Amanda O'Donnell

In addition to my academic and curricular pursuits, I have a number of hobbies. I really enjoy dancing, and to keep up with this interest I have completed a Dance cluster as well as been a member of Ballet Performance Group. This semester, I hope to join Rochester Rangoli to learn a bit of Bollywood dance. I also really enjoy making different types of crafts, although I’ve had less time to pursue this activity as a college student. One of my favorite types of crafts is jewelry-making. In fact, I got my ears pierced in high school to justify keeping the pairs of earrings I had made and really liked. I also enjoy playing games, particularly hidden identity games. Some of my recent favorites have been Avalon and Tempel des Schreckens. I like how simple excursions become adventures if you do them after midnight or in a snowstorm, and I went to Wegman’s during Snowmaggedon.

I’ve held a number of different jobs since beginning my college career. My first research job was with the Approach-Avoidance Motivation Research Group. My first summer job was working as a summer camp counselor at Mount Hope Christian School. Then I worked as a teaching assistant for BIO 110, and then I worked as a teaching assistant for PSY 161. Then I worked for a year at the Kid Neurolab, helping conduct fMRI research on children’s mathematical abilities. Then I worked at Yale’s Computation and Cognitive Development lab for a summer. This year, I’ve been working as a Peer Advisor for the Brain & Cognitive Sciences department, as well as a Teaching Assistant for Machines & Consciousness.