Andrea Chavira

Languages: English & Spanish

Pronouns: She/Her

 

Biographical Sketch:

Growing up the human brain had always been fascinating to Andrea Chavira. She often pondered its way of being as a child and how behavior and perception varies across people. At a young age it was hard to understand people and socializing wasn’t her strong suit, yet she was determined to figure out why. It wasn’t until her first psychology class in high school that really opened her mind to, well, the mind! Every unit being taught was incredibly riveting and it started to feel like the world around her was starting to make sense. In her last year she still wasn’t sure if Psychology was the major she wanted to pursue at the time, but near the end of her second year at San Diego State University(SDSU), she was on track majoring in Psychology with an emphasis in Neuroscience thanks to quite the life-altering physiological psychology class.

 

The more brain related courses she took, the more tools she had to figure out her interest at the time, that being social neuroscience. At SDSU she became a part of the Social Health & Affective Neuroscience Lab where she assisted in multiple research studies focusing on opioids and social connection, relationships and health, and embodied social connection. She had the wonderful opportunity of presenting at her first research symposium where she presented her lab's findings on how the act of giving support can increase risk perceptions for the health consequences of drinking alcohol. At the same time Andrea also became a psychology teaching assistant for a year, gaining invaluable experience in tutoring and providing students with constructive feedback.

 

After graduating she first began working as a direct support professional, supporting individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities by fostering independent living skills. During her free time, she gives her all to dance by being a part of SDSU’s XCENTRIC!SD K-Pop dance team, a vital outlet that lets her express her passion for dance and community. Currently, Andrea continues to be a part of the SDSU community working as a research assistant at the South Bay Latino Research Center– working with the Hispanic Community Health Study/ Study of Latinos– the largest study on Hispanic/Latino health in the U.S. Andrea is also working diligently to broaden her science communication skills to help guide and support the next generation of STEM researchers by being the Mentorship Program Coordinator at Research Girl. One of her life goals is to make science not only accessible but digestible and she plans on doing so by continuing her education, aiming to teach about what the remarkable human brain is capable of.

​

Awards/Honors:

DIS Diversity & Need-Based Scholarship Recipient, 2023

Associated Students Global Education Scholarship Recipient, 2023

 

Selected Works:

Pinela, A. V., Chavira, A. M., Ferrer, R. A., & Inagaki, T. K. (2024). The power of support-giving increases risk perceptions of alcohol consumption. Poster presented at San Diego State University’s Student Symposium (S3), March 1, 2024. 

 

Nalluru, P., Chavira, A. M., Pandit, S. K., Aquino, R., Jaramillo, O. K., & Almond, A. (2024) The use of MEG to study memory. Poster presented at Think Neuro Virtual Symposium, August 7, 2024.