\nAssistant Professor of Arabic<\/strong><\/p>\n
With Sami Alkyam, Allegheny is not only welcoming an assistant professor in the Department of World Cultures and Languages, but also a new director of Muslim student life.<\/p>\n Alkyam holds a Ph.D. in Arabic language and literature as well as a doctoral minor in second language acquisition from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He will teach Arabic language and culture classes and core classes in international studies at Allegheny. He previously worked at Harvard University from 2012 to 2018.<\/p>\n His research interests include modern Arabic literature and cultural studies; gender and sexuality studies; trauma and the war novel; Arabic dictator novels; film and television studies; Postcolonial and literary theory; Arabic literary translation, and African literature in translation.<\/p>\n \u201cIn my current research I explore the manifestations of dictators and dictatorships in contemporary literary genres \u2014 the representation of its various configurations and the politics of (re)writing history. Currently, I am working on a manuscript in which I study the aesthetics of death in contemporary Iraqi literature. More than any time in the history of modern Iraq, poetry and fiction have been bound to social and political events in Iraq. Iraqi literature today reflects the trauma of a nation torn between omnipresent war and reminiscence of three decades of dictatorship,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cAs such, I describe Iraqi writers today as \u2018bereaved storytellers\u2019 who give voice to the wounds of their nation and people. I will finish the manuscript in the next two years,\u201d Alkyam adds.<\/p>\n His work has appeared in the Journal of Postcolonial Studies, Journal of Literature and Trauma Studies, Journal of Arts and Humanities and Journal of Studies in Literature and Language. He also works on literary translation.<\/p>\n \u201cI am a true believer of diversity; in fact, I am especially drawn to Allegheny given its vibrant and diverse community and the emphasis on internationalism and interculturalism as well as my department\u2019s commitment to teaching languages. In the classroom, I view teaching, not as a career or task, rather as a passion. It is this passion that pushes me to teach Arabic language and literature in the clearest and most effective manner,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe in making my class a changing experience for my students. Therefore, I see myself as a facilitator of student communication, rather than the center of the classroom. My main goal is to empower my students to engage while providing a classroom environment conducive to productive communication,\u201d says Alkyam.<\/p>\n Away from academia, he is the father of two \u201cbeautiful kids: a girl, Uswah, and a boy, Karam, who are the center of my world. I like to play soccer; I like swimming and reading, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Megan Bertholomey Megan Bertholomey knows a lot about small liberal arts colleges such as Allegheny. She is a graduate of Knox College, where she was a studio art major and psychology minor. \u201cMy medium was clay. Other than the commercial pottery painting classes, there usually aren\u2019t many public resources\/studio spaces for ceramicists, so I look forward to making friends in the Art Department and hope to one day collaborate or audit a class with them,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Bertholomey also served as both a teaching assistant and an instructor in introductory psychology classes during her Ph.D. training at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis. She taught a course called \u201cDrugs and Behavior\u201d at the University of Pittsburgh for three fall semesters during her postdoctoral training. Last year, she was a visiting assistant professor at Chatham University, covering graduate-level introductory neuroscience courses with labs, as well as an undergraduate-level introductory biology class.<\/p>\n Her research interests include understanding the factors contributing to and mechanisms underlying the risk of drug abuse and other conditions like anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder that tend to co-occur with substance use disorder. \u201cOne major and well-known contributing factor is stress, but there is still much we don\u2019t know about how stress affects the brain to lead to or exacerbate these disorders,\u201d she says.\u201dBecause of my research experience, I\u2019m very interested in teaching neuroscience and psychology topics related to drug use and abuse, psychopharmacology, neuroendocrinology, sexuality\/sexual behavior, learning and memory, research methods and statistics.\u201d<\/p>\n She says that \u201cwhile most of my artistic talents have gone into making research posters and PowerPoints, I do like to paint and draw when I can. I was also a member of the dance collective when I was in college \u2014 mine was called Terpsichore \u2014 so a similar Greek naming convention to Orchesis \u2014 and love to dance, although I don\u2019t have much formal training.\u201d<\/p>\n She also considers herself \u201cto be a bit of a foodie and a craft beer aficionado, so I love to cook and plan to eventually try my hand at home brewing using one of the many kits that have been gifted to me over the years. I am also a reservoir of random knowledge that comes in very handy for trivia \u2014 especially music trivia, as well as pop culture references from the \u201990s and \u201900s.\u201d<\/p>\n Delia Byrnes Delia Byrnes joins the Allegheny community by way of Canada, where she was raised, and the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied and eventually taught in the English Department.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m joining the Environmental Science and Sustainability program at Allegheny through a somewhat unusual route: I\u2019m not even a scientist! Rather, my Ph.D. in English and my experiences teaching literature inform the humanities approaches I bring to environmental studies,\u201d says Byrnes. \u201cOver the past four years, I\u2019ve taught courses on oil culture, apocalyptic fiction and film, African American literature, and multi-ethnic environmental culture at the University of Texas at Austin. I\u2019m thrilled to join such a rich interdisciplinary community at Allegheny, and I\u2019m especially excited to collaborate with students on projects that center environmental justice.\u201d<\/p>\n Byrnes earned her bachelor\u2019s degree from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia and her master\u2019s and doctorate from the University of Texas.<\/p>\n She focuses her research on contemporary environmental art and storytelling, focusing on how writers, artists and other mediamakers harness their imaginations to produce new knowledge about environmental relations. \u201cI\u2019m especially interested in the ways that fossil fuel shapes our daily lives, and how Black, Indigenous, and People of Color authors illuminate more just and habitable futures,\u201d says Byrnes.<\/p>\n When she\u2019s not in her Carr Hall office, Byrnes says she is a movie and television fan \u201cand will find any opportunity to teach my favorites, from the FX series \u2018Atlanta\u2019 to Janelle Mon\u00e1e\u2019s Afrofuturist epic, \u2018Dirty Computer.\u2019 When I\u2019m not reading or watching something, I love wandering around town on foot or on my bike, and as a Canadian, I am beyond excited to experience the four seasons in Meadville!\u201d<\/p>\n The most consistent part of her time in Meadville so far: \u201cMy weekly visits to Hank\u2019s Frozen Custard.\u201d<\/p>\n Priyanka Chakraborty It has been quite a year for Priyanka Chakraborty. She graduated from Southern Methodist University with her Ph.D., won the Melody Rice Memorial Award for her dissertation \u201cEssays on Issues in Management and Gender\u201d and \u201cwas truly excited to travel cross country from Texas to Pennsylvania and join the Allegheny family!\u201d<\/p>\n It has been quite an academic journey for Chakraborty. Reading Keynes in college had a powerful impact on her and shaped the course of her passion for and career in economics. \u201cI grew up in India and attained a college education through scholarships based on academic achievement,\u201d she says. \u201cI majored in economics at Presidency College and won the Gold Medal from Calcutta University. I explored New Delhi, jazz and micro and macroeconomics during my master\u2019s at Jawaharlal Nehru University and read obsessively on game theory and behavioral economics, which I still do.\u201d<\/p>\n She worked closely with counterparts from Great Britain for HSBC Bank as an economic analyst for a couple of years before traveling to Texas to attend the doctoral program at Southern Methodist University. \u201cI taught classes independently, worked extensively as a teaching assistant and as a tutor and student counselor. The experiences during my academic and professional career gave me an immense appreciation of cross-cultural understanding and helped hone my teaching pedagogy which is geared toward creating an inclusive class environment and facilitating learning through discussion,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n As an applied economist, she uses laboratory and field experiments, as well as survey data, to answer questions in behavioral and labor economics, with a focus on gender, education, management, leadership and mentoring. \u201cMy mantra is: \u2018When it comes to understanding and changing human behavior, we can do better.\u2019 My research broadly focuses on the economics of discrimination and disparities in the labor market with an overarching goal of understanding and mitigating gender and racial gaps. I am interested in finding policy interventions that promote healthy, efficient and more inclusive workplaces,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n She has traveled extensively, exploring new cities and local cultures, food, films and music. \u201cMy favorite cities in the world so far are Jaipur, Boulder, Ann Arbor, Mexico City, Antigua, Kuala Lumpur and Alexandria,\u201d says Chakraborty. \u201cI love finding new coffee shops, record stores, bookshops and theatres. I am a cinephile, adore the works of Satyajit Ray, Wes Anderson and Alejandro Jodorowsky, and have enjoyed working with the South Asian Film Festival and Oak Cliff Film Festival in Texas. Being an epicure, I love creating fusion food and bakes with Asian and American influences.\u201d<\/p>\n While she has been classically trained in Hindustani music, \u201cI enjoy listening to Ella Fitzgerald as much as Ravi Shankar, and among my most-prized possessions are autographed Jimi Hendrix and Ravi Shankar vinyl records straight from the \u201960s!\u201d<\/p>\n Emma Chebinou Emma Chebinou is welcomed into the World Languages and Cultures Department as a well-traveled scholar and is thrilled to collaborate with new faculty and students. Her education began in France, where she received her bachelor\u2019s degree from the Universit\u00e9 Paris XII- Cr\u00e9teil, and then her first master\u2019s degree from the Universit\u00e9 Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris. Chebinou then came to the United States, where she earned her second master\u2019s degree from the University of South Florida and then her Ph.D. from Florida State University.