معرفی
Valerie Carr is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at San Jose State University within the College of Social Sciences, conducting research on biological and psychological factors influencing learning and memory across the lifespan through neuroimaging and behavioral methodologies.
Her primary research domains include episodic memory, aging, cognitive neuroscience, and neuroimaging, with additional focus on technology use, fitness, pedagogy, and interdisciplinary computing. She directs the Carr Lab Investigating Memory and the Brain (CLIMB), where projects examine physical fitness and memory, depression and memory, divergent thinking and semantic memory, and meta-analyses of MRI studies in Alzheimer's disease and major depressive disorder, while also collaborating on pedagogical research for computing integration in social sciences curricula.
Her 2021-2025 publications demonstrate three convergent research trajectories: (1) technical advancements in hippocampal subfield segmentation protocols using high-resolution MRI, (2) investigations into Alzheimer's biomarkers and memory mechanisms in aging populations, and (3) educational studies on interdisciplinary computing programs for social science and community college students, reflecting her dual commitment to neuroscience discovery and educational innovation.
Professor Carr mentors student researchers in CLIMB and collaborates extensively across SJSU with Engineering, Education, and the Center for Faculty Development on the Applied Computing minor and Applied Programming Experiences (APEX) initiative, which develops computing pathways for social science students and community college learners to address workforce diversity and graduate employability challenges.
She maintains active international neuroimaging collaborations including partnerships with Stanford University on brain structure-function relationships in aging, and global consortia developing standardized hippocampal segmentation protocols, while simultaneously leading on-campus behavioral research and pedagogical innovation through the CLIMB lab and interdisciplinary computing programs.
