Jacqueline Steele is a senior majoring in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology. She was awarded a Fall 2017 Conference Grant which she used to attend the 2017 Society for Neuroscience Conference.
The Society for Neuroscience Conference was exciting; I had heard all of my professors talk about the meeting for years, so I was curious about what it would be like. I listened to a wide variety of lectures and poster presentations, and I learned about the different types of research being done in neuroscience around the world. It was especially interesting to go to symposiums lead by my mentors and teachers from Emory, it really showed me that Emory University is a leader in the field of neuroscience. My favorite symposium was led by my P.I. Dr. Mar Sanchez, and was about how scientists can communicate animal research to the public. It was stressed that if we don’t tell our stories, someone else will (and we might not like the way they tell them.) Right now, animal research has a negative public reputation, so learning how to explain the importance of animal research and show that scientists respect the animals they work with is an important skill. I learned about how to use personal conversations, press coverage, and social media as platforms to articulate the role of animal research in scientific innovation. I enjoyed learning how to be respectful, honest, and informative when communicating my research.
The most meaningful part of the conference was having the opportunity to present my research. The experience of verbally explaining my research methods and results helped me better understand my project and feel more confident in my work. I was surprised by my ability to answer questions on the spot, and to justify my decisions regarding the study in detail. It was also really helpful to speak to experts in the field about my work. They asked me questions that I hadn’t thought of on my own, made suggestions for how to improve my study before publishing it, and advised me on what related journal articles to read. It was exciting to see that other scientists cared about my work. Furthermore, a magazine, Spectrum, covered my poster and the other posters from my lab. Spectrum is a magazine that strives to educate families of individual with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) on recent advances in autism research. My research investigates the use of infant rhesus macaques as a model for childhood ASD, with an overarching goal of learning more about what autism looks like before age 4 to assist with an earlier age of diagnosis. I loved having the opportunity to share my work with the people who will directly benefit from autism research. It also taught me about new ways science is becoming more accessible to the general public.
I was surprised that the conference was a little overwhelming; I wanted to see as much as possible, however the thousands of poster presentations made it difficult to decide how to spend my time at the conference. I recommend that other students going to this conference decide on an itinerary before the conference to make sure they decide what they want to see ahead of time.
Magazine Article:
https://spectrumnews.org/news/social-development-remarkably-similar-monkeys-people/
Visit the Undergraduate Research Programs website to learn more about applying for Conference Grants.
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