Jiahui Guo, PhD

Dr. Jiahui Guo is an assistant professor of psychology in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences and an external fellow at the Center for Vital Longevity at UT Dallas. Before joining UTD, Jiahui completed her PhD in cognitive neuroscience at Dartmouth College with Dr. Bradley C. Duchaine, and did her postdoctoral training also at Dartmouth with Dr. James V. Haxby and M. Ida Gobbini. She received her BS in psychology at Beijing Normal University with the advice of Dr. Jia Liu. Jiahui’s research focuses on human high-level perception and cognition (e.g, face recognition, social perception) in typical and neuropsychological populations, combining research techniques such as naturalistic stimuli, neuroimaging, behavioral measurements, computational modeling, and artificial neural networks. When she is not in the lab, Jiahui enjoys doing illustrations, playing musical instruments, playing ping-pong, and doing outdoor activities.

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Email: jiahui.guo@utdallas.edu
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Ian Abenes

Ian graduated from The University of Texas at Dallas with an MS in applied cognition and neuroscience (2018) and a BS in neuroscience (2017). His background is in human neuroscience research, particularly in fMRI. He is interested in using computational methods and naturalistic viewing paradigms to understand cognitive and perceptual processes in more holistic, ecologically valid contexts. In his spare time, he enjoys walking meditation, exercise, and playing chess.

Email: iancordell.abenes@utdallas.edu

Safa Adookkattil

Safa is a sophomore majoring in cognitive science. She joined the lab to gain hands-on experience with the applications of programming in research and to deepen her understanding of the brain. Fascinated by the design of the human body, she aspires to pursue a career as a physician scientist. Outside of academics, Safa enjoys reading, journaling, taking walks in nature, and learning new things.

Email: safa.adookkattil@utdallas.edu

Daisy Gan

Daisy is a sophomore cognitive science major at UTD. She has interests in Human-Computer Interaction research (HCI) and joined the Co-Co Neuro lab to further her experience with neuroscience data. Outside of research, she likes to spend time playing ultimate frisbee and drawing.

Email: daisy.gan@utdallas.edu

Neha Gannapaneni

Neha Gannapaneni is a sophomore neuroscience major at UT Dallas on the pre-med track. She has an avid interest in learning the role neural cognizance plays in facial perception and joined the Co-Co Neuro lab to further her knowledge and expertise in the field. Outside of research, she works as a medical assistant and volunteers in hospice care. Her hobbies involve solving jigsaw puzzles, shopping, and trying new foods! She hopes to attend medical school in the future.

Email: neha.gannapaneni@utdallas.edu

Rebecca Garcia

Rebecca Garcia is a senior transfer student from Case Western Reserve University majoring in cognitive science with concentrations in psychology and neuroscience. She hopes to pursue a career in research studying topics in cognitive neuroscience. Outside of research, she likes to explore new hobbies, exercise, sing, and take naps with her dogs.

Email: rebecca.garcia@utdallas.edu

Jaime Garris

Jaime is currently a junior neuroscience major on the pre-med track. She decided to join the lab because of her interest in the application of neuroscience into computational and clinical research. Outside of the lab, Jaime works as an EMT and SI Leader on campus. Her hobbies include cooking, napping, and playing with her cats Hana and Crinkle.

Email: jilly.garris@utdallas.edu

Omar Ghaffar

Omar is a graduate from The University of Texas at Dallas with a BS in cognitive science. His primary research interests are situated around understanding cognition, and how it can best be modeled — in particular, evaluating connectionist/deep learning vs. symbolic approaches, and how these compare to humans. He currently works as a software engineer, and enjoys reading and traveling in his free time.

Nicholas Guerrero

Nicholas Guerrero was born in Lexington, South Carolina, and moved to Allen, Texas in 2012. He is currently an undergraduate at UT Dallas pursuing a major in healthcare studies with a minor in Spanish. He is on the Pre-med track and aspires to become a Clinician as either a PA or MD. He is a member of AED, a pre-health organization at UT Dallas, and a Certified Pharmacy Technician. He enjoys spending time with his friends and family. He also takes an interest in playing the guitar and playing video games when time permits.

