2020 Alumnus Next Heads to Dartmouth

Class of 2020 alumnus Wentao “Taylor” Si graduated Cum Laude from Bates College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in honors neuroscience and a minor in digital and computational studies.

During his college years, Taylor explored his interest in the interdisciplinary field of cognitive science. He worked as an undergraduate research assistant in a molecular biology lab and a computational vision lab at Bates and completed an internship last summer at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, studying experimental cognitive psychology.

Taylor noted that he is interested in the potential of using scientific tools to provide insights for philosophical discussions on consciousness and human agency. 

Following graduation, Taylor will pursue a Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience at Dartmouth College. His future work will explore the cognitive and neural mechanisms of how volitional attention alters conscious perception of illusory visual stimuli using tools such as phenomenology, psychophysics, functional brain imaging, and computational methods (e.g., brain activation patterns decoding).