SCIENCE COMMUNICATION

Jacinda Taggett communicates neuroscience and career to aspiring and current scientists. She works at the intersection of neuroscience, society, and public engagement.

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FEATURED WRITING WORKS

  • Illustration of various stylized human neurons, synapses, and brain structures, using shades of orange, yellow, green, red, and blue.

    How does the brain communicate? Introduction to the neuron

    INTRO TO SCIENCE BLOG POST

    Are you interested in learning more about neuroscience or psychology? If you want to understand how the brain works in its full capacity, we have to start smaller. As small as… a microscopic brain cell? The neuron is the fancy name for this nervous system cell, and is absolutely essential to begin your deep dive into the brain.

  • Top-down illustration of a person with yellow sleeves writing in a notebook with a pen, holding a cup of coffee in one hand, and a smartphone on a white surface.

    Improving our memory in educational settings

    DEPARTMENTALLY AWARDED BLOG POST

    Do you have midterms or final exams coming up? We’ll go through a few different types of studying scenarios together to truly answer the question: How can you optimize your study sessions this semester?

  • Close-up of a clock face with two pocket watches overlapping on a vintage background.

    How our perception of time influences the memory of events

    NEUROSCIENCE COMMUNICATION BLOG POST

    When remembering a moment in life, does it ever feel shorter or longer than what actually occurred? Research shows that our brain’s chemistry might unlock the secret to why this is, and how that influences our memory of the event later on.

  • Illustration of a woman holding a large pen, editing a large document on a clipboard with profile picture and text lines, with gears and leaves in the background.

    Curating your first scientific resume

    CAREER ADVICE BLOG POST

    Getting started on scientific résumés is difficult, especially when you don’t have the “relevant” experience. However, there are plenty of ways to showcase the skills and experiences you DO have, regardless if you have formal research experience, to land your first internship.

  • A person with brown hair, glasses, and a patterned brown jacket or scarf is holding a scientific research poster about electromagnetic induction and the effects of different parameters. The poster contains graphs, charts, and text, and is displayed against a gray background.

    Guess quality moderates how semantic relatedness influences the pretesting effect

    FIRST-AUTHOR SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATION

    With whatever knowledge you do have on a topic, try to guess the solution to your study guide questions before you look for the correct answer. Once you’ve guessed immediately check for how correct you were in your notes. Were you correct? Were you wrong? If you were incorrect, that’s even better! Our research highlights that your initial guess is most important for retaining information.

A computer screen displaying a presentation slide titled 'Engaging the community with your research' by Jacinda Taggett. There is a brick wall in the background with a wooden artwork of a person’s profile, and a paper coffee cup beside the laptop.

Workshops

  1. Taggett, J., Engaging the community with your research. (2025, September). Presented at Competitive Edge Fellowship Program, Los Angeles, CA.

A woman with dark hair, glasses, and a checkered jacket is partially visible in front of a scientific research poster at a conference.

Poster Talks

  1. Taggett J., Su, N., Bertolero, J., Warren, J., Jagust, W.J., Kayser, A., & Hsu, M. (2025, March). Dopamine tone influences strategic learning in humans: a pharmacological PET study. Presented at Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.

  2. Taggett J., Ranganath C., Antony J.W., & Liu X.L. (2023, April). Semantic relatedness in word pairs influences learning enhanced by error generation. Presented at International Conference of Learning & Memory, Huntington Beach, CA.

LATEST VIDEO AND INFOGRAPHICS

science writing for beginners! #scicomm #career
year 2 #indy500
saw what good teams actually look like yesterday #cincinnatireds
First 24 hours in Cincinnati #ohio
weekend of beaches, hikes, and espressos 💃🏻🕺🏻
Excited to announce that I will be *remotely* working on mastering the science of scicomm! Content surrounding full-time work and full-time student life to come this fall :) #graduateschool #stonybrookuniversity

TOTAL WRITING WORKS