Researchers of Emory

Caroline Scheving is a senior who majoring in Art History. She was awarded a Spring 2019 Independent Grant which she used to conduct research on the culture of the early twentieth century and Frank Benson's  dolls  under Dr. Linda Merrill. Last fall, when I returned to Emory to begin my senior year, I realized that I was in a bit of a conundrum. I had come to the conclusion that I was no longer interested in the illustrations of  Robinson Crusoe , the topic I had originally chosen for my art history honors thesis. I needed to find a new subject as quickly as possible, and this time I knew I needed to choose a topic that interested me on a more personal level. After agonizing over the future of my thesis for several days, I finally recalled a conversation I had during my sophomore year with my advisor Dr. Linda Merrill. She had mentioned Frank Weston Benson’s (1862-1951) collection of paper dolls, called the Colton Family, that the  High Museum of Art had acquired in 2000. T

Monica Vemulapalli is a junior majoring in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology. She was awarded a Spring 2019 Conference Grant which she used to attend the Experimental Biology Conference . When I found out that my first ever research conference was going to be in my hometown of Orlando, Florida, I was excited! I knew that having an unfamiliar event happen at a very familiar place would make me less anxious. However, the conference turned out to be less stressful and more interesting than I ever thought. I attended  Experimental Biology (EB)  and   presented  my very first research poster , a memory that I will definitely cherish forever.

                                                                     Michael Mu  is a junior majoring in Biology. He was awarded a Spring 2019 Conference Grant which she used to attend the National Conference on Undergraduate Research. Every 65 seconds, someone in the US develops  Alzheimer’s disease (AD) . That includes a whopping 1 in 10 people aged 65 and older and results in the sixth-leading cause of death in the US. In a time when the baby boomer generation is in dire need of geriatric care, it is imperative that we do anything we can to improve the health outcomes of our senior population. At the  National Conference on Undergraduate Research ( https://www.cur.org/ ) last week, I outlined the progress, future directions, and potential implications for AD of my research on the role of LCMT-1 in brain development. I hope my research will provide the mechanistic knowledge that is imperative for the development of therapeutic LCMT-1-targeting drugs. I am excited about my pro

The  Lemelson-MIT Student Prize , is a national invention competition that recognizes  individual graduate students  who have tested prototypes of  two or more inventions  and  teams of undergraduate students  with a tested prototype of  one invention . They are once again conducting a nationwide search for the most inventive undergraduate and graduate students to compete for the  2020 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize . They would be delighted if mentors would consider  referring  qualified candidates. The competition recognizes students at any U.S. college or university who have tested prototypes of technology-based inventions in  healthcare ,  food/water and agriculture, transportation and mobility ,  and consumer devices . Inventions are not limited to class projects or thesis work, and any side/personal projects could also be considered. Patents are encouraged but not required. In each of the four categories, graduate students are awarded $15,000 and undergraduate teams are awarded $10,0

Julie Wechsler  is a Sophomore majoring in Psychology and Linguistics. She was awarded a Spring 2019 Conference Grant which she used to attend the National Conference on Undergraduate Research. I had the privilege of attending the  National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) at Kennesaw State University ( http://www.cur.org/what/events/students/ncur/2019/ ). I presented research which I completed during the Fall 2018 semester in the  Linguistics 485 – Field Methods in Linguistics class along with Seaira Lett. This class introduced me to the methods of data collection and analysis in Linguistics, and it was a great experience to learn how this type of research is co nducted. Over the course of the semester, we studied a language called  Lulogooli , which is a member of the Bantu language family. It is a relatively small language spoken mainly in Kakamega and Vihiga, Kenya (according to the Ethnologue,  https://www.ethnologue.com/language/rag , there are only around 600,0

Varsha Chiruvella is a senior double majoring in Bilogy and German Studies. She was awarded a Spring 2019 Conference Grant which she used to attend the Moravian College Undergraduate Conference in German Studies . I have been learning German for the past 10 years. As a pre-medical student and lover of learning, however, it becomes easy to become bogged down by rigorous science courses and challenging medical-related exams. To me, German, and the humanities in general, has been my escape from burnout.  “But why German?” is a question that I get ever so often. After years of receiving the same inquiry, I believe I have formulated a final answer.  “Because I love it…and, you know, why not?” has become my standard response. And it’s true- I do certainly love learning and teaching German to my peers. I had finally found something in academia that I not only enjoyed, but truly was gifted with. And it was this “why not” mentality that persuaded me to continue my pursuit of the language