I have known since my high school years that I wanted to become a researcher in the field of neuroscience. My motivations include but are not limited to, an appreciation of the human mind and potential as well as an eagerness to learn how the brain and human behavior influence each other. I have learned over the years that research is never easy but it is always worthwhile. I find that my own exploration as a researcher follows a story of its own and I intend to write the next chapter of my life in graduate school. My interest in neuroscience began in middle school after reading the book Gifted Hands by Ben Carson. From the moment I finished the book, the thing I wanted to learn about the most was the mind and how it coincided with human behavior. I realized that…show more content… Brad Wyble's Attention and Perception Lab. Throughout my time there, I learned about visual cognition by administering electroencephalogram (EEG) and Psychophysics experiments using the program Matlab. Working in this lab also gave me the opportunity to begin programming in Matlab. I believed that gaining programming experience would enable me to be more creative in my future research endeavors. After working with Dr. Wyble's lab, I was given the chance to further my training in Dr. Amy Criss' Memory Modeling Lab. In this position I was able to gain many opportunities as well as hone my skills as a researcher. I was responsible for running the Matlab experiments while also collecting and analyzing the data that was captured. I had an active role in preparing the experiments and participating in lab meetings to discuss the results. Dr. Criss' lab pushed me above and beyond and also solidified the fact that research was what I wanted to do. The opportunity to do research in both Dr. Wyble's and Dr. Criss' labs were the first steps that gave me the foundation that I believe has prepared me for graduate