in 2016 with a Bachelor’s in Medical Anthropology & Global Health with a focus on mental health. Before I-LABS, she worked as an Assistant Teacher in Early childhood and Special...
Coryn Carson
Coryn received her M.S. in Speech and Hearing Sciences from Portland State University in 2010. She practiced as a Speech-Language Pathologist in Oregon and New York City. Her clinical work has focused on early intervention in...
Liesbeth Gijbels
Liesbeth graduated from the KULeuven University in Belgium in 2012 with a Master’s degree in Speech and Language Pathology. She started working as an SLP in a private practice and continued her education with a...
Dawn Hathaway
Ms. Hathaway received her bachelor of arts degree in English from Seattle University and previously worked at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. She handles recruitment and scheduling of research subjects and...
Victoria (Tori) Hennessy
Tori is lab manager and a research assistant in Dr. Christina Zhao’s Lab for Early Auditory Perception (LEAP). She graduated in 2022 with a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Washington, concentrating her studies in early cognitive development...
Craig Maddox
Craig received his BA in secondary education and mathematics from Western Michigan University in 2010 and has been working at I-LABS since 2011. As Lab Manager of Dr. Dario Cvencek's CHILLAB, Craig is responsible...
Grace Mak
Grace Mak is a jack of all trades and assists on many aspects of running the lab. She scores infant and child behavior from video-recordings, and also helps to recruit participants into the experiments, checks spreadsheets...
Jake Xavier McManus
Jake Graduated with a BA in Linguistics from the University of Washington in 2020. Jake spent a year working with I-LABS on their 2018-2019 Second Language Acquisition Project in Madrid. He then spent his...
Cleobelle Mecua
Cleobelle graduated from Seattle Pacific University in 2021 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology concentrating in Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience and a minor in Sociology. Before I-LABS, she worked as...
Julia Mizrahi
Julia Mizrahi supports studies of speech processing in infants and young children using a variety of methods including brain imaging technology. She recruits and schedules families for various research studies, as well as...
Alexis Sinclair
Alexis graduated from the University of Oregon in 2021 with a Bachelor's in Psychology and a minor in Spanish. She wrote her thesis on the relationship between how a parent apologizes to their child and the quality of their parenting. Before graduating...
Bo Woo
Bo graduated from the University of Washington in June 2015 with a Bachelor’s degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences. After graduation, she spent a year abroad as an English teacher in Spain and Hong Kong working with...
Outreach Staff
Amelia Bachleda, Ph.D.
Amelia Bachleda, Ph.D. is Director of Outreach and Education at the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences. Dr. Bachleda’s professional background bridges the gap between two...
Marie Baeta
Marie Baeta (she/they) is an Outreach and Education Specialist at the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences (I-LABS). They utilize their interdisciplinary approach to interpret and share the latest research in brain science and early...
Marley Jarvis, Ph.D.
Marley Jarvis, Ph.D., is an Outreach and Education Specialist. In this role, Dr. Jarvis translates and delivers accessible information about the latest research in early learning and brain development to members of the early...
Elizabeth Zack, Ph.D.
Elizabeth (Beth) Zack is an Outreach and Education Specialist at the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS) at the University of Washington. As a Specialist, Dr. Zack shares scientific research with early...
Core Institute Staff
Teresa Casanova
Born in Venezuela, Teresa holds a BS in Accounting and a Post-Graduate diploma in Accounting and Auditing from Universitat de Barcelona in Spain. With experience in corporate accounting, auditing and financial services...
Hank Clark
Hank Clark joined the team in 2019 as IT Manager. He provides technical expertise in all aspects of computing technology at I-LABS and oversees core IT services for our faculty, staff, and students. Hank is an Information...
Jane Huang
Jane Huang is the Administrator at I-LABS. In this role, she oversees finances at the Institute including monthly reports and financial projections, forecasts fiscal needs, and provides grant & contract analysis. Jane...
Erica (Riki) Stevens
In her capacity as Assistant Director of the Institute, Ms. Stevens runs the day-to-day operations, works closely with the Co-Directors, facilitates the work of Institute scientists, manages the staff, and acts as liaison...