<\/p>\n As a new faculty member of the Diversity Teaching Fellowship, Chebinou is dedicated to sharing her diverse and multi-layered experience through the curriculum. She hopes that by teaching diversity-related topics, students will be in a position to be aware of their identities as well as others\u2019 differences, which leads to not only their achievements but also to the expansion of their horizons. This approach will lead them to acquire cultural competency to interpret the world and its sophisticated facets.<\/p>\n \u201cI see the classroom as a safe space to exchange knowledge,\u201d says Chebinou. \u201cBesides the fact of seeing excitement on the students\u2019 faces when they understand concepts, I look forward to learning from them, which informs my research and personal life. This couldn\u2019t be done without our students\u2019 insightful ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n During this current pandemic, Chebinou\u2019s main goal is to maintain the human dimension in her classes.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to turn the new COVID adjustments in class into a positive asset rather than obstacles to teaching and learning,\u201d says Chebinou. \u201cTechnology has always made the classroom more appealing, and the Zoom implementation is beneficial in helping me create and explore a new teaching approach.\u201d<\/p>\n Chebinou\u2019s academic interests are wide-ranging, from societal issues such as urban problems, violence, discrimination and freedom and civil rights, to hip-hop and stand-up comedy, to African (North and Sub-Saharan) and Caribbean literature. She also has research interests in French national ethnic, gender and religious identity; second- and third-generation of immigrants and diaspora in literature; 20th- and 21st-century French and Francophone studies; Postcolonial studies and African-American studies.<\/p>\n Her hobbies are as varied as her academic pursuits. Chebinou enjoys singing old and contemporary rhythm and blues and Gospel songs, and she has sung in gospel choirs. Her talents extend into the culinary world, as she likes to cook African and French food and is especially good at making crepes. \u201cComing from France, I love designer fashion,\u201d shares Chebinou. \u201cI am such a shoe collector that I would need an entire room to fit them all! I also like discussions about astrology and Feng Shui.\u201d<\/p>\n Dara Coleby Delgado Dara Coleby Delgado joins Allegheny\u2019s Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies as an asset for fostering global perspectives in the classroom.<\/p>\n \u201cMy objective as a teacher is to foster a student-focused learning environment that both challenges and motivates students to develop their own learning interests and critical thinking skills,\u201d says Delgado. \u201cSpecifically, through trusting student-teacher relationships and safe learning-centered classrooms, I see myself as partnering with my students as they develop into independent globally minded scholars. Ultimately, the goal is to explore how religion challenges us to think critically about the human experience, with particular attention to the Christian traditions and their impact on history and culture.\u201d<\/p>\n An AAUW 2018-2019 American Dissertation Fellow, Delgado\u2019s research interests include the history and theology of American Christianity (Pentecostalism), as well as the role of race, gender and popular culture in American religion during the modern era. These interests culminated in her dissertation, \u201cLife, Liberty, and the Practicality of Holiness: A Social Historical Examination of the Life and Work of Ida Bell Robinson.\u201d<\/p>\n Before joining the faculty at Allegheny, Delgado completed a bachelor\u2019s degree at Niagara University in history, a master\u2019s at Northeastern Seminary, a Master of Theological Studies at Tyndale University College & Seminary, and a Ph.D. at the University of Dayton in theology. At the University of Dayton, she taught traditional undergraduate students in the Department of Religious Studies and then taught New Testament and Ethics in the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I am not teaching and writing, I am enjoying the company of friends and family, volunteering, and attending concerts and shows,\u201d says Delgado.<\/p>\n Guadalupe Lupita Gonzalez Guadalupe Lupita Gonzalez brings experience in cognitive neuroscience with her to Allegheny. She received her bachelor\u2019s degree in psychology and business administration from Bethel College and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She also has instructional experience from leading psychology labs at Bethel.<\/p>\n Gonzalez has a passion for social justice and increasing diversity in higher education which has driven her research into the effects of social contexts on racial biases in socio-cognitive processes (for eaxmple, attention, interaction intentions).<\/p>\n \u201cI use electroencephalography (EEG\/ERPs) and eye-tracking to answer questions such as \u2018How does the social context influence the perception of racial outgroups?\u2019 and \u2018How is the perception of racial outgroups associated with racially biased behavior?\u2019\u201d says Gonzalez. \u201cMy current research uses eye-tracking to investigate how competitive social contexts influence attention and memory for racial in-group and out-group members, as well as one\u2019s willingness to interact with racial out-groups. I\u2019m also interested in racial health disparities.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to her research, Gonzalez has been involved in different organizations and programs that aim to increase the number of minoritized individuals in higher education.<\/p>\n \u201cI also love to read, cook (especially Mexican food) and travel to Mexico,\u201d she says. \u201cSpanish was also my first language so I can fluently speak, read and write in Spanish.\u201d<\/p>\n Gonzales is musically gifted as well \u2014 she used to play the violin and also played in a mariachi during middle school and high school.<\/p>\n Chris Normile Chris Normile is joining the ranks of first-generation faculty members at Allegheny. He completed his bachelor\u2019s degree in psychology at Bloomsburg University, master\u2019s degree in experimental psychology at Towson University, and Ph.D. in applied experimental psychology at Central Michigan University.<\/p>\n \u201cMy research focuses on the intersection of psychology and law,\u201d Normile says. \u201cMore specifically I have studied police interrogations, false confessions and jury decision-making. My most recent work investigates people\u2019s perceptions of wrongfully convicted exonerees. Pedagogically speaking, I\u2019m interested in statistical learning in college students.\u201d<\/p>\n Although Normile thoroughly enjoys research and teaching, he has a variety of other interests outside of the classroom.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a big fan of playing board games of all kinds, from silly party games to more complex Eurogames,\u201d says Normile. \u201cAs an undergraduate I played club Ultimate Frisbee, which is a hobby I still enjoy today.\u201d<\/p>\n Jesse Swann-Quinn Jesse Swann-Quinn grew up in an Allegheny Gator family \u2014 his mom and uncle both graduated from the College. Now, after earning a Ph.D. in geography from Syracuse University, Swann-Quinn has joined the Allegheny community as a faculty member in the Department of Environmental Science and Sustainability.<\/p>\n Before entering graduate school, Swann-Quinn spent five years producing wildlife documentaries for National Geographic Television, and he served as a Public Humanities Fellow with the New York Council for the Humanities. Swann-Quinn says he draws on these transdisciplinary experiences in both his research and teaching.<\/p>\n Swann-Quinn taught at Syracuse as a graduate student and adjunct faculty member. His teaching focuses on the social science of global environmental politics, economics and culture, but it also incorporates elements of the digital and environmental humanities.<\/p>\n Swann-Quinn\u2019s interests as a geographer center on environmental politics of natural resources, how humans struggle over and govern the environments around them, and a variety of other related topics in the environmental social sciences. \u201cMy research specifically examines the political and environmental effects of resource extraction, primarily focused on the former Soviet Union and South Caucasus,\u201d Swann-Quinn says. He also has ongoing interests in urban environments, environmental justice, resource nationalism, animal studies, territorial conflict and media studies.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I\u2019m not in the classroom or doing research, I like to be outside as much as possible, hiking and running when the weather\u2019s warm and cross-country skiing when it isn\u2019t,\u201d Swann-Quinn says. He says he also enjoys \u201cgetting lost in old atlases\u201d and following technology trends.<\/p>\n \u201cMy wife and I also just had our first child last winter,\u201d Swann-Quinn says, \u201cwhich has kept us extra busy these past few months (and made quarantine life that much more interesting).\u201d<\/p>\n PJ Torres While new to the Allegheny community, PJ Torres brings experience teaching at another Great Lakes Colleges Association institution, Denison University.<\/p>\n At Denison, Torres served as a Consortium for Faculty Diversity fellow in 2015 and then as a visiting biology faculty member until spring 2018. His career has also included faculty positions in the biology departments at Queens University of Charlotte and, most recently, Colgate University. Torres holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in environmental science from the University of Puerto Rico (Rio Piedras campus) and a Ph.D. in ecology from the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia.<\/p>\n Torres\u2019 research focuses on understanding the structure and function of freshwater ecosystems with emphasis on tropical headwater streams. His dissertation and current research is based on Puerto Rico, assessing the landscape-scale effects of large dams on headwater stream ecosystem processes.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve also worked with students in Costa Rica, Georgia and Ohio looking at how animal consumers influence whole-ecosystem processes such as decomposition, primary production and nutrient cycling. The current plan for my lab here at Allegheny is to continue this work both in Puerto Rico and locally using new study sites in Northwest Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n Torres also plans to incorporate microorganisms and time into current and new projects. \u201cIn particular, we will be looking at synergies between aquatic fungi and animal decomposers, how their relationship determines the rate of organic matter breakdown, how the decomposition mechanisms change over time and how these respond to natural disturbance and seasonal variation.\u201d<\/p>\n As an active member of the Society for Freshwater Science, Torres serves as an early career delegate on the board of directors and helps to coordinate the INSTARS program. INSTARS is a mentoring program during the Society for Freshwater Science annual meeting that provides help to undergraduate students from underrepresented groups who are interested in the study of freshwaters.