Alessandra plans to study the effect of early life experience on cognitive and social development in infant rhesus macaques and humans. Alessandra received her bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 2018. She majored in Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology, with a concentration in Anthropology. After interning at Lincoln Park Zoo’s Fisher Center, she was a lab manager first in the Freedman Lab at the University of Chicago, and then here in the Cognitive Origins Lab. In addition to her scientific career, she has 15 years of performing arts experience and currently teaches salsa and bachata classes.