Katherine L. Furman

Hi, I’m Katherine Furman, but you can call me Katie, everyone else does.

I grew up in central New Jersey, and received my B.S. in Neural Science from New York University in 2019, where I completed my undergraduate honors thesis work with Dr. Robert Froemke. During my time at NYU I was a research fellow of the NIH Blueprint Program for Enhancing Neuroscience Diversity through Undergraduate Research Experiences (BP-ENDURE), which funded my academic year and summer-term research. I am now a PhD Candidate in the laboratory of Dr. Christian Burgess in the Neuroscience Graduate Program at the University of Michigan. In the Burgess lab, my interest is in Melanin-Concentrating Hormone (MCH) neurons in the Lateral Hypothalamus, and how they are involved with motivational aspects of consummatory behaviors. I develop high throughput behavioral setups which I use in combination with optogenetics and fiber photometry in order to study the effects of MCH neuron activation/inhibition on food consumption. I also write a lot of code.

I am an Executive Committee member for Girls Who Code (GWC), and I spend a lot of time thinking about the best ways to help young women learn to code. I was terrified of coding until I took my first class in Python junior year of college, and I was enthralled with how much creativity and individuality I could apply to it. I now strive to help others learn about this awesome skill as early as possible through GWC.

In my free time, I’m probably playing with my chihuahua pup, watching reality TV, or trying to find a good bagel.

Thanks for visiting my website! But bear with me, as it is still under construction.