Major/concentration and Graduation Year.
Neuroscience, 2019.
Where are you from?
Poughkeepsie, New York
What were your academic interests in high school?
Starting from freshman year of high school I began thinking about the mind, brain, and about thinking. My interests stemmed from philosophical conversations with friends, which led me to think a lot about concepts like happiness and life satisfaction.
What is your favorite activity outside of the classroom?
I'd say that my favorite activities are both working with the Brown Brain Bee and being an outreach worker for HOPE (Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere).
Why did you decide to pursue training in brain science?
From my conversations with friends I started thinking that learning about the mysteries of the mind would be the answer to key problems in society, so I connected with neuroscience in that sense. I started learning in depth about the mechanics of science in college, and strive to in some way connect humanities and sciences through my learning of neuroscience.
What project did you work on?
I made the podcast Voices of Neuroscience (attached below).
What is your most memorable experience from your training in brain science?
My most memorable experience being a part of brain science at Brown happened during the interviews I did for my podcast. There came these moments where a researcher would say something about their interests or deeper meaning behind their work that really resonated with me. This meant a lot to me because it's easy to feel daunted by the thought of how complicated it must be to approach studying the brain and mind and trying to apply it into a new way of thinking about how we function, but to hear that the people doing this research have similar fundamental mindsets about the deeper meaning of their work was encouraging and meaningful.
What would you like to do after graduating?
After graduating I would love to first take a gap year to both travel and do research with a memory and/or aging institute, and then apply to medical school. Medicine is humanities, with a lot of sciences to support it of course, so my dream is to one day be a clinician, engaging with people over the basis of medicine and healing, as well as explaining concepts to let people view their minds and brains in new ways, all in the pursuit of the ever-changing and culturally malleable concept of health.