People

Aubrey M. Kelly, Ph.D.
Associate Professor - Lab PI

Dr. Aubrey M. Kelly received her undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) in 2007. As an undergraduate, her research focused on examining courtship behavior in birds. During a gap year upon graduating, she worked as a research assistant at UCSD examining grouping and reproductive behavior in birds and social communication in honeybees (oh look, the birds and the bees!). She then attended Indiana University for graduate school in the lab of James L. Goodson, completing her Ph.D. in Biology and Neuroscience, with a minor in Animal Behavior, in 2014. Her graduate research examined the evolution of the neural mechanisms underlying social behavior in closely related finch species that vary in sociality, ranging from highly territorial to highly social phenotypes. Upon receipt of an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship, she joined the lab of Alexander G. Ophir in the Psychology Department at Cornell University. As a postdoc, using the socially monogamous prairie vole, her research examined the development of social behavior and the social brain. Dr. Kelly joined the faculty at Emory University in the Department of Psychology in August 2018.

aubrey.kelly@emory.edu

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Graduate Students

Christian Janmil Esquilin-Rodriguez

Christian is a PhD student advised by Dr. Aubrey Kelly. Christian completed his bachelor’s degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras campus. As an undergraduate, he researched the circuits mediating reward and punishment with Dr. Christian Bravo-Rivera. He then transitioned to working with Dr. Cristina Velazquez-Marrero to conduct research elucidating the effects of “binge-like” alcohol exposure in context fear conditioning in female mice. In the Kelly Lab, Christian is examining how oxytocin contributes toward grouping behavior in spiny mice, as well as identifying hormonal and neural correlates underlying coordinated cooperation.

christian.esquilin-rodriguez@emory.edu

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Anna Bautista

Anna is a PhD student advised by Dr. Aubrey Kelly. Anna completed her bachelor's degree in Zoology at Colorado State University. Most recently as a postbac lab manager, she researched trophic ecology of Arctic tundra ecosystems, as well as mammalian reproductive physiology. In the Kelly Lab, Anna is characterizing sexual maturation of female spiny mice, which are unique for their precocial developmental mode and the exhibition of a menstrual, rather than an estrus, cycle. She is also examining how the early life environment shapes social trajectories and relevant underlying genetic and neural mechanisms.

anna.bautista@emory.edu

Download Anna's CV here: