Undergraduate Students

Aparna Srinivasan is from Westmont, Illinois, and she is currently a fourth-year at Vanderbilt University. She is majoring in Neuroscience and Psychology, and has been working at the Music Cognition Lab since the fall of 2019. Outside of the lab, she loves to write her own music, sing, and play the ukulele.  Aparna is also an intern for the Hydrocephalus Association (HA) and writes research blogs for the HA website. In the future, she hopes to pursue a career in medicine and possibly specialize in pediatrics.

Zoe Crawley is a second-year undergraduate student from Alexandria, Virginia. She is a Cognitive Studies and Child Development major and Creative Writing minor. She is especially interested connecting experience with the arts with  emotional development in early childhood, and hopes to pursue a career in clinical psychology with a focus on music cognition. In the future, she plans to engage in graduate work that integrates music and arts therapy into clinical practice. Outside of the lab, she enjoys singing and writing music, baking, and spending all the time she can outside. 

Navya Thakkar is a third-year undergraduate student from Mumbai, India studying Biology and Art. She is very passionate about the intersection between science and art, with a focus on genetics and psychology. Navya plans on using her artistic skills to create science art, hoping to work in the field of communication between the scientific community and the public. She is planning on taking a gap year before applying to graduate school for medical illustration programs. Outside of school, Navya enjoys roller skating, spending as much time as she can outdoors and creating playlists full of music for her friends!

Gabija Zilinskaite is a fourth-year undergraduate student majoring in Violin Performance and Psychology at Vanderbilt. Originally from Fort Mill, South Carolina, she started training as a violinist when she was five. Since then, she has enjoyed playing in chamber and orchestral ensembles in both Charlotte, NC, and Nashville, TN. Gabija loves working with children and is currently a Research Assistant for the Timing Study under Dr. Gordon, which explores the effects of rhythmic priming on children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). She plans to pursue a graduate degree in clinical psychology. In her free time, she likes cooking for her friends, teaching at the W.O. Smith School, and exploring coffeeshops and the outdoors alike.

Yunah Song is a third-year undergraduate student majoring in Cognitive Studies and Child Development with a minor in Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University from Mansfield, Texas. In the future, she plans on attending medical school and possibly specializing in pediatrics. She recently joined the lab and will be working with Dr. Lense to study the efficacy of music interventions for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Outside of the lab, Yunah enjoys playing the flute and the piano, bullet journaling, and going on adventures with friends.

Catherine Hobbs is a fourth-year undergraduate student from Villanova, Pennsylvania. She is majoring in Medicine, Health, & Society with minors in Neuroscience and Spanish, and she plans on attending medical school after graduation. She has been working in the lab for a year, studying eye-gaze patters in children with and without ASD, as they relate to musical stimuli and exposure. Outside of the lab, she enjoys running, exploring Nashville, and writing and performing her own songs.

Jonathan Liu is a third-year undergraduate student at Vanderbilt University majoring in Neuroscience and Music with a minor in Medicine, Health, and Society. He is studying how individual differences in reading proficiency can predict music and speech rhythm discrimination on Dr. Gordon's side of the lab. In his free time, Jonathan enjoys playing the clarinet, going on nature treks, and spending time with his friends. 

Kevin Cho is a second-year undergraduate student from Los Angeles, California. He is majoring in Medicine, Health, & Society with a minor in Piano Performance, and has interests in pursuing careers in pediatrics and music education. In the lab, he is administering language tasks coupled with musical primes to children for the Timing Study to study the relations between language and rhythm phenotypes (and also runs the beautiful lab website!). He has played classical piano since the age of 4 and has regularly participated in competitions and concerts throughout high school and uni. Outside of the lab, he enjoys reading, binging TV shows, and finding new recipes to become the next more-or-less Gordon Ramsay.