Communications Committee

Chair of the Communications Committee

Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education in Science and Technology and the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, heading the Educational Neuroimaging Group (ENIG). She is also an Associate Professor (PAR) at Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Between the years 2013-2021, Dr. Horowitz-Kraus was appointed an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the College of Medicine, at the University of Cincinnati and the Scientific Director of the Reading and Literacy Discovery Center in the Department of General and Community Pediatrics at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. In her research, Dr. Horowitz-Kraus focuses on the involvement of executive functions during word reading and fluency as part of the Simple View of Reading model in typically and atypically developing children with reading difficulties. As reading difficulties may stem from environmental and genetic factors, Dr. Horowitz-Kraus's approach examines the involvement of executive functions in reading acquisition and remediation using a nature-nurture perspective using a variety of neuroimaging techniques tools. Dr. Horowitz-Kraus joined the Flux Board in 2021.

Co - Chair of the Communications Committee

"I am a cognitive neuroscientist. My research focuses on adolescent neurocognitive development and decision-making. I am especially interested in (real life) risk-taking behavior and social influence on risk-taking behavior. In my work, I utilize a multi-method approach in which I combine neural measures, hormone assessments, behavioral tasks and daily diary measures as real-life assessments of behavior. In different research projects I investigate the factors that are related to increases in risky decision making in adolescence and which individuals are particularly vulnerable to adverse consequences due to excessive risk taking. Ultimately, my work will help build a better understanding of adolescence and can inform broader ways in which we can help support or intervene in adolescent development to get adolescents on the best possible trajectory towards independence.

I am post-bac Software Engineer and Data Analyst with Dr. Theodore Satterthwaite at the University of Pennsylvania. While initially interested in journalism, I became drawn to neuroscience through the course of my education. I studied Psychology and English (non-fiction) at Brown University, where I grew increasingly interested in the brain-behavior interface. I also developed a passion for computational approaches towards questions of abnormal behavior. As a result, I completed my undergraduate thesis on interventions targeting different cognitive mechanisms implicated in depression via a Drift Diffusion Model. At UPenn, I grew to appreciate more neuroscience-based approaches to research. Currently, my research focuses on neuroimaging approaches towards cognitive mechanisms that are transdiagnostic in nature. My most recent work (which I presented at the 2023 Flux Congress meeting!) examines how individual differences in delay discounting in youth might be related with dorsal prefrontal cortex connectivity. As a trainee, I believe that Flux presents an excellent opportunity to connect with collaborators, mentors, and peers, as well as familiarize oneself with the latest work in the field. I am honored by the opportunity to be part of the Communications Committee and help disseminate information about Flux to other researchers in the field!

Hello, my name is Christina Lutz and I am currently a Neuroscience PhD candidate in the Developmental Neuroimaging Group headed by Prof. Silvia Brem at the University of Zurich. I have long been fascinated by the brain and its roles in health and disease – particularly in cognition, language, memory, sleep, and mood. My PhD project involved a big study with around 100 elementary school children with poor and typical reading skills. What especially attracted me to the project was the clinical and translational aspect. The study combines basic research (trying to better understand reading disorders) with the evaluation of a possible therapeutic application (an app-based reading training). Currently, I am evaluating and analyzing the results, focusing predominantly on electroencephalography (EEG). I very much look forward to contributing to the Flux Communications Committee. All my life, I’ve been intrigued with language(s), culture(s), and communication. I strongly believe that communication is an essential and integral part of science and our society as a whole. We have so much to gain from interacting and sharing knowledge and experience with each other, be it across different labs, disciplines, or countries. Therefore, I am excited to be joining this great initiative and team, to share knowledge and to promote exchange across borders.

Hi everyone! I am a Neuroengineering and Medicine post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. In my current work with Dr. Ted Satterthwaite, I study the effects of early life experiences and environments on neurocognitive development. I completed my PhD in Neurosciences at Stanford University with Dr. Leanne Williams, where I investigated neuroimaging correlates of attention impairments in adults with psychiatric illness. During graduate school, I was co-president of NeuWrite West, a science communication organization bringing together an interdisciplinary group of writers and neuroscientists. I am thrilled to be joining the Flux Communications Committee because I believe communication is key to the success of our society, both in exchanging new ideas and in sharing our research findings. I look forward to working with this wonderful team and facilitating engagement within our community.

I am a doctoral student in clinical psychology at Temple University and I am interested in combining quantitative methods with cognitive neuroscience to study neural associations with psychopathology at an individual level. While fMRI measures such as functional connectivity are increasingly used to study psychopathology, much of this research relies on aggregating across individuals. My research instead focuses on person-centered methods to parse neural heterogeneity and examine how brain-behavior relationships can be studied at the level of the individual, rather than group. Precision imaging research has demonstrated the substantial heterogeneity between different individual’s brain functioning, and my own work has highlighted the resulting limitations in the group-to-individual generalizability of aggregate models. Moreover, my research uses data-driven subgrouping and idiographic network models to identify neural relationships with psychopathology that are more precise to the individual. I am very excited about Flux’s commitment to science communication as it is our responsibility as scientists to use our findings for public benefit, particularly as the study of human behavior has important implications for policy and daily life. I cannot wait to work with the Communications Committee to improve the field’s and my own ability to engage with the public!

I am a doctoral student in the Human Development and Quantitative Methodology program at the University of Maryland (UMD), working with Dr. Rachel Romeo in the Language, Experience, and Development (LEAD) lab. In my research, I'm interested in understanding how children's early language experiences shape their brain, cognitive, and socio-emotional development. I'm particularly curious about early protective factors, such as bi/multilingualism, and how a variation in children's language environments can potentially buffer against socioeconomic disadvantage and serve as a promotive factor for developing academic skills. In my work, I aim to use my research to inform interventions, support learning for children and families from various backgrounds, and share our research findings with broader communities of people while also learning from their day-to-day experiences. I'm excited to be part of the Flux Sensitive Periods Podcast production team as this means I get to contribute to sharing our science with our listeners while continuing to learn from our amazing developmental cognitive neuroscience community.