<\/p>\n In his spare time, Torres enjoys fixing (\u201cor breaking,\u201d he says) stuff around the house, and he cooks most of his food over fire or charcoal. Torres also has played drums in three bands and can be found road-trip-chasing locally owned BBQ spots, limited-release beers and new baseball stadiums.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a big fan of advanced metrics and statistics in baseball,\u201d says Torres, \u201cand do a bit of work as a volunteer data analyst for CS:GO and Valorant eSports teams.\u201d<\/p>\n Source: Academics, Publications & Research<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s quite the fusion of talents joining the ranks of Allegheny College\u2019s faculty in the fall of 2020. From scholars in modern Arabic literature and French and Francophone studies to a former economic analyst for a global banking firm, Allegheny\u2019s new faculty members bring unique backgrounds and qualities to the campus classrooms this academic year. […]<\/p>\n Continue Reading “Allegheny Welcomes New Faculty for Fall 2020”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[18640],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academics-publications-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":842,"date":"2020-05-14T12:17:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T16:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neurosci\/2020\/05\/14\/on-the-covid-19-front-lines-with-3-allegheny-alumni\/"},"modified":"2020-05-14T12:17:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-14T16:17:00","slug":"on-the-covid-19-front-lines-with-3-allegheny-alumni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/2020\/05\/14\/on-the-covid-19-front-lines-with-3-allegheny-alumni\/","title":{"rendered":"On the COVID-19 Front Lines With 3 Allegheny Alumni"},"content":{"rendered":" As a front-line physician working in a hospital\u2019s emergency room in Tennessee, Colleen Tran is focused on preserving the health and welfare of her patients, some of them very sick and facing a fight for their lives. The same is true for Lauren Moore, an emergency medicine resident in a Columbus, Ohio, hospital.<\/p>\n Jessica Schindelar is concerned with protecting and ensuring the safety of health-care workers like Moore and Tran. Schindelar is a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s (CDC) COVID-19 Health Systems and Worker Safety Task Force.<\/p>\n All three health-care professionals are Allegheny College graduates. Their missions are similar during the current global health pandemic \u2014 to defeat the scourge of the novel coronavirus.<\/p>\n \u201cI can truly say that I, probably like most of us, never expected to be in the throws of a pandemic let alone have my hands on the people infected with it every day,\u201d said Moore. \u201cIt has absolutely brought a new admiration and appreciation for my colleagues and to all of the nurses, sanitation workers, respiratory therapists, medical techs, grocery store employees, and veterinarians, who, despite the risk, still willingly expose themselves to a deadly virus every day.\u201d<\/p>\n These three dedicated health-care professionals took time from their hectic schedules recently to discuss their roles during the COVID-19 crisis.<\/p>\n Colleen Zink Tran \u201907, Emergency Room Physician<\/strong><\/p>\n Tran is an emergency room physician at TriStar StoneCrest Medical Center in Smyrna, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville. She also serves as the assistant medical director for the emergency department. Every day since early March, her main duties have been the same.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are monitoring the positive cases and deaths daily,\u201d Tran said. \u201cWe are testing symptomatic and asymptomatic patients in an effort to identify positive cases and quarantine to prevent spread. In preparation for a possible surge of patients, our hospital had set up tents outside where we would be able to rapidly evaluate patients that have symptoms concerning for COVID-19.\u201d<\/p>\n The past two months have been a new learning experience for Tran, who graduated from Allegheny with a major in biochemistry and a minor in Spanish in 2007. \u201cLife at work is very different from our usual. Normally, I would arrive at work in personal scrubs, log onto the computer, and start seeing patients. With this virus being so contagious, I now have many more steps to complete before starting my shift,\u201d said Tran.<\/p>\n First, she gets her temperature checked upon entering the facility. If someone has a fever, they are sent home immediately and put on quarantine, she said. Tran then changes into hospital scrubs that are left at the hospital after her previous shift so it reduces the chance that she will bring the virus home on her clothing.<\/p>\n She picks up her masks \u2014 which include a simple mask for droplet protection and an N95 mask that is used during procedures such as intubation (putting a breathing tube down a patient\u2019s throat) \u2014 and a face shield for the day. She scrubs her hands and arms up to her elbows with soap and water for 20 seconds to ensure that is not bringing in any of the virus. Lastly, she uses an antiviral\/antibacterial wipe to clean off her computer, desk, chair, and anything else she may touch during her shift. Finally, she can log onto her computer and start seeing patients. At the end of her shift, the process is reversed, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn regards to the pathology I am seeing, there is definitely an increase in acuity or how sick patients are,\u201d Tran said. \u201cWe are seeing many severely ill patients with difficulty breathing or with significantly low oxygen levels. These patients seem to get worse very fast and often end up on a ventilator. We have to take many precautions to not catch the virus while seeing these patients and especially while doing procedures on them, as this is when the virus can become airborne. For every patient who has symptoms of COVID-19, we have to wear a mask, goggles, a face shield, hair cover, gown, and gloves. This is very time consuming, so every patient I am seeing takes much more time than usual.\u201d<\/p>\n Tran said her Allegheny education plays an integral role in her duties as an emergency room physician. \u201cMy time at Allegheny taught me critical thinking, time management, and how to be a leader. As an emergency physician, I have to be able to react quickly and often have to make hard decisions with minimal information. In the most stressful cases I have to be a leader for the staff and communicate my thought process,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Tran is married to a physician and has two children at home. Lately, when she gets home, she has been self isolating. \u201cI try very hard not to touch my face and wash my hands often, even when at home,\u201d Tran said. \u201cI am taking daily zinc and vitamin C supplements as well. I am also focusing on my mental health and happiness in order to decrease stress. I try to separate my work life from my home life in order to avoid burnout, which is a common problem for emergency physicians.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Tran, who earned her medical degree from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, the toughest aspect of the COVID-19 outbreak has been to manage the anxiety, fear, and misunderstanding of the disease.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is frustrating to hear others minimize the virus, when I am risking my life by potentially exposing myself,\u201d she said. \u201cAs the assistant medical director, it was initially very hard to calm my staff and the other physicians. Everyone was panicked that we may run out of masks or gowns. When this all started, there was a very steep learning curve as to how to protect yourself and we were getting conflicting advice daily. That was incredibly frustrating because we still wanted and needed to take care of our patients, but we wanted to protect ourselves as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Jessica Schindelar \u201902, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, COVID-19 Health Systems and Worker Safety Task Force Communication Lead<\/strong><\/p>\n Schindelar, the associate director for communication in the CDC\u2019s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, is currently serving as the communication lead for the Health Systems and Worker Safety Task Force within the CDC\u2019s COVID-19 response. She has been in this role since late March 2020 but has been working on the response since the end of January. She leads a team of 15 communicators from across the agency to translate the work of the task force through various communications channels to disseminate accurate, consistent, and clear COVID-19 information to key audiences and stakeholders, such as the nation\u2019s health care workers.<\/p>\n Some of the important work of the task force is developing evidence-based guidance, recommendations, resources, and tools to protect healthcare workers and minimize the impacts of COVID-19 on the U.S. healthcare system. Some of the key issues she is working on are healthcare worker safety and infection control practices in healthcare settings, personal protective equipment, healthcare facility preparedness, and system-wide impacts.<\/p>\n \u201cOur task force also provides technical assistance \u2014 both by deploying teams of experts to provide on-site assistance and providing remote assistance to healthcare facilities throughout the country, including nursing homes and long-term care facilities, which we are finding to be particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 outbreaks,\u201d said Schindelar, who is a 2002 Allegheny graduate who majored in neuroscience and minored in art history.<\/p>\n Schindelar\u2019s team is developing communication strategies and crafting important messages, creating fact sheets and toolkits, fielding interview requests from media, scripting and editing videos, and managing 60-plus web pages with critical and continually changing information for healthcare providers and facilities. The group is also writing social media, responding to questions from the public and professional audiences, hosting webinars and regular calls with clinical audiences and healthcare sector partners, and ensuring that the guidance and resources being developed by the task force are getting into the hands of the people that need them.<\/p>\n \u201cI always felt like my neuroscience and art history combination was a bit of an odd one, but working as a public health communicator on healthcare safety issues has been a really lovely marriage of my interests in science and the arts,\u201d said Schindelar. \u201cI am forever grateful for my Allegheny education because it made me a better writer \u2014 this work requires that I\u2019m clear and direct in my communications. I\u2019m able to translate the scientific, technical information and guidance that is being developed by our task force into actionable messages and communication products that are easy to understand and use.