2020 | Doctor of Philosophy, Cognitive Science
University of California San Diego | La Jolla, CA
Research profile
Clinical neuroscience and translational neurotechnology researcher.
Direct experience in conventional MEG acquisition and preprocessing, Fast-VESTAL source imaging, cerebellar fMRI, EEG analysis, and local-first research software. Work centers on fNIRS methods and reproducible analysis infrastructure; earlier work spans multimodal neuroimaging, ecological task design, source-level modeling, and software development.
At a glance
- Active work Research Lead and Software Developer, Human Neurophysiology Methods Lab; Clinical Systems Developer at Xcelsior Health.
- Core methods MEG, fMRI, EEG, fNIRS, source imaging, and experimental software.
- Direct fit areas Neuroimaging, translational neuroscience, clinical technology, and research software.
- Location Zephyrhills, Florida.
Education
Degree-only format, kept compact and easy to scan.
2012 | Bachelor of Arts, Mathematics
University of South Florida | Tampa, FL
2010 | Bachelor of Arts, Psychology
New College of Florida | Sarasota, FL
Publications
Published items appear first, followed by in-progress work.
Gougelet, R. J., Terzibas, C., & Callan, D. E. (2020). Cerebellum, basal ganglia, and cortex mediate performance of an aerial pursuit task.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 14, 29.
Published
Gougelet, R. J. (2018). Neural oscillation dynamics of emerging interest in neuroergonomics.
In Neuroergonomics (pp. 87-91). Academic Press.
Published
Datko, M., Gougelet, R. J., Huang, M.-X., & Pineda, J. A. (2016). Resting-state functional connectivity MRI among spectral MEG current sources in children on the autism spectrum.
Frontiers in Neuroscience, 10, 258.
Published
Gougelet, R. J., Miyakoshi, M. (in progress). Theta and alpha EEG dynamics in a dart-throwing working memory task.
European Journal of Neuroscience.
In progress
Gougelet, R. J., Li, X. A. (in progress). Your mind in your hands: Brain/body computer interfacing.
In progress
Gougelet, R. J. (in progress). The territory is the map: The use of symmetry in architecture as a material anchor for conceptual blends.
Proceedings of the ANFA Conference; The Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture.
In progress
Work
Ordered by target relevance, with active work first.
2025-present | Research Lead and Software Developer, Human Neurophysiology Methods Lab
New College of Florida | Sarasota, FL
Current
Develop and teach a human neurophysiology methods laboratory centered on fNIRS acquisition, reproducible workflows, and quantitative signal analysis; build a browser-based fNIRS analysis app supporting NIRx ingestion, visualization, preprocessing, filtering, and exportable protocols.
2024-present | Clinical Systems Developer
Xcelsior Health | Tampa, FL
Current
Develop and maintain clinical analytics and patient-resource web applications in Node.js, Vue 3, Tailwind, Google Apps Script, and Google Cloud for population management, care coordination, and practice operations.
2024 | Medical Assistant
Xcelsior Health | Tampa, FL
Clinical
Collected vitals; administered vaccines and medications; supported patient care and workflow management.
2014-2016 | Graduate Research Collaborator, Multimodal MEG/fMRI Study (Datko et al., 2016)
University of California San Diego | La Jolla, CA
Research
Acquired and preprocessed MEG data on an Elekta/Neuromag Vectorview system, including continuous head-position tracking, Polhemus-based MEG-MRI coregistration, MaxFilter, and temporal signal-space separation; generated and interpreted frequency-specific Fast-VESTAL source maps, including gamma-band findings; created MNI-registered MEG-derived regions of interest for fMRI connectivity analysis and downstream interpretation.
2015 | NSF EAPSI / JSPS Fellow and PI, Cerebellar fMRI Study (Gougelet et al., 2020)
Center for Information and Neural Networks, NICT | Osaka, Japan
Fellowship
Received direct funding for a three-month multimodal neuroimaging project; Daniel E. Callan, PhD, served as co-Principal Investigator; designed and implemented an X-Plane aviation pursuit task using C plug-ins and multithreaded Java control programs; operated MEG acquisition with CiNet staff support and coordinated behavioral, MEG, EEG/MEG, and fMRI sessions.
2020-2022 | Research Scientist
Naval Health Research Center | San Diego, CA
Research
Developed EEG/EMG biomarker workflows for mild traumatic brain injury in a simulator, including movement-locked onset detection, an EEGLAB preprocessing and simulation plugin, trial-level EEG permutation statistics, and second-order systems (SOS) filtering applications.
2013 | JPL Summer Intern
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory | Pasadena, CA
Applied sensing
Field-tested radar cardiography devices for search-and-rescue applications.
2008 | Undergraduate Research Intern
NASA Langley Research Center | Hampton, VA
Applied sensing
Developed and tested an EEG neurofeedback interface.
2012 | Research Project Coordinator and Research Technician
University of South Florida | Tampa, FL
Research
Conducted psychophysiological research on vagal fluctuation in depression and brain responses to visual stimuli.
Awards and Fellowships
Formal honors and funded appointments.
2017 | Summer Graduate Teaching Scholar
UCSD
Award
Department-nominated and NSF-funded group and personalized training for teaching at the college level.
2015 | NSF EAPSI Fellowship
Center for Information and Neural Networks, Osaka University
Fellowship
Neuroergonomic multimodal neuroimaging during an aviation pursuit task.
