Ruoyi received her B.S. in Neuroscience with a minor in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University. In her senior year, she worked in Dr. Marlene Cohen's lab on a project attempting to provide a mechanistic explanation for the tradeoff between task-flexibility and single visual-discrimination task performance. Then, she worked as a technician for two years at UPenn in Dr. Maria Geffen's lab, where she studied the long-range circuit that mediates odor-induced modulation of auditory cortex activity in mouse models. Through these experiences, she became fascinated by how the brain processes and integrates sensory information in a manner that efficiently supports the organism's goal achievement or survival need.