{"id":104,"date":"2026-02-25T18:23:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T18:23:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/the-hurd-lab\/index.php\/former-undergrad-students\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T18:32:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T18:32:46","slug":"former-undergrad-students","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/the-hurd-lab\/index.php\/former-undergrad-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Undergrad Students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Nicole Dittmann:<\/strong> nonapeptides and social behaviour differences between alternative morphs in cichlid fish.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Nathan Brandwein:<\/strong> has been working in the fish lab, examining female preference for males of alternative life-history morphs, and serving as the wetlab lab manager. Now a graduate student in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.neuroscience.ualberta.ca\">Neuroscience<\/a> program.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rose Driscoll:<\/strong> A student at <a href=\"www.reed.edu\">Reed College<\/a> working on a collaboration examining molecular mechanisms of environmental sex determination in collaboration with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reed.edu\/biology\/professors\/srenn\/\">SCP Renn<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sayeed Devraj-Kizuk:<\/strong> has worked on a dizzyingly wide array of projects in the lab as an undergraduate, he is now focussed on finishing up his study of the development of lateralization of brain and behaviour in subadult cichlids <a href=\"http:\/\/www.psych.ualberta.ca\/undergraduate\/psyco299.php\">PSYCO 299<\/a> credit.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Julie Couture:<\/strong> collected data on genetic effects on personality in humans for PSYCO 496 credit.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Owais Yahya:<\/strong> ((<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca\/Students-Etudiants\/UG-PC\/USRA-BRPC_eng.asp\">NSERC USRA<\/a> Summer 2012) worked on the relationship between neuropeptides and sexual strategy in cichlid fish for PSYCO 496 credit, he is currently in Med School.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Karine Whiteside:<\/strong> is an Athabasca University student working in the lab on studies examining the relationship between personality and maze learning in a species of cichlid fish.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sydele Merrigan:<\/strong> Studied the role of social status on hormone producing neurons in the the hypothalamus of female cichlid fish. She is currently an intern at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mentalhealthexcellence.ca\/\">Centennial Centre for Mental Health and Brain Injury<\/a> through the Department&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.psych.ualberta.ca\/undergraduate\/ipp\/index.php\">Internship program<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Kathryn Vaillancourt:<\/strong> (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca\/Students-Etudiants\/UG-PC\/USRA-BRPC_eng.asp\">NSERC USRA<\/a> 2008, 2010) has worked on behavioural lateralization and personality in cichlid fish. Her recent work in the lab has examined the relationship between digit ratio, behaviour, and genetic variation in humans. She worked at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.capitalhealth.ca\/NR\/rdonlyres\/epb7qaz2ypxe2r5cxdsy46ck6utuosmq67qv6wxdv6d7ptms5jusney73eb7rcb47dsh2abgasnp4jfoblqgvt526xe\/ARCflyerNov2007.pdf\">Autism Research Centre<\/a> of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.capitalhealth.ca\/HospitalsandHealthFacilities\/Hospitals\/GlenroseRehabilitationHospital\/default.htm\">Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital<\/a> while serving as the Coordinator of Human Research, and Director of Molecular Genetics in the Hurd Lab and conducting all the molecular genetics labwork in the Sex and Violence lab before starting a PhD. with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.douglas.qc.ca\/researcher\/gustavo-turecki?locale=en\">Gustavo Turecki<\/a> at the The Douglas Institute at McGill University.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Jasmine Mah:<\/strong> (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nserc.ca\/sf_e.asp?nav=sfnav&amp;lbi=1a\">NSERC USRA<\/a> 2010 &amp; 2011) Jasmine worked on a collaboration with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biology.ualberta.ca\/faculty\/keith_tierney\/\">Keith Tierney<\/a> examining the effects of early exposure to neuroxotins on the development of fish brain and personality, and has also investigated the relationship between cerebral lateralization and body size in cichlid fry in the Sex &amp; Violence lab. She is currently in UC Berleley studying Choanoflagellates with <a href=\"http:\/\/kinglab.berkeley.edu\/people\/\">Nicole King<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Maddalena Genovese:<\/strong> Worked as a directed studies student and lab volunteer (2005) examining agreement between physical markers of prenatal androgen exposure, and their correlation to behavioural traits. She went on to serve as Director of Client Services at the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton, as well as graduating from the UofA&#8217;s Counselling Psychology program. She now works as a Registered Counselling Psychologst.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Nalin Fernando:<\/strong> (NSERC USRA Summer student 2006). Nalin&#8217;s work investigated the effect of artificial selection for behavioural traits on digit ratio in mice. He has completed his B.Sc. in Genetics.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Troy Iwanyshyn:<\/strong>. In addition to empirical work examining human behaviour in communication games, Troy applied his philosophy background to the problem of applying extensive form game theory to a project to clearly define various forms of signal &#8220;meaning&#8221;. Troy may still be an itinerant surfer in Australia.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Shaina Archer:<\/strong> (NSERC USRA Summer student 2005). Shaina examined aggressive and mate choice behaviours in convict cichlids. She then went on to graduate from the University of Toronto&#8217;s Genetic Counselling program, and served at the University of Alberta Hospital&#8217;s Genetic Counsellor before returning to Med School as a student.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Honey Case:<\/strong> Lab technician (Summer of 2005). Honey worked on a directed studies project investigating digit ratio variation and behavioural variation in chickens.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Andrea Becking:<\/strong> Vounteer (2004 to 2006). Andrea assisted many lab members on a wide range of projects from fish lab tasks to measuring lack-capped chickadee digit ratios and testing humans for behavioural effects of colds and flues. She has since graduated from the UBC School of Nursing, and has worked as a nurse in Calgary as Australia.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Patricia Gongal:<\/strong> (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biology.ualberta.ca\/faculty\/andrew_waskiewicz\/index.php?Page=3909\">webpage<\/a>) Patricia worked in the lab as a technician Summer of 2004 after working on a directed studies project the previous term, in which she investigated digit ratio effects in mice. She completed her PhD in Biology with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biology.ualberta.ca\/faculty\/andrew_waskiewicz\/\">Andrew J. Waskiewicz<\/a>, and a post-doc at the Ecole Normale Sup\u00e9rieure in Paris, and is now working as a Research Development Officer at the University of Aberyswyth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-104","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/the-hurd-lab\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/the-hurd-lab\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/the-hurd-lab\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/the-hurd-lab\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/the-hurd-lab\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/the-hurd-lab\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116,"href":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/the-hurd-lab\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/104\/revisions\/116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.psych.ualberta.ca\/the-hurd-lab\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}