The Neuroscience Major hopes to bring the discipline of neuroscience directly to elementary, middle, and high schools throughout the country, particularly to those who serve under-represented populations in the sciences. I-CAN will allow students and the university to transform our scientific knowledge into a force for service. Our goal is to aid in fostering a sense of efficacy when these students encounter the sciences, especially in the new and constantly evolving field of neuroscience.
Our Ambassadors have the privilege to make a difference in the career paths of thousands of young, talented students by demonstrating neuroscience topics through interactive activities. This endeavor will afford Ambassadors with the opportunity to lead and become influential leaders, and will also provide many internship and volunteer opportunities. By participating, Ambassadors will have the ability to influence younger students to take part in the study of Neuroscience when they matriculate.
Meet the I-CAN team
Leadership
- Executive Director - Rithika Vangal
- Co-director - Jenna Wolfe
- Co-director - Morgan Wheeler
- Co-director - Ana Patel
- Co-director - Pranav Rajesh
Members
- Julia Frey
- Alicea Gosal
- Daniele Lainez
- Audrey Ruscak
- Rheanna Velasquez
- Richard Chen
- Olim Toirov
- Prasanjit Sahoo
- Virang Desai
- Eric Cervantes
- Camille Armbruster
- Samatha Giammo
- Sakthi Kasi
- Weston Misel
- Sahana Shankar
- Dylan Woods
- Nia Lewis
- Hansika Talluri
- Vishal Vivek
- Sneha Prabu
- Allison Westfall
- Ananya Das
- Kaiwen Wu
- Laksh Dhir
- Mia Eleid
- Emma Dodd
- Vida Vedati
- Anthony Koulianos
- Addie Colclasure
- Jaden Zelidon
- Paige Waite
Teacher Feedback
Jonathan Kent, Dublin Coffman High School
"Each learning station is highly interactive and manned by knowledgeable undergraduates with obvious enthusiasm for what they're sharing. Learning about current experimentation in neuroscience from the students involved in those projects or donning vision-skewing goggles that illustrate neuroplasticity was fascinating and made our past learning more meaningful, but being able to see and even hold a human brain brings a realness to learning about localization or neuroanatomy that goes beyond any experience I've been able to give my students on my own."
Tammy Sensibaugh, Olentangy Orange High School
"45 minutes of students being fully engaged in the presentation. My students love it!"
The Neuroscience Major hopes to bring the discipline of neuroscience directly to elementary, middle and high schools (in the Great Lakes region), particularly to those who serve under-represented populations in the sciences. This program will allow students and the university to transform our scientific knowledge into a force for service.
The I-CAN initiative will provide field trips, lab demonstrations, speakers, and other events that will aim to acquaint these potential scientific scholars with the many fascinating opportunities that await their investigation as neuroscientists. Beginning with a pilot program in one or two anchor schools, we envision the I-CAN initiative eventually working with schools all over central Ohio.
This program will aid in fostering a sense of efficacy when these students encounter the sciences. This endeavor will also afford our current undergraduate majors the opportunity to lead and become influential teachers, as well as provide our students with much needed internship and volunteer opportunities.