<\/p>\n \u201cAllegheny also armed me with the critical thinking and problem-solving skills I need to be successful in this kind of role \u2014 skills I am using every day when decisions have to be made in a split-second, sometimes with very limited information. Outside of my education, my Allegheny experience as a whole made me a stronger, more confident leader,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Schindelar said she has been following her own CDC guidance to protect herself: Staying home as much as possible, frequent handwashing, practicing social distancing, and wearing a face covering to protect others when she goes out to run essential errands \u2014 which is mostly just grocery store runs, she said. Generally, she tries to get enough sleep, eat healthy, and take walks in her neighborhood to get in exercise to counterbalance the hours she works.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are two things I am finding particularly tough during this crisis,\u201d said Schindelar. \u201cFirst, is hearing from friends, former classmates, and other healthcare workers who are on the front lines about the challenges they are experiencing. It\u2019s difficult to hear the realities about what is happening on the ground, and I am so grateful for everything they are doing. I am trying to do my part to help them \u2014 as are the more than 4,000 CDC staff working around the clock on this response to protect the public\u2019s health. Seeing the dedication and commitment of the 300-plus people within my own task force who I\u2019m working with every day to protect healthcare workers and facilities makes me really proud to be part of this historic response, even on the hardest days.\u201d<\/p>\n The second challenge is that the CDC staff is mostly running this response from their homes, she said. \u201cThere is a skeleton crew at CDC right now. Before we moved to remote work in March, our emergency response operations happened out of two buildings on CDC\u2019s campus \u2014 we were all working out of our task force \u2018war\u2019 rooms. That is all happening virtually now, and while I feel very fortunate that I can do this work from the safety of my own home, many of my colleagues are now juggling this response with childcare and school as well. It\u2019s an added layer of difficulty we\u2019ve never encountered in any response I\u2019ve been involved with in my 12 years at the agency. But in the end, it\u2019s rewarding work despite the long hours and I go to bed every night really proud of the work we have done and are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n Lauren Moore \u201914, Emergency Medicine Resident<\/strong><\/p>\n Moore is a postgraduate year two emergency medicine resident at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. She is nearing the end of her second of three years of post-medical school training. \u201cWe see everyone \u2014 the deathly sick, the not so sick, and all those in between, regardless of whether or not they have signs or symptoms of COVID-19,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n Successfully managing the crisis is all about delegating resources, she said. \u201cThis means that we have to determine what patients need further management and monitoring in the hospital versus who can safely go home. Aside from life-saving care, we provide public information, resources, and a hand to hold during this uncertain time. I\u2019m honored and privileged to be able to do this as my job,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom a hospital standpoint, policies change based on new data at a rate of what seems like two to four times a day. We have to keep up with ever-changing COVID-19 testing kits, sanitation practices, who to test and how to keep safe,\u201d said Moore, who is a 2014 Allegheny graduate and a 2018 graduate of the Penn State College of Medicine.<\/p>\n Additionally, she said, the Wexner Medical Center emergency room is seeing a \u201cbacklash from the pandemic.\u201d Because so many people are cooped up at home, there has been an increase in the number of child abuse victims, domestic violence assaults and suicides, Moore said.<\/p>\n Also, hearing about colleagues and fellow first-line providers getting sick is disconcerting, Moore said. \u201cSometimes, when I\u2019m driving home after a 12-hour shift, the weight of the situation hits me and I have to remind myself to take a deep breath and forge ahead,\u201d Moore said. \u201cIt\u2019s overwhelming. It\u2019s like walking a tight rope on the sharp edge of a knife. On one side, we want to do right for and be there with our patients despite limited personal protection equipment and increased risk to ourselves. But on the other, we want to protect our families and friends. Either way we fall, in a lot of ways, we get cut.\u201d<\/p>\n Earning a bachelor\u2019s degree in neuroscience at Allegheny while taking all the necessary pre-med classes was tough, Moore said, but worth it. \u201cLong hours of studying in Steffee to get into medical school prepared me for the academic workload of staying up to date with the ever-changing guidelines and research regarding best COVID-19 treatment practices. I was also very involved in student government, my sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma, and working at the childcare center, in Alumni Affairs at the Tippie Center, at the Office of Student Involvement, and as a health coach. Having so many commitments in addition to my studies prepared me for extreme multitasking, which is imperative to success in a busy emergency room and intensive care unit.\u201d<\/p>\n While personal protective equipment has been limited during the pandemic, hospital management has done everything it can to make sure physicians and other workers are as protected as possible, Moore said.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have a safe place to store my gear at the hospital, so I leave it in my car and have been avoiding using my car unless it is to get to work,\u201d she said. \u201cMore importantly, I\u2019m protecting my family and friends by staying away from them. I even sent my dog away for several months to protect the dog walkers who I rely on to help me with her. It may sound silly, but that to me has probably been one of the hardest things to deal with during all of this \u2014 not coming home to her company after a long day.\u201d<\/p>\n In an attempt to prevent viral spread and exposure to those whose bodies are already weak, visitation from the public is limited at Wexner Medical Center, as it is at all medical facilities now.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause of this, so many people are going through some of the most difficult times of their lives completely alone, and it\u2019s tough to watch that,\u201d Moore said. \u201cPatients are brought in by EMS completely alone, and we put breathing tubes and IVs and catheters in them and they are so sick that they can\u2019t even talk to their families on the phone to tell them what\u2019s going on. When I provide phone updates to families, I find that it is equally as hard for them who want nothing more than to see and be there for their loved ones. All I can do is be there for the patients by holding their hands and reminding them that their families love them.\u201d<\/p>\n Source: Academics, Publications & Research<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As a front-line physician working in a hospital\u2019s emergency room in Tennessee, Colleen Tran is focused on preserving the health and welfare of her patients, some of them very sick and facing a fight for their lives. The same is true for Lauren Moore, an emergency medicine resident in a Columbus, Ohio, hospital. Jessica Schindelar […]<\/p>\n Continue Reading “On the COVID-19 Front Lines With 3 Allegheny Alumni”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[18640],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academics-publications-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":841,"date":"2020-03-31T18:48:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T22:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neurosci\/2020\/03\/31\/thinking-differently-empowers-allegheny-student-to-discover-strengths-help-others\/"},"modified":"2020-03-31T18:48:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-31T22:48:00","slug":"thinking-differently-empowers-allegheny-student-to-discover-strengths-help-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/2020\/03\/31\/thinking-differently-empowers-allegheny-student-to-discover-strengths-help-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Thinking Differently Empowers Allegheny Student To Discover Strengths, Help Others"},"content":{"rendered":" When she reached middle school and her classmates started learning foreign languages, Legg was told she wasn\u2019t allowed to \u2014 because learning a different language would make her English worse. After her mother disputed the matter for three years with the school, Legg was finally allowed to take a Spanish class.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd they told [my mother] that this would be her fault when I failed, it\u2019s going to be on you, it\u2019s going to make the rest of my classes worse, and bring my GPA down. All of these things,\u201d says Legg. \u201cBut my mom said, \u2018Let\u2019s just try.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Spanish turned out to be her strength \u2014 Legg has earned an A in every Spanish class she\u2019s taken.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe interesting thing was that the work I had to put into Spanish was way less than any of my other classes,\u201d says Legg. \u201cI kept wondering, \u2018why was it taking so much less work and effort, why was it coming so easily to me?\u2019 It was almost like it was giving my brain a break to switch from something else.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n When Legg started her first year at Allegheny, she expected to graduate as a chemistry major. All that changed when she took a neuroscience class on a whim and found her curiosities ignited. Neuroscience fit everything she was looking for: studying up-close how people process and react to incoming information.<\/span><\/p>\n Now a neuroscience major, Legg is diving back into her past through her senior comprehensive project by researching protocols in place for students with dyslexia learning a foreign language.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI started to look into the research, and it supports that there\u2019s no deficit with a student or person with dyslexia learning a foreign language,\u201d says Legg. \u201cSo I thought where\u2019s the disconnect here? I went to Dr. Aimee Knupsky in the Psychology Department, who specializes in human cognitive processes, and she was so excited that I was so passionate and so excited about doing something that\u2019s so personal to me. She was 100 percent so supportive and is the reason why it was able to happen here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Legg\u2019s comp isn\u2019t the only way she\u2019s working to make things better for others with dyslexia. Every summer she works with the Provident Charter School of Pittsburgh and meets with new teachers at orientation to talk about what learning is like as a person with dyslexia, and Legg suggests ways they can support students like her. These efforts and Legg\u2019s scholarly persistence led the Provident Charter School to present her with the Champion Award in October 2019. The award is given to individuals with dyslexia who have been very successful.