Lea Stith

Junior Research Specialist
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Office: 1415 Biological Sciences III
Email: lstith@uci.edu

Website

Lea Stith

About Me
Projects
Research Interests
Fun!
I received my B.S. in Psychology with a concentration in Cognitive Neuroscience and minor in Biological Sciences at UC Irvine in Fall 2020. As an undergrad, I worked as an RA in the lab since Winter 2018, and transitioned to a research specialist role post-graduation. I’ve had a fascination regarding the workings of learning and memory for quite some time. As an undergrad, I completed my honors thesis on improving the diagnostic assessment for Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM). I hope to be able to continue researching this topic in the lab, as I branch out to other topics, such as mood and aging studies. Currently, I am working part-time in the lab as I am interning with the Max Planck Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences with Dr. Sofie Valk’s lab and will begin training as an NIH intern in the NIA’s Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience this summer.

I contribute to the following research areas in the Translational Neuroscience Laboratory:

Translational neuroscience topics are a particular interest of mine, including:

  • Learning and memory across normal and abnormal trajectories
  • Mood disorders
  • Mental health and illness
  • Sleep

Research methods and tools I am interested in are:

  • Neuroimaging and analysis
  • Machine learning and deep learning
Some of the things I like to do are reading, writing, hiking, yoga, traveling, gardening, and spending time with family, friends, and my partner. Besides working in the lab, I work as a private tutor. On the weekends, you can find me volunteering at a local horse rescue and advocacy program, Hanaeleh. I am also a co-lead of the mentorship committee for San Jose Strong, a grassroots organization created by and for the community, with a goal to reinvent the place that shaped I grew up immersed in.

What the lab means to me…

“Joining the lab at the beginning of my college career really shaped my undergraduate experience and future plans. When I first started, it was almost immediately clear to me that every member of the lab was passionate about both their work and environment, so I felt even more fortunate when they were willing to share this with me. Ever since I joined this lab and community, I’ve been motivated to pursue a career in neuroscience research. It is no exaggeration to say that this lab is like a second family and home to me.”