Lab Members

Dr. Jessica Church-Lang

Principal Investigator

Dr. Church-Lang received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Washington University in St. Louis in 2008. She has a strong interest in how cognitive processes develop over age, and in how research on atypical development illuminates the vulnerable aspects of typical cognitive development. Research in the lab currently focuses on the development of cognitive skills such as task switching and reading in late childhood and early adolescence. Dr. Church-Lang is heading the neuroimaging arm of the Meadows and Vaughn Gross Center project on 4th grade reading intervention at UT Austin. We are interested in whether neuroimaging can reveal differences between struggling readers who respond to intervention and those who don’t, as well as in exploring differences between struggling and non-struggling readers during sentence comprehension. We’re particularly interested in how regions of the brain involved in attention relate to reading disorders. As part of the reading-intervention project, as well as in additional research efforts, we are exploring the development of short-duration, rapidly-adjusting adaptive control brain networks, how they might be different in typical and atypical development, and how they interact over age with the rest of the brain. To address these questions, we use behavioral methods such as cognitive tests (where we measure reaction times, accuracy on tasks, or eye movements), neuropsychological assessments, neuroimaging (fMRI, resting-state fcMRI), and studies of patient populations (e.g. children with Tourette syndrome or dyslexia).

Annie Zheng

Lab Manager

Annie Zheng graduated from Colgate University with a B.A. in Cognitive Neuroscience. During her undergraduate career, she studied second language phonological acquisition in native English speakers using acoustic analysis methods. Currently, Annie is investigating the neural substrates of reading comprehension of struggling and fluent readers as well as the development of cognitive function in adults and children using a selective attention and task switching paradigm.

Email: azheng@utexas.edu

Laura Engelhardt

Graduate Student

Laura graduated from Indiana University in 2011 with a BA in Psychology and Spanish. She worked as a lab manager for Dr. Kimberly Noble at Columbia University, where she helped to investigate the effects of low socioeconomic status on neurocognitive development across childhood. Laura will pursue this line of work at UT under the mentorship of Dr. Jessica Church-Lang and Dr. Elliot Tucker-Drob. She plans to research structural and functional brain development from a behavioral genetics perspective. She is particularly interested in the developmental trajectories of reading and executive function.

Email: lauraeng@utexas.edu

Mary Abbe Roe

Graduate Student

Mary Abbe Roe graduated from the University of Rochester in 2013 with a B.S. in Brain and Cognitive Sciences. During her undergraduate career she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Bradford Mahon’s lab (University of Rochester) and Dr. Russell Poldrack’s lab (UT Austin) where she used fMRI and behavioral methods to study adults with and without brain disorders. Currently, in the Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience lab, Mary Abbe is investigating the neural correlates of reading comprehension in typical and struggling readers. She is interested in researching the atypical and typical development of executive functions, specifically inhibitory control.

Email: maroe@austin.utexas.edu

Lauren Deschner

Research Assistant

Lauren graduated in 2015 with a BS degree in Psychology with a minor in Chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a member of Alpha Epsilon Delta Pre-Med Honor Society and is also a director for Camp Kesem-Texas, an organization for children who have a parent affected by cancer. Lauren has lead as a coxswain on the UT Women’s Rowing Team since Fall 2011 and joined the Church Lab recently to explore her interests in child development and neuroimaging. She hopes to attend medical school and begin a career as a pediatric neurologist.

Rawand Abdelghani

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Rawand is a senior pursuing a degree in Psychology with a minor in Arabic at the University of Texas at Austin. She is actively involved in a service organization called Circle K International and the Texas Muslim Students’ Association. She recently joined the Church Lab to broaden her experience in research and to explore her interests in cognitive and developmental psychology. She hopes to attend graduate school, obtain a Ph.D., and pursue her dream of starting a non-profit in the future.

Alyssa Marie Hernandez

Undergraduate Honors Student

Alyssa is pursuing a degree in Psychology with a minor in Biology through the Liberal Arts Honors Program. Previously she was a research assistant in Dr. Neal-Beevers’s Lab, where the primary research revolved around children with autism spectrum disorders. She maintains a direct relationship with children through work at summer camps and after-school programs. In her senior year, she is currently running research project in Dr. Church-Lang’s lab. This opportunity allows her to combine her interests in atypical populations and cognitive development. After obtaining her undergraduate degree, Alyssa plans to pursue a PhD in Clinical Neuropsychology.

Louisa Angly

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Louisa Angly is a sophomore neuroscience/public health major at UT Austin. She is a member UT’s Health Science Honors Program and volunteers with several organizations across campus. She also writes for a campus humor publication. Louisa recently joined the Church Lab in order to gain more experience with neuroscience and psychology-based research. She hopes to eventually become a pediatrician.

Isabella Gomez

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Isabella is a sophomore pursuing a B.S.A degree in Biology and minor in psychology at UT Austin. She is part of AMSA (American Medical Student Organization) as well as Global Medical Brigades. She recently joined the Church Lab to expand her research experience and to further familiarize herself with the cognitive and neuroscience field. After obtaining her degree she hopes to attend medical school and specialize in pediatrics.

Matthew Larsen

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Matt is a junior at UT Austin pursuing a B.S. in biology with a focus in neurobiology. He is also a member of Synapse, a UT student organization focused on neuroscience research. He previously worked in Dr. Anslyn’s lab, helping to develop sensing arrays to detect differences between varietals of wine. Matt joined the Church Lab to gain experience doing cognitive neuroscience research, which is where his primary research interests lie. He is also interested in the biology behind neurodegenerative and mental disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and bipolar disorder. After finishing his undergraduate studies, Matt hopes to attend graduate school and pursue a Ph.D. in neurobiology.