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis was the biggest surprise,\u201d says Legg. \u201cI just hope this shows all of those little kids out there that are sitting in tutoring after school, when they\u2019re exhausted and have to do all this extra work and aren\u2019t understanding why they can\u2019t do it like their brother or sister or best friend, that it\u2019s OK.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Legg is just the third recipient of the Champion Award. Past recipients of the award include Taylor Washington of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds and Kevin McClatchy, former owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAliza has not let her dyslexia stop her from doing the work she\u2019s always wanted to do,\u201d says Knupsky. \u201cNow, she is working to make foreign language learning equitable and attainable for all students. Her work is not only an individual journey; it is a journey she has undertaken to help others. That\u2019s inspiring.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n After graduating this spring from Allegheny, Legg plans to pursue a career in clinical psychology. She feels her unique perspective will enable her to support those who see things differently and process information in unconventional ways.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn so many areas of my life that I\u2019ve now learned, thinking differently is what sets me apart and what makes me so advanced,\u201d says Legg. \u201cI was always labeled as a disability, and I think showing people that it\u2019s not a bad thing and they\u2019re special and they have things that other people don\u2019t, focusing on strengths and working on weaknesses, is something I could really help with. Dyslexia is not a life sentence; it\u2019s actually a gift.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Source: Academics, Publications & Research<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Since the first grade, Aliza Legg was told to expect to fail. From the moment she was diagnosed with dyslexia, she was told that her goal in life should not be college or a career, but to hope to be able to shop on her own one day. When she reached middle school and her […]<\/p>\n Continue Reading “Thinking Differently Empowers Allegheny Student To Discover Strengths, Help Others”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[18640],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academics-publications-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":833,"date":"2019-11-01T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-01T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neurosci\/2019\/11\/01\/neuroscience-alumnae-add-new-branches-to-the-allegheny-mentoring-tree\/"},"modified":"2019-11-01T19:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-11-01T23:00:00","slug":"neuroscience-alumnae-add-new-branches-to-the-allegheny-mentoring-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/2019\/11\/01\/neuroscience-alumnae-add-new-branches-to-the-allegheny-mentoring-tree\/","title":{"rendered":"Neuroscience Alumnae Add New Branches to the Allegheny \u201cMentoring Tree\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":" Allegheny alumnae Amy Overman and\u00a0Katherine Mickley Steinmetz share several bonds when it comes to mentoring undergraduate students.<\/p>\n Overman graduated from Allegheny in 1999 and Steinmetz in 2006. Each shared a mentor while studying neuroscience at Allegheny, each conducted electroencephalogram (EEG) studies for her senior comprehensive project, and each was awarded the Neuroscience Faculty Prize that is presented annually to a student or students who write the best senior project in neuroscience.<\/p>\n Steinmetz is now an associate professor of psychology at Wofford College in South Carolina, and Overman is a professor of psychology and assistant dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at Elon University in North Carolina.<\/p>\n However, the two didn\u2019t know each other until recently. That\u2019s despite everything in common they shared at Allegheny, plus several professional overlaps including both working as neuroscientists and professors teaching the same subject and mentoring undergraduate students for colleges in the South.<\/p>\n Their friendship finally was established last fall when Overman happened to conduct an external review of Steinmetz\u2019s department at Wofford.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the course of reviewing her material, I saw Allegheny and said \u2018Wow! What are the chances of that?\u2019\u201d Overman said.<\/p>\n Their professional similarities continued, unbeknownst to either, with each separately submitting articles to a special issue on mentoring undergraduates that was published February in the scientific journal Frontiers in Psychology. Articles in the journal focused on the research topic \u201cEngaging Undergraduates in Publishable Research: Best Practices<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n The article Steinmetz published, titled \u201cProviding Outstanding Undergraduate Research Experiences and Sustainable Faculty Development in Load<\/a>,\u201d discusses how conducting research in one\u2019s field and allowing undergraduates to engage in this research can deeply enrich the experience of both professors and students.<\/p>\n Overman\u2019s article, titled \u201cStrategies for Group-Level Mentoring of Undergraduates: Creating a Laboratory Environment That Supports Publications and Funding<\/a>,\u201d describes several strategies for mentoring groups\/cohorts of undergraduate researchers to increase student sense of belonging and motivation while simultaneously enhancing research productivity.<\/p>\n Both Overman and Steinmetz credit the mentoring they received while undergraduate students at Allegheny and how it was a vital component to shape their studies and career paths. Each considers the opportunity to now mentor undergraduate students conducting research at their respective schools to be an important part of their professional career.<\/p>\n \u201cMy experiences at Allegheny were so influential for me and I thought, \u2018I want to be the person who passes along the knowledge and does the mentoring,\u201d Overman said.<\/p>\n Added Steinmetz: \u201cI had professors that worked with me very deeply to explore the subject I was interested in. That really inspired me to do research for my career. I knew I liked teaching and working with people.\u201d<\/p>\n Overman has taught at Elon University for the past 12 years, and she is pleased with the outcomes some of the students she has mentored have achieved.<\/p>\n \u201cFour of my students have finished their Ph.D., five have entered their Ph.D., and there are three people who are in med school,\u201d she said. \u201cI have seen these awesome outcomes for students I have mentored. I didn\u2019t know mentoring existed before I went to Allegheny.\u201d<\/p>\n She believes there is a scholarly heritage that Allegheny professors create by mentoring undergraduates who then go on to mentor other undergraduates. Many of her students are now doing just that and creating new branches of the Allegheny \u201cmentoring tree.\u201d<\/p>\n Steinmetz, who has been with Wofford for seven years, understands how rare it is to do research with undergraduates that is of such high quality that it can be published.<\/p>\n \u201cFor students who want research to be their career, it\u2019s a huge leg up to get into graduate school especially to have that research in your career,\u201d Steinmetz said. \u201cAnd when we\u2019re able to present it or publish it, it really helps get them into graduate school. For those who don\u2019t, I think it helps them get critical-thinking skills and problem-solving skills and reasoning skills that you don\u2019t always see in the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n Source: Academics, Publications & Research<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Amy Overman, Ph.D. Allegheny alumnae Amy Overman and\u00a0Katherine Mickley Steinmetz share several bonds when it comes to mentoring undergraduate students. Overman graduated from Allegheny in 1999 and Steinmetz in 2006. Each shared a mentor while studying neuroscience at Allegheny, each conducted electroencephalogram (EEG) studies for her senior comprehensive project, and each was awarded the Neuroscience […]<\/p>\n Continue Reading “Neuroscience Alumnae Add New Branches to the Allegheny \u201cMentoring Tree\u201d”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[18640],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academics-publications-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":783,"date":"2019-06-10T13:09:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-10T17:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neurosci\/2019\/06\/10\/recent-allegheny-graduate-receives-boren-scholarship-to-study-in-china\/"},"modified":"2019-06-10T13:09:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-10T17:09:00","slug":"recent-allegheny-graduate-receives-boren-scholarship-to-study-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/2019\/06\/10\/recent-allegheny-graduate-receives-boren-scholarship-to-study-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent Allegheny Graduate Receives Boren Scholarship to Study in China"},"content":{"rendered":" Kaylah Pinkney \u201819 received a prestigious Boren Scholarship, and will move to Nanjing, China starting in September of this year, studying the Mandarin language and the practices of traditional Chinese medicine at Nanjing University.<\/p>\n Pinkney graduated with the Class of 2019, receiving a bachelor\u2019s degree in neuroscience with a Chinese Language minor. She says the Boren scholarship perfectly aligns with her post-graduation plan, allowing her to study in China for a year and afterward fulfilling the required year of federal service, before taking on medical school \u2014 and federal service was already something Pinkney hoped to do. As it encompasses many different departments of government, federal service sets her on a path with endless opportunities to continue an international career while also focusing on U.S. national security.<\/p>\n The Boren Scholarships and Fellowships were created by David L. Boren, and are sponsored by the National Security Education Program (NSEP). The scholarship is meant to encourage students to study less commonly taught languages in world regions critical to U.S. interests, and underrepresented in study abroad programs. Administered by the Institute of International Education on behalf of NSEP, only 244 scholarships were awarded across the nation.<\/p>\n Professor Patrick Jackson, who initially encouraged Pinkney to apply, saw the scholarship as an invaluable opportunity.<\/p>\n \u201cKaylah has a pretty unique opportunity here to study traditional Chinese medicine at its source with the people who best understand it,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cAs our ideas of what constitutes the most effective medical practices expands and evolves, she\u2019s going to find herself at the center of some very interesting conversations. This is what the liberal arts are all about: making connections and seeing what happens when you do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Pinkney has been fortunate enough to travel previously with her family to Europe and Asia \u2014 and has already studied in China during the summer of 2017, on the Critical Languages Scholarship. She lived in Suzhou, China with a host family and went to Soochow University for two months.