News & Stories

Staff Spotlight: Marrian Tan

October 22, 2024

Written by: Stephany Daniel, Marrian Tan

Get to know our team!  

This week, we interviewed Marrian Tan, Research Technician Intermediate in the Speech Neurophysiology Lab, to learn more about her work and interests. Marrian leads our lab's neural stimulation project and assists with EEG studies. She's excited about exploring neural stimulation as a potential treatment for people who stutter. When she's not busy with work, Marrian likes to bake new cookie and cake recipes and create Chinese desserts, like mooncakes. She's also an avid photographer and enjoys capturing meaningful moments for her friends and family.


Read our full interview with Marrian below!

What is your role in the lab? 

I’m a research technician, primarily responsible for leading our lab’s neural stimulation project and assisting with EEG studies. 


What excites you most about your work?

I’m passionate about unraveling the complexities of stuttering as a developmental disorder and understanding the neural mechanisms behind it. Being part of the pioneering project that explores neural stimulation as a potential treatment for people who stutter is incredibly rewarding! Plus, I really enjoy working with this talented team at the Speech Neurophysiology Lab at U-M, and I’m excited to keep sharpening my skills in EEG and tACS!


What do you like to do in your free time? Do you have any hobbies?

I have a wide range of hobbies, but lately, I’ve been diving into baking and photography. I enjoy experimenting with new cake and cookie recipes, and I’ve recently taken a deep dive into making toast and Chinese desserts like mooncakes. I’m also quite interested in photography, especially using it to capture both the beauty of nature and the everyday lives of people. Freezing those meaningful moments that I see and experience means a lot to me. I’ve even had the chance to take graduation and event photos for friends, and I’m looking forward to snapping photos of our lab’s adventures to preserve those memories.


If you could learn one new skill overnight, what would you want it to be?

Technology’s role in research keeps growing, and the potential of machine learning to transform how we handle data is really exciting. I’d love to become more fluent in coding and machine learning, using these skills to streamline data analysis routines for efficiency while making exploratory analysis more intuitive and seamless.


Besides the unknowns around stuttering, what’s another scientific mystery that you find interesting?

I’m fascinated by how our brains create dreams—how they weave together fragments of information into vivid, often realistic narratives. It’s amazing that we can experience such vivid worlds while we’re asleep, sometimes even staying aware in lucid dreams. The brain’s capacity for imagination, and its ability to create these immersive experiences, is really mysterious and fascinating to me.