EDUCATION

UC Berkeley, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, Berkeley, CA
Ph.D. in Neuroscience, entering class of 2017
Thesis: "Interactions between model-based and model-free reinforcement learning systems"
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Joni Wallis

Brown University, Providence, RI
​Sc.B. in Cognitive Neuroscience, May 2017
Honors Thesis: "Task Switching, or Task Integration? Learning working memory gating policies in dual-task settings."
​Thesis Advisor: Dr. David Badre

FELLOWSHIPS & SCHOLARSHIPS

2018 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP)
2018 Milton I. and Florence Mack Neurology Research Fund, University of California, Berkeley
2017 Marian Diamond Fellowship, University of California, Berkeley
2016 Samuel Nabrit Undergraduate Teaching and Research Award, Brown University
2015 Leadership Alliance Scholar, University of Chicago
​2013 National Hispanic Merit Scholar

HONORS & AWARDS

2017 Magna Cum Laude, Brown University
2017 CLPS (Cognitive, Linguistic, & Psychological Sciences) Premium for Excellence in Cognitive Neuroscience, Brown University
2017 Honors in Cognitive Neuroscience, Brown University
2017 Sigma Xi Associate Member
2016 Deep Learning Hackathon First Prize, Brown Initiative in Computation in Brain and Mind
​2013 Salutatorian, Timber Creek High School  

RESEARCH

​University of California, Berkeley: Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, Berkeley, CA
Interactions between model-based and model-free reinforcement learning systems, 2018-present
​Principal Investigator: Dr. Joni Wallis
http://www.wallislab.org/ 

Brown University: Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, Providence, RI
  • Honors Thesis: Learning working memory gating policies in dual-task settings, Summer 2016-Spring 2017
    Principal Investigator: Dr. David Badre, Mentor: Dr. Apoorva Bhandari
  • Learning and transfer of working memory gating policies, Fall 2015-Fall 2016
    Principal Investigator: Dr. David Badre, Mentor: Dr. Apoorva Bhandari
  • ​Dynamic control of declarative memory decisions, Fall 2014-Spring 2015
    Principal Investigator: Dr. David Badre, Mentors: Dr. Justin Cox, Dr. Jason Scimeca
http://www.cog.brown.edu/research/badrelab/ 

University of Chicago: Department of Psychology, Chicago, IL
Influence of context and social dominance on rapid trait judgements, Summer 2015
Principal Investigator: Dr. Jasmin Cloutier
​http://ifsnlab.org/

TEACHING

University of California, Berkeley: Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Berkeley, CA 
Graduate Student Instructor: Neurobiology of Disease (MCB 165, Dr. Robin Ball, Dr. Helen Bateup, & Dr. Stephan Lammel), Spring 2020
Graduate Student Instructor: Drugs and the Brain (MCB c62, Dr. David Presti), Fall 2018

​Brown University: Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Science, Providence, RI
Teaching Assistant: Introduction to Programming (CLPS 0950, Dr. Thomas Serre), Spring 2017
Teaching Assistant: Computational Cognitive Science (CLPS 1291, Dr. Thomas Serre), Spring 2016
​
Brown University: Department of Neuroscience, Providence, RI
Teaching Assistant: Introduction to Neuroscience (NEUR0010, Dr. Michael Paradiso & Dr. John Stein), Fall 2016  

PRESENTATIONS & PUBLICATIONS

Ford, C. & Wallis, J. (2019, October). Manipulating interactions between model-based and model-free reinforcement learning systems in nonhuman primates (Poster). Society for Neuroscience. Chicago, IL. 

Ford, C. & Wallis, J. (2019, July). Dissociating model-based and model-free reinforcement learning in a nonhuman primate model (Poster). Multidisciplinary Conference on Reinforcement Learning and Decision Making. Montréal, Québec, Canada.

Ford, C. (2017, May). Task switching, or task integration? Learning working memory gating policies in dual-task settings (Undergraduate honors thesis), Brown University. doi: 10.7301/Z03F4N19.

Ford, C., Bhandari, A., and Badre, D. (2016, August). Multitasking: Task Switching, or Task Integration? (Poster). Brown University Summer Research Symposium, Providence, RI.

Ford, C. & Bayer, P. (2016, August). Visual Reasoning in Humans and Artificial Neural Networks (Oral presentation and demonstration). Deep Learning Hackathon, Providence, RI.

Ford, C., Li, T., & Cloutier, J. (2015, July). Status judgments as a function of the interaction between facial dominance and social context (Oral presentation and poster). Leadership Alliance National Symposium (LANS), Samford, CT

 OUTREACH & academic Service

HWNI Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee, University of California, Berkeley
Coordinator, Spring 2020 - present

ULAB (Undergraduate Laboratory @ Berkeley): Psychology & Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Berkeley
Graduate Student Advisor, Fall 2019 - present

HWNI Neuroscience Boot Camp, Univeristy of California, Berkeley
Lead Coordinator, Summer 2019
Coordinator, Summer 2018

HWNI Graduate Student Mentorship Program, Univeristy of California, Berkeley
Mentor, Summer 2019 - present
Coordinator, Summer 2018 - present 

BASIS (Bay Area Scientists in Schools), Commuity Resrouces for Science
Volunteer Instructor, Fall 2017 – present

Thriving in Science, University of California, Berkeley
Peer Group Facilitator, Fall 2017 – Spring 2018

Women in Science and Engineering, Brown University
​Mentor, Fall 2014 – Spring 2016

Office of Residential Life, Brown University
Women's Peer Counselor, Fall 2014 – Spring 2016