Under the sponsorship of Dr. Franco Pestilli at The University of Texas at Austin, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist investigating white matter microstructure before and after a learning interruption. Education is critical for lifelong success. Understanding why some children do well while others struggle with education is critical for helping children grow in healthy and positive ways. Early math skills, in particular, can predict whether someone goes to college, chooses a STEM major, gets certain jobs, and how much money they might earn in the future. Therefore, making strides at closing the math achievement gap, in particular, could be essential for creating new pathways for children and families. Breaks in the learning process due to life events or simply education interruptions (e.g., long-term hospitalization or summer breaks) reduce academic success. Interruptions do not affect all school subjects equally. Math skills are more likely than reading skills to decline during breaks from school, such as the summer vacation, and these learning breaks are thought to play a role in the persistence of the math achievement gap. While extensive research in animal models has demonstrated the role of white matter in learning, research in human neuroscience has not yet fully specified the conditions under which similar mechanisms are necessary in humans. To date, the way the brain supports math achievement is much less studied than reading achieve