updated winter 2017

EDUCATION

DOCTORAL STUDENT IN DYNAMICAL NEUROSCIENCE
University of California, Santa Barbara, 2012 – Present

B.S. IN BIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, MINOR IN CHEMISTRY
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, 2008 – 2012

RESEARCH

DOCTORAL CANDIDATE
Dr. Michael Miller’s Memory and Neuroimaging Lab
University of California, Santa Barbara, 2012 – Present
Employs a variety of behavioral, neuroimaging, neurostimulation, and analytical techniques to study the neural dynamics of causal inference making and belief updating.

RESEARCH ASSISTANT
Dr. Snezna Rogelj’s Drug Discovery Lab
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, 2010 – 2012
Screened novel compounds for antifungal activity against Candida albicans and analyzed fungus morphology under various conditions.

RESEARCH INTERN
Dr. Floh Thiels Lab
Center for Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh, Summer 2011
Helped compile behavioral and neurobiological profiles of rats that were exposed to stress to establish an animal model of depression for the lab.

TEACHING & MENTORSHIP

INSTRUCTOR OF RECORD FOR COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Psychological & Brain Sciences, UCSB, Summer Session B 2016
Designed all aspects of the course, including the course’s structure, content, policies, assignments, and exams. Gave lectures to a class of 67 undergraduates three times weekly and received glowing feedback.  

ACADEMIC RESEARCH CONSORTIUM MENTOR
University of California, Santa Barbara, 2017
Helped a student design a research project, create stimuli, and collect data. Taught her how to write code in Python to analyze and visualize the data and guided her as she created a poster and presentation.

TEACHING ASSISTANT
Psychological and Brain Sciences, UCSB, 2013 – 2014
Held office hours, tutored students, proctored and graded exams, graded homework assignments, and led lab sessions for Advanced Research Methods, Cognition (2 quarters), and Cognitive Neuroscience.

MENTOR
Research Mentorship Program, UCSB, 2013 – 2014
Mentored a total of four high school students over two six-week periods. Helped them design a research study, collect and analyze data, and present their research findings in a paper, poster, and presentation.

LEARNING COACH
Introduction to Chemistry, NMT, Fall 2011
Co-led biweekly lab sessions, tutored students, led a homework discussion group, and graded homework sets for students identified as being at-risk.

WORK

RESIDENT ASSISTANT
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
2010 – 2012

CERTIFIED PHARMACY TECHNICIAN
Walgreen’s Pharmacy
2008 – 2013

AWARDS

SUMMER INSTITUTE IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE FELLOW
Kavli Institute, Santa Barbara, CA, 2016

ATTENDEE AND PRESENTER AT THE NOBEL LAUREATE CONFERENCE
65th annual Interdisciplinary Nobel Laureate Conference, Lindau, Germany 2015
Selected by three committees to attend the conference and by Nobel Laureate Kurt Wuthrich to present at a Masterclass session. Awarded travel costs to the conference.

GRADUATE RESEARCH PROGRAM FELLOW
National Science Foundation, 2014 – Present
Awarded three years of support (totaling $102,000) to pursue proposed research goals.

DOCTORAL SCHOLAR
Graduate Student Division, UCSB, 2012 – Present
Awarded two years of support, totaling $48,000.

GRADUATE STUDENT FELLOW
SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind, UCSB, 2012
Awarded a $5,000 scholarship.

MACEY SCHOLAR
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, 2012
Awarded a $5,000 scholarship.

PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENTAL AWARD
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, 2012

ANALYTICAL AWARD
American Chemistry Society, 2010

TECH SCHOLAR
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, 2010 – 2012

DEAN’S HONOR SOCIETY
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, 2008 – 2012

SKILLS

PROGRAMMING

  • Python (pandas, numpy, matplotlib, seaborn, scikit-learn, statsmodels)
  • MATLAB (psychtoolbox)
  • bash
  • some HTML & CSS

SOFTWARE

  • FSL
  • Caret
  • Freesurfer
  • SimNIBS
  • GMSH

GRADUATE COURSEWORK

NEUROSCIENCE COURSES

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Memory
  • Neuroanatomy
  • Patient Studies
  • Cerebral Cortex

METHODS COURSES

  • Foundations in Machine Learning
  • Linear Systems
  • Ordinary Differential Equations
  • Statistics
  • Neuroimaging
  • fMRI Data Analysis
  • Computational Neuroscience
  • EEG

ONLINE COURSES

  • SQL (Stanford)
  • Statistical Learning (Stanford)
  • Machine Learning (Coursera, Stanford)
  • Python (Codecademy)
  • Data Science (Udacity)

PUBLICATIONS

Marinsek, N., Gazzaniga, M. (2016). A Split-Brain Perspective on Illusionism. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 23(11-12), 149-159.

Turner, B. O., Marinsek, N., Ryhal, E., & Miller, M. B. (2015). Hemispheric lateralization in reasoning. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1359(1), 47-64.

Marinsek, N., Turner, B.O., Gazzaniga, M., & Miller, M.B. (2014). Divergent hemispheric reasoning strategies: reducing uncertainty versus resolving inconsistency. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8(839), 1- 10. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00839

CHAPTERS

Colvin, M. M., Marinsek, N. L., Miller, M. B., & Gazzaniga, M. S. (2017). Split‐brain Cases. The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness, 634-647.

Marinsek, N. L., Gazzaniga, M. S., & Miller, M. B. (2016). Split-brain, split-mind. In The Neurology of Conciousness (Second Edition) (pp. 271-279).

Colvin, M., Marinsek, N., Miller, M. B., & Gazzaniga, M. S (2015) Split-brain cases. Blackwell Companion to Consciousness. Chapter under review.

TALKS

Marinsek, N. (March 2017) Establishing causal relationships between hemispheric asymmetry and reasoning biases with tDCS. Dynamical Neuroscience departmental seminar, UCSB.

Marinsek, N. (November 2015) Tracking the neural dynamics of belief updating. Dynamical Neuroscience departmental seminar, UCSB.

Marinsek, N. (July 2015). Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. 65th annual Nobel Laureate Conference, Lindau, Germany.

Marinsek, N. (May 2014). Hypothesis formation and evaluation in the brain. 38th annual mini-conference for the Psychological and Brain Sciences Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA.

POSTERS

Marinsek, N. & Miller, M. B. (2017, March). Using realistic jury scenarios to study belief updating. Poster presented at the annual Cognitive Neuroscience Society conference, San Francisco, CA.

Marinsek, N., Turner, B. O., Layher, E., & Miller, M. B. (2016, March). Hemispheric Asymmetry in Reasoning: A review and meta-analysis. Poster presented at the annual Cognitive Neuroscience Society conference, New York, NY.

Marinsek, N., Turner, B. O., Steindam, C., & Miller, M. B. (2015, March). Tracking the neural dynamics of hypothesis evaluation. Poster presented at the annual Cognitive Neuroscience Society conference, San Francisco, CA.

Marinsek, N., Turner, B. O., & Miller, M. B. (2014, August). A Bayesian approach to identifying the neural correlates of hypothesis formation and evaluation. Poster presented at the annual Bay Area Memory Meeting, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA.

Marinsek, N., Turner, B. O., & Miller, M. B. (2014, April). Components of belief updating and their neural correlates. Poster presented at the annual Cognitive Neuroscience Society Meeting, Boston, MA.

Marinsek, N., Turner, B. O., & Miller, M. B. (2013, November). The neural correlates of hypothesis formation and evaluation. Poster presented at the annual Society for Neuroscience Meeting, San Diego, CA.

Marinsek, N., Turner, B. O., & Miller, M. B. (2013, August). The neural correlates of hypothesis formation and evaluation. Poster presented at the annual Bay Area Memory Meeting, San Francisco, CA.