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Alumni Spotlight

  • Stephanie Matt, Class of 2018 by Virginia Wright As of July 2023, Stephanie Matt is a Research Assistant Professor at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After five years of working as a postdoctoral researcher for Drexel, she recently won an NIH Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) to investigate the role of antidepressants in HIV infection and...
  • Join us in congratulating IHSI research development manager and Neuroscience Program alumna, Dr. Kelsey Hassevoort, who recently received the 2022 Rising Star Award from the National Organization of...
  • Career Development What field in Neuroscience did you study?  I studied behavioral neuroscience. What about the research process did you enjoy? I love coming up with questions that expand on current research. I also love working with students and helping them learn how to conduct research.  Did you prefer gathering the data...
  • Career Development What field in Neuroscience did you study? What about the research process did you enjoy? Did you prefer gathering the data, brainstorming its meaning, the writing process, defending your research, presenting your research, etc. Computational neuroscience, but with a focus on theory and arguments. I enjoy the process of analysis and synthesis...
  • Career Development What field in Neuroscience did you study? Behavioral Neuroscience. What about the research process did you enjoy? Really just the discovery and learning process. You get to ask questions about the most advanced organ ever created and try to solve it. Even negative results yielded information, so it was always an...
  • Career Development What field in Neuroscience did you study? What about the research process did you enjoy? Did you prefer gathering the data, brainstorming its meaning, the writing process, defending your research, presenting your research, etc. I studied circadian rhythms and the biological clock in the hypothalamus in the lab of Dr. Martha Gillette. We used a slice-in-a-dish model and I...
  • What field in Neuroscience did you study?What about the research process did you enjoy? Did you prefer gathering the data, brainstorming its meaning, the writing process, defending your research, presenting your research, etc. I studied auditory neuroscience, specifically how little brown bats process communication signals. I preferred the writing process, defending and presenting my research vs...
  • What field in Neuroscience did you study? I was fortunate enough to work in a laboratory where interesting questions were pursued no matter the field or technique needed to answer them.  While the overall field was learning, memory, and neuroplasticity, this laboratory studied it with molecular, biological, anatomically, electrophysiological, and fMRI techniques, and I am sure I left some...
  • Sean M. Smith, Ph.D. is an Executive Director of Neuroscience Discovery at Merck in West Point, PA. In this role, he directs research for Neurodegenerative disease from target identification through early clinical development. He also leads efforts to identify and translate target engagement and disease progression biomarkers for neurological disorders. Prior to leading the Neurodegeneration...
  • What field in Neuroscience did you study? What about the research process did you enjoy? Did you prefer gathering the data, brainstorming its meaning, the writing process, defending your research, presenting your research, etc. My thesis research focused on neuroendocrine modulators of memory.  I appreciated that all aspects of the research process were important, but I most enjoyed seeing...