RJG Robert J. Gougelet Clinical Neuroscience and Translational Neurotechnology Researcher

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.

Projects Contact

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.

2020 | Doctor of Philosophy, Cognitive Science
University of California San Diego | La Jolla, CA
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 work in development.

Gougelet, R. J., Miyakoshi, M. Theta and alpha EEG dynamics in a dart-throwing working memory task.
Manuscript in progress; based on dissertation Chapter 3.
In progress
Gougelet, R. J., Li, X. A. Your mind in your hands: Brain/body computer interfacing.
Manuscript retained in development.
In progress
Gougelet, R. J. The territory is the map: The use of symmetry in architecture as a material anchor for conceptual blends.
Conceptual manuscript in development.
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.