Claudia Espinoza-Heredia

I was raised in a small town in the Central Valley of California called Delhi and am the proud daughter of immigrant parents from Sinaloa, Mexico. I am a first-generation, low-income college student. Before coming to Columbia I completed my Bachelor’s at UC Berkeley in Cognitive Science with a Neuroscience concentration. After my undergrad, I knew I wanted to get my PhD, but I did not feel ready to apply right after graduation. To prepare, I worked as a lab/data processing manager for 2 years at a fetal fMRI lab at NYU’s Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Department. Once the pandemic hit, I left NY, traveled home to California, and got different, but relevant hands-on experience as a manager in a facility caring for adults with a wide range of developmental diagnosis while I applied to graduate school. I chose Columbia because the DCN lab was the most well-suited for the work I wanted to do. My work focuses on investigating how we, humans, learn to learn early in life. We do this through an inclusive lens that acknowledges cultural and environmental factors that shape our brain development to be one that is suitable for our unique context. 

 

Deciding to come to this ivory tower was a difficult one as I anticipated mainly being surrounded by peers I could not relate with given academic disparities that hover upon this country. As an extremely social being, having a community plays a huge role in my happiness and well-being. I was lucky enough to be guided by my PI and fellow STEM faculty who encouraged me to start a SACNAS+ Chapter and search for peers to help with collectively making this a reality. I served as the SACNAS+ Co-President the first 2 years, last year I served as a Co-Social VP, and this year I am resuming as the graduate co-president. Most importantly, I am grateful for the community it has given me, they are amazing.

 

Personally, I love to spend time with friends and family (in any social setting), take long walks/jogs with my pup Fio, try yummy food around the city, go dancing, take trips, and play board/card games. Happy to always be a resource of ANY type if possible so please feel free to contact me and/or join SACNAS+ to be a part of this growing community!