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Brendan Cullen
I am a NSF Graduate Research Fellow in the Department of Psychology at the University of Oregon and a Data Science Educator at RStudio, PBC. My research takes a translational (neuro)science approach toward predictive modeling of health behaviors. I teach R and R Markdown to empower others to conduct rigorous and reproducible data science.
Education
MS, Psychology
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR
2019 - 2017
- Thesis: Comparing cognitive and affective predictors of craving
- My graduate research took a translational (neuro)science approach toward predictive modeling of self-regulation processes and health-risking behaviors.
- As part of my graduate training, I completed a 5-course Data Science Specialization in Educational Leadership taught entirely in R, focused on reproducible analysis, data visualization, functional programming, and machine learning within a tidyverse framework.
BA, Neuroscience
Middlebury College
Middlebury, VT
2015 - 2011
- Thesis: Neurophysiological correlates of self-referential activity in meditators and non-meditators
Certification
RStudio Certified Instructor
RStudio, PBC
N/A
2020
- I am an RStudio Certified Instructor in the tidyverse (see certificate).
Honors & Awards
Graduate Education Committee Research Award
Department of Psychology, University of Oregon
N/A
2020
Pilot & Training Core Travel Award [more info]
Center on Parenting and Opioids, University of Oregon
N/A
2020
Graduate Education Committee Travel Award
Department of Psychology, University of Oregon
N/A
2019
International Symposium for Contemplative Studies Scholarship [more info]
Mind and Life Institute
N/A
2016
BA in Neuroscience with Highest Honors, Summa Cum Laude
Middlebury College
N/A
2015
Dean’s Honor List (8 semesters)
Middlebury College
N/A
2015 - 2011
Rosalin Lieberman-Reiss Memorial Award
Department of Psychology, Middlebury College
N/A
2015
International Symposium for Contemplative Studies Scholarship [more info]
Mind and Life Institute
N/A
2014
Academic Conference Travel Fund Award
Middlebury College
N/A
2014
Senior Research Project Supplement
Middlebury College
N/A
2014
Bicentennial Fund for Research Partnerships in the Sciences Fellowship
Middlebury College
N/A
2014
Fred M. Roddy Research Fellowship in Biomedical Science
Middlebury College
N/A
2013
Professional Research Experience
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow
Social and Affective Neuroscience Lab
University of Oregon
2021 - 2018
- Co-designed interventions for large-scale study comparing behavioral response and cognitive reappraisal interventions for devaluing unhealthy food.
- Created and maintained automated workflow for daily backup of fMRI data via a high performance computing cluster.
Research Assistant
Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Lab
Brown University
2017 - 2015
- Led independent research projects exploring outcomes of a randomized controlled trial of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for depression.
- Led a project investigating the effects of meditation training on EEG and behavioral measures of self-referential processing
Research Assistant
Embodied Neuroscience Lab
Brown University
2017 - 2015
- Collected EEG data for pilot RCT testing a neuromuscular-immune model of chronic fatigue in female cancer survivors
- Designed custom software in MATLAB to implement novel EEG/EMG paradigm for measuring neural correlates of tactile acuity and precision grip strength
Recruitment Specialist
Women’s Medicine Collaborative,
Miriam Hospital
Providence, RI
2016
- Developed strategies to recruit specialized patient populations for randomized controlled trials, including female cancer survivors and patients with asthma
Research Assistant
Social Psychology of Meditation Lab
Middlebury College
2015 - 2014
- Led a study on relationship between mindfulness, hormones, empathy, and prosocial behavior
- Recruited and interviewed participants, administered surveys and cognitive tests, and analyzed salivary cortisol and testosterone assays
Research Assistant
Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Lab
Middlebury College
2014 - 2013
- Collected animal behavior data on the dose-dependent effects of testosterone replacement on spatial memory
- Performed behavioral testing, prepared brain samples, collected microscopy data and assisted with manuscript preparation
Teaching Experience
I believe that learning open-source data science tools can empower us to be better scientists and critical thinkers. I have served as a teaching assistant and lab instructor for both undergraduate and graduate-level statistics courses.
Data Science Educator
RStudio, PBC
Remote
2021 - 2020
- Developed interactive educational materials related to using R for data science.
