Chelsea Stillman, PhD

Chelsea Stillman earned her PhD in Psychology from Georgetown University in 2015. She is currently a National Institute of Mental Health postdoctoral fellow in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where she is working to design and evaluate behavioral interventions to maximize brain plasticity across the lifespan. As a result of this research, she became increasingly interested in facilitating the transfer of cutting edge research from academic labs into clinical and commercial contexts. Chelsea is also the president of the University of Pittsburgh Post-Doctoral Association and has led efforts to increase the institutional representation of post-docs at several levels and to strengthen the reach of the association beyond the Health Sciences. Chelsea joined the sciVelo team in early 2017 to play a more direct role in this process.

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Education

PhD, Psychology (Lifespan Cognitive Neuroscience), Georgetown University, 2015
MA, Psychology, Georgetown University, 2013
BA, Psychology (minor: Chemistry), Colby College, 2010

Research Experience

Postdoctoral Research

Psychiatry and Psychology Departments, Primary Advisor: Kirk I. Erickson, PhD.

• Stillman, C.M., Weinstein, A.M., Marsland, A.L., Gianaros, P.J., Erickson, K.I. (in press). Body-brain connections: The effects of obesity and behavioral interventions on neurocognitive aging, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.
• Stillman, C.M., Lopez, O.L., Becker, J.T., Kuller, L.H., Mehta, P.D., Tracy, R., & Erickson, K.I. (in press). Physical activity in late life predicts reduced plasma β amyloid: Findings from the Cardiovascular Health Study. Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology.
• Stillman, C.M., Cohen, J., Lehman, M.*, Erickson, K.I. (2016). Physical activity and cognitive performance: A review of mediating mechanisms at multiple levels. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 10,
• Stillman, C.M., Watt, J.C., Groves, G.A. Jr., Wollam, M.E., Uyar, F., Mataro, M., Cohen, N.J., Howard, D.V., Howard, J. H. Jr., & Erickson, K.I. (2016). Physical activity is associated with reduced implicit learning but enhanced relational memory and executive functioning in young adults: Implications for habit formation. PLOS One.

Graduate Research

Psychology Department, Georgetown University, Advisor: Darlene V. Howard, PhD.

• Stillman, C.M., Feldman,H., Wambach, C.G., Howard, J.H.H. Jr., & Howard, D.V. (2014). Dispositional mindfulness is associated with reduced implicit learning. Consciousness and Cognition, 28, 141-150.
• Stillman, C.M., Gordon, E.M., Simon, J.R., Vaidya, C.J., Howard, D.V., & Howard, J.H., Jr. (2013). Caudate resting connectivity predicts subsequent implicit probabilistic sequence learning. Brain Connectivity, 3, 601-610.
• Schwab, J. F., Schuler, K.D., Stillman, C.M., Newport, E.L., & Howard, D.V. (2016). Aging and the statistical learning of grammatical form classes. Psychology & Aging, 31, 481-487.
• Stillman, C.M., You, X., Seaman, K.L. Vaidya, C.J., Howard, J.H.H.Jr, & Howard, D.V. (2016). Caudate functional connectivity mediates the association between trait mindfulness and implicit learning. Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience, 16, 736-53.
• Seaman, K.L., Stillman, C.M. Howard, D.V., & Howard, J.H.H. Jr. (2015). Risky decision making is associated with residential choice in older adults, Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1192.
• Stillman, C.M., Howard, J.H.H. Jr., & Howard, D.V. (2014). The effects of structural complexity on age-related deficits in implicit probabilistic sequence learning. The Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 71, 212-19.

Undergraduate Research

Psychology Department, Colby College

• Stillman, C.M., Coane, J.H., Profaci, C.P.*, Howard, J.H. Jr. & Howard, D.V. (2013). The effects of healthy aging on the mnemonic benefit of survival processing. Memory & Cognition, 42,175-184 (Selected as Editor’s Choice; January, 2014)
• Coane, J.H., Sanchez-Gutierrez, C., Stillman, C.M., & Corriveau, J.A. (2014). False memory for idiomatic expressions and their literal equivalents in younger and older adults, Frontiers in Psychology: Language Sciences.

Biology Department, Colby College

• Danner, G.R., Muto, K.W., Zieba, A.M., Stillman, C.M., Seggio, J.A., Ahmad, S.T., & Giray, C. (2011). Spearmint (l-Carvone) oil and wintergreen (methyl salicylate) oil emulsion is an effective immersion anesthetic of fishes. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management, 2, 146-155.

Commercial Translation Experience

• Research focuses on the experimental design and evaluation of outcomes of randomized clinical trials involving exercise and diet. Her lab uses the results of this research to inform public health recommendations and guidelines for Americans.
• Involved in research as an undergraduate that resulted in the validation of a new, non-toxic anesthetic for fish. The anesthetic is now patented and widely used on fish hatcheries around the country.