Hi everyone! I’m CJ and I’m a sophomore studying neuroscience and dance. One of the best parts of college is getting involved in research! I started my first year at Scripps knowing I wanted to get involved in some kind of neuroscience research as soon as possible! Even without any formal lab experience, I met with different professors whose work I would be interested in learning more about. Keck Science Center (Scripps’ shared science department with Pitzer and CMC) has a great non-competitive environment that has allowed me to feel comfortable trying new things, like research!
After exploring some different labs, I ended up working in two labs my spring semester of my first year, both involving Neuroscience. One involved administering EEGs to assist a professor in their own research, and the other, which I continued over the summer, involved creating my own project and learning about the field of computational neuroscience!
In order to complete my research over the summer, I received the Johnson Grant for Interdisciplinary research. This allowed me to live in Claremont and spend my time working on my project. This was a truly great experience and inspired me to continue exploring computational neuroscience, something I never even considered before college! Research is a great way to explore different areas and see if you would be interested in any as a possible career.
In whatever capacity you want to engage in research on campus, chances are there’s an opportunity for you! There are also various funding sources at both Scripps and Keck that can provide any monetary needs for your work; that can include compensation or obtaining necessary materials.
I hope this gave you some insight into research at the Claremont Colleges! Please reach out with any questions!
CJ ([email protected])