CV

Education

• Ph.D. in Psychology, University of Edinburgh, September 2026 (expected).
• M.Sc. in Psychological Research, University of Edinburgh, September 2023.
• B.A. in Computer Science and Neuroscience (Cum Laude), Scripps College, May 2021.

Research experience

Hartley Lab, Lab Manager

• Summer 2021 - August 2022
• New York University, New York, NY
• Mentors: Catherine Hartley, PhD
  • Characterizing developmental changes in attentional strategies, social abilities, and mnemonic specificity as related to reward-driven decision-making.
  • Maintaining various research protocols and attending to lab administrative needs.

Language and Cognition Lab, Summer Research Assistant; Thesis Student

• Summer 2020 - Spring 2021
• Stanford University, Stanford, CA
• Mentors: Bria Long, PhD and Michael C. Frank, PhD
  • Participated in eight-week training through the Center for the Study of Language and Information NSF-funded Research for Undergraduates (REU) Summer Internship
  • Crafted tools for recognizing objects in infant egocentric head-mounted camera video frames to train computer vision models and inform early word learning

Engel Vision and Imaging Lab, Summer Research Assistant

• Summer 2019
• University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
• Mentors: Katherine E.M. Tregillus, PhD and Stephen A. Engel, PhD
  • Participated in ten-week intensive training in MRI and EEG neuroimaging through the Cognitive Neuroscience NSF-funded Research for Undergraduates (REU) Program
  • Evaluated classifiers using fMRI patterns of activation to predict perceived color to uncover plasticity in color perception in visual cortex

Research

Nussenbaum, K., …, Bhatt, N. S., …, Hartley, C.A. (2023). Novelty and uncertainty differentially drive exploration across development. eLife.

Zettersten, M., …, Bhatt, N. S., …, Frank, M.C. (2022). Peekbank: An open, large-scale repository for developmental eye-tracking data of children’s word recognition. Behavior Research Methods.

Bhatt, N. S. (2021). Uncovering Object Categories in Infant Views. Scripps Senior Theses. 1664.

Long, B., Kachergis, G., Bhatt, N. S., Frank, M. C. (2021). Characterizing the object categories two children see and interact with in a dense dataset of naturalistic visual experience. Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

Zettersten, M., …, Bhatt, N. S., …, Frank, M. C. (2021). Peekbank: Exploring children’s word recognition through an open, large-scale repository for developmental eye-tracking data. Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

Bhatt, N.S., Tregillus, K.E.M., Engel, S.A. (2019). Classification Analyses of fMRI Data Predict Perceived Color. Poster presented at Bay Area Vision Research Day (BAVRD), Berkeley, California.

Bhatt, N.S., Tregillus, K.E.M., Engel, S.A. (2019). Classification Analyses of fMRI Data Predict Perceived Color. Poster presented at Southern California Conference for Undergraduate Research (SCCUR), San Marcos, California.

Teaching Experience

Computability and Logic (CSCI 081), Teaching Assistant

• Spring 2020
• Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA
• Supervisor: George Montañez, PhD
  • Led weekly sessions and tutored ~20 students to clarify topics relating to computability theory, set countability, formal logics (predicate, propositional, etc.), Chomsky grammars and languages, Turing machines, and automata
  • Graded student short answer assignments through Gradescope

Calculus II w/ Applications to the Sciences (MATH 31S), Teaching Assistant

• Fall 2019
• Pomona College, Claremont, CA
• Supervisor: Blerta Shtylla, PhD
  • Led twice weekly sessions and tutored ~30 students to help understand series and sequences, integration, differential equations, and probabilistic applications using examples in the sciences

Leadership and Professional Experience

Scripps College Academy, STEAM Coordinator

• Spring 2021
  • Implemented program for >80 underrepresented high school women in the Los Angeles and Inland Empire area to provide access to experiences in science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics as a part of college preparation
  • Coordinated different external speakers and activity leaders over the semester

Motley Coffeehouse, Facilities Manager

• Fall 2018
  • Communicated regularly with suppliers to keep machines in good working condition for busy community coffee shop
  • Organized deep cleans for subsets of >50 baristas
  • Trained in California Department of Food Safety regulations as food manager
  • Planned remodel project to create better workspace efficiency and sustainable business practices

Girl Scouts of the USA: Heart of New Jersey, Ambassador

• Silver Award
  • Ran an Intro to Technology course at local senior center; taught basics like email and browsing
• Gold Award
  • Facilitated better concussion and mental health education in the community by connecting township athletics department with local practioners
  • Organized and hosted seminar with local concussion doctor at the start of the spring athletics season

Skills

• Programming
  • Python (tensorflow, keras)
  • R (tidyverse)
  • MATLAB
  • C++
  • Java
  • Javascript/HTML (jsPsych, React Native)
• Neuroimaging
  • fMRI
  • EEG

Languages

• English
• Gujarati
• Spanish