How cultural neuroscientist and OSU professor Dr. Iván Carbajal is challenging the conventions of the field
Iván Carbajal
By Selene Lawrence, CLA Student Writer - January 29, 2025
Dr. Iván Carbajal is paving the way for a culturally inclusive psychological field.
Carbajal was born and raised in West Texas after his parents immigrated from Mexico, a background that he embraces as a scientist. “Growing up, it was very much a bilingual and bicultural household. That part of my life has followed me throughout my education, and it is one of the biggest focuses when it comes to my research,” Carbajal said. “A lot of who I am and what I'm interested in studying comes from my upbringing and my culture.”
Before going to college, Carbajal’s friends often suggested he become a therapist due to his listening skills and supportive demeanor. While pursuing a bachelor’s degree in psychology at the University of Texas Permian Basin, he found himself drawn to the research possibilities the field had to offer. “It wasn't until I took a research methods class that I found out that psychology was so much more than therapy,” Carbajal recalled, “I remember being excited that I could come up with a research question and be able to find an answer and create knowledge.” Under the guidance of his research methods professor, Dr. Jaime Hughes, Carbajal acted as her research assistant on various studies and later completed his undergraduate thesis and first publication.
Carbajal continued his education in behavioral science at the University of North Texas, where he was introduced to the psychophysiological methods that he utilizes in his current research, including electroencephalography, or EEG. “When I first started out in grad school, we were looking at cardiovascular measurements. In my other lab, we did a lot with EEG. It was incredible to see the psychological processes through a physiological approach. It’s a neat way of showing that things don’t only happen in the brain, they also happen in your body,” Carbajal explained.
At the same time, Carbajal found himself struggling as he navigated racism in the academic field. “When I first went to grad school, I didn’t want to do cultural research because I didn’t want to be stereotyped as one of the few Latinos who wanted to focus on culture. A lot of the ways we were socialized to think about research was about how your identity shouldn’t be a part of the work that you do,” said Carbajal. “There were a lot of trials and tribulations, and a lot of times when I felt like I wasn’t good enough to be in these spaces, or that the research I wanted to do wasn’t going to be seen as valuable.”
After Carbajal’s first research mentor told him that he would never get a job focusing on diversity, Carbajal transferred labs and became more determined than ever to challenge conformity and embrace his values and cultural identity in his work. “My research really flourished under new mentorship,” said Carbajal, “that was really when I started this journey in the cultural nuances of psychology and incorporating that into more cognitive perspectives.”
During the last year of his Ph.D. program, Carbajal became an online instructor at Oregon State University. Shortly after, he moved to Corvallis and took up the role of assistant professor. In addition to teaching, Carbajal is the creator and director of the Psychophysiology, Intersectionality, Latine, & Acculturative Science (PILAS) lab, where his innovative and interdisciplinary methods serve as the foundation for a versatile community of researchers. The PILAS lab seeks to understand how bilingual and bicultural individuals navigate the world using psychophysiological methods like EEG testing, which measures reactions in the brain through the recording of brain waves and electrical patterns. This data is interpreted through intersectional research theory which considers the impact of race, culture, sexual orientation, and gender identity on cognition.
The work of the PILAS lab is seen not only in the research they do, but in what they represent. In a white dominated-field where non-hegemonic identities are disproportionately overlooked in the name of scientific impartiality, the PILAS lab honors and centers those identities in research. “We do a lot of different types of research that fit under the umbrella of what we’re interested in,” Carbajal explained. “We’re consistently trying to find ways to tap into these pieces of culture and to develop more inclusive ways to study them, especially in a field with equipment that wasn’t created to be that way. We aim to make psychological research more inclusive and less exclusionary.”
As lab director, Carbajal ensures that student researchers are given the space and support to explore their own experiences and those of their communities in their research. “Most psychology research is 10-15 years behind current cultural movements,” Carbajal noted. “In the PILAS lab, we focus mostly on integrating cultural and critical perspectives into our science, especially the perspectives that have been excluded for so long in the research process. I want the work we do in our lab to be meaningful to the people doing it. I think that the passion behind that and the personal investment make for a much richer project. A lot of the research becomes more developed because it allows for more nuance.”
As for the future of the PILAS lab, Carbajal sees it as a mixed effort between him and his students. “I’m starting to focus on the grander context. I can see it moving in a way where I focus on the big picture and my students are focusing on specific pieces within,” he said. “Getting to know the students and getting to talk to them about their experiences at OSU has been one of the most rewarding experiences for me. I push them to be better researchers and they push me to be a better researcher at the same time. I teach them the research methods and they teach me better ways to think about the phenomena that we’re interested in. That's one of my favorite parts of the job.”
“I’m very aware of the responsibility that I have, not just to my students, but to the communities I want to work with as well,” he said. “With research. I need to know that it’s not just taking from them; I also have to find ways to give back.”