Research Ambassadors
Alex Holly '26/Take 5 '27
Email me at: aholly@u.rochester.edu
Discipline(s) of Research
- Life Sciences
- Social Sciences
Major(s) and Minor(s)
- B.S. in Brain and Cognitive Sciences
- Minor in Audio Music Engineering
- Minor in Digital Media Studies
Areas of Interest/Research Focus
- SoNIC (Science of Neural, Interpersonal Communication) Lab @ URochester
- PI: Elise Piazza
- Perception of speech in conversation
- Speaker prosodic variance
- Memory & music
- UChicago Speech Perception & Production Lab @ UChicago:
- PI: Melissa Baese-Berk
- Perception of speech-in-noise in medical contexts
- Acoustic Ecology of Urban Bat Lab, DIS Copenhagen:
- PIː Inger Kærgaard
- Anthropogenic impacts of concert noise on urban bat activity
Areas where I may be particularly helpful
- Interests in language/music cognition/animal behavior
- Getting involved with summer research (outside of URochester)
- Opportunities for research abroad (especially research with DIS)
- Navigating interdisciplinary research interests
- Honors thesis work (particularly in the BCS department)
- Application editing/structuring
- Research and Innovation Grant (RIG) usage
What advice do you have for prospective or new researchers?
When you're just getting started, don't be afraid to test the waters with different labs and research interests; you don't have to offer and commit to long-standing involvement at the first cold email. Just be sure to finish what you start. Check out a lab's ongoing projects and see where you can shadow or ask about related interests and see if they have any connections in their lab or others. Always keep exploring.
Likewise, if you're looking for support in a specific research need (e.g. funding, transportation, supplies...etc) reach out to your respective departments (and the UG research office & ambassadors) and see if they offer the resource you're looking for. There's a lot of support you can access by just reaching out.