MY LIFE IN CHAPTERS
Anastasiia Titarova
On curiosity, care & small wonders.
Behavioral science: neuroscience & psychologyDuke Kunshan University · Duke University · Class of 2027
SMALL PLEASURES
A little time,
beautifully spent.
Anastasiia TitarovaContents
Contents1
Anastasiia TitarovaI · About me
CHAPTER I
The person behind
the questions.
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Click the postcard to turn it over
I’m Anastasiia, a behavioral science student at Duke Kunshan University, interested in neuroscience and psychology. I study how we think and feel, with an eye for the person behind the question.
MY JOURNEY
Places that
shaped me.
About me2
Anastasiia TitarovaII · Research
CHAPTER II · RESEARCH
Two campuses,
a wider view.
Duke Kunshan University
My undergraduate home, where behavioral science meets my curiosity about the brain and human behavior.
Duke University
My third-year exchange brought new classrooms, laboratories, and ways of asking questions.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
A curious mind.
Pain is a physical experience. It is also something we interpret, anticipate, and try to put into words. I want to understand how those thoughts become part of what we feel.
ONE QUESTION
What changes
when we ask differently?
For my honors thesis, I designed an experiment to ask whether the order of two questions can change a person’s judgment of pain. Behavioral responses and EEG offer two ways of looking at the same moment.
About 100 people have taken part online; EEG collection is ongoing. With Dr. Shan Wang.
ANOTHER QUESTION
What can an ordinary day
tell us about pain?
A single questionnaire is only a glimpse. Daily diaries and brief, repeated check-ins can bring us closer to life as it happens. I lead a team reviewing how these approaches capture the relationship between catastrophic thinking and pain.
Systematic review and manuscript in preparation, with Dr. Brandon Knettel.
ALONG THE WAY
Learning to look
more closely.
In Andrea Nackley’s pain laboratory, I supported studies of the biological mechanisms of pain, working with tissue samples and laboratory data.
With Chia-Chien Chen, I study how stress and early experiences shape neural circuits and behavior.
In Tamar Kushnir’s lab, I worked with families to study children’s attention, planning, and social influence.
With Christine Gray, I contribute to a review comparing treatments for postpartum depression.
With Sarah Gaither, I explored identity, social perception, and children’s creative problem-solving.
With Claudia Nisa, I studied international students’ experiences as consumers in Kunshan, contributing to a report for the city government.
Research3
Anastasiia TitarovaIII · Care
CHAPTER III · CARE
Care, put into practice.
Care can begin with a conversation, an unfamiliar classroom, or noticing something that makes an ordinary day harder.
ON CAMPUS
Small changes.
Everyday dignity.
On DKU’s Student Leaders Board, I led our first approved initiative for free emergency menstrual products. Students’ everyday concerns became a shared effort, with around 1,000 products distributed and 250 student supporters.
LISTENING & LEARNING
Making room
for one another.
As a resident assistant and peer mentor, I support students through adjustment and stress.
With IDD Empower and a rehabilitation centre, I adapt activities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
LOOKING AHEAD
A project
still taking shape.
Through the 2026 Millennium Fellowship, I’m developing a toolkit to help teachers recognise distress among students preparing for China’s college entrance examination, and connect them with support.
Care4
Anastasiia TitarovaIV · Teaching
CHAPTER IV
Teaching
I teach in classrooms, small groups, and one-to-one conversations, finding ways to make an unfamiliar idea easier to understand.
PEER TUTORING
Behavioral science, together.
As a peer tutor for Behavioral Science 101 at DKU, I help students work through foundational concepts and questions from class.
MEDICAL ENGLISH
Finding the right words.
I teach medical English to Chinese clinicians, using role-play and conversation to practise discussing symptoms, treatment, and patients’ concerns.
NEUROSCIENCE MENTORSHIP
A first research question.
At the Science Mentorship Institute, I mentored three high-school students through neuroscience projects, from reading papers to preparing posters and presentations.
TONGREN
Learning through participation.
In Tongren, I taught primary-school students through games, visual lessons, and activities about language and culture, working under teacher supervision.
NEUROCINEMA
Psychology, through film.
At Canadian International School Kunshan, I designed film-based psychology lessons for middle-school students, connecting characters’ experiences with emotions, boundaries, and self-compassion.
Teaching5
Anastasiia TitarovaV · Writing
V · Writing
Other people’s stories
I write about the experiences that shape people: learning, belonging, service, and finding their way.
SELECTED STORIES
People, purpose & belonging.
EDITING & TRANSLATION
On the other side
of the page.
As an associate editor and peer reviewer for Impulse and the Journal of Young Investigators, I help undergraduate research find its clearest expression.
My Russian translation support is acknowledged in Caio Yurgel’s The alienation of Valerii Pereleshin, published in Textual Practice (2026).
Article & acknowledgmentsWriting6
Anastasiia TitarovaVI · Small joys
CHAPTER VI
Small joys.
Away from the lab, I’m often reading or exploring somewhere on foot. I like the things that ask me to slow down: an old painting, a quiet street, a few pages over matcha.
Moving between countries has made languages part of everyday life. I speak Russian, English, and Serbian, and I’m learning Mandarin.
A little time,
A cup I come back to
Matcha
Beside an open book.
Something comforting
Warm syrniki
Some of my favourite things make an ordinary day feel a little more generous.
An afternoon well spent
An unplanned walk
A painting that makes me linger, and ice cream on the way back.
P.S. · To be continued
The next chapter
I’d be glad to connect about research, doctoral opportunities, and the questions we have in common.
Small joys7