Research Mentor
Cynthia holds undergraduate degrees in Chemistry and Psychology as well as a PhD in Neuroscience. Her research focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms of bone metastasis in the pediatric cancer neuroblastoma and the preclinical testing of chemotherapeutics for late stage disease. Her career has focused on student success, including serving as the pre-health advisor, director of an NIH-funded training program, and faculty advisor to the Biology club and the MAPS student organization chapters, in addition to teaching a variety of courses in Biological Sciences. Always learning, she holds excellence in teaching certifications from ACUE and Quality Matters, certification in Instructional Design, and designation as a Microsoft Innovative Educator. She also acts as a Khan Academy ambassador and a Microsoft Innovative Educator Trainer. Her current research focuses on novel adaptations of high-impact practices in education and course enhancements to promote student engagement. Her recent speaking engagements have focused on the relationship between faculty burnout and student engagement, the use of technology to improve student readiness for the workforce, and creating a culture of care in education.
She serves as a research mentor for Ivy Scholars. She uses her decades-long experience leading students in research to develop her mentee’s interests into testable and executable projects. Students that have worked with her have developed and performed research in highly diverse topics and have presented work at national conferences, including the American Association for Cancer Research, the Society for Neuroscience, Experimental Biology, and the Education Summit. Having served as a pre health advisor, she is especially suited for mentorship of students interested in medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, and biomedical research careers, helping students develop the skills during high school that they will need to maximize their time during their undergraduate career.
Advising, mentorship, and teaching are her absolute favorite parts of her career. One of her favorite quotes is “To be a leader means to positively impact other people’s capacity to thrive.”- Nataly Kogan. This quote has been and continues to be the cornerstone of her career. Her role in education is to do everything in her power to increase her students’ and fellow educators’ capacity to thrive, and she does so with nonjudgmental care and purpose. She has often been called the mom of her department. Her own four adult children are equally successful, and she values that title of mom above all others. She has had excellent mentors in her life, from the mom in the neighborhood that taught her Algebra in 2nd grade and fostered her love of math, to the research mentors that helped her navigate undergraduate and graduate education as a first generation college student. She chooses to honor them by providing that same level of commitment and care to each student she mentors.
Fun Fact: I am an avid runner. I have run marathons, half marathons, and race 5K’s nearly every weekend from April to November. I’m preparing for my first Spartan race this September!
“It’s not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.” – Charles Darwin
Here are some of Cynthia’s past successes with students. Click to expand:
This student came to Ivy Scholars with a clear academic interest already. He was interested in neurology and space travel, and even had the beginnings of an idea for a research project: whether or not virtual reality could be used to help astronauts on a mars mission preempt the effects of social isolation.
What he didn’t know was how to undertake this research. Cynthia helped him refine his interest into an actionable topic, helping him narrow down what was feasible, and what could be answered. From there, she helped him focus in on a single research question.
Cynthia then helped him find relevant data. This was sourced from open source publications, many of which were done during the pandemic, an unanticipated social isolation experience for many of us. Kofi analyzed this data, and found that there was significant promise in the use of VR technology for this application.
Of course, doing research is just the beginning. Cynthia helped Kofi find and apply for a presentation opportunity with the American Academy of Neurology, and helped him in formatting and editing a research paper. While Kofi did all of the writing himself, Cynthia provided the needed expertise to create a polished and professional academic paper. The papers written by academics are a far cry from what is assigned in high schools, and writing them is a skill in itself.
This paper did very well; Kofi won the Bhuwan Garg High School Neuroscience Research Prize, and was awarded with a $1,000 scholarship and a chance to present his findings at the association’s annual conference.
Cynthia enjoys helping students in this way. Many come in with natural curiosity and burning questions in need of answers; she just helps them find their footing in the world of research.
Abstract
Here is the abstract of the paper Kofi submitted:
“Long-term space travel, including tours of months or years on the ISS, manned lunar missions, and possible future manned Mars missions, produces multiple physiological changes, including musculoskeletal wasting, metabolic changes, ophthalmological issues, and neurological effects. These changes may be associated with increased exposure to radiation and the consequences of microgravity over an extended period. However, another contributor to the neurological effects seen, including cognitive issues and various effects on mental health, may be social isolation. These effects, including depression, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, and declines in problem-solving ability, are seen in direct comparison studies between astronauts on extended space missions and their land-based counterparts. Changes are seen neuroanatomically, examined through fMRI studies, and neurochemically. Interestingly, some of these same effects are seen in other groups socially isolated, including the elderly and students during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Therefore, we hypothesize that alternative methods of communication to combat social isolation, including the use of virtual reality, will prevent some of these deleterious changes. The current study was performed using a meta-analysis of existing data from the literature on social isolation and the use of VR to support this hypothesis. We found that VR, particularly virtual nature, combats feelings of social isolation and prevents some of the neurological changes associated with long-term isolation. This suggests that VR is an effective way to combat the neurological effects of social isolation during long-term space travel.”
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