The Future Values Fellows program is designed to give Princeton faculty and post-docs in STEM fields an introduction to critical, feminist, and science and technology studies, with a focus on applying insights from these fields to their own research in theory and in practice. The fellows will meet for four lunchtime sessions, during which they will engage in a discussion of pre-circulated readings guided by experts in that particular field. Session topics include: 

• What do we mean when we say science is “objective” or “biased”? When and how do values and ideals influence the practice of science? 
• How can scientists responsibly and sensitively consider sex and gender as variables in their research? 
• How can scientists responsibly explore the genomic effects of race while still recognizing race as socially constructed? 
• How should scientists think about ethical and epistemic risks associated with using artificial intelligence tools in their research? 

Congratulations to the inaugural cohort of Future Values Fellows, whose bios are below:

Nadav Amir is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute. He obtained his PhD in computational neuroscience from the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He also holds degrees in mathematics, computer science, and physics, as well as music and the humanities. His research aims to elucidate the fundamental principles underlying the phenomenology of purposeful behavior. He adopts a transdisciplinary approach, using methods from behavioral neuroscience, reinforcement learning, control, and information theory to formulate and test ideas inspired by Buddhist epistemic and ethical frameworks.

Juncal Arbelaiz is a C. V. Starr fellow and a Senior Schmidt Science Fellow at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute and the Center for Statistics and Machine Learning. She received her PhD in applied mathematics from MIT in September 2022. Her research interests are in (1) optimal decentralized control and estimation of spatially distributed dynamical systems, with a focus on systems with spatiotemporal dynamics; (2) design of principled bio-inspired controllers with performance guarantees; and (3) statistical inference, learning, and inverse problems. Outside the lab, you will find Juncal running or at the gym, cooking, and advocating for women in STEM fields.

Lindsay Becker grew up in Louisiana and Texas, attended the University of Texas at Austin, and got her PhD in neuroscience at Stanford University. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow in Cliff Brangwynne’s lab at Princeton. She researches the mechanisms of mRNA regulation in neurons, a topic that is centrally important in learning and memory and in neurodegenerative diseases like ALS. Her hobbies include trail jogging, rock climbing, and listening to audiobooks.

Isabel Berwian is an associate research scholar in the Nivlab at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute and Department of Psychology. Her research aims to develop computational tools to examine mechanisms of change in psychotherapy and subsequently use them to identify and establish predictors of treatment response to specific psychotherapy (and neurobiological) interventions, ideally, such that they can be deployed in clinical practice. In her PhD at the University of Zurich, she developed predictors of relapse after antidepressant discontinuation. In parallel to her research PhD, she completed her training as a licensed psychotherapist in Germany.

Hanna Ehrlich is a postdoctoral fellow in the global health program at Princeton. She is an epidemiologist by training and interested in disease ecology, human-wildlife interactions, and participatory disease surveillance. Her current research focuses on transmission of pathogens between livestock and wildlife in Kenya. During her PhD, Hanna was exposed to the environmental humanities and STS, and she felt both familiarity and optimism in that sort of scholarship. Hanna hopes to bring a critical science perspective into her work, specifically in considering the political economies and land use practices that contextualize disease interfaces.

Moamen Elmassry is a postdoctoral research associate in the Donia Lab in the Department of Molecular Biology. He earned a bachelor of pharmaceutical sciences from Cairo University and a PhD in microbiology from Texas Tech University. Moamen studies the human microbiome, specifically how gut microbes impact inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer patients. Outside the lab, he enjoys going for a run or going to a humanities talk. He believes that science does not exist in a vacuum and should be approached with a holistic perspective.

Jonathan Fetherolf is a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Chemistry. Under the guidance of Sharon Hammes-Schiffer, Jonathan uses theoretical modeling to study nuclear quantum effects in molecular systems. His research ultimately aims to improve the efficiency of chemical processes such as solar energy harvesting and storage. During his graduate studies, Jonathan developed fundamental theories of charge transport in emerging solar cell materials, receiving his PhD in chemical physics from Columbia University in 2021. He completed his bachelor's degree in chemistry and physics at Rutgers University in 2016. Jonathan is interested in more directly connecting his research to issues of climate justice, as well as confronting bias and inequality in STEM education and research.

