Aviva Shaevel

Neuroscience Major at The University of Texas at Dallas | School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences Honors Program | 2026 Amgen Scholar

Richardson, Texas, United States

About

I am an undergraduate Neuroscience student at the University of Texas at Dallas interested in research in the field of Developmental and Behavioral Neurobiology. I have laboratory experience and am hoping to pursue a PhD in Neuroscience after earning my bachelor's degree.

Experience

  • Amgen Scholar at Columbia University
    May 2026 - Present · 2 mos

    Research intern in Dr. Alexander Harris’ Neural Circuits Lab working on a computational project analyzing social interactions between stressed and unstressed mice to investigate social buffering of stress.

  • The University of Texas at Dallas (1 yr 6 mos)
    • First Year Leader
      Aug 2025 - Present · 11 mos

      Co-teach a freshman seminar class of 25 students Create original lesson plans for weekly 50-minute classes with engaging activities to foster connections between students while conveying important information Assist first year students in adjusting to college by sharing resources and meeting with students one-on-one Engage in professional development and team building activities with other First Year Leaders

    • Research Assistant - Rincón-Cortés Lab
      Jan 2025 - Present · 1 yr 6 mos

      Assist PhD student with research project on investigating the effects of early life adversity on affect and pain behavior and neurobiology in rats Gain laboratory experience in wet lab, behavioral assays, tissue collection and analysis, and live animal research Perform maintenance tasks such as weekly cage changes Participate in weekly lab meetings and journal club to deepen knowledge of research both produced by and relevant to the lab Attend biweekly one-on-one meetings with principal investigator to develop professional relationship and receive mentorship

  • Cashier at La Casita Bakeshop
    Jan 2024 - Present · 2 yrs 6 mos

    Provide friendly and accommodating service to customers to improve customer satisfaction Communicate effectively with managers and coworkers to maximize efficiency Complete tasks responsibly and timely to create a more productive workplace

  • Research Assistant - Champagne Lab at The University of Texas at Austin
    May 2025 - Aug 2025 · 4 mos

    Learned manual behavior scoring software (BORIS) and used ethogram from 2023 Lapp et al AMBER pipeline paper to score more than 70 videos Used cryostat to slice experimental mouse brains, micropunched PVN, CeA and CA1 regions, and prepared lysis buffer for total RNA extraction Presented an article for weekly undergraduate journal club meetings Conducted independent literature review to find brain regions to punch Reviewed mouse pose estimation videos for Simba software Assisted PhD student with Kingfisher total RNA extraction

  • Teen Camp Counselor at Shalom Austin
    May 2024 - Jul 2024 · 3 mos

    Led groups of up to 15 campers by planning engaging activities to foster leadership, team-building, and inclusivity Supervised campers on off-campus field trips to ensure their safety and wellbeing Guided and assisted teen campers to lead events and create activities for the enjoyment of younger campers