Hello! My name is Riesa Cassano, and I am a Ph.D. student in the department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Rochester, working with Elise Piazza. I graduated from Princeton University with a B.A. in Neuroscience and a certificate in Engineering Biology.
Broadly speaking, I study how the brain processes naturalistic music. My work seeks to understanding how acoustic and musical features relate to perception and memory. I’m also interested in what goes on in the brain during real-life communication, and how the brain changes with age and disease.
Outside of academia, I enjoy playing the oboe, running, and hiking.