<\/p>\n \u201cLanguage is a facet of Chinese culture \u2014 the main aspect that draws me to China. It is a vast, multifaceted culture that the people take much pride in. I love that each province and city has its own story, its own cuisine, its own dialect. Each is a microcosm within China with their own unique cultural and traditional values. I really enjoy interacting with the natives from different provinces, learning about their life story and view of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Living in China for an extended period of time will allow Pinkney to fully immerse herself in the language and culture, and get a deeper understanding for the differences between Chinese medical practices and Western medical practices.<\/p>\n \u201cI really look forward to meeting international students from around the world in my program with similar interests as I do,\u201d Pinkney said. \u201cI love the food in China so I am definitely excited to enjoy authentic Chinese cuisine again. Each time I travel to China, I never want to leave because there is always more to learn, see, and eat. Also, I plan to travel around Asia while I am there for the year.\u201d<\/p>\n While at Allegheny, Pinkney was on the Varsity Women\u2019s Basketball team all four years, was a member of the Minority Association of Pre-Medical Students, tutored in calculus and in the community for middle school and high school students, and was a chemistry Teaching Assistant for organic chemistry and biochemistry.<\/p>\n After Pinkney completes a year at Nanjing University, she will apply to medical schools for Fall 2021, and to the Air Force Health Profession Scholarship Program (HPSP). Once she finishes medical school, she plans to complete her service requirement through the HPSP and serve as a physician in the Air Force.<\/p>\n Source: Academics, Publications & Research<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kaylah Pinkney \u201819 received a prestigious Boren Scholarship, and will move to Nanjing, China starting in September of this year, studying the Mandarin language and the practices of traditional Chinese medicine at Nanjing University. Pinkney graduated with the Class of 2019, receiving a bachelor\u2019s degree in neuroscience with a Chinese Language minor. She says the […]<\/p>\n Continue Reading “Recent Allegheny Graduate Receives Boren Scholarship to Study in China”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[18640],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academics-publications-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":782,"date":"2019-04-23T18:18:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-23T22:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neurosci\/?p=782"},"modified":"2019-04-23T18:18:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-23T22:18:00","slug":"allegheny-senior-values-lifelong-skills-and-friendships-she-developed-at-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/2019\/04\/23\/allegheny-senior-values-lifelong-skills-and-friendships-she-developed-at-college\/","title":{"rendered":"Allegheny Senior Values Lifelong Skills and Friendships She Developed at College"},"content":{"rendered":" Meghan Uht arrived at Allegheny College four years ago with her sights set on developing solid friendships and honing her athletic abilities and academic skills so that they would serve her well for the rest of her life. She believes she has met those objectives and then some.<\/p>\n Uht, a graduating senior from Erie, Pennsylvania, will be moving to Pittsburgh soon after the May 11 Commencement and will begin work at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC).<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll be part of the Finance Management Rotational Program, which is a three-year leadership-development program, and each year I will rotate to another area of finance or accounting,\u201d Uht proudly says.<\/p>\n Uht will graduate as an economics and neuroscience double major. \u201cNeuroscience and economics may seem like an extreme unusual combination, but they\u2019re more connected than you would think,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m lucky I found a job that involves finance, so I can use my science knowledge to help fill the gap between health care and business at UPMC.\u201d<\/p>\n Uht is a member of Alpha Chi Omega, serving on the executive board for two years. She is a member of Omicron Delta Epsilon, the economics honor society, and Chi Alpha Sigma, the student-athlete honor society. She played volleyball for four years and served as the captain in her senior year.<\/p>\n The volleyball team went through several coaching changes during Uht\u2019s playing career, including the passing of longtime coach Bridget Sheehan in 2017. \u201cI learned how to be a leader while supporting my teammates through some challenging times,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Community service also has played a role in Uht\u2019s development. \u201cBeing able to work with the incredible people at Women\u2019s Services in Meadville has been so rewarding,\u201d she says. \u201cGetting to do hands-on work at the shelter such as gardening, wrapping presents and organizing fund-raising events on campus has been awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n The highlight of her Allegheny experience, Uht says, is the friends she has made. \u201cI\u2019ve made lifelong friends through my sorority, the athletic community, and in my classes. Along with friendships I\u2019ve made, the professional relationships I\u2019ve made with professors and alumni have been incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n Although her home is not far from Allegheny, she said she was sold on the College immediately. \u201cAllegheny was the only campus I could picture myself at,\u201d Uht says. \u201cI wanted to be involved in as much as I could in college, and Allegheny is where I knew I could do that.<\/p>\n \u201cI would tell first-year students to take advantage of all of the opportunities that Allegheny gives you,\u201d says Uht. \u201cAlso, take classes out of your comfort zone. You\u2019ll leave Allegheny a well-rounded person because of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Source: Academics, Publications & Research<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Meghan Uht arrived at Allegheny College four years ago with her sights set on developing solid friendships and honing her athletic abilities and academic skills so that they would serve her well for the rest of her life. She believes she has met those objectives and then some. Uht, a graduating senior from Erie, Pennsylvania, […]<\/p>\n Continue Reading “Allegheny Senior Values Lifelong Skills and Friendships She Developed at College”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[18640],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academics-publications-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":770,"date":"2018-09-07T12:18:00","date_gmt":"2018-09-07T16:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neurosci\/2018\/09\/07\/allegheny-welcomes-new-faculty\/"},"modified":"2018-09-07T12:18:00","modified_gmt":"2018-09-07T16:18:00","slug":"allegheny-welcomes-new-faculty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/2018\/09\/07\/allegheny-welcomes-new-faculty\/","title":{"rendered":"Allegheny Welcomes New Faculty"},"content":{"rendered":" From a former resident of nearby Townville to a fantasy football player to a dedicated amateur chef, Allegheny\u2019s new faculty members bring many unique backgrounds and qualities to the teaching table in the fall of 2018. Let\u2019s meet each of them briefly:<\/p>\n Catherine Allgeier After graduation, she taught at a business college and then worked in the corporate world as a chief financial officer and a human resources director. \u201cI realized that I missed the interaction with students and started teaching part-time in addition to my CFO role. I now have been teaching full-time for eight years (most recently at her alma mater) and use my corporate background to provide real-world accounting examples and experiences to my students,\u201d says Allgeier.<\/p>\n \u201cI am interested in information systems and communication, as they relate to costs and effectiveness in health-care diagnoses, such as using Watson as a diagnostic tool and the implications in not only a more timely diagnosis but also more cost effective,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n She also has a green thumb. \u201cMy \u2018other\u2019 career would be in landscape and interior design,\u201d says Allgeier. \u201cI quit counting at 40 houseplants.\u201d<\/p>\n Timothy Bianco \u201cI enjoy teaching economics and researching cutting-edge financial and monetary economics, focusing on corporate credit,\u201d says Bianco.<\/p>\n Bianco and his wife, Victoria, grew up in northeast Ohio \u201cso moving to northwest Pennsylvania has been a smooth transition. I am a Cleveland sports fanatic and I enjoy traveling to Cleveland to catch a game from time to time.<\/p>\n \u201cAn unusual combination is that I have been known to apply cutting-edge econometric techniques to playing fantasy football,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Paula Burleigh She earlier earned a master\u2019s degree at Case Western Reserve University and a bachelor\u2019s degree at Emory University.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve taught undergraduate courses at City University of New York Baruch College, Bard High School Early College, and at Bard College, and I\u2019ve taught adult education courses at the Museum of Modern Art (New York) and at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where I was a teaching fellow for several years before coming to Allegheny,\u201d says Burleigh.<\/p>\n Burleigh specializes in art history and visual culture of Europe and the United States, from 1945 to the present. Her research interests include visionary architecture, feminism and gender as they relate to art, and utopian\/dystopian themes in art and popular visual culture.<\/p>\n \u201cI love to cook, and I didn\u2019t let a decade of tiny New York City kitchen life stop me from elaborate culinary experiments \u2014 some failed, many succeeded, all were eaten at least an hour later than I intended,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Kimberly Caldwell She has taught introductory psychology and biopsychology, \u201cand I am excited to be teaching a new course this semester that I developed called \u2018Ingestive Behavior,\u2019 which will explore the neuroscience behind eating and drinking. My research interests are broadly focused on how the brain controls eating and drinking, thus the inspiration for my new class. I am particularly interested in a peptide system called ghrelin that is capable of influencing both behaviors.<\/p>\n \u201cAlong with behavioral neuroscience, I have always enjoyed the arts and took several art classes through high school and even a couple here at Allegheny as a member of the Gifted Program \u2014 I don\u2019t know if they still call it that, it\u2019s been a while since I was in high school \u2014 at Maplewood,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cThis brings me to my fun fact, I grew up locally in nearby Townville and took classes at Allegheny in art and dance while in high school.