Jake is a Neuroscience PhD student at the University of Pennsylvania. A DC area native, he first developed an interest in the brain while growing up with an autistic brother. Although he initially intended to pursue this interest in the context of medicine, he discovered a passion for research while obtaining a BS in Neuroscience at New York University. During his undergraduate research project, Jake developed a quantitative model that links changes in pupil size to cognitive events and created an open source Matlab toolbox for implementing it. Upon graduating in 2017, Jake spent four years studying the pathophysiology of movement disorders as a post-baccalaureate research fellow at the NIH before beginning his PhD. Broadly speaking, Jake is interested in pursuing work in computational, cognitive, and systems neuroscience during his thesis. As he has progressed through his early career, Jake has worked to break down the barriers that prevent many from pursuing a career in STEM. During his time at the NIH, Jake provided free STEM tutoring to middle and high school students from underserved communities as part of College Bound, a non-profit based in DC. As a mentor for Project SHORT, Jake hopes to provide mentorship and guidance to those facing barriers to applying to graduate degree programs. A former competitive swimmer, Jake enjoys Olympic-style weightlifting, photography, making coffee, hiking, and learning new things in his free time.