ANTHONY DUNN

Motivated and resourceful research assistant with a passionate interest in uncovering how the physical processes of the brain give rise to our phenomenal experience. As a transfer student and the first member of my family to pursue a university education, I have a diverse background of experience. However, my primary interest is driven by my insistent curiosity in the fields of behavioral, systems, and cognitive neuroscience.

• Member, Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society

Outside my academic pursuits, I enjoy a wide variety of outdoor activities that include hiking, fishing, archery, hunting, camping, off-road motorcycling, and snowboarding. I seek adventure and am always open to new ideas, activities, and experiences. Despite my eclectic interests in recreational activities however, most of my time outside academia is spent practicing the martial art of Muay Thai. Thai boxing, as its also known, is a striking art similar to kickboxing in which practitioners have the freedom to use their entire body as a weapon, utilizing punches, kicks, knees, elbows, clinch-work, and certain types of throws to neutralize an opponent. My experience with this sacred art and with the Thai Buddhist culture imbedded in it has done more to deepen my sense of self-knowledge than any activity I've engaged with over the course of my life, barring academics. To push the limits of my own mind and body to the extremes necessary to engage in unarmed combat with another individual has dramatically reshaped my sense of who I am. Through this sport, I have learned the truth about self-imposed limitations and the complexity of the most intense human emotions, forcing myself to expand far beyond what I thought I was capable of. I take this heart, tenacity, patience, and mindfulness that I've cultivated in my gym with my team, and bring it into my work in the lab, in the classroom, in my relationships, and into my everyday experience. Muay Thai is much more than a sport to me. It is a sacred practice. It is meditation, discipline, and character development. Muay Thai is an exercise in humility, honesty, self-awareness, respect, confidence, and self-compassion. It strengthens my capacity to bring passion into everything else I do.