\u201d<\/p>\n Michael Michaelides Prior to attending Allegheny, Michaelides spent one year as a visiting assistant professor at Sweet Briar College in Virginia. His research interests include: Financial econometrics, empirical asset pricing, time series econometrics, applied econometrics, behavioral finance, volatility modeling, and financial risk forecasting.<\/p>\n \u201cMy research has focused on exploring the behavioral biases of investing through the quantitative application of statistical and mathematical models. Yet, my research has been so strongly influenced by the philosophy of science literature,\u201d says Michaelides.<\/p>\n When not in the classroom or on a research mission, Michaelides is a Liverpool Football Club supporter.<\/p>\n Matthew Mitchell Mitchell later completed an M.A. in Asian religions from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and a Ph.D. from Duke University\u2019s Graduate Program in Religion. \u201cI spent a lot more time in my office writing than on the beach,\u201d he said of his two years in Hawaii.<\/p>\n Mitchell\u2019s teaching experience includes posts at the University of Hawaii, Duke University, the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Creighton University. And he worked at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, helping to bring Chinese students and scholars to the institution for short-term and degree programs.<\/p>\n Mitchell\u2019s research interests include Asian religions \u2014 especially Japanese Buddhism, social history, and women and gender in religion. This year in the Religious Studies Department, he will be teaching a number of courses across traditions from Asian religions to Islam. He is currently studying the social, financial and legal activities of a group of Buddhist nuns in Japan\u2019s 17th\u201320th centuries. \u201cOne of the biggest surprises people have is the diversity of the nuns\u2019 activities,\u201d he says. \u201cMost people tend to think of nuns as cloistered, not active, and certainly not involved in gambling or lawsuits.\u201d<\/p>\n Along with Japan\u2019s importance to Mitchell\u2019s research, the nation holds other special meaning for him: it\u2019s where he met his wife and it\u2019s the birthplace of his oldest daughter.<\/p>\n Pamela Runestad \u201cI found I could fold all of my interests \u2014 infectious disease, nutrition, culture, Japan, writing and narrative, and film \u2014 together through becoming a medical anthropologist,\u201d she says. \u201cThese combinations will be at the heart of my courses in global health studies here at Allegheny.\u201d<\/p>\n Runestad holds a B.A. in biology and English \u2014 with a minor in psychology \u2014 from Augustana College (now University) in South Dakota and an M.A. in Japanese language and society from the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. She also earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in medical anthropology with a focus on Japan at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in Honolulu.<\/p>\n Her doctoral research focused on socio-cultural responses to HIV\/AIDS in Japan and how those have an impact on health. Her current research project explores institutional food for pregnant and postpartum mothers in Japan.<\/p>\n Runestad\u2019s life and work experiences outside of the continental U.S. give her unique perspective. \u201cI grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and I lived in Nagano, Japan, for 10 years,\u201d she says. \u201cSo at this point, I\u2019ve only lived about one-quarter of my life in the \u2018lower 48\u2019 \u2014 Alaska-speak \u2014 or the \u2018mainland\u2019 \u2014 Hawaii-speak. That time was spent in South Dakota, Nebraska and North Carolina.\u201d<\/p>\n Yee Mon Thu Before arriving at Allegheny, Thu taught biology at her undergraduate alma mater, Grinnell College. She earned a B.A. in biology with a concentration in global development studies there before completing a Ph.D. in cancer biology at Vanderbilt University.<\/p>\n \u201cI am interested in how cells maintain genome stability in the face of intrinsic and extrinsic factors that can cause DNA damage,\u201d Thu says of her research. \u201cI am also fascinated by the involvement of these pathways in cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n When away from the classroom and laboratory, Thu enjoys visiting national parks.<\/p>\n Birgit Weyhe Weyhe was raised in Uganda and Kenya and came back to\u00a0Germany at the age of 19. \u201cI consider all three\u00a0countries as my home,\u201d she says. After returning to Germany, she earned a master\u2019s degree in German literature and history from the University of Hamburg and a Diplom in illustration from the University of Applied Sciences, also in Hamburg.<\/p>\n Since 2012, Weyhe has taught at the Universities of Hamburg, Kiel and\u00a0D\u00fcsseldorf in Germany\u00a0and at the National Art School in Maputo, Mozambique. She also has led workshops at the German Cultural Center (Goethe Institut) in Argentina,\u00a0Uruguay, Brazil, Finland, France and Canada.<\/p>\n Wehye said that she is a passionate reader. On a three-month trip to Patagonia last year, she and her husband read 15 novels to each other. \u201cWe praised the invention of eBooks,\u201d she says. \u201cOtherwise our backpacks would have been very heavy.\u201d<\/p>\n Tarah Williams \u201cAs a shy person, I often struggled to speak up as a student,\u201d she says. \u201cMy job now requires me to help students find ways to participate in class, and because I needed to work to find my voice, I have become committed to helping others find theirs. Similarly, my research is concerned with how we can encourage people to speak up to confront prejudice.\u201d<\/p>\n Williams earned her B.A. and Ph.D. in political science from the University of Illinois. Before pursuing graduate school, she worked in state government as a researcher for the Illinois Legislature. She has taught courses in politics and policy at Washington University in St. Louis, Miami University in Ohio and the University of Illinois.<\/p>\n Along with her teaching and research, Williams enjoys walking, cooking, musical theatre and \u2014 since arriving at Allegheny \u2014 exploring Meadville.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Source: Academics, Publications & Research<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From a former resident of nearby Townville to a fantasy football player to a dedicated amateur chef, Allegheny\u2019s new faculty members bring many unique backgrounds and qualities to the teaching table in the fall of 2018. Let\u2019s meet each of them briefly: Catherine Allgeier Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics As a visiting assistant professor of […]<\/p>\n Continue Reading “Allegheny Welcomes New Faculty”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[18640],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academics-publications-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":755,"date":"2018-08-20T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-20T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neurosci\/?p=755"},"modified":"2018-08-20T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-08-20T21:00:00","slug":"allegheny-college-graduate-awarded-prestigious-gates-cambridge-scholarship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/2018\/08\/20\/allegheny-college-graduate-awarded-prestigious-gates-cambridge-scholarship\/","title":{"rendered":"Allegheny College Graduate Awarded Prestigious Gates Cambridge Scholarship"},"content":{"rendered":" Allegheny College alumna Colleen Silky is one of only 90 students from across the world to be awarded a highly competitive 2018 Gates Cambridge Scholarship.<\/p>\n Silky, 29, of Pittsburgh, grew up in Syracuse, New York, and graduated from Allegheny in 2011 with a double major in neuroscience and psychology. Beginning in September, she will pursue a Ph.D. in clinical neurosciences in a three-year program at the University of Cambridge in England.<\/p>\n Silky will study new methods for identifying cellular irregularities in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig\u2019s Disease, with the use of patient-derived cell lines. ALS was thought to be strictly a motor neuron disease, but recent advancements have shown that support cells could cause aspects of disease pathology.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope that studying three-dimensional cell organoids will shine light on new therapeutic pathways for patients in need and bridge the gap between conventional two-dimensional cell cultures and clinical trials,\u201d Silky said. \u201cI am honored to be joining the Gates Cambridge community surrounded by diverse scholars working to make a difference around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Silky is recently married to Ben Limegrover, a 2009 Allegheny graduate. The couple will relocate to England for a semi-permanent move for the duration of the full scholarship, which also provides housing.<\/p>\n The Gates Cambridge Scholarship program was established in October 2000 by a $210 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the University of Cambridge \u2014 the largest single donation to a university in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n The program awards scholarships to outstanding applicants from countries outside the U.K. to pursue a full-time postgraduate degree in any subject available at the University of Cambridge. The program\u2019s goal is \u201cto build a global network of future leaders committed to improving the lives of others,\u201d according to its website.<\/p>\n For the past six years, Silky has worked as a research scientist at Cognition Therapeutics in Pittsburgh. She believes her experience in conducting clinical trials for Alzheimer\u2019s was a major factor in her selection for the Cambridge Gates Scholarship.<\/p>\n Silky said her work-related experience likely gave her an advantage:\u00a0 Many of the candidates she met during the interview process were seniors or recent college graduates.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have been studying Alzheimer\u2019s disease and discovering a small molecule to hopefully treat the cognitive problems in Alzheimer\u2019s patients,\u201d Silky said about her work with Cognition Therapeutics. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to leave the company until after we got the drug into clinical trials. Then I wanted to go after my Ph.D.\u201d<\/p>\n Allegheny helped prepare Silky for her career in a number of different ways, she said, including the opportunity to conduct hands-on research and to be a student-athlete.<\/p>\n \u201cI played on the lacrosse team, and I think being a student-athlete really helped me to balance a very busy schedule with high stress and still be able to learn,\u201d Silky said.<\/p>\n She said the time-management skills she developed at Allegheny, along with the ability to think independently, provided the foundation for her to contribute from day one in a start-up laboratory \u2014 an environment that doesn\u2019t necessarily have the resources to offer that kind of training for newly-hired employees.