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By Georgia Jackson, College of Arts and Sciences

When Brandon Snyder decided to study computer science at USF, he had little reason to expect he would spend much time in the university鈥檚 Psychology and Communication Sciences and Disorders building.

Students in the USF College of Engineering, like Snyder, typically spend their days shuttling between one of three engineering buildings on the Tampa campus 鈥� not trekking across the grassy MLK Plaza to the psychology building.

Then, something happened that would forever change Snyder鈥檚 college experience; one of his instructors suggested he apply to work in Liz Schotter鈥檚 .

Three interviews later, he got the job.

鈥淚 was going to be their only computer science person,鈥� said Snyder, who expected he would be handling the lab鈥檚 technical and computer-related needs.

Not long after he started, Snyder was writing scripts for the lab and developing a 鈥渃ritical鈥� toolbox that would unlock Schotter鈥檚 research to better understand how the human brain makes sense of written language.

AN INTRO TO PSYCHOLOGY

A professor of psychology in the USF College of Arts and Sciences, Schotter has made it her mission to demystify the neurocognitive mechanisms that allow us to read and make sense of written language.

USF awarded her a grant in 2020 to purchase eye tracking and electroencephalography equipment to conduct cutting-edge cognitive neuroscience research and link brain activity with visual attention behavior.

The state-of-the-art equipment lives in Schotter鈥檚 EMaC Lab, where she and her team, including postdoctoral researcher , are advancing a new method called co-registration that facilitates a more informative analysis of brain activity data by taking into account the sequence of behaviors exhibited by readers.

Before Snyder joined the team, the toolbox鈥� which makes behavior-contingent analysis of co-registration data possible 鈥� was just a dream Schotter and Milligan shared.

鈥淧rocessing the data is actually quite complicated in that it requires both computer coding expertise and a detailed knowledge of what sequences of eye movement behaviors are important and how to classify them,鈥� Schotter said.

As a result, few have managed to implement the approach in their research.

鈥淏randon's contribution was critical,鈥� Schotter said. 鈥淗e actually built the darn thing!鈥�

But Snyder was more than just a 鈥渟atellite employee,鈥� working alone on the technical project, according to Schotter. In the year since he first made the long trek across campus, Snyder has become a deeply integrated member of the team.

鈥淲hat has really been enjoyable about our work together is that we all learned a lot from each other,鈥� Schotter said. 鈥淚n our lab meetings, which involve a large number of lab members who mostly focus on the actual cognitive neuroscience, not the computer coding, Brandon has really proven himself to be a well-rounded and deeply thoughtful person. He reads the empirical articles we are discussing and asks really insightful questions about the theories, methods and the inferences from those papers.

鈥淚 think his investment in understanding the big picture has been a huge value-add not only to the project but also to the overall lab culture and productivity.鈥�

The feeling is mutual.

鈥淚t's been extraordinary,鈥� said Snyder. 鈥淗onestly, I work with the best people ever. I know a lot of people just say that, but I truly mean it.鈥�

A TRANSFORMATIVE TOOLBOX

Schotter envisions the toolbox as being transformative to the field of cognitive psychology due to its versatile research applications.

"It provides an easy-to-use means to identify and label the important behaviors for the researcher, thereby reducing one of the biggest barriers to progress in the field,鈥� she said.

Schotter has fully integrated the toolbox into the data processing and analysis pipelines for co-registration studies taking place in the EMaC Lab at USF.

The toolbox was also integral to a recent collaboration with researchers from the University of Utah, funded by the National Science Foundation.

鈥淚 hope everyone adopts the toolbox,鈥� Schotter said. 鈥淭his type of approach is critical in fulfilling the promise of co-registration 鈥� to fully link brain activity to behavioral actions in order to understand complex cognitive processes like reading in their entirety."

INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION: A PEDAGOGY FOR THE FUTURE

The toolbox's success illustrates the immense value of interdisciplinary collaboration for students and researchers alike.

For Schotter and Milligan, the experience turned a dream into a reality.

鈥淚 think if USF developed ways to support these collaborations internally it would really catalyze innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration,鈥� said Schotter, whose NSF grant funded the hiring of Snyder. 鈥淯SF should continue to give students opportunities to collaborate on actual projects across departments so that they can demonstrate their deliverables at job interviews. I also think that this will make them more impressive as they go on the job market because an ability to communicate clearly with stakeholders is so valuable.鈥�

For Brandon, it was an opportunity to put his computer science education into practice and think deeply about what kind of work he wants to do after graduation.

"The unique thing that the lab has offered me is the ability to create something from the ground up and actually have creative control over it,鈥� Snyder said. "It has allowed me to embed myself in a project and gain the experience of developing something that is going to have meaning in the future.鈥�

When Snyder crosses the stage next month, he will graduate into a world of rapidly evolving technologies, uncertainty and change. But Snyder isn't worried.

"I'm taking it one step at a time,鈥� he said.

That approach served him well in Schotter鈥檚 lab. It may very well be just the thing he needs to stay grounded and focused for the long haul.