Keith Perkins Email & Phone Number

Piscataway Township, Nj, Us

New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States

New Jersey, United States

In this role I planned and lectured for a course entitled " Sensations & Perception Lab". Wherein we explored the many strategies scientist use to study human sensation and perceptual limits by using the Python based program PsychoPy.

New Jersey, United States

New Jersey, United States

In this role I supported professors by interacting with students and assisting with grading assignments.

Princeton, Nj

While in this role I assisted in a research project in Dr. JonathanCohen’s laboratory. This program exposed me to a very different environment where I wassurrounded by many scientists at the forefront of their respective fields. We were studying thehypothesis that we could predict an individual’s decision when given a choice of two differenttasks with differing difficulty and monetary reward and we used the data to show the accuracy ofthe Expected Value of Control theory. The theory takes into account overall payoff and theintrinsic “cognitive” cost of performing a given task. These two parameters together determinethe EVC which models the function of the Dorsal Anterior Cingulate. We used a modifiedcorrelated motion paradigm to determine if our results fit the EVCmodel of human decision making. The analysis of this data is still underway. This experiencewas challenging because I had never before had experience with Cognitive Neuroscience,Matlab, or research with human participants. The SIP gave me the chance to observe and interactwith many different scientists who offered a lot of encouragement and advice concerninggraduate school and my future career in general. The research itself showed me how importantplanning and hard-work are to being successful as a scientist.

New Orleans, La

My research career began at Southern University at New Orleans when I became a work-studyemployee and met Dr. Illya Tietzel who was the first to introduced me to research. My first project sought to determine the effect of the alkane degrading microbe Alcanivorax borkumensis’s colonization in the gut of the shrimp species Farfantepenaeus aztecus and Litopenaeus setiferus in the Gulf of Mexico after the BP Oil spill. This work turned out not to be successful for a long time, asserious contamination problems confounded the data, but nonetheless my love of research onlygrew as my mentor and I found a way to solve every problem we encountered over that 3-yearperiod. I feel that I passed my first test as a scientist when I won an award for presenting thisresearch at a local conference. This experience also taught me the importance of experimentplanning and time management while splitting my time between research and class and also gaveme the first thrill of usable data emerging after a long and difficult period of troubleshooting.This initial experience at my home university is why I decided that I would pursue a Ph.D. insome form of biological science, and the lessons learned there will assist me during graduateschool and for the rest of my career.

New Orleans, La

In this role I worked in the laboratory of Dr. Hamilton Farris. Our group studied the hypothesis that eyeoptics could accurately predict sensitivity (Land Sensitivity Equation). To prove this hypothesis,we used several frog species which had eyes which were adapted to living in environments withdifferent ambient light levels (Nocturnal vs. Diurnal). Photopic and Scotopic Electroretinogramswere used to determine the sensitivity and the resulting data was compared to the outcome ofLand’s Sensitivity Equation for the same species. During that summer I was sure I wanted tostudy the mechanisms of sensory systems. I also experienced how quickly labs can changedirection when new hypotheses are pursued and how as a scientist it is important to be versatilewhen pursuing hypotheses which can have interdisciplinary implications. The manuscript of thisproject is currently in preparation and I will be featured as the third author.

New Orleans, La

In this role I worked in the bio-acoustic lab of Dr. Hamilton Farriswhere I was first introduced to research in Neuroscience. While at the Louisiana State UniversityHealth Sciences Center New Orleans in the Neuroscience Center of Excellence’s ResearchExperience for Undergraduates. The goal of our project was to understand how auditoryfrequency sensitivity enables sorting of individual sound sources amidst ambient noise using aspecies which relies heavily on auditory cues for survival. Specifically, we hypothesized that thetuning of individual neurons changed as a result of attentional input from the thalamus. To testthis hypothesis, we used extracellular recordings of individual auditory neurons in the inferiorcolliculus (IC) of awake Rana pipiens frogs. This method allowed us to measure neuralfrequency sensitivity in real time. Using this data, we measured the tuning before, during, andafter stimulation of the descending circuitry from the thalamus. Then in separate novelrecordings in Oophaga pumilio we tested the hypothesis that the complete hearing range of thisspecies could be constructed from acquired tuning curves. To test this hypothesis, we once againused extracellular recording techniques to get the tuning curve of several neurons in the inferiorcolliculus which we then used to construct the hearing range of this animal. During that summerI was exposed to a research intensive university for the first time and immediately I knew that Iwanted to pursue my career in a similar environment. I was also presented with a new field ofinterest and as a result in order to participate fully in the research being conducted I had to learnquickly. My curiosity about the subject led me to investigate the field further and as a result Idecided that I would like to pursue my Ph.D. in Neuroscience. With this newly acquired field ofinterest I discovered that I liked the topics being studied in both Cognitive & SystemsNeuroscience.

New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

Master Of Science - Ms, Neurobiology And Behavior

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Behavioral And Systems Neurosciences

Bachelor’S Degree, Biology/Biological Sciences, General

Activities and Societies: ASM NIS

High School, General Studies

Activities and Societies: Marching Band (Tuba)