Neuroscience

My name is Benjamin Preece-Santos, and I am a Junior at St. Lawrence University, majoring in Cellular Neuroscience on a pre-medical track. He is the founder and acting president of the St. Lawrence University Neuroscience Club, where the mission is to create opportunities for students interested in neuroscience, medicine, and research to connect with professionals and gain exposure to the field. Benjamin has conducted research at Brown University in the Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology under Dr. Jack A. Elias, contributing experimental data.

Keith Omane-Agyei ’26 is a neuroscience major pursuing a minor in public health. His academic interests focus on the intersection of brain health and population health, particularly the neurological consequences that can arise during maternal health complications. He is interested in exploring how biological, social, and environmental factors during pregnancy and childbirth can contribute to long-term neurological damage, as well as strategies to address and mitigate these outcomes.

Alice Khalil ’27 is a Neuroscience major and Chemistry minor whose research focuses on carbon dots (CDs), including Carbon Nitride dots and Gamma CDs, for detecting cardiac troponin with molecularly imprinted polymers. Passionate about improving diagnostics, she aims to advance early disease detection using nanomaterials. Her next project focuses on magnetic CDs to enhance biomarker detection sensitivity. As both an EMT and future medical student, Alice aspires to become a neurosurgeon while applying nanomaterial diagnostics to combat cardiovascular disease.

Sara St. Clair, ’26, is a neuroscience major with minors in chemistry and statistics at St. Lawrence University. She is interested in understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms behind neurodegenerative diseases, with a focus on Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Through her fellowship, Sara used the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism to study α-synuclein aggregation and evaluate the potential protective effects of mannitol.

Ian Onchangwa, class of 2027, is a Neuroscience major at St. Lawrence University. He plans to pursue a career in medicine after graduation.

I am currently a neuroscience major exploring the effects of insulin resistance (often caused by a Western diet) on cognition, with the goal of later investigating its cellular effects on the insular cortex.

Amelia Burkhard (she/her), Class of 2026, is a Behavioral Neuroscience major with a strong interest in how various stress management techniques influence brain activity. As both a member and leader within the SLU L.I.G.H.T theme house and SLU Club Running, she is passionate about exploring both physiological and psychological responses to stress as well as effective strategies for mitigating the negative effects of daily stressors.

Madeline Musterait is from Buffalo, New York and a member of the class of 2025. She majoring in Neuroscience with a cellular concentration. Her research interests expand beyond the cellular domain into behavioral neuroscience. In particular, she is interested in the impacts on behavior that stem from comorbid disorders and stress. Beyond that, Madeline is passionate about the lack of female representation in research, this interest being fulfilled through the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (EAB) lab's work with female rats during her summer fellowship.

Agata Janina Faran, class of 2026, is double-majoring in Neuroscience and Art and Art History with a minor in Chemistry. She is fascinated by the mechanisms behind the functions of the human body, especially the brain. Her specific interests focus on the impacts of the environment on behaviour and brain structure. Agata is a student at the Experimental Analysis of Behaviour Lab led by Prof. Fox, with whom she is planning to conduct her Senior Year Experience project. 
Agata is an international student at St. Lawrence University and a UWC Scholar. 

My name is Adarra Smith and just started my senior year at SLU. I transferred to St. Lawrence last Fall to pursue the Neuroscience program and am very happy to have joined such a vibrant community in beautiful Northern New York.

Cordelia Keberle '24 is a Neuroscience major and Chemistry minor at St. Lawrence University. She is a member of the St. Lawrence swim team, the SLUSAFF treasurer, and the president of the Tri Beta Biology Honors Society. Cordelia pursued her passion for research this past summer working on a collaborative project between the Cellular and Molecular Physiology Department and the Pediatric Genomic Discovery Program at the Yale School of Medicine. 

Hello! 

My name is Liyou Asnakew Sisay, and I was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I’m currently a Neuroscience major at St. Lawrence University, graduating in 2026. My passion for medicine, along with my interest in healthcare policies, has led me to minor in Government as well. I’m bilingual in Amharic, my mother tongue, and English.

Sydney Peterson, class of 2024, is a Neuroscience major at St. Lawrence University. Sydney is on the NCAA nordic ski team at St. Lawrence and on the U.S. national ski team. Her interest in research and skiing led her to research at Montana State University over the summer of 2022, where she studied arsenic toxicity and a novel protein acetone carboxylase.

Talya Scott, ’23, has a major in Neuroscience and minors in Public Health and Chemistry. Her time spent working in a nursing home and interest in medicine led her to pursue a research project testing a potential treatment for Parkinson’s Disease in a C. elegans model. After completing this summer research project, she plans to continue her research as an SYE to further expand her own and the scientific community’s understanding of this disease.

I am Sajida from Gilgit, Pakistan. I am a member of the Class of 2024, majoring in Behavioral Neuroscience with a minor in Statistics at St. Lawrence University. I am thrilled that I will be joining Dr. Jaime Ross's Lab at University of Rhode Island for PhD in neuroscience. Previously, I did my International Baccalaureate from UWC Costa Rica. At SLU I am involved at various leadership roles like community assistant, student worker at the Launder's Science Library, Intern at the Language Resource Center and Student Researcher.

Being raised by a single mother in a provincial Russian town, I am adept at setting goals and striving to achieve them, despite the challenges I have encountered. As a minority within my own country’s administrative division, Adygea Republic, I have always strived for diversity and inclusion of identities, experiences, and ideas. With such a mindset and a strong passion for natural sciences, I sought opportunities to enrich my scientific environment and learn from the expertise of an international community.

Nick Lin, class of 2023, is majoring in Neuroscience following a pre-medical track. His research interest encompasses the biological aspects of the medical field. During this project, Nick further explores his interests by examining the immune system of albino frogs. He is looking forward to furthering this research and eventually publishing it officially. Down the road, he plans to pursue a career as a physician. 

Martina Velásquez Lemaitre, class of 2024, is majoring in neuroscience and minoring in public health. Her passion for how science can be applied to solve public health matters and improve people's quality of life across the world motivated her to conduct summer research with Dr. Amanda Oldacre on the Electrochemical and Spectroelectrochemical Analysis of Catalytic Plastic Degradation in 2022 at St. Lawrence University and to shadow and volunteer at the SAINTS-PERES Paris Institute for the Neurosciences in 2023. 

Noah Neverette, '21, is a Neuroscience major and Creative Writing minor. His fellowship in Summer 2020 provided him with the opportunity to combine his interests in science and writing to create an educational story, something he would like to do as a career. He hopes to be able to take complicated science topics that affect everyone and turn them into something educational, personable, and interesting.

Hi there! This is Andy Hims, class of 2021. When Andy had first intended to major in Neuroscience, he was primarily interested in consciousness and how it arose from the cluster of cells and fat in our head. However, as he progressed through college, he obtained a deeper sense of mindfulness and appreciation of the world around him. The beauty of simply existing captivated him, but it also served as the ultimate memento mori and the ultimate motivation to continue studying the sciences. Since then, he has brought unparalleled passion and drive to research how to combat and slow aging.