Featured Work

Interview with Trimmel Gomes for Public News Service, April 2025.
Listen to the full interview here.

I discuss how solitary confinement impacts neural and behavioral health, and the urgent need for reform in Florida’s criminal justice system.

Interview with Trimmel Gomes for Public News Service, April 2025.
Listen to the full interview here.

I share findings on the neurological harms of solitary confinement, with a focus on how isolation policies devastate incarcerated populations in Mississippi.

Research Presentation as a Guest Speaker at UW HOPE, April 2025.

Investigating Social Isolation Through the Lens of Neuroethology and Social Justice

This research explores the neurobiological and behavioral effects of social isolation using bumblebees as a model. Guided by lived experience, it replicates conditions of solitary confinement used in Washington State to assess impacts on behavior, mortality, and gene expression responses. The findings contribute to understanding social isolation in communal species and inform legislation and policy efforts within Washington’s Department of Corrections.

I presented on research that explores the neurobiological and behavioral effects of social isolation using bumblebees as a model. Guided by lived experience, it replicates conditions of solitary confinement used in Washington State to assess impacts on behavior, mortality, and gene expression responses. The findings contribute to understanding social isolation in communal species and inform legislation and policy efforts within Washington’s Department of Corrections.

Interview with C. Blackwell featured in The Appeal, April 2025.
Read the full article here.

An in-depth article highlighting my research into how prolonged solitary confinement damages the brain and why this issue matters for human rights advocacy.

Poster Session at RISE Institute, March 2025.

This research investigated the role of the daf-16 gene in C. elegans development, linking genetic regulation to survival outcomes during embryogenesis.

Poster Session at the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, October 2024.

My poster presentation detailed the use of bumblebees as a novel model for examining the neurobiological and behavioral effects of social isolation across species.

Research Presentation and Poster Session at the UW Center for Neurotechnology, August 2024.

I presented findings showing that bumblebees display measurable behavioral changes following periods of social isolation, offering a new model for studying social neurobiology.