Postdoctoral associate Jeremy Spool was awarded a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate how the brain transitions from making sense of complex vocalizations to initiating social responses during interactions with other individuals. Spool will conduct his research in the lab of Luke Remage-Healey, investigating a neural circuit linking auditory cortex with social brain areas in songbirds. He is collaborating with NSB faculty members Joseph Bergan and Paul Katz. There is very little known about how areas of cortex that interpret the world around us interface with parts of the vertebrate brain that control social behavior. The goal of Spool’s work is to begin to shed light on these sensory-social area interfaces in the songbird brain.