Clara A. Sava-Segal
Wu Tsai Institute Postdoctoral Fellow
Yale University
Research Focus
I am a Wu Tsai Institute Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale, working with Elizabeth Goldfarb (Psychiatry) and Wendy Berry Mendes (Psychology). I got my PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at Dartmouth College with Emily Finn, using neuroimaging and behavioral methods to study how we integrate incoming information with existing knowledge. I focused on why two people—or the same person at different times—can perceive identical information differently, and how these differences shape reinterpretation and memory. That work was supported by an NIMH F31 NRSA Fellowship and an NSF GRFP. In my postdoc, I am extending this work to brain–body–behavior interactions. I examine how endocrine and physiological processes shape these behaviors, with a particular focus on stress.
BACKGROUND: I received my Bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago, where I completed my undergraduate thesis with Daniel Casasanto and was fortunate enough to also work with Christopher Gomez and in the Awh-Vogel Lab. Following graduation, I worked at Stanford in Josef Parvizi’s lab. I tend to favor more "naturalistic" paradigms, but I also try to balance the richness of real-world stimuli with the experimental control needed to isolate specific mechanisms.
Beyond Research
I care a lot about science communication and public education. Prior to graduate school, I worked in classrooms at both ends of the K–12 spectrum (Pre-K and 12th grade). More recently, I’ve designed and taught 5+ discussion-based neuroscience and psychology courses for adult learners (ages 50+) at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Dartmouth.
I also enjoy bridging science and the arts, and many of my research questions apply directly to the real world. For instance, we created ArtLibs, a collaborative project with the Hood Museum at Dartmouth where we get to explore these ideas outside the lab, funded by an internal Arts Integration Grant.