About
Ilana is Atlanta (well...suburbs of Atlanta) born and raised, but she got sick of the heat and decided she was going somewhere colder for college, so here she is, in Michigan! She studies Cognitive Science and Economics and will graduate from Michigan in the winter of 2024. Ilana previously worked as a Research Assistant in the Psycholinguistics Lab under Dr. Julie Boland and now works as a Research Assistant in the Ecological Neuroscience Lab under Dr. Stephanie Preston, where she researches judgment and decision-making.
Prior to Ilana's senior year of high school, research wasn't on her radar as something that would become a big part of her future. However, in her senior year, she conducted a research project in the field of psycholinguistics, and she realized that research wasn't always white coats and bubbling test tubes. Ilana enjoyed the process so much that she decided to continue conducting research in college, so she became a UROP student. In doing so, she learned more about the research process and realized that research was what she wanted to do as a career. After all, she loves learning, and a career in research means you get to learn for a living! As a peer facilitator, Ilana wants to show others that everyone can get involved in research, and she hopes to help students discover what research can look like for them.
When she's not in class or doing research, Ilana can be found knitting, hammocking in the Diag, exploring the coffee and boba scenes in Ann Arbor, attempting the NYT Crossword (key word: attempting), spending time with friends, or petting dogs. Some of her Ann Arbor favorites include...
Coffee: Argus Farm Café, M36, and Lab Café
Boba: Sweeting
Restaurants: No Thai (of course), Baba Dari, Frita Batidos, and Sushi Town
Feel free to contact Ilana at imerm@umich.edu with any UROP-related questions, life-related questions, or coffee/boba recommendations!
