How/Why Research? I wanted to get involved in research because it’s a great way to for me to elicit learning where I am at the forefront of my education in an academically enriched environment that is not a basic lecture room. I became involved in research by applying to labs through the OUR database and cold emailing professors! More importantly, I spent a lot of time finding opportunities and professors that aligned with my own research interests and crafted applications and emails for those opportunities that highlighted how I would serve as an asset to the project and learn from it.
Research Experience: Since fall 2022, I have been an undergraduate research assistant (FreeSurfer analyst) at the CIRCLE Lab, a psychology and neuroscience-based lab at UNC that aims to understand the impacts of different life experiences on behavior and the developing brain. As a FreeSurfer Analyst, I aid in the neuroimage editing of MRI scans via the FreeSurfer software for various studies including the Youth Emotion Study (YES) and Study of Toddler to Teenager Anxiety and Resiliency (STTAR) for better measurement of brain cortical thickness.
Additionally, I have been an undergraduate research assistant for Dr. Stephanie Martin at the UNC Gillings School of Public Health in the nutrition department since summer 2023. This research experience is in collaboration with CFK Africa and uses qualitative data from transcribed interviews from adolescents, administrators, parents, healthcare workers and nutritionists in Kenya. For this project, I use those qualitative measures to identify underlying factors that contribute to adolescent malnutrition via a software called ATLAS.ti – a qualitative data analysis tools that enables me to organize all the text data we have received from the transcripts.
Working at the CIRCLE Lab and alongside Dr. Stephanie Martin has allowed me to develop unique skills needed for my professional goals in an academically enriched environment where learning happens through experience. I have gained a plethora of first-hand experiences with MRI imaging, quantitative and qualitative data, data management, knowledge on psychological and nutritional interventions as well as developing and executing my own research studies. Not only have these opportunities and skills helped contribute to my academic passions of research, neuroscience, and nutrition, but also my goal of becoming a physician outside of a classroom.
Student Organizations/Clubs: Carolina Scientific
Also Happy to Chat about: Pre-med
Random Fun Fact: I was born on the same day as my mom!