CV

view as PDF

Education

• Ph.D. Candidate, Neuroscience: UC Berkeley (Fall 2020–Present)
• B.A. Cognitive Science, Bioengineering Minor: UC Berkeley (2020)

Awards & Honors

• Young Investigator Award for Excellence in Research on Alzheimer’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Association (2024)
• NRSA F31 Award (Individual Predoctoral Fellowship), National Institute on Aging, NIH (2024)
• Best Poster Award, Alzheimer's Imaging Consortium: Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (2023)
• Honorable Mention, Predoctoral Fellowship, Ford Foundation (2021)
• Honorable Mention, Graduate Research Fellowships Program (GRFP), NSF (2020, 2021)
• Departmental Citation Award, UC Berkeley Cognitive Science: valedictorian (top graduating student) (2020)
• Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF), UC Berkeley L&S Sciences (2019)
• Diversity Research Award, Scientific Research Network on Decision Neuroscience and Aging (2019)
• Amgen Scholars Fellowship, Columbia University (2018)
• The Leadership Award, Cal Alumni Association (2016, 2019): merit-based scholarship for innovative, initiative-driven leadership

Research Positions & Projects

Ph.D. Thesis Research: Jagust Lab & Cognitive Neuroanatomy (Weiner) Lab, UC Berkeley (2021 - present)

• Analyzing sulcal morphology in aging and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and relationships between individual variability in cortical folding (MRI), vulnerability to AD pathology (PET), and cognition

Ph.D. Rotation Projects: UC Berkeley (2020 - 2021)

• Jagust Lab (PI: William Jagust): Used machine learning models to generate age predictions based on human structural MRI scans, and examined relationship between predicted age and dopamine PET measures, amyloid and tau levels.
• Cognitive Neuroanatomy Lab (PI: Kevin Weiner): Learned advanced MRI processing and neuroanatomy methods and applied them to an AD dataset. Discovered several new medial parietal cortex sulci, and found that individual differences in medial parietal cortex sulcal morphology relate to cognitive decline in AD.
• Neuroecon Lab (PI: Ming Hsu) + UCSF Decision Lab (PI: Winstion Chiong): Analyzed and modeled effects of aging, dementia, and memory abilities on decision-making; discovered that the amount of semantic memory impairment correlates with decision-making deficit in dementia.

Pre-Ph.D. Research Positions:

• Research Associate: Neuroecon (Hsu) Lab, UC Berkeley (2018-2020)
• Amgen Scholar: Dranovsky Lab, Columbia University (2018)
• Research Assistant: Adesnik Lab, UC Berkeley (2017-2018)

Publications & Presentations

Google Scholar

*Equal contribution

Publications

1. Maboudian SA, Willbrand EH, Kelly JP, Jagust WJ, Weiner KS. Defining overlooked structures reveals new associations between cortex and cognition in aging and Alzheimer’s disease. J Neurosci. 2024; 44(16):e1714232024
2. Willbrand EH*, Maboudian SA*, Kelly JP, Parker BJ, Foster B, Weiner KS. Sulcal morphology of posteromedial cortex substantially differs between humans and chimpanzees. Commun biol. 2023; 6(1), 586
3. Maboudian S, Hsu M, Zhang Z. Visualizing and Quantifying Longitudinal Changes in Verbal Fluency Using Recurrence Plots. Front. Aging Neurosci. 2022;14:810799.
4. Willbrand EH, Maboudian SA, Kellerman GK, Elliott MV, Johnson SL, Weiner KS. Variable Presence of an Evolutionarily New Brain Structure is Related to Trait Impulsivity. Biol Psychiatry CNNI (2024; In press)
5. Hastings III WL, Willbrand EH, Kelly JP, Washington ST, Tameilau PT, Sathishkumar RN, Maboudian SA, Parker BJ, Elliott MV, Johnson SL, Weiner KS. Emotion-related impulsivity is related to orbitofrontal cortical sulcation. Cortex 2024; 181:140-154
6. Kelly JP, Willbrand EH, Chen X, Maboudian SA, Parker BJ, Jiahui G, Garrido L, Zhen S, Duchaine B, Weiner KS. Overlooked sulci in human posteromedial cortex are related to face processing. (In revision)

