Ahren Fitzroy

Education

09/2013

Ph.D., Neuroscience and Behavior

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

Dissertation: The effects of metric strength on the allocation of attention across time


05/2007

B.S., Psychology (Neuroscience track), summa cum laude with Departmental Honors

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

Thesis: Event-related potential indices of syntactic processing in music and speech


05/2005

A.A., Liberal Arts, Greenfield Community College, Greenfield, MA


Industry Positions

2022 present

Data & Applied Scientist, Microsoft. Using experimentation and machine learning to inform data-driven decision making at scale.


Academic Appointments

2017 – 2022

Visiting Lecturer in Psychology and Education, Mount Holyoke College. Using neuroimaging, EEG, and behavioral methods to investigate the mechanisms supporting auditory learning and speech processing under difficult and disordered conditions across the lifespan.


2016 – 2022

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Cognition Attention Perception and Speech Laboratory, Mount Holyoke College, Advisor: Mara Breen. Using EEG, eye-tracking, and behavioral methods to investigate implicit and explicit prosody during silent and child-directed reading.


2015 – 2022

Senior Research Fellow, Somneuro Laboratory, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Advisor: Rebecca Spencer. Using fMRI, MRI, DTI, EEG, and behavioral methods to assess the impacts of sleep on learning and memory across the lifespan.


2015 – 2016

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Neurocognition and Perception Laboratory, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Advisor: Lisa Sanders. Developed novel electrophysiological techniques for assessing attentional influence on speech-in-noise perception under real-world conditions, and emotional influence on racial bias.


2013 – 2015

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, Northwestern University, Advisor: Nina Kraus. Investigated interactions of maturation, life experience, and rhythmic skill with brainstem and cortical auditory function and language/reading outcomes in preschoolers and adolescents.


2008 – 2013

Graduate Research Assistant, Neurocognition and Perception Laboratory, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Advisor: Lisa Sanders. Demonstrated that rhythmic stress hierarchies guide attention to moments in time in a manner that modulates early cortical auditory processing.


2012

Graduate Research Assistant, Language Processing Laboratory, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Advisor: Charles Clifton. Used eye-tracking and behavioral methods to investigate the effects of syntactic complexity on plausibility recognition.


2007 – 2008

Graduate Research Assistant, Activity for Brain and Cognitive Development Laboratory, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Advisor: Matthew Davidson. Analyzed fMRI data comparing local and global processing of hierarchical auditory and visual stimuli.


2006 – 2007

Undergraduate Research Assistant, Neurocognition and Perception Laboratory, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Advisor: Lisa Sanders. Investigated cross-domain transfer effects of musical expertise on ERP markers of linguistic syntactic processing.


Research Support

2018 – 2019

Pilot Grant Award, University of Massachusetts Human Magnetic Resonance Center. Untangling sensory, memory, and attentional contributions to speech-in-noise perception in older adults. (Role: Principal Investigator)


2015

Interdisciplinary language research seed grant, University of Massachusetts. (Role: Principal Investigator)


2013 – 2015

NIH T32 DC009399 (PI: Larson), National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, Translational Research in Communication Sciences & Disorders. (Role: Training award recipient)


2012 – 2013

Dissertation research grant, University of Massachusetts.


2008 – 2011

MRI-MRS pilot research grant, University of Massachusetts. Plasticity profiles for subsystems of music and language processing. (Role: Co-Investigator).


2007 – 2009

NIH T32 NS007490 (PI: Meyer), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Predoctoral Training in Neuroscience and Behavior. (Role: Training award recipient)


2006 – 2007

Commonwealth Honors College honors research grant, University of Massachusetts.


Publications

Refereed journal articles

Conference papers

Published abstracts

Presentations (* indicates presentation by a mentored student)

Teaching Experience

Mount Holyoke College

Analyzing Human Brain Signals (Fall 2018) – Instructor of record.

Designed and developed a 300-level laboratory course to teach gold-standard human noninvasive in vivo electrophysiology and neuroimaging research and analysis techniques.

Independent study in Psychology & Education (Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019) – Instructor of record.

Supervised undergraduate students in conducting neuroimaging and electrophysiological research on speech-in-noise processing in young and older adults.

Sensation and Perception (Fall 2017) – Instructor of record.

Developed a 200-level undergraduate course in Sensation and Perception with emphases on relevance of perceptual science to daily life, and comparing human and machine perception.

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Departmental Honors Seminar (Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Fall 2012) – Instructor of record.

Designed and developed a seminar teaching undergraduate students how to perform research culminating in a successful honors thesis.

Statistics in Psychology (Spring 2010, three sections) – Laboratory component instructor.

Cognitive Psychology (Spring 2011) – Teaching assistant (course instructor – Carolyn Cave)

Sensation and Perception (Spring 2009) – Guest lecturer on Music Perception (course instructor – Lisa Sanders)

Service to Profession

2013 – present

Ad hoc reviewer: 

    Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics

    Brain and Language

    Current Zoology

    Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience

    Hearing Research

    Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

    Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

    Journal of Memory and Language

    Laboratory Phonology

    NeuroImage

    PLOS ONE

    Psychophysiology

    Scientific Reports


2016

Co-organizer, New England Sequencing and Timing annual meeting, Amherst, MA


2012 – 2013

Educational Outreach committee member, Neuroscience and Behavior Program, University of Massachusetts

Professional Association Memberships

2020 – present

Society for the Neurobiology of Language


2017 – present

Sleep Research Society


2016 – present

Psychonomic Society


2011 – present

Society for Music Perception and Cognition


2006 – present

Cognitive Neuroscience Society