As a postdoctoral fellow in Catherine Dulac’s lab, I am tracking developmental transitions in mammalian brain and behavior. Focusing on the hypothalamus, I am charting the emergence of transcriptional cell-type identities, spontaneous and stimulus-evoked neuronal activity patterns, and corresponding changes in mouse behavior. Along with manipulations of the mouse’s sensory and social rearing environment, this work will provide novel insights into how developmental processes build animal behavior. I received my Ph. D. working in Manuel Zimmer’s lab at the IMP in Vienna, Austria, where I delineated local and global neuronal dynamics governing C. elegans locomotory behaviors.