In my role as a clinical study coordinator, I worked as part of a team under Dr. Adriana Hughes, investigating how in-home technologies intended to monitor and capture cognitive and functional changes in older adults' daily activity can be used to keep that population living independently as they age (Aging-Well research study).In this position, I assisted in coordinating and carrying out clinical aspects of the study protocol, including recruitment, chart review, screening, consenting, enrollment, retention, and withdrawal tracking; completing data integrity checks and maintaining spreadsheet updates and clean and organized record keeping; study visit scheduling, tracking, and projecting; managing, submitting, and tracking participant payments; mailing study materials to participants; administering and scoring clinic-based study visits with older adult participants including standard neuropsychological tests; data entry and verification; and supervision of research assistants on data entry and verification, participant calls and screening, and clerical tasks. Additionally, collaborates with the PI to prepare Continuing Reviews, Research Performance Progress Reports, and any other reporting tasks as required for regulatory compliance of grantees, which comes with learning and becoming adept in working with the IRB systems (IRBNet and ETHOS). Lastly, in this role, I work towards research dissemination efforts as part of a lab team, including working with and analyzing data, writing abstracts for scientific meetings, and writing manuscripts for publication in research journals. The Aging-Well research study was being conducted within the Geriatric Research, Education & Clinical Center (GRECC) at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System. The study is supported by an R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

As a medical receptionist for PrairieCare, one of the nation’s largest providers of quality psychiatric services, I carried out administrative and clerical activities necessary to maintain departmental organization, including, but not limited to: scheduling/rescheduling appointments; answering/transferring phone calls appropriately; interacting with patients, families, and guests in a person-centered, friendly, and professional manner; distributing/routing mail and faxes; process release of information and other relevant requests; insurance verification; and maintaining calendars for healthcare providers.

In my role as a BT, I worked with children with autism spectrum disorders or related conditions, implementing a treatment plan designed to address behavioral, emotional, and development concerns. My work included: assisting clients with independently utilizing skills to increase functioning across settings; giving person-centered, responsive approaches and interventions to individuals served; providing behavioral services including: curriculum assessment, preference assessments, functional behavior assessments, etc. and regular documentation and data collection of these services with attention to detail.

I assisted* in research under the guidance of Dr. Colum MacKinnon of the Movement Disorders Laboratory within the Department of Neurology. I supported research concerned with quantifying disturbances in steady-state gait and the relationship between different gait parameters, along with translating this knowledge to establishing interventions utilizing deep brain stimulation. My tasks included marking the gait characteristics (using MATLAB) and processing datasets examining the kinematics, kinetics, and electromyographic (EMG) activity during gait initiation in people with Parkinson’s disease; aiding in data collection for both transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) testing (via BrainSight TMS Navigation) and quantitative motor assessments; working directly with PI and other laboratory personnel in the preparation and submission of two R01 grants; managing independent projects and assisted with PI and other laboratory personnel’s research dissemination efforts; and conducting regular literature reviews.*Research assistant from 2019 to 2020 (full-time during the summer of 2019 and part-time during the 2019-2020 academic year); Full-time Researcher II in the fall of 2020Selected Presentations:Weaver, D.J., Amundsen-Huffmaster, S.L., Chung, J.W., Evans, M.L., Cooper, S.E., Videnonic, A., Howell, M.J., MacKinnon, C.D. (2021, November 8-11). Progression of gait disturbances in people with Parkinson’s disease and REM sleep without atonia [Online conference PowerPoint presentation]. Society for Neuroscience 50th Annual Meeting, Virtual.Weaver, D.J., Amundsen-Huffmaster, S.L., Evans, M.L., Patriat, R., Schrock, L.E., Tuite P.J., Noecker, A.M., McIntyre, C.C., Cooper, S.E., Lu, C., Harel, N., MacKinnon, C.D. (2021, April 15-16). Effects of auditory cueing and deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus on gait initiation in individuals with Parkinson’s disease [Online symposium poster presentation]. Minnesota 8th Annual Neuromodulation Symposium, Virtual.

As a community advisor (CA) for Frontier Hall at The University of Minnesota, I led the STEM Diversity House Living and Learning Community and one of the Biology House Living and Learning Communities. I worked as a peer leader to enhance first- and second-year students’ academic, professional, and emotional well-being.

As a Peer Mentor with the College of Biological Sciences Dean's Scholars Program, I facilitated regular discussions with my Dean’s Scholars Peer Mentor group of first-year mentees. I also checked in with mentees regularly one-on-one for support. Additionally, as a part of this role, I served as a teaching assistant for two courses during the 2019 Fall (TA for BIOL 1301: Introduction to Leadership) and 2019 Spring (TA for BIOL 2301: Critical Service Learning) semesters. As a teaching assistant, I worked with freshman, sophomore, and junior students in the Dean's Scholars Program, facilitating biweekly class discussions surrounding various service learning and leadership topics, grading assignments, and checking in with the course instructor weekly to discuss class progress and future lesson plans.

I supported this organization by managing financial documentation and coordinating event and travel arrangements for an organizational partnership of fourteen higher education institutions intended to double the number of underrepresented students receiving baccalaureate degrees in STEM fields.

As a research assistant in Dr. Nicola Grissom's NeuroGOAL Laboratory within the Department of Psychology, I supported research investigating the molecular mechanisms behind learning, executive function, and goal-oriented behaviors. While in this role, I handled mice, including feeding; home cage, and chamber cleaning; and carried out proper, humane rodent euthanasia techniques by cervical dislocation. I also performed mouse experiments, including moving specimens between home cages and operant conditioning training chambers; brain removal and microdissection of discrete regions from tissue; and PCR genotyping assays.Selected Presentation:Bindas, S., Chen, C.S., Weaver, D.J., Grissom, N.M. (2019, October 19-23). Transcriptional profiles in reinforcement learning across brain regions reflect associative structure and reward history [Conference poster presentation]. Society for Neuroscience 49th Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, United States.

I attended weekly lectures and all exams, including the final. In addition, I maintained one weekly office hour and graded exams, problem sets, quizzes, and other assignments where the grading criteria were objective.

I helped guide the bakery along with the managers. I delegated tasks to team members and completed whatever job was needed, including, but not limited to: cashiering, baking bagels, helping guests, and cleaning.