Major/concentration and Graduation Year.
Neuroscience, 2019.
Where are you from?
Hilo, Hawaii
What were your academic interests in high school?
Biology and English
What is your favorite activity outside of the classroom?
Being outside! I often go birding with the Brown Birding Club.
Why did you decide to pursue research in brain science?
I am very curious about how brain becomes mind, and the role our physical bodies play in determining our mental states. Studying neurological disorders or diseases offers one way to see into the complexity of the brain and associated physiological processes - and hopefully shed light on ways to help people feel better in the process.
What research project and laboratory did you work in?
I worked in Dr. Julie Kauer's lab, under the mentorship of Dr. Bruno Pradier. Me and my colleague Caroline Buckholtz worked on a project investigating the proportion of excitatory neurons in the brainstem (trigeminal nucleus caudalis) which were active during migraine. This research will hopefully be used to further elucidate the mechanism of migraine pain processing in the brain.
What is your most memorable experience from your training in brain science?
The first time I saw immunostained brain tissue samples under a confocal microscope, I was blown away. There we were, sitting in a dark little room, seeing neurons - and their processes! - on a thin glass microscope slide. The fluorescent colors highlighted the enormous magnitude of the tissue, even though the sample wasn't more than 30 micrometers thick. It was like looking into another universe - except this universe exists within our own heads! How amazing is that?!
What have you learned from this experience that you are applying to other aspects of your Brown degree?
Through this project, I learned so many new things and met the most amazing people. It was one of the best experiences I could ever have asked for. Aside from the technical knowledge I have gained, this experience provided me reassurance that research is what I want to do in life. Now, I am far more confident in my ability to make decisions and I am more open to making mistakes and learning from them.
What would you like to do after graduating?
Ultimately, my goal is to get a PhD in biological sciences and find a research position where I can be creative in trying to untangle the problem I end up working on.