Select Posters & Presentations

1. “Tau-related cortical thinning is concentrated in sulcal depths.” Presented at Human Amyloid Imaging 2025; Puerto Rico.
2. Defining overlooked structures reveals new associations between cortex and cognition in aging and Alzheimer's Disease. Presented at 2024 ADRC Researchers' Symposium; Davis, CA.
3. Maboudian S*, Willbrand E*, Kellerman G, Elliot M, Johnson S, Weiner K. A hominoid-specific brain structure is related to a transdiagnostic predictor of psychopathology. Society for Neuroscience 2024. Poster #418.19.
4. Maboudian S*, Pracar A*, Biondo N, Dronkers N, Weiner S. Investigating sulcal correlates of language processing. Society for Neuroscience 2024. Poster #193.22.
5. Maboudian S, Parker B, Weiner K, Jagust W. Tau-related cortical thinning is concentrated in sulcal depths. Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) 2024. Poster #M892.
6. Maboudian S, Willbrand E, Jagust W, Weiner K. Atrophy of posteromedial sulci in aging and Alzheimer’s disease differs by sulcal type and location. Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2023. Poster #AIC-P-127/P1-014. Abstract in: Alzheimers Dement. 19:e078388.
7. Maboudian S*, Willbrand E*, Kelly J, Parker B, Foster B, Weiner K. Sulcal morphology of posteromedial cortex substantially differs between humans and chimpanzees. Organization for Human Brain Mapping 2023. Poster #990.
8. Maboudian S, Willbrand E, Jagust W, Weiner K. Tertiary sulci in medial parietal cortex are particularly vulnerable to atrophy in aging and Alzheimer's disease. Society for Neuroscience 2022. Poster #445.03

Select Work in Progress

1. Maboudian SA, Fonseca CS, Chao Y, Martersteck AC, Tosun D, Grinberg LT, Weiner KS, Jagust WJ. Tau-related atrophy patterns uniquely involve sulcal depths. (in prep)
2. Maboudian SA*, Pracar AL*, Dronkers NF, Weiner KS. Sulcal correlates of language processing (in prep)
3. Zhang Z, Maboudian SA, Jackson A, Ngo S, Manivannan M, Kayser AS, Hsu M, Chiong W. Mechanistic contributions of memory to decision-making impairments in Alzheimer’s disease. (in prep)

Teaching

• Co-Instructor, Psych 298: Quantitative Analysis and Coding Knowledge (2023)
• Graduate Student Instructor, Molecular & Cell Biology C61: Foundational Neuroscience (2023)
• Graduate Student Instructor, Public Health 129: The Aging Human Brain (2021)
• Lab Teaching Assistant, Data 8: Foundations of Data Science (2017)

Departmental Service

• HWNI PhD Program Steering Committee (2023-): One of 2 student representatives of the Committee, which oversees program operation and updates
• HWNI Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee (2020-2024): Organized DE&I trainings for the first-year curriculum and broader neuroscience community; applied for grants to fund research programs for students from minority-serving institutions; organized application workshop for prospective applicants
• HWNI Bootcamp Committee (2021-2022): Planned first-year Neuroscience Bootcamp events and activities (labs, lectures, socials, etc.); developed hands-on cognitive neuroscience lab lesson (introduction to brain imaging analysis methods and human neuroanatomy)
• HWNI Recruitment Committee (2020-): Planned recruitment and interview events for PhD admissions

Outreach

Steering Committee Member & Team Lead, Community Resources for Science (CRS) (2020-)

• Steering Committee Member for Bay Area Scientists Inspiring Students (BASIS), a program that brings science education resources to Bay Area TK-8 schools
• Campus Steering Committee Member: lead campus outreach recruitment and coordination
• Team Lead and Instructor: responsible for training team of teachers, scheduling lessons, & teaching
• Lesson Developer: created neuroscience lesson based on state teaching standards; lesson has been taught to >800 local students by my team, in both English and Spanish

Workshop Developer and Leader, UC Berkeley Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) Conference (2023-)

• Developed and taught neuroanatomy workshop for EYH, a conference to introduce middle-school girls to STEM fields

Guest Lecturer, UC Berkeley Academic Talent Development Program (2023)

• Developed and taught lecture on Clinical Applications of Cognitive Neuroscience for high school Cognitive Neuroscience course

Mentor, Project SHORT (2021-2023)

• Project SHORT (Students for Higher-Ed Opportunities and Representation in Training) offers pro bono mentorship for students from underrepresented backgrounds interested in graduate or medical school
• Mentored students interested in applying to graduate school and assisted with application preparation

Design Team, Berkeley Science Review (2024)

• Graphic design and scientific illustration for Berkeley Science Review science magazine

Co-Creator, Writer and Graphic Designer, Picking Brains (2020-2021)

• Created Picking Brains interview series highlighting the stories of professors in neuroscience to normalize different backgrounds and journeys