Natalie Himel

Natalie Himel is a Psychology major with a dual minor in Biology and French. She currently serves as the manager of the Developmental Science Lab (DSL) alongside her mentor, Dr. Hung-Chu Lin. She is also the current Psychology Academic Mentoring Matters (PAMM) president and a rising member of UL’s Psi Chi chapter. Outside of academics, Natalie has engaged in community outreach through the Louisiana Youth Seminar, serving as a volunteer counselor for 2 years. This experience allowed her to build connections and impact youth positively. 

Natalie’s experience in LCHI’s TExBioMed program allowed her to learn new skills and methods in an interdisciplinary environment. She was especially impacted from meeting LCHI’s local partners and discussing the resources our community provides to vulnerable populations. Throughout her time at the program, Natalie continued work on her honors baccalaureate thesis titled “Phonological Competition in Spoken Word Recognition: A Mouse-Tracking Study”. From this project, Natalie identified how language comprehension processes are obstructed and how Spoken Word Recognition research informs cognitive and physiological health. Natalie won first place among the 2026 cohort for her poster and oral presentation.

After graduation, she plans to pursue a PhD in linguistic or developmental psychology. In line with this path, Natalie hopes her future research involving health, cognition, and children will directly impact health outcomes across the world.