BW neuroscience majors earn NASA/Ohio Space Grant Consortium scholarships

Three students from the BW School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computing have received 2019-2020 Undergraduate Junior-Senior Scholarship awards from the NASA/Ohio Space Grant Consortium (OSGC). The students will pursue and present research into the biological basis of gender, multiple sclerosis and neurodegenerative diseases.

The OSGC is part of the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program (Space Grant) funded by Congress and administered through the Office of Education at NASA Headquarters. Space Grant consists of a national network of colleges and universities that work to support science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, including competitive scholarships for STEM majors.

The BW students chosen as 2019-2020 recipients are:

Delenn Hartswick

Hartswick is a junior neuroscience and psychology major who, under the mentorship of Dr. Clare Mathes, associate professor of neuroscience, plans to study the neuroscience of gender by exploring the link between prenatal hormone exposure and sex-specific neuroanatomy in a rat model. The goal of the study is to help expand understanding of gender and how identities can differ between individuals.

Hartswick is a BW STEM Scholars Peer Mentor and in the future, looks to pursue a doctorate in neuroscience, neuropsychology or experimental psychology with the goal of a career in academic research.

Sarah Shapley

Under the guidance of biology professor Dr. Jacqueline Morris and as a continuation of her OSGC scholarship research last year, Shapley, a senior neuroscience and biology major, seeks to understand factors regulating myelin development through the use of a zebrafish model. Myelin is a conductive sheath on neuronal axons which helps propagate action potentials. By characterizing normal myelination, this research may assist in understanding the dysregulation which occurs during diseased states, such as in multiple sclerosis.

Shapley is a BW STEM Scholar and plans to earn a doctorate in neuroscience with the goal of one day leading a neurodegenerative disease research laboratory.

Patrick Woller

Woller is a senior neuroscience and biology major, who, in collaboration with biology professor Dr. Jacqueline Morris, plans to research the way brain cell waste, if managed improperly, accumulates and impairs the neuron's ability to function correctly. This eventually leads to neuronal death within the central nervous system and, ultimately, cognitive decline.

Woller is a BW STEM Scholar and plans to obtain a doctorate in neuroscience and focus his career on research into neurodegeneration.