Personal Statement
Please summarize the reasons that you are applying for this program, what you hope to gain by participating in SSRP, and how it fits into your future educational and career objectives. Please be sure to indicate general or specific areas of scientific research that you may want to pursue in our program and why those areas are of particular interest to you.
For me, participating in SSRP would be both constructive and propitious for my undergraduate career. The program will help me progress those skills necessary for a career in the field of biomedical research. Being a Minority for Access to Research Careers (MARC) scholar, SSRP will provide me with additional research experience centered around neurological disorders and will assist me through the barriers I face as a first-generation college student. Not only does the program prepare you to better undertake your own independent research project as an undergraduate, but it also prepares students for the professional world through workshops and seminars. I feel that SSRP will offer me opportunities that no other research program has such as: a more intimate environment that will expand my knowledge in various scientific fields, support from a faculty member, lab mentor, program directors, and students that will work with me to accomplish my goals.
Currently there are accessible pharmacological and surgical treatments that alleviate motor symptoms, but do not stop the eventual progression of Parkinson’s disease. Thereupon, I am really engrossed in researching therapeutic medicine for neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s. After learning more about the substantia nigra and its role in Parkinson’s, I would like to examine what environmental factors may cause Parkinson’s disease in genetically susceptible individuals through overstimulation or inflammation. Specifically, I am interested in the role of environmental factors such as psychiatric drugs, exposure to pesticides, chemical solvents, and others that
For me, participating in SSRP would be both constructive and propitious for my undergraduate career. The program will help me progress those skills necessary for a career in the field of biomedical research. Being a Minority for Access to Research Careers (MARC) scholar, SSRP will provide me with additional research experience centered around neurological disorders and will assist me through the barriers I face as a first-generation college student. Not only does the program prepare you to better undertake your own independent research project as an undergraduate, but it also prepares students for the professional world through workshops and seminars. I feel that SSRP will offer me opportunities that no other research program has such as: a more intimate environment that will expand my knowledge in various scientific fields, support from a faculty member, lab mentor, program directors, and students that will work with me to accomplish my goals.
Currently there are accessible pharmacological and surgical treatments that alleviate motor symptoms, but do not stop the eventual progression of Parkinson’s disease. Thereupon, I am really engrossed in researching therapeutic medicine for neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s. After learning more about the substantia nigra and its role in Parkinson’s, I would like to examine what environmental factors may cause Parkinson’s disease in genetically susceptible individuals through overstimulation or inflammation. Specifically, I am interested in the role of environmental factors such as psychiatric drugs, exposure to pesticides, chemical solvents, and others that