who we are
We're a motley crew of science nerds united in the pursuit of understanding the inner workings and limits of human memory.
Read on to meet the team!
jeremy manning | lab director
Jeremy is an Associate Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth and directs the Contextual Dynamics Lab. He enjoys thinking about brains, non-brain brain-related things (e.g. zombies), computers, annoying-to-solve puzzles, and cats.
[CV] [Google Scholar]
paxton fitzpatrick | grad student
Paxton graduated from Dartmouth in 2019 with a BA in neuroscience and is continuing his research in the lab while applying to grad school. He's interested in creating new experiments and software tools to study classroom learning and model how memories change over time. Outside the lab, Paxton enjoys hiking, renovating old houses, and teaching Python.
xinming xu | grad student
Xinming's research uses memory retrieval paradigms to probe how narrative and real-life events are transformed into memory. He has a particular interest in memory for temporal structure. His outside-of-the-lab interests include exploring narratives, frisbee, and squash.
claudia gonciulea | grad student
Claudia received her cognitive science and computer science degrees from the University of Michigan in 2023, and then studied learning and memory as a research specialist in the Penn Computational Cognitive Neuroscience lab. She’s interested in studying the factors that shape how new memories are created as we learn, and the subsequent changes to old memories that emerge as we experience the world. In addition to researching learning and memory, she loves going to museums, playing video and board games, baking, and being in nature.
jennifer xu | undergrad
Jennifer is a Mathematical Data Science major. She is fascinated by understanding how machines "think," whether in biological neural networks or large language models. In her spare time, she enjoys watching videos of tech reviews of mice and keyboards.
om shah | undergrad
Om is a member of the class of 2026 from Morganton, NC. He is on the pre-med track, and has many different interests ranging from biology to computer science.
sarah parigela | undergrad
Sarah is a Cognitive Science and Biomedical Engineering double major interested in translating brain research into real-world diagnostics. When she doesn't have her nose in a book, she's working as an EMT or convincing high schoolers that science is cool.
jacob bacus | undergrad
Jacob is a member of the class of 2027 from Kansas City, Missouri studying Computer Science and Middle Eastern Studies. Jacob's work in the lab focuses on using machine learning and deep learning models to understand mental health. He is also interested in how cognitive and mental function relate to one another.
aidan miller | undergrad
Aidan is a pre-med student at Dartmouth College, majoring in Biology, minor in Spanish, and graduating in 2028. He joined the Contextual Dynamics Lab in fall 2025, where his interests center on advanced learning and memory techniques, including the method of loci and PAO systems.
alexandra wingo | undergrad
Alexandra is interested in education technology and brings to the lab her extensive computer science experience. She is especially interested in helping students with learning differences, and in developing brain-based learning tools.
alishba tahir | undergrad
Alishba is a visiting research assistant interested in the intersection of memory, narrative processing, and the mechanisms behind forgetting what to forget. She holds an undergraduate degree in Biology from LUMS and has previously worked on fMRI-based disease analysis. At the CDL, she is exploring how recall and prediction shape memory dynamics over time using naturalistic stimuli.
andrew richardson | undergrad
Andrew is a Mathematics and Economics double major from Minneapolis, MN. Outside of academics, he enjoys playing tennis and soccer.
angelyn liu | undergrad
Angelyn is a member of the class of 2028 from the Bay Area, CA, planning on majoring in cognitive science. In her free time, she enjoys singing, reading, puzzle games, and creative writing.
azaire andre | undergrad
Azaire is a Dartmouth student studying mathematics and anthropology, with interests in health equity, education, and community leadership. She enjoys swimming and cheering, and is actively involved in campus organizations that support mentorship and inclusion.
ben hanson | undergrad
Ben is a member of the class of 2027 studying PPE and human-centered design. Outside of school, he enjoy skiing, surfing, and coffee.
ellie mattox | undergrad
Ellie is a member of the class of 2027 from Austin, TX and is majoring in neuroscience with a minor in human-centered design. Outside of the lab she enjoys playing volleyball on Dartmouth's Varsity team, spending time outside, and hanging out with friends.
evan mcdermid | undergrad
Evan is a Mathematics major and Computer Science minor. He is interested in algorithmic trading, algorithmic problem solving, and building models of financial market dynamics.
kevin chang | undergrad
From Taipei and Boston, Kevin is a ‘29 studying Applied Math and CS. He is passionate about quantitative finance, machine learning, and health analytics. His long term goal is to develop data-driven solutions to optimize inefficiencies in the US healthcare system.
sam haskel | undergrad
Sam is a Quantitative Social Science and Economics double major. He is interested in how social peer influences shape beliefs and affect how people make decisions.
will lehman | undergrad
Will is a '27 from Salt Lake City, Utah. He likes skiing, playing hockey, and working on new projects.
theo larson | undergrad
Theo is a '29 from Brooklyn, New York and a prospective major in Economics and History. In his free time, he enjoys reading, playing board games, and taking walks with his dog Sunny.
jason kang | undergrad
Jason, a member of the class of 2028, plans to major in Psychology. He enjoys games, hiking, and watching sports like basketball and tennis.
your name here?
The Contextual Dynamics Lab is looking for fresh new brains! If you have a Dartmouth NetID, click here to view the projects for which we are actively hiring. If you are not in the Dartmouth system, use the button below to let us know you're interested.
who we were
Our vast network of fledgling influencers is taking the world by storm.
Check out our list of illustrious lab alumni and what they're up to now!
