MEMBERS
Vishal Bandaru
Undergraduate Student (Neuroscience)
Hi, I’m Vishal. I am an undergraduate student double majoring in neuroscience and psychology. After my undergraduate years, I am planning on going to medical school and becoming a doctor. Outside of school, my interests include watching everything Pittsburgh sports related and playing table games with friends.
Owen Hohner
Undergraduate Student (BioEngineering)
Hello, I’m Owen! I am a bioengineering undergraduate student at the University of Pittsburgh with a minor in chemistry. I have intentions of either attending graduate school or going into industry upon graduation. Outside of the classroom, I enjoy playing guitar, building whatever LEGO set I can get my hands on, cooking, and picking up any other fun hobbies that happen to catch my interest.
Hansini Kumar
Undergraduate Student (BioEngineering)
Hi, I’m Hansini! I am an undergraduate Bioengineering student pursuing a minor in Neuroscience and a certificate in Innovation, Product Design, and Entrepreneurship at Pitt. After I graduate, I plan on going to graduate school for either Neuroscience or Bioengineering. Outside of class, I enjoy skiing, hiking, and a good movie or TV show.
Jennifer (Jen) Klara
Research Technician
Jen joined as a research technician in the lab after completing her undergraduate degree in Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh. Her future goals include medical or graduate school. She aspires to make discoveries that will make a difference in somebody’s life. When not in class, she can usually be found playing various video games, shopping, or reading books about death. If that doesn’t make you too uneasy, she’ll happily give you her gaming information to play sometime.
Jacie McHaney
Graduate Student (Communication Science and Disorders)
Jacie is a third year PhD student working with Drs. Parthasarathy and Chandrasekaran. She investigates the neural mechanisms underlying speech perception in noise in middle-age and the influence of cognition and sensory encoding using multimodal neuroimaging and computational neuroscience approaches. Twitter: @JacieMcHaney
Claire Mitchell
Undergraduate Student (CSD)
Hi, I’m Claire! I am an undergraduate student at the University of Pittsburgh studying Communication Sciences and Disorders. I have a Secondary Education minor and am working on completing a certificate in Conceptual Foundations of Medicine. After undergraduate school, I am planning to go to graduate school for Audiology. Outside of class and studying, I love watching football, playing with my dogs, and getting Noodlehead or Chipotle.
Aravind Parthasarathy, PhD
Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor,
Dept. of Communication Science and Disorders.
Aravind tries to do stuff as well.
Aravind_Partha (at) pitt (dot) edu
Shelby Sydenstricker
Graduate Student (Audiology)
Greetings! My name is Shelby. I am a graduate student in the Audiology program. I moved across the state to fuel my passion to guide and educate individuals with hearing loss. Prior to starting my education at Pitt, I worked as the lead research assistant on a hearing-related project involving teenagers with ADHD. I'm excited to bring my plethora of research experience to the lab! If I'm not in the lab, class, or work, you can find me in the closest thrift shop.
Kimmy Yurasits
Graduate Student (Audiology)
Hi I’m Kimmy! I am a current graduate student in the Audiology Department. I didn’t have to go far for grad school though, I majored in Communication Science and Disorders right here at Pitt before making the leap to continue my education. Through my classes I became interested in the neural processes behind hearing as well as how that can go wrong. I’m so happy to be joining the Parthasarathy Lab to continue learning and joining the ongoing research. When I’m not in class or clinic, I love hiking (especially if dogs are involved) and getting lost in a good book.
Leslie Zhen
Graduate Student (Communication Science and Disorders)
Leslie is a PhD student working with Drs. Pratt, Parthasarathy and Chandrasekaran. He is interested in the time course of auditory learning and manipulations to optimize perceptual gains. An area of specific interest is how task-irrelevant auditory signals are acquired and processed.
Maggie Zink
Graduate Student (Communication Science and Disorders)
Maggie is excited to expound upon her work with listening effort and related fatigue, hearing loss, and cognitive aging under the guidance of Drs. Parthasarathy and Chandrasekaran. On a larger scale, she hopes to do her part to help better understand the relationship between perceptual and cognitive decline. Maggie graduated from Saint Louis University in 2014 with degrees in Neuroscience and Music: Operatic Vocal Performance. Her passions include pub trivia, Thai takeout, concert photography, and idolizing Food Network stars (despite having no cooking abilities).
Lab Alumni
Wes Enterline (AuD) - Currently: Extern @ Children's Hospital, Pittsburgh
Tori Cancel (AuD) - Currently: Extern @ Duke University, NC
Mayan Harris (Taylor-Allderdice High school) - Currently: Undergrad @ Brandeis, MA
