PNS Research Expo
On April 9th, 2022, PNS research committee was proud to host its first research expo. A passion project started by Ali Hamandi and Aaron Anandarajah, PNS wanted to give students the chance to research a topic of interest, practice and receive scientific presentation coaching, and the opportunity to interact and network with a Penn faculty member, department faculty, university lab directors and post-docs studying their subspecialty of neuroscience at the cutting edge. Alongside this, students got the chance to curate presentations highlighting research they're participating in and create literature reviews for topics of interest.
2022 Research Expo
Theme: Neurotechnology
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Jason Karlawish
Undergraduate Curated Presenters
Annabelle Jin is a first-year student in the College studying biology on the premed track. As a Benjamin Franklin Scholar, she loves both STEM and the humanities. You'll find her reading about Asian American literature and the history of medicine just as often as you'll find her pipetting away at the Frank Lab in CHOP. She became fascinated by neuroscience after competing in the Brain Bee in 2020. This interest has only grown through the PNS Research Committee, culminating in a project about music perception for the hearing impaired that is deeply personal to her as someone born with sensorineural hearing loss. Outside of academics, she is a passionate menstrual equity activist fighting against period poverty.
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Collin Lovelace is a first-year psychology student in the College. He is involved in research looking at harm reduction implementation for people who inject drugs (PWID) in the Philadelphia community. He is broadly interested in psychology and neuroscience, particularly with regards to psychiatric illness. Outside of the classroom and research committee, Collin is Vice President of Dischord A Capella and a member of the Philomathean society. In his spare time, Collin likes writing poetry, coloring, and spending time with his robotic cat.
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Steph Hanchak is a first-year student in the College of Arts & Sciences planning to study neuroscience.She is interested in the intersection of neuroscience, psychology, and public health, and how these areas overlap and inform each other. In particular, she's interested in the neural basis of mental health disorders and how research in this field can translate into preventive care and treatments for those suffering from mental health conditions. In addition to neuroscience, she enjoys writing and drawing and hopes to find ways to incorporate these interests into my STEM courses at Penn.
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Isabelle Sobejano is a sophomore in the College studying neuroscience with an intended minor in healthcare management and chemistry. In terms of her academic interests, she's very passionate about pediatric neurology, pediatric neurosurgery, and improving the quality and access of new technologies specifically tailored for the pediatric population. This is especially relevant given that, in general, we want children to get the best possible care available, but the relative market size is small compared to adults, which is one reason some device makers avoid it. So, the challenge is finding effective ways to incorporate new technologies and approaches specifically for pediatric patients, since most technologies have placed an emphasis on targeting adults.
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Enzo is an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania pursuing a B.A. in Biochemistry. As part of the Roy & Diana Vagelos Molecular Life Sciences program, Enzo is motivated to complete research in the frontiers of science and explore his interests in neurobiology and mechanisms of behavior. He joined the Schmidt lab in 2022 after realizing his passion for neuroscience. At Penn, Enzo is a member of the Penn Neuroscience Society's Research Committee, where he analyzes articles from leading neuroscience journals to learn more about the cutting edge of neurobiology and gain a broader contextual understanding for projects in the lab. He enjoys attending live jazz events in Philadelphia and playing saxophone around campus in the Penn Band.
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Anna Swartley is a sophomore in the College studying Neuroscience and Anthropology. She is most interested in the intersection of biological mechanism and interpersonal interaction and aspires to explore cognitive and behavioral neuroscience in graduate school. In particular, Anna hopes to study mechanistic basis of decision.
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Adrianna Luna is a sophomore in the College majoring in Neuroscience. She is most interested in studying within the intersections of behavioral neuroscience and neurodegenerative diseases. She aspires to obtain a Ph.D and conduct research globally. For her presentation, Adrianna researched "Progress in Brain-Machine Interface: a Review of the Most Recent Challenges and Accomplishments”
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Isabella is a freshman in the college who intends to major in neuroscience. For her presentation, she looked into "Characterizing sleep in the 16p autism mouse model" Outside of PNS, she's involved with SYNAPSE and PPMA. She also works in the Chung lab in Smilow within the Department of Neuroscience focusing on chronobiology and sleep. In my free time she likes to read and write, play volleyball, hike and/or camp with friends and family, listen to kpop/cpop music, and travel.
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