Email: nicholas.guerrero@utdallas.edu

Keerthi Gullapalli

Keerthi Gullapalli is currently a junior double majoring in computer science and cognitive science, with concentrations in neuroscience and artificial intelligence. Her interests lie in the integration of AI and healthcare, with a particular focus on applications at the intersection of neuroscience and technology. Outside the lab she loves finding new recipes and spending time outdoors.

Email: keerthi.gullapalli@utdallas.edu

Sreya Kodela

Sreya is a sophomore undergraduate student majoring in neuroscience. She is studying neuroscience to eventually pursue a career in medicine and hopes to integrate research into her medical career. She is particularly interested in movement disorders like Parkinson’s and Huntington’s, the effects of upbringing on brain development, and how neural signaling disruptions contribute to non-motor conditions. Through her work in Dr. Guo’s Cognitive & Computational Neuroscience Lab, she aims to improve her research skills and contribute to ongoing studies on perception and cognition. Outside of school, Sreya enjoys singing, volunteering to help children, and tutoring others.

Email: sreya.kodela@utdallas.edu

Suvel Muttreja

Suvel (grad. Spring 2025) was a master’s student in advanced cognition and neuroscience with a computational modeling concentration. His interests are cognitive neuroscience of decision-making, machine learning, and computational modeling, and how the three fields can be integrated to make new discoveries about brain function and cognition within and between brain regions. In the lab, his research investigated if deep neural networks can model human perception and judgement of the social attributes of naturalistic dynamic faces, culminating in a poster at the 2025 Social and Affective Neuroscience Society Conference. Currently, he is working with Dr. Guo to expand the project scope and publish a paper. Starting Fall 2025, Suvel is pursuing a PhD in psychology at the University of Southern California in the Piray Lab, where he is researching the cognitive and computational neuroscience of decision-making and reinforcement learning in the brain. Outside of research, Suvel likes to watch movies, play video games, read, and visit coffee shops.

Email: suvel.muttreja@utdallas.edu

Hibah Shamsi

Hibah Shamsi born in Abu-Dhabi, U.A.E., immigrated to The United States in ‘96 from Pakistan at age ten. Her academic foundation was established at The University of Texas at Dallas, where she earned a bachelor of science in biology, followed by a master of science in applied cognition & neuroscience with specialized focus on cognition and neuroscience (matriculating Spring 2025). As an alumna of UT Dallas, she intends to apply to the university’s prestigious cognition and neuroscience doctoral program for Fall 2026 admission. Her professional credentials include maintaining Board-Certification in Intraoperative Neurophysiologic Monitoring (CNIM) ̶ expertise that facilitated her career in Intraoperative Neuromonitoring. However, that career trajectory underwent severe reorientation following devastating work-related injury that resulted in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), that fundamentally disrupted her life patterns. This profound experience precipitated her decision to pivot toward cognitive neuroscience research. Her intellectual passion centers on deciphering the neural substrates of complex cognition. Throughout her master’s program, both academically and in research contexts, Hibah developed keen interest in higher-order face perception as it relates to emotion processing. As she approaches doctoral studies, her research ambitions have crystallized around conducting a comprehensive framework of advanced human perceptual mechanisms in relational to emotional processing and their computational lacunae in real-world emotional interpretation by incorporating diverse modalities including facial expressions, micro-expressions, body language, speech patterns, textual components. She dedicates her limited leisure time to meaningful personal connections. Her kids have paws, and she adores her 4 cats: Pele, Princess, Hunter, & Flash. She finds restoration in reading, going on walks, and expressing diverse creativity, a holistic lifestyle complementing her pursuits.

Email: hibah.shamsi@utdallas.edu

Diego Rodriguez

Email: nicholas.guerrero@utdallas.edu

Ginni Strehle, MS

Email: ginni.strehle@utdallas.edu

Henry Nguyen

Email: henry.nguyen2@utdallas.edu