Lucas Carstensen

He/Him

I am gay and I am a neuroscience PhD student.//

I am gay and I am a behavioral neuroscientist. We all navigate the world in different ways, using different strategies and learning more efficient routes over time. As queer people, many variables make the world hard to navigate. As a step toward making the world easier to navigate for everyone, I study the neural correlates of spatial navigation and memory. The brain is thought to generate a cognitive map of well-known areas, which helps us navigate and form memories. Right now, I am a PhD student at Boston University. My current projects examine how specific regions of our brain represent different aspects of our environment in different ways, such as using allocentric (world-centered) or egocentric (self-centered) reference frames. I grew up in Utah, finished undergraduate work in Indiana, then moved to Boston in 2017. When not working in lab, I am exploring Boston, hunting for the city’s best donut, reading, or playing video games.

Twitter @doofuslucas, Instagram @doofuslucas