Postdoctoral Researchers
Hung-Tu Chen (2024-2025; now at Meta)
Gina Notaro (2017-2018; now at Lockheed Martin)
Andrew Heusser (2016-2018; now at PyMC Labs)
Graduate Students
Mark Taylor (2021)
Caroline Lee (2019-2021)
Max Bluestone (2018-2020)
Deepanshi Shokeen (2018-2020)
Kirsten Ziman (2017-2022; now at Princeton University)
Lucy Owen (2016-2021; now at University of Montana)
Tom Hao Chang (2016-2017)
Hanli Li (2016)
Lab Managers
Paxton Fitzpatrick (2019-2021; now a CDL grad student!)
Emily Whitaker (2017-2018; now at U Wisconsin-Madison)
Kirsten Ziman (2016-2017; then a CDL grad student!)
Undergraduate Researchers
Jackson C. Sandrich (2025-2026)
Luca Gandrud (2025-2026)
Annabelle Morrow (2025-2026)
Owen Phillips (2025-2026)
Rodrigo Vega Ayllon (2025)
Chelsea Joe (2024-2026)
Harrison Stropkay (2024-2025)
Miel Wewerka (2024)
Manraaj Singh (2024)
Can Kam (2024)
Rohan Goyal (2024)
Abigayle McCusker (2024)
Torsha Chakraverty (2024)
Chloe Terestchenko (2024)
Ansh Motiani (2024)
Kaitlyn Peng (2024)
Everett Tai (2024)
Andrew Cao (2024)
Jake McDermid (2023-2025)
Michael Chen (2023-2024)
Grady Redding (2023-2024)
DJ Matusz (2023-2024)
Aaryan Agarwal (2023-2024)
Maura Hough (2023-2024)
Emma Reeder (2023-2024)
Megan Liu (2023-2024)
Mira Chiruvolu (2023-2024)
Safwan Rashid (2023)
Francisca Fadairo (2023)
Ameer Talha Yasser (2023)
Yue Zhuo (2023)
Charles Baker (2023)
Andrew Shi (2023)
Ash Chinta (2023)
Xueyao Zheng (2023)
Sergio Campos Legonia (2023)
Elias Emery (2023)
Yvonne Chen (2023)
William McCall (2023)
Natalie Schreder (2023)
Raselas Dessalegn (2023)
Grace Wang (2023)
Ansh Patel (2022-2024)
Ziyan Zhu (2022-2023)
Anna Mikhailova (2022)
Benjamin Lehrburger (2022)
Thomas Corrado (2022)
Samuel Crombie (2022)
Alexander Marcoux (2022)
Jessna Brar (2022)
Wenhua Liang (2022)
Kevin Cao (2022)
Goutham Veeramachaneni (2022)
Zachary Somma (2022)
Dawson Haddox (2022)
Swestha Jain (2022)
Kunal Jha (2021-2024)
Daniel Carstensen (2021-2024)
Brian Chiang (2021-2022)
Aidan Adams (2021)
Damini Kohli (2021)
Daniel Ha (2021)
Tyler Chen (2020-2022)
Chris Jun (2020-2022)
Ethan Adner (2020-2022)
Darren Gu (2020-2021)
Tehut Biru (2020-2021)
Chris Suh (2020-2021)
Chris Long (2020-2021)
Esme Chen (2020-2021)
Helen Liu (2020)
Kelly Rutherford (2020)
Luca Lit (2020)
Vivian Tran (2020)
Greg Han (2020)
Austin Zhang (2020)
Chelsea Uddenberg (2020)
Shane Hewitt (2020)
Chetan Palvuluri (2020)
Tudor Muntianu (2019-2021)
Aaron Lee (2019-2020)
Anne George (2019-2020)
Sarah Park (2019-2020)
Shane Park (2019-2020)
William Chen (2019-2020)
Alejandro Martinez (2018-2020)
William Baxley (2018-2019)
Ann Carpenter (2018)
Seung Ju Lee (2018)
Mustafa Nasir-Moin (2018)
Iain Sheerin (2018)
Darya Romanova (2018)
Rachael Chacko (2018)
Kirsten Soh (2018)
Paxton Fitzpatrick (2017-2019)
Stephen Satterthwaite (2017-2018)
Bryan Bollinger (2017-2018)
Christina Lu (2017)
Armando Oritz (2017)
Madeline Lee (2016-2020)
Campbell Field (2016-2018)
Wei Liang Samuel Ching (2016-2017)
Marisol Tracy (2016-2017)
Allison Frantz (2016-2017)
Aamuktha Porika (2016-2017)
Jake Rost (2016)
Clara Silvanic (2016)
Aman Agarwal (2016)
Joseph Finkelstein (2016)
Sheherzad Mohydin (2016)
Peter Tran (2016)
Gal Perlman (2016)
Jessica Tin (2016)
friends of the lab
Science is a collaborative beast— it takes a village to tame it!
We are fortunate to have a wonderful team of collaborators and science superheroes to brainstorm with, help us notice when our ideas get a bit too crazy for the "lay scientist," and complain to when our code doesn't compile. Here are links to the fine upstanding citizens we've been hanging out with lately:
Computational Memory Lab, University of Pennsylvania (Director: Mike Kahana)
Computational Memory Lab, Princeton University (Director: Ken Norman)
Machine Learning at Columbia, Columbia University (Director: Dave Blei)
Memory Dynamics Lab, Bates College (Director: Justin Hulbert)
Computational Social Affective Neuroscience Lab, Dartmouth College (Director: Luke Chang)
van der Meer Lab, Dartmouth College (Director: Matt van der Meer)
Rockmore Lab, Dartmouth College (Director: Dan Rockmore)
Vu Lab, Dartmouth College (Director: Tam Vu)
Nautiyal Lab, Dartmouth College (Director: Kate Nautiyal)
Epilepsy and Cognition Lab, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (Director: Barbara Jobst)
Chameleon Studios (Director: Talia Manning)