Lab Instructor
PSY 302: Statistical Methods in Psychology
University of Oregon
2020
- Taught online lab sections for introductory undergraduate statistics course (~200 students total) using the open-source statistical software jamovi. (Spring 2020)
Lab Instructor
University of Oregon
2020
- Designed and taught lab sections on Correlations, Univariate Regression and the General Linear Model, Regression with Categorical Predictors, Interactions, and Factorial ANOVA. (Winter 2020)
Lab Instructor
University of Oregon
2019
- Designed and taught lab sections on R Basics and Descriptive Statistics, Matrix Algebra, Data Transformation with dplyr, Pre-registration, and Paired samples t-tests. (Fall 2019)
Teaching Assistant
PSYC 301: Physiological Psychology
Middlebury College
2015
- Assisted with lab and discussion sections, held exam review sessions, prepared experimental equipment, and conducted animal testing for student projects
Workshops Taught
R Markdown: Lesser-known tips and tricks
Portland R User Group
Remote
2020
- A collection of “lesser known” tips and tricks in R Markdown, prepared for the Portland R User Group “aggregate” meetup.
Using R more “wisely”: Column-wise & row-wise operations with dplyr
R Ladies Algiers
Remote
2020
- Workshop for R-Ladies Algiers on column-wise and row-wise operations with dplyr for more efficient data wrangling and summarizing.
UO Psych R Bootcamp
Department of Psychology
University of Oregon
2020
- 3-day introductory bootcamp covering basics of R, R Markdown and transforming and visualizing data with the tidyverse. ~45 attendees including current and incoming grad students, undergrads, research staff and tenure-track faculty.
Introduction to Git and Github
Psychology First Year Research Seminar
University of Oregon
2020
- Introductory workshop for ~20 first-year psychology PhD and Master’s students on basics of using Git and Github for version control
Intermediate Git and Github
UO Data Science Club
University of Oregon
2019
- Intermediate Git/Github workshop for University of Oregon’s Data Science Club, including discussion of merge conflicts, branching, pull requests, and best practices for collaborative Github projects
Peer-reviewed Publications
My peer-reviewed scientific publications are varied in topic, ranging from the neuroendocrinology of spatial memory to decomposing neurocognitive mechanisms of mindfulness practices. In general, I am interested in studying how the plasticity of the brain can be leveraged to better understand and guide adpative changes in behavior to support human health and wellness.
The contributions of focused attention and open monitoring in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy: a 3-armed randomized dismantling trial
PloS One, 16(1), e0244838.
N/A
2021
- Cullen, B., Eichel, K., Lindahl, J., Rahrig, H., Kini, N., Flahive, J. & Britton, W.B.
Dismantling Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy: Creation and validation of 8-week Focused Attention and Open Monitoring interventions within a 3-armed randomized controlled trial
Behaviour and Research Therapy, 101, 92-107.
N/A
2018
- Britton, W.B., Davis, J., Loucks, E.B., Peterson, B., Cullen, B., Reuter, L., Rando, A., Rahrig, H., Lipsky, J. & Lindahl, J. (2018).
Comparing embodiment experiences in expert meditators and non-meditators
Consciousness and Cognition, 65, 325-333.
N/A
2018
- Xu, A., Cullen, B., Penner, C., Zimmerman, C., Kerr, C.E., & Schmalzl, L. (2018)
Dose-dependent effects of testosterone on spatial memory in adult male rats
Psychoneuroendocrinology, 89, 120-130.
N/A
2018
- Wagner, B., Braddick, V. Batson, C., Cullen, B., Miller, E. & Spritzer, M. (2018).
Pre-prints & Works in Progress
Neural correlates of emotion reactivity and emotion regulation in women with borderline personality disorder: A replication of the literature with novel extensions
In prep
N/A
2020
- Lewis, J., Cullen, B., Giuliani, N., & Zalewski, M.
Comparing cognitive and affective predictors of craving
Pre-print
N/A
2019
- Cullen, B., DeStasio, K., Cosme, D., & Berkman, E.T.
Selected Poster Presentations
Cognitive versus affective predictors of craving
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
Portland, OR
2019
- Cullen, B., DeStasio, K., Cosme, D., & Berkman, E.T. (2019)
Personalized stop-signal training to improve inhibitory control among adults who experienced early adversity
Society for Personality and Social Psychology
Portland, OR
2019
- DeStasio, K., Cullen, B., Shaffer, K., & Berkman, E.T. (2019)
Teacher effects in a school-based mindfulness intervention
Mind and Life Summer Research Institute
Garrison, NY
2017
- Cullen, B., Canby, N., & Britton, W. B.
