Dr. Gabrielle Gutierrez

Dr. Gabrielle Gutierrez’s plan to become a physicist changed unexpectedly. While she was a physics major looking into PhD programs, she serendipitously attended a neuroscience seminar where she discovered that physics can help us understand the brain. This experience marked the start of her career in theoretical neuroscience. During her PhD at Brandeis University, Gabrielle used a simple animal model, the crab, to learn about small and simple networks. For her postdoctoral training she decided to model the brain at larger scales and went abroad to the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. Next year Gabrielle will be starting her own research group at Barnard University, the same institution where she saw that life changing seminar. In her interview with Dakota, Gabrielle talks about the difficulties of imposter syndrome and trusting yourself even when others discourage you from your dreams.