2020 is the Inaugural Year of the Pulver Science Scholars Program. Meet the very first group of Pulver Science Scholars, Class of 2024!
Angelique Bautista ‘24 is a graduate from School Without Walls in Washington, D.C. In high school, she had a diverse array of experiences that fueled her love for helping people, for communication, and for studying science. As a volunteer at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Angelique taught young children and students about natural history through hands-on activities. She also interned at the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation wherein she learned about current research in the field and the communicative aspect of science. This summer, Angelique worked in Professor Moore’s lab to establish an ant population database for local ecological research which had not previously existed. At Colby, Angelique is double majoring in Biology and Science, Technology, and Society and minoring in Creative Writing. On campus, Angelique enjoys spending her time playing volleyball in the club team, volunteering with Colby Cares about Kids (CCAK), working in an ant lab, and being an assistant in the Biology Department.
Katie Callahan ’24 graduated from Mount Ararat School in Topsham, Maine. Throughout high school, Katie fostered her passions for both music and medicine; and for her senior project in high school, Katie collaborated with the Barron Center in Portland, Maine to make personalized playlists for Alzheimer patients. This summer, she interned at Maine-Dartmouth Family Practice in the greater Waterville area. Katie shadowed a variety of clinical specialties in rural medicine, including family medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, psychology, and pediatrics. She also assisted with research for Dr. Gregory Feero on an NIH-funded grant examining the ethical, legal, and social implications of workplace genetic testing. At Colby, Katie is a biology major with a concentration in neuroscience, and a minor in music. She is involved with CCAK, The Megalomaniacs A Cappella, COOT, Colby Figure Skating Club, and Wind Ensemble on campus. Katie is also a Learn to Skate Instructor, Healthy Colby Resident
Ruby Nunez ’24 is a graduate of Apopka High School in Apopka, Florida. In high school, Ruby participated in the “Get in the Game” program with Electronic Arts, a bootcamp for female coders, during which she saw firsthand that women were thriving in a male-dominated field. During these workshops, she learned about the software they were creating and even got to test it! In the future, Ruby hopes to combine her interests in neurobiology and computer science to build robots with artificial intelligence. At Colby, Ruby hopes to study computer science and psychology and explore clubs such as Club Soccer, the Data Science Club, Women of Color Alliance, SoBlu, and Women in STEM.
Devesh Pathak ’24 is a graduate from Lexington High School in Lexington, Massachusetts. In high school, Devesh studied inflammatory signaling in Lyme disease, learning important laboratory techniques such as Western Blotting and plating slides for microscopy. He also has a strong interest in computation after taking an introductory computational course at his high school and participating in the robotics team in middle school. At Colby, Devesh hopes to major in biology with cell/molecular biology/biochemistry concentration and computational biology. He is excited to explore the outdoors and join biology clubs on campus.
Anna Pavlova ’24 attended Winchester High School in Winchester, Massachusetts. Throughout high school, Anna engaged with her community in multiple ways, including volunteering in the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and leading both the High School Helpers Tutoring and Health Care Occupations clubs at her school. This summer, Anna conducted research on the effects of post COVID-19 complications in diabetes with Dr. Jyothi Nagajyothi’s lab at the Center for Discovery and Innovation in Nutley, NJ. Through the culmination of her broad range of experiences, Anna was inspired to pursue a career in medicine. At Colby, Anna is double majoring in chemistry-biochemistry and classical civilizations. On campus, she serves as the president of Biology Club, volunteers with Colby Cares About Kids (CCAK), and interns at the Maine Cancer Genomics Initiative, which is a part of the Jackson Laboratory. She eagerly anticipates delving into more research opportunities this year through the Pulver Science Scholar program.
Henry Simonds ’24 graduated from Scarsdale High School in Scarsdale, Pennsylvania. In high school, Henry participated in the Pre-Med Summer Program at the University of Pennsylvania, where he learned about plastic reconstruction through presentations and hands-on experiences with cadavers. Henry also participated in cutting edge research wherein he analyzed brain signals through brain-computer interfacing. This summer, he worked in Professor Ahmad’s lab on campus. They worked on finding and evaluating varying pharmacological modifiers in relation to common drosophila functions. At Colby, Henry is a Classical Civilization – English major. On campus, he is involved with the board games club, and music. Additionally, he plans to join Colby Emergency Response as a collegiate EMT.
Sophia Strine ‘24 graduated from Strath Haven High School in Wallingford, Pennsylvania. In high school, Sophia was a clinical research assistant at Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania where she studied minimally invasive aortic aneurysm surgery outcomes. This summer, Sophia worked with Dr. Maria Vogiatzi and her team in the Endocrinology department at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, with a focus on Developmental Sex Disorder research, and shadowing Dr. Vogiatzi in her clinic multiple days per week, interacting with patients with a wide range of disorders from early puberty onset to Adrenal Insufficiency. At Colby, Sophia is a Psychology with a concentration in Neuroscience and Biology double major on the pre-med track. On campus, she is involved with CCAK as an MLC member, Chorale, Collegium, and CER. Sophia also works as a research assistant in the Behavioral Neuroscience lab, founded the Doctors in Training club, and volunteers at the Inland Hospital.
Sophia Szady ’24 graduated from Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. Sophia has an interest in robotics and computer science that began in high school: after taking the introductory computer science class offered at her school, Sophia taught herself how to code with Java and Python through online forums and courses. Later, she was the head programmer of her high school’s robotic team. This summer, Sophia was an Amazon Future Engineer Intern at the Amazon Headquarters in Seattle, Washington. She was part of the Seller Security team where she worked with two other interns in creating a portal for sellers of Amazon to track security risks for their account, that involved the 3rd party risks for the seller, using SpringThing and languages such as HTML, Java, TypeScript and JavaScript. At Colby, Sophia majors in computational biology, and minors in religious studies. On campus, she is involved with CCAK, pottery club, and mountaineering club. She is also a member of the ultimate frisbee team, an SVP leader, and a Food Recovery Network Leader.
Dennie Truong ’24 is a Questbridge Scholar from Rosemead, California. In high school, Dennie collaborated with his AP Environmental Science teacher to build a boomilever that won 9th place in the Science Olympiad. Through this experience, Dennie experienced the joy of hard work and accomplishment and realized his love for Environmental Science. This summer, he was an intertidal marine ecology research assistant for Colby’s biology professor Allison Barner. They studied Allen Island’s intertidal ecosystem in particular investigating species interactions during low tide, examining how extinction of one species and different combinations of species may affect the surrounding food web and network of the intertidal environment. At Colby, Dennie majors in environmental science with a concentration in aquatic science. On campus, he is Series & Multivariable Calculus teaching assistant, and a remote learning coach.
Cole Turner ’24 graduated from Contoocook Valley Regional High School in Peterborough, New Hampshire. In high school, Cole’s interest in medicine peaked through his clinical internship at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, where he assisted various healthcare providers in the Orthopedics and Radiology departments. This summer, he led an independent research project in the Rice Lab investigating one mechanism that some chemotherapy drugs may use to kill cancer cells. Specifically, Cole worked to refine a method for measuring DNA-protein crosslinks, a less well-studied form of DNA damage that may have an underappreciated role in the anticancer activity of these drugs. At Colby, Cole majors in biochemistry and anticipates to minor in physics. On campus, he is involved with CCAK, club ice hockey, and works in the athletic training room. He is also excited to continue applying my method to a range of chemotherapy agents throughout the academic year in the Rice Lab.