Teaching
Representative teaching and lab leadership across university settings.
2026 | Adjunct Professor, Spring, PSB4112, Human Neurophysiology Methods Laboratory
New College of Florida | Sarasota, FL
Current
Designed and implemented collaborative, hands-on technical laboratory curriculum in human neurophysiology methods, including fNIRS, using collected data, reproducible data workflows, and quantitative analysis.
2026 | Adjunct Professor, Spring, DEP3053, Developmental Psychology
New College of Florida | Sarasota, FL
Current
Designed and implemented discussion and project-based curriculum on prenatal through adolescent development, integrating major theories with contemporary research across biological, cognitive, cultural, and other domains.
2025 | Adjunct Professor, Fall, PSB3004, Biological Psychology
New College of Florida | Sarasota, FL
Current
Designed and implemented team-based and AI-forward curriculum on contemporary biological psychology theory informed by recent advances in human and animal neuroscience and neuroimaging.
2019 | Graduate TA, Winter, COGS9, Intro to Data Science
UCSD | Dr. Shannon Ellis
TA
Led weekly lectures on data science topics and created interactive data science assignments in iPython notebook.
2018 | Senior TA, Paid Yearly Appointment
Cognitive Science Department, UCSD
TA
Oversaw internal professor and TA evaluations, faculty/TA cooperation, and new TA training.
2018 | Graduate TA, Fall, COGS9, Intro to Data Science
UCSD | Dr. Bradley Voytek
TA
Led weekly lectures on data science topics and guided undergraduate data science projects in Python and R.
2018 | Graduate TA, Summer II, COGS187A, Usability and Information Architecture
UCSD | Dr. Mary Boyle
TA
Led teams of undergraduates through prototyping, user experience, and interaction design in healthcare.
2017 | Instructor, Summer I, COGS14B, Introduction to Statistical Analysis
UCSD
Instructor
Designed and implemented team-based curriculum on randomization and bootstrap approaches to introductory statistics in R, culminating in a final poster session with students presenting real data.
2017 | Graduate TA, Spring, COGS102C, Cognitive Design Studio
UCSD | Dr. Nan Renner
TA
Led team-based experience design processes in citizen science and environmental advocacy domains.
2017 | Graduate TA, Winter, COGS120/CSE170, Intro to Human-Computer Interaction
UCSD | Dr. Scott Klemmer
TA
Led weekly scrums for teams of undergraduates on web app interaction design in Node.js and MongoDB.
2016 | Graduate TA, Fall, COGS9, Intro to Data Science
UCSD | Dr. Bradley Voytek
TA
Led weekly lectures on data science topics and guided data science projects in Python and R.
2016 | Graduate TA, Summer II, COGS109, Modeling and Data Analysis
UCSD | Dr. Jake Olson
TA
Led weekly labs guiding undergraduates through modeling and data analysis methods in MATLAB.
2016 | Graduate TA, Spring, COGS120/CSE170, Intro to Human-Computer Interaction
UCSD | Dr. Philip Guo
TA
Led weekly scrums for teams of undergraduates on web app interaction design in Node.js and MongoDB.
2015 | Graduate TA, Spring, COGS120/CSE170, Intro to Human-Computer Interaction
UCSD | Dr. Scott Klemmer
TA
Led weekly scrums for teams of undergraduates on web app interaction design in Node.js and MongoDB.
2014 | MOOC TA, Fall, Learning How to Learn
Coursera | Drs. Barbara Oakley and Terrence Sejnowski
TA
Moderated and reviewed online materials and led discussions for a massive online open course.
2014 | Graduate TA, Fall, COGS107A, Neuroanatomy and Physiology
UCSD | Dr. Jaime Pineda
TA
Led weekly lectures reviewing nervous system anatomy, wrote and graded quizzes and exams.
2014 | Graduate TA, Summer I, COGS174, Psychopharmacology
UCSD | Dr. Michael Datko
TA
Led weekly lectures discussing pharmacodynamics and kinetics of various classes of psychoactive drugs.
2014 | Graduate TA, Winter, COGS102B, Cognitive Ethnography
UCSD | Dr. Edwin Hutchins
TA
Led weekly lectures and assessed undergraduate teams on cognitive ethnography principles and projects.
2013 | Graduate TA, Fall, COGS102A, Distributed Cognition
UCSD | Dr. Edwin Hutchins
TA
Led weekly lectures discussing the book Cognition in The Wild and other distributed cognition topics.
2013 | Graduate TA, Spring, COGS14B, Introduction to Statistical Analysis
UCSD | Dr. Raphael Nunez
TA
Led weekly lectures on textbook parametric statistical testing, wrote and graded exams.
2013 | Graduate TA, Winter, COGS174, Psychopharmacology
UCSD | Dr. Matthew Schalles
TA
Led weekly lectures reviewing pharmacodynamics and kinetics of various classes of psychoactive drugs.
2009 | Undergraduate TA, Developmental Psychology, PSYC3600
New College of Florida | Dr. Michelle Barton
TA
Held weekly office hours, hosted exam reviews, and covered a lecture.
2008 | Undergraduate TA, Calculus II, MATH2312
New College of Florida | Dr. David Mullins
TA
Held weekly office hours and provided feedback during weekly problem sessions.