Sustained Attention in Focused Attention versus Open Monitoring Meditation: Behavioral and Neurophysiological Changes
29th Association for Psychological
Science Annual Convention
Boston, MA
2017
- Eichel, K., Essien, G., Cullen, B., Rogers, A. & Britton, W.B.
Dose-dependent effects of testosterone on spatial memory in young and adult male rats
International Meeting for Steroids and the
Nervous System
Turin, Italy
2017
- Spritzer, M.D., Batson, C.G., Braddick, V.C., Chyr, C.U., Cullen, B., Goins, E.C., Jaeger, E.C.B., Miller, L.E., Super, C., & Wagner, B.A.
An open-source system for EEG neurofeedback and transcranial current stimulation control: Applications for meditation research
International Symposium for Contemplative Studies,
Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting
San Diego, CA
2016
- Cullen, B., Santoyo, J., Black, C., McFarlane-Blake, C. & Kerr, C.
A Neurofeedback Informed Meditation Technique (NIMT) for modulating posterior cingulate cortex activity: Proof-of concept for a novel mental-training paradigm with clinical applications
International Symposium for Contemplative Studies,
Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting
San Diego, CA
2016
- Santoyo, J., Cullen, B., & Kerr, C.
Neurophysiological correlates of self-referential activity in meditators and non-meditators
Mind and Life Summer Research Institute
Garrison, NY
2015
- Cullen, B., Bruns, M., Paritsky, A., McGuirk, E., Ogle, T., Kimble, M., & Cronise, K.
Neurophysiological correlates of self-referential activity in meditators and non-meditators
Advances in Meditation Research
New York, NY
2015
- Cullen, B., Bruns, M., Paritsky, A., McGuirk, E., Ogle, T., Kimble, M., & Cronise, K.
Effects of testosterone dose on spatial memory in adult male rats
Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting
Washington, D.C.
2014
- Cullen, B., Spritzer, M., Batson, C., Spillane, S., & Wagner, B.
Talks
Predicting diabetes status from personality using machine learning
useR! 2020 (canceled due to COVID-19)
St. Louis, MO
2020
- Cullen, B., Weston, S., & Condon, D.
Dismantling effects of focused attention and open monitoring techniques in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for affective disturbances
Annual Meeting and Expo of the American
Public Health Association
Atlanta, GA
2017
- Chang, B., Cullen, B., Kini, N., Rahrig, H., & Britton, W.
Movement, embodiment and interoception in the context of contemplative practices (Panel)
International Symposium for Contemplative Studies
San Diego, CA
2016
- Schmalzl, L., Powers, C., Yetz, N., Groessl, EJ., Saron, C., Kerr, C., Zimmerman, C., Cullen, B., Clark, D., Mostofsky, SH., Feinstein, J., Khalsa, S., Simmons, K., & Paulus, M.
Effects of focused attention and open monitoring meditation on sustained attention
International Symposium for Contemplative Studies
San Diego, CA
2016
- Eichel, K., Cullen, B., & Britton, W.
Additional Training
RStudio Instructor Training
RStudio, PBC
Remote
2020
- Two-day intensive training on applying modern evidence-based teaching practices to teach data science using R and RStudio’s products.
Introduction to Machine Learning with the Tidyverse
rstudio::conf(2020)
San Francisco, CA
2020
- Two-day workshop on machine learning with the tidymodels meta-package. Topics covered included prediction, classification, sampling & resampling, ensembling, workflows, recipes, cross-validation and model tuning.
Service & Leadership
Co-organizer
Eugene, OR
2020
- Updated website, designed new hex sticker, secured additional sponsors
Co-organizer
Eugene, OR
2018
- Co-organized a two-day Brainhack event hosted at the University of Oregon for collaborative software development projects related to computational neuroscience and psychology
Science communication ambassador
Eugene, OR
2018
- Trained to be a coach to assist people with communicating their scientific work to the general public
Lab Tour Guide
Intel Science Fair
Eugene, OR
2018
- Gave a presentation for middle- and high-school students as part of a science outreach event during the regional Intel Science Fair in Eugene
- Gave students a tour of the Social and Affective Neuroscience Lab and hosted a Q&A session about scientific careers
Co-organizer
Mindfulness, Healing and Empathy in Healthcare Speaker Series,
Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University
Providence, RI
2016
- Coordinated with guest speakers for a 6-part lecture series for Brown University medical students and community members
- Created a website to advertise the public talks and to provide community members with information about mindfulness resources