Nicole K
- Research Program Mentor
MD/PhD candidate at Rutgers University
Expertise
Neuroscience / Medicine / Biology / Psychology / Animal Behavior / Autism / Traumatic Brain Injury / CTE / Neurodegenerative Disease
Bio
Hi, there! I'm Nicole, and I am a graduate of Princeton University. While at Princeton, I pursued neuroscience and explored traumatic brain injuries for my senior thesis and graduate thesis. Following undergraduate, I worked in a lab researching many topics such as neurogenesis and autism. Currently, I am enrolled as a medical student and have my PhD from Princeton in Molecular Biology. I have a huge passion for neuroscience, specifically traumatic brain injury and brain pathology. In addition to the molecular biology aspect of neuroscience, I find psychology and animal behavior particularly interesting. In addition to scholarly pursuit, I have a passion for mentoring students and working with them to develop new skills or hone skills that they already possess. It brings me so much joy to watch students grow and learn through the process! In the past, I've worked both professionally and colloquially as a mentor, teaching assistant, and tutor in a variety of subjects including Neuroscience, Medical Pathology, Math, and Biological sciences.Project ideas
How to Critically Analyze a Scientific Paper
Each session, we will explore research papers in your field of interest within Neuroscience, Medicine, or Biology. We will break down the experiments, constructively critique the work, and propose alternative or future directions. The goals of this project are to enhance skills in critical thinking, approach scientific papers with appropriate levels of skepticism, and learn how research results can become cross-disciplinary. The project will culminate in an oral/powerpoint presentation during the last session in which you will critically analyze a paper on your own and present your findings.
Review of the Literature
This project will explore papers in your field of interest within Neuroscience, Medicine, or Biology that will culminate in a short review paper that may be used as a sample research/writing piece for applications or a supplement to your resume. We will explore papers in order to find a gap in the literature. We will work together to compile relevant papers in which you will start generating a short review of the literature based on those papers. While writing, you will highlight a "missing" piece in the literature, which will become the topic of your review. During the last session, you will present your review paper as a written paper (preferred, so that you may use it for sample writing/resume) or in a powerpoint presentation (reduces your time commitment). The goals of this project are to enhance skills in critical thinking, approach scientific papers with appropriate levels of skepticism, identify key information needed to advance the field of science, and hone skills needed to effectively summarize research data.