Itamar Jalon is a postdoctoral researcher at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute working in the Hasson Lab and in the Music Cognition Lab. Itamar is broadly interested in leveraging deep learning models for the study of social and higher-order cognitive processes in naturalistic settings. This includes processes such as meaning-making in naturalistic social interactions, emotion, self- and other-perception, spontaneous thought or creativity. In his current research, Itamar uses large language models to model naturalistic human speech and ECoG recordings. Prior to joining the Hasson Lab, Itamar earned his PhD (pending approval) in psychology from Tel Aviv University, where he studied computational representations of autobiographical emotions. He has also been involved in research in the neuroscience of pain, creativity, neuromodulation, and other interventions in psychiatry.

Jay Kim is a second-year postdoctoral researcher at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute. She earned her BSc in physiology-pharmacology and her PhD in pharmaceutical sciences (focusing on neuropsychopharmacology) at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. Her current research investigates the epigenetics of stress, using novel gene-editing tools to both mimic and reverse these pathological effects in cultured cells and laboratory mice. She has always maintained a deep interest in neuropsychology and the biological underpinnings of mental illness. At Princeton, she is committed to advancing her research and exploring the role of academic science in our society.

Rachel Leshin is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Human Diversity Lab. Before coming to Princeton, she received her PhD in social psychology from NYU and her BA in psychology and gender studies from Northwestern. Rachel’s research focuses on the development of social categorization – that is, how children form their representations of the social world, what those representations end up looking like, and what the consequences of these representations are for children’s everyday lives. Currently, Rachel is examining these questions in the domain of gender with a cohort of cisgender and gender-diverse adolescents. Outside of research, Rachel has a love of food, comedy, and long conversations.

Cara Love is an interdisciplinary evolutionary biologist whose research evaluates ecological and evolutionary consequences of anthropogenic stressors and how these findings can help inform human medicine. Her work aims to uncover mechanisms of resilience and adaptation in wildlife to help inform global environmental and human health. Through her interdisciplinary work and diverse collaborations, Cara's work aims to contribute to scientific innovation that addresses contemporary challenges by imagining and co-creating resilient futures for wildlife species and humans alike. 
 

Mansha Seth Pasricha grew up in New Delhi, India, and completed a BS (honors) in biochemistry from the University of Delhi. She was fascinated by how life evolved on the planet and did her PhD at Rutgers University in Kay Bidle’s lab, exploring the evolution of cell death proteins in early evolving microbes from the third domain of life, Archaea, that have been on the planet for 3.5 billion years.  In her post-doc in Siobain Duffy’s lab, Mansha explored evolution of double-stranded RNA viruses. As an associate research scholar in Jose Avalos’ lab, Mansha is utilizing the metabolic potential of extremophilic microbes in sustainability projects, bioremediation, and biomining. Outside of the lab, Mansha enjoys gardening, running, hiking, and spending time with friends and family.

Aaron Pfennig is a postdoctoral student in the Akey Lab at the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics. He obtained his PhD in quantitative biosciences from the Georgia Institute of Technology, studying the theoretical and empirical population genetics of admixed populations with a focus on the interbreeding between modern humans and archaic hominins. His current research interest is in studying the evolutionary dynamics of structurally complex genomic regions by developing novel realistic population genetic models and methods that will enable more equitable genetic inferences. As a Future Values Fellow, he hopes to gain more insights into how to advance genetic research in ethically responsible ways.

LaNell A. Williams is an associate research scholar in the Center for the Physics of Biological Functions at Princeton University. She currently studies the formation of a carbon-fixating membraneless organelle inside algae called the pyrenoid. She earned her PhD from Harvard University in May 2023 studying the self-assembly of viral proteins around RNA. In addition to research, she founded an education non-profit focused on increasing the number of Black and Brown women+ and gender minorities who receive STEM PhDs (the Women+ of Color Project) and served on the American Physical Society Council & Board of Executives, representing the Forum on Graduate Student Affairs, from 2019 to 2023.