{"id":85,"date":"2026-05-13T15:04:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T21:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ashleymathis.com\/?p=85"},"modified":"2026-05-13T15:04:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T21:04:26","slug":"ay-2025-2026-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ashleymathis.com\/?p=85","title":{"rendered":"AY 2025-2026 Updates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">One degree down!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I defended my thesis, titled <em>Examining Individual Differences In Mental Imagery And Their Effects On Visual Search<\/em> in Summer 2025 and got my MA in August. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"577\" src=\"http:\/\/ashleymathis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/VSM-Graduates-Dec-2025-1024x577.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-86\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ashleymathis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/VSM-Graduates-Dec-2025-1024x577.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ashleymathis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/VSM-Graduates-Dec-2025-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ashleymathis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/VSM-Graduates-Dec-2025-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ashleymathis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/VSM-Graduates-Dec-2025-1536x865.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/ashleymathis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/VSM-Graduates-Dec-2025-2048x1153.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">December 2025 Graduate Commencement with my lab family. Left to right: Dr. Bryan White, yours truly, Dr. Michael Hout, Dr. Eben Daggett.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">I taught a class!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I developed and taught my first-ever undergrad course (Brain &amp; Behavior) in Fall 2025. Here is one of my favorite comments from my student evaluations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The overall vibe in the classroom indicates the teacher is excited about the topic and wants to impart that knowledge upon the students<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">And finally&#8230;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I passed comps! It was a grueling spring semester, but it all worked out in the end. The department decided to let me do a dissertation, and my advisor didn&#8217;t put me up for adoption. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" src=\"http:\/\/ashleymathis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/sweet-victory-spongebob.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-89\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One degree down! I defended my thesis, titled Examining Individual Differences In Mental Imagery And Their Effects On Visual Search in Summer 2025 and got my MA in August. I&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-victories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashleymathis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashleymathis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashleymathis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashleymathis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashleymathis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ashleymathis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90,"href":"https:\/\/ashleymathis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions\/90"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashleymathis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashleymathis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashleymathis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}