<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have gotten that at a large-scale university, and it has continued to propel me forward in a lifelong passion,\u201d Silky said. \u201cWe\u2019re used to doing hands-on research independently, so for a small research company that was very important.\u201d<\/p>\n Silky is prepared for what life has in store for her \u2014 perhaps even discovering a cure for ALS \u2014 and she continues to reflect fondly on her time at Allegheny.<\/p>\n \u201cI love Allegheny and will tell that to anyone who asks,\u201d Silky said. \u201cI think the Allegheny rigor and the push to be an independent thinker and scientist really helped me.\u201d<\/p>\n Source: Academics, Publications & Research<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Colleen Silky Allegheny College alumna Colleen Silky is one of only 90 students from across the world to be awarded a highly competitive 2018 Gates Cambridge Scholarship. Silky, 29, of Pittsburgh, grew up in Syracuse, New York, and graduated from Allegheny in 2011 with a double major in neuroscience and psychology. Beginning in September, she […]<\/p>\n Continue Reading “Allegheny College Graduate Awarded Prestigious Gates Cambridge Scholarship”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[18640],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academics-publications-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":732,"date":"2017-11-03T18:39:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-03T22:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neurosci\/2017\/11\/03\/kleinschmidt-talks-vitamin-c-cancer-cells-at-slippery-rock-2\/"},"modified":"2017-11-03T18:39:00","modified_gmt":"2017-11-03T22:39:00","slug":"kleinschmidt-talks-vitamin-c-cancer-cells-at-slippery-rock-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/2017\/11\/03\/kleinschmidt-talks-vitamin-c-cancer-cells-at-slippery-rock-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Kleinschmidt Talks Vitamin C, Cancer Cells at Slippery Rock"},"content":{"rendered":" Ann Kleinschmidt, professor of biology, biochemistry and neuroscience, gave an invited talk at Slippery Rock University on\u00a0October 20<\/span><\/span>\u00a0titled \u201cVitamin C Pushes Cancer Cells Over the Edge.\u201d The presentation was based upon the senior project of Emily Horosko \u201917. Ann was able to reconnect with two former Allegheny College students, Miranda Sarrachine Falso \u201904 and Paul Falso \u201905, who are both on the faculty in the Biology Department at SRU.<\/p>\n Source: Academics, Publications & Research<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ann Kleinschmidt, professor of biology, biochemistry and neuroscience, gave an invited talk at Slippery Rock University on\u00a0October 20\u00a0titled \u201cVitamin C Pushes Cancer Cells Over the Edge.\u201d The presentation was based upon the senior project of Emily Horosko \u201917. Ann was able to reconnect with two former Allegheny College students, Miranda Sarrachine Falso \u201904 and Paul […]<\/p>\n Continue Reading “Kleinschmidt Talks Vitamin C, Cancer Cells at Slippery Rock”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[18640],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academics-publications-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":733,"date":"2017-03-17T13:39:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-17T17:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neurosci\/2017\/03\/17\/neurologist-fred-marshall-to-speak-on-mindfulness-and-medicine-2\/"},"modified":"2017-03-17T13:39:00","modified_gmt":"2017-03-17T17:39:00","slug":"neurologist-fred-marshall-to-speak-on-mindfulness-and-medicine-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/neuroscience-program\/2017\/03\/17\/neurologist-fred-marshall-to-speak-on-mindfulness-and-medicine-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Neurologist Fred Marshall to Speak on \u2018Mindfulness and Medicine\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":" Dr. Fred Marshall will speak on the subject of \u201cMindfulness and Medicine,\u201d on April 3 at 7 p.m. in the East Alcove of Schultz Hall at Allegheny College as part of the college\u2019s ongoing Year of Mindfulness. The talk is free and open to the public, and refreshments will be served. <\/span>![\"Sami](\"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/09\/Sami-Alkyam-photo.jpg\")
\nAssistant Professor of Psychology<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/09\/Megan-Bertholomey-300x225.jpg\")
\nVisiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Science & Sustainability <\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Delia](\"https:\/\/sites.allegheny.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/09\/Delia-Byrnes-Photo_resize.jpg\")
<\/a>
\nVisiting Assistant Professor of Economics<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nVisiting Assistant Professor of French<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nAssistant Professor of Religious Studies<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nAssistant Professor of Psychology<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nAssistant Professor of Psychology<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nAssistant Professor of Environmental Science and Sustainability<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nVisiting Assistant Professor of Biology<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/a><\/a>Since the first grade, Aliza Legg was told to expect to fail. From the moment she was diagnosed with dyslexia, she was told that her goal in life should not be college or a career, but to hope to be able to shop on her own one day.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>\u201cLearning Mandarin has had an enormous impact on my growth as a student and person for the past 10 years,\u201d Pinkney said. \u201cBoren was the perfect opportunity to improve my language study while also pursuing my interests in the medical field.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nVisiting Assistant Professor of Economics<\/strong><\/p>\nAs a visiting assistant professor of economics, Catherine Allgeier comes to Allegheny with her bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees from Clarion University of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
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\nAssistant Professor of Economics<\/strong><\/p>\nTimothy Bianco joins Allegheny as assistant professor of economics, having taught previously at Bowling Green State University, where he also earned his bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees. He also obtained a master\u2019s degree and his doctorate from the University of Kentucky. He also has worked as an analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland for five years.<\/p>\n
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\nVisiting Assistant Professor of Art History<\/strong><\/p>\nPaula Burleigh joins the Allegheny community as visiting assistant professor of art history and director of the Penelec, Bowman, Meghan Art Gallery. She earned her Ph.D. in art history at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.<\/p>\n
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\n<\/strong>Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology<\/strong><\/p>\nKimberly Caldwell joins the college as a visiting assistant professor of psychology. She earned her Ph.D. in behavioral neuroscience at the University at Buffalo, \u201cso my background is a blend of psychology and neuroscience.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\nAssistant Professor of Economics<\/strong><\/p>\nMichael Michaelides joins the Economics Department as an assistant professor. He has a bachelor\u2019s degree in accounting and finance from the University of Essex, a master\u2019s degree in accounting and finance from the London School of Economics, a master\u2019s degree in economics from Virginia Tech, and a doctorate in economics from Virginia Tech.<\/p>\n
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\nVisiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies<\/strong><\/p>\nRight out of college, Matthew Mitchell traveled to Japan and taught English as a foreign language for six years. He had earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in religious studies, with a minor in chemistry, from Illinois Wesleyan University. As an undergraduate, he also found time to sing in the university choir and teach rock climbing.<\/p>\n
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\nAssistant Professor of Global Health Studies<\/strong><\/p>\nPamela Runestad likes to know how things work.<\/p>\n
\n
\nAssistant Professor of Biology
\n<\/strong><\/p>\nYee Mon Thu describes herself as \u201ca scientist who likes to learn how the natural world works \u2014 and an amateur artist who likes to use imagination.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\nMax Kade Writer in Residence<\/strong><\/p>\nAs a graphic novelist, Birgit Weyhe uses both her writing and drawing to explore historical and political incidents. She\u2019s primarily interested in migration and the definition of home and\u00a0identity. In addition to authoring several books, Weyhe has a monthly page in a Berlin newspaper where she draws the \u201clifeline\u201d of a person who has changed places of residence often.<\/p>\n
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\nVisiting Assistant Professor of Political Science<\/strong><\/p>\nTarah Williams uses survey and experimental methods to understand how social identities \u2014partisan identities, racial identities and many more \u2014 shape individual political behavior, for better or worse. Her current research explores whether and when individuals will confront prejudice and discrimination in their daily lives.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nThe presentation will cover Marshall\u2019s experience with dyads, as well as some theories of teaching, and address the phenomenon of \u201cburn-out\u201d through stress. He also will explore a model of cultivating resilience, compassion, and gratitude in daily life, and then hold both silent and guided meditations.<\/p>\n
\nMarshall brings a unique perspective as a physician who has cared for patients and families coping with neurodegenerative diseases.\u00a0Chief of the Division of Geriatric Neurology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Marshall founded the school\u2019s Memory Care Program and is a core member pioneering mindfulness curriculum for medical students and residents. Since 2011 he has co-facilitated residential training for medical educators at the Rochester Zen Center\u2019s Chapin Mill retreat, which attracts educators from around the world.
\nAfter attending Swarthmore College and then Harvard Medical School, Marshall spent a year backpacking around the world with his wife before completing his residency in neurology at the Harvard Longwood Training Program. He then completed a National Institutes of Health-funded fellowship in Experimental Therapeutics of Neurodegenerative Disorders, before going to work at the University of Rochester in 1997.
\nMarshall is a former Dean\u2019s Teaching Fellow at the University of Rochester, and the recipient of multiple teaching awards, including election by the students to Alpha Omega Alpha, the Gold Foundation for Humanism in Medicine, and the White Coat Ceremony keynote. He is also an accomplished jazz pianist.<\/p>\n