Lab Members
Diego Mendoza-Halliday, PhD
Principal Investigator
Email: diegomendoza {at} pitt.edu
Diego Mendoza-Halliday is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh. He is also Training Faculty in the Neuroscience Institute Graduate Programs at Carnegie Mellon University, a Faculty member at the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, and a Research Affiliate in the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT. Previously, he worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Scientist in the lab of Dr. Robert Desimone at MIT, where he applied multi-electrode laminar recordings and developed optogenetic tools to investigate the neuronal mechanisms of visual feature attention, working memory, and their interaction. Dr. Mendoza-Halliday completed his PhD in Cognitive Neurophysiology at McGill University under the research mentorship of Dr. Julio Martinez-Trujillo.

Adam Persello
Research Technician
Email: ajp150 {at} pitt.edu
Education
B.S. - Neuroscience
M.S. Candidate - Bioengineering
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
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Cameron Blakeley
Research Technician
Email: cab655 {at} pitt.edu
Education
B.S. - Biological Sciences
Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL

Ahmed Abdaltawab
Postdoctoral Associate
Email: ama632 {at} pitt.edu
Education
M.D.
Cairo University Medical School, Cairo, Egypt

Vishnu Soni
Ph.D. Student - CNUP Program
vys14 {at} pitt.edu
Education
B.S. - Neuropsychology
University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH

Avyunkth Nilajagi
Undergraduate Student
Email: AVN33 {at} pitt.edu
Education
B.S. - Computer Science / Applied Mathematics
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

Zitong (Tony) Gao
Undergraduate Student - CNUP Summer Research Program
Email: zitong.gao {at} vanderbilt.edu
Education
B.S. - Neuroscience / Medicine, Health, and Society
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

Join Us!
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​If you are interested in joining the Mendoza-Halliday Lab, see the details below for your corresponding position:
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Postdocs
The Mendoza-Halliday Lab is currently seeking candidates for one Postdoc position. Candidates must have completed a PhD in a relevant field by the start of the position. Candidates with research experience related to the lab's field of study or methods are particularly encouraged to apply.
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To apply, send an email to Dr. Mendoza-Halliday including:
- Curriculum Vitae (with publications list)
- Brief summary of past and current research
- Brief summary of future research goals and interests
- Brief summary explaining your interest in joining the Mendoza-Halliday Lab
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PhD Students
The Mendoza-Halliday Lab is currently recruiting PhD students. Email Dr. Mendoza-Halliday to discuss opportunities to join our lab (or rotate) if you are currently enrolled in or were accepted into one of these programs:
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Center for Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh (CNUP) PhD Program
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PhD Program in Systems Neuroscience (PSN) at Carnegie Mellon University
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PhD Program in Neural Computation (PNC) at Carnegie Mellon University
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If you are not currently a PhD student in these programs and would like to join the lab, please apply to one of the programs first.
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Undergraduate Students
If you are an undergraduate student at the University of Pittsburgh or Carnegie Mellon University and would like to do research in our lab, please send an email to Dr. Mendoza-Halliday including:
- Curriculum Vitae (including previous research experience if any)
- A description of your experience with computer programming, particularly with Matlab or Python.
- A list of courses you have taken in Neuroscience, Psychology, Neuroengineering, or related fields.
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Past Mentors and Current/Recent Collaborators
Robert Desimone
Professor, MIT​
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Julio Martinez-Trujillo
Professor, Western University
Andre Bastos
Professor, Vanderbilt
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Earl Miller
Professor, MIT
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Xiao-Jing Wang
Professor, NYU
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Guoping Feng
Professor, MIT
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Alex Major
Research Scientist, MIT
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Haoran Xu
Research Scientist, MIT
Christopher Cueva
Research Scientist, MIT
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Andrii Zahorodnii
Undergraduate Student, MIT
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Aniekan Umoren
PhD Student, Columbia
