Presenting Author
University of Arizona
My name is Sydney K. Arriaga. I am Mexican American who grow up in San Luis, Arizona, USA which is a border town between Mexico. I am a first-generation college student and I began studying political science at Arizona Western College, a community college, and at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. I subsequently realized my interest in mental illnesses and therefore transferred to the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona to pursue a degree in neuroscience. I am part of the Arizona's Science, Engineering, and Math Scholars (ASEMS) program and Ronald E. McNair Achievement Program, which are helping me achieve my goal of graduating with my bachelor’s degree and attend graduate school. Much of my research experience has been through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Enhance Neuroscience Diversity through Undergraduate Research Experiences (ENDURE) Bridge to PhD in Neuroscience Program (BPNP) at Michigan State University (MSU). Via this program I had the opportunity to do research with Dr. Gina Leinninger, where I studied the role of neurotensin receptor-1 expression in dopamine neurons in modulating feeding, locomotor and anxiety behaviors. This program and research experience has shown me that there is a place for me in neuroscience and has solidified my goal to attend graduate school to further study it. Presently, I am working with Dr. Jennifer Teske’s lab, who seeks to elucidate neural mechanisms and dietary factors regulating weight gain associated with abnormal sleep-in rodent models.