Meet The Wallace Lab

Title: Laboratory Director

Research interests: Multisensory Processing, Development & Plasticity, Developmental Disabilities

Has been known to: Herd cats...in both the figurative and literal sense

Hometown: Philadelphia, PA

Email: mark.wallace@vanderbilt.edu

Favorite Sensory Experience:  Watching a movie at IMAX theater

Title: Research Professor

Research interests: Multimodal AI Models, Neural Representations, Physiology, VR/AR, Clinical Neurology

Has been known to: Build models

Hometown: Columbia, MD

Email: david.tovar@vanderbilt.edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: Digging fingers through sand

Title: Software Developer

Research interests: Generalizable Tools for Psychophysics, Eye Movements, Childhood Synesthesia, Visual Attention

Has been known to: Do both dumb and fun things on skis

Hometown: Wakefield, Quebec

Email: marcus.watson@vanderbilt.edu

Title: Research Program Manager

Email: henry.ong@vanderbilt.edu

Title:  Project Manager

Has been known to: Read too many books

Hometown: Fremont, MI

Email: meagan.m.postema@vanderbilt.edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: Walking through crunchy fall leaves

Title: Recruitment Coordinator

Research interests: Neurodivergencies (Autism and ADHD), Psychology through art, Aphantasia and Hyperphantasia

Has been known to: Watch 12 hour video essays while making art

Hometown: Fayetteville, TN & Gulf Shores, AL

Email: mckenzie.r.king@vanderbilt.edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: Rubbing the divot in my crystal necklace like a worry stone

Title: PhD Candidate in Neuroscience 

Research interests: Sensory Systems in Autism (focus on Peripersonal Space)

Has been known to: Weave poetry and philosophy together—finding meaning in the mundane and wonder in the profound.

Hometown: Cupertino, CA

Email: hari.srinivasan@vanderbilt.edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: The deep, resonant hum of a Tibetan singing bowl—like a wave of sound that settles into the bones, both grounding and expansive at the same time

Title: PhD Student in Neuroscience

Research interests: Motion Processing, Bayesian Causal Inference, Decision-making Modeling, Attention

Has been known to: Force lab members to rock climb with him

Hometown: Washington, IL

Email: adam.j.tiesman@vanderbilt.edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: A warm bowl of soup on a cold rainy day

Title: PhD Student in Biomedical Engineering

Research interests: Neural computation, semantic binding across development, plasticity of audiovisual learning

Has been known to: Turn board games into life-or-death combat with little mercy

Hometown: Fife, Scotland

Email: anna.machado@vanderbilt.edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: Watching the sunset

Title: PhD Student in Neuroscience

Research interests: The role of higher-order cognitive processes in multisensory integration and perception

Has been known to: Ride horses through the Starbucks drive-through

Hometown: College Station, TX

Email: harper.marshall@vanderbilt.edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: Listening to the rain

Title: PhD Candidate in Neuroscience

Research interests: Autism, Motor Stereotypies. Sensorimotor Integration, Active Sensing

Has been known to: Know the melody to everything and the words to nothing

Hometown: Howell, Michigan

Email: william.quackenbush@vanderbilt.edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: The reverberation of an orchestra in a church

Title: 4th Year MSTP Student 

Research interests: Sensory Reliability, Priors and Psychosis Risk in Schizophrenia, Haptics Processing

Has been known to: Speak of her dog as if she is a human child

Hometown: Union, NJ

Email: emily.e.garcia@vanderbilt.edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: Sitting in the sun with a light breeze in the air

Title: 5th year MSTP Student

Research interests:

Has been known to: 

Hometown: 

Email: jordan.p.washecheck@Vanderbilt.Edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: 

Title: M.S Student

Research interests: How the position of sensing organs contributes to perception

Has been known to: Write with both hands

Hometown: Guangdong, China

Email: yifei.pan@Vanderbilt.Edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: Soaking in a hot spring

Title: M.S Student

Research interests: Multisensory integration and attention within virtual reality (VR) environments

Has been known to: Teach her dog new tricks

Hometown: Burbank, California

Email: emily.e.garcia@vanderbilt.edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: Smelling candles 

Title: Research Assistant

Research interests: Audiovisual Motion Perception, Sensory Integration

Has been known to: Skydive!!

Hometown: New York

Email: kalina.stoyanova@vanderbilt.edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: The feeling of velvet (especially the shaggy rugs and blankets)

Title: Research Assistant

Research interests: Audiovisual Motion Processing, Audiovisual Integration in Clinical Populations 

Has been known to: Never be on time

Hometown: New York

Email: hannah.s.bertisch@Vanderbilt.Edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: A burning hot cup of coffee

Title:  Research Assistant

Research interests: Multisensory Integration, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), Evolutionary Neuroscience (how brains evolved in humans)

Has been known to: Watch sports all day every day

Hometown: Westchester, New York

Email: samir.m.mansouri@vanderbilt.edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: Haptic feedback on Playstation controllers

Title: Research Assistant

Research interests: Effects of Multisensory Integration on Cochlear Implant Patients

Has been known to: Obsess over soccer

Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia

Email: andrew.s.kim@vanderbilt.edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: Scratching an itchy spot

Title: Research Assistant

Research interests: Computational Models, Quantitative Psychology, Sensation & Perception, Language & Literacy

Has been known to: Be directionally challenged 

Hometown: Murfreesboro, TN

Email: ivy.lin@vanderbilt.edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: Feeling different textures/materials

Title: Research Assistant

Research interests: Motion Processing, Cecision Making, Reward History Influence on Saccade Tasks

Has been known to: Spend a lot of time with his dog Marty!

Hometown: Chicago, IL

Email: wesley.a.williams@Vanderbilt.Edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: Very hot rooms (>95°)

Title: Research Assistant

Research interests: Audio localization and Bone conduction hearing

Has been known to: Rollerblade across Nashville

Hometown: Lancaster, PA

Email: emmett.a.kappesser@Vanderbilt.Edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: Diving under a big wave at the beach

Title:  Research Assistant

Research interests: Audiovisual Sensory Integration, Synesthesia, Learning Plasticity

Has been known to: Always have a pair of headphones on 

Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio

Email: adriano.s.cristaldi@Vanderbilt.Edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: Hearing surround sound audio at a great movie theater

Title:  Research Assistant

Research interests: Parkinson's Disease & Motor Control

Has been known to: Be a coffee addict 

Hometown: Jeju, South Korea

Email: you-hyun.noh@Vanderbilt.Edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: Cuddling with my dog on a fall afternoon!

Title:  Research Assistant

Research interests: Sensory Simulation and Accessibility

Has been known to: Put hundreds of hours into Nintendo games

Hometown: Moore, OK

Email: cherish.d.farmer@Vanderbilt.Edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: Smelling freshly brewed jasmine green tea

Title: Research Assistant

Research interests: Virtual and Augmented Reality

Has been known to: Play soccer even on a rainy day

Hometown: Bamenda, CMR

Email: davis.v.tameh-nfon@Vanderbilt.Edu

Favorite Sensory Experience: Reading 19th-century prose whilst listening to the rain