Originally from the southeast coast of India, Sumyuktha completed her Bachelor of Science degree in neuroscience at the University of Minnesota. She took a gap year between high school and undergrad when she decided to study abroad, "we don't have neuroscience at the Bachelor's level in India and there's only one neuroscience institute. They take about eight students per year from all of India," she noted.
Sumyuktha first became interested in science when she was in the 6th grade. Her passion grew over the years and her interest in the brain grew after a family member lost their cognitive functioning. She began reading books about neuroscience and decided to follow her passion, choosing to pursue a PhD in neuroscience. Initially she toyed with the idea of a career in academia, because she wants not only to do research, but also to teach. Now, however, she is keeping her options open, "[I] don't want to completely skip out on industry," she says, a consequence of having attended interview weekend with the PEMM program and meeting fellow students who were interested in pursuing diverse career paths.
When asked why she chose Dartmouth, and specifically PEMM, Sumyuktha said, "At a graduate school fair I met someone who was representing PEMM. I looked up the professors and saw Dr. Matt van Der Meer and Dr. Kate Nautiyal who were doing the kind of research I'm interested in. Then I met you guys at SfN [Society for Neuroscience Annual Conference] and it felt like a collaborative, more personal program," she noted. "You get along with everyone, which for me is really important, especially if you're moving to such a small town. You need to be comfortable with the people you're working with because they're most likely going to end up being your friends."
Sumyuktha is 100% neuroscience-focused and "is not going to change, [she] knows that for sure." Her first rotation is with Dr. Kate Nautiyal who studies the neural basis of impulsive behavior. Specifically, Sumyuktha will be working on a pilot project using viral-vector induced knockouts of serotonin receptor functionality to investigate the effect of this neurotransmitter on impulsivity and determine the fundamental brain circuitry underlying his behavior.
In regards to starting the program, she's most excited "to be back in school." Even though Sumyuktha just graduated from the University of Minnesota this past spring, she says "it's been a really long vacation and I'm ready to get back into a schedule." Additionally, she is looking forward to "talking to other people who actually know what [she is] talking about and are equally nerdy."
She's not just looking forward to the academics however, and is "also excited to get involved in stuff outside of science on campus." When asked if she was involved in any extracurricular activities at her undergraduate University, Sumyuktha exclaimed "I was in a lot!" Clearly invested in her campus community, she touched upon the top three she was most passionate about. She was on the student board of the College of Biological Sciences, which is similar in function to the Graduate Student Council (GSC) here at Dartmouth. She was also involved in the Student Union, which was for the entire university, both undergraduate and graduates students across all the colleges. Through this, she helped organize a lot of free weekly events for students on campus. Lastly, she was involved in Osher Lifelong Learning, which is a program where senior citizens can come back to college and learn about all kinds of topics, but they are not graded.
Graduate students and other professionals typically teach, but Sumyuktha was one of three international undergraduate students at her University who were refereed to teach some courses as well. She taught cognition and brain sciences, bringing an international perspective. She recently found out that they have a Osher Lifelong Learning Center here at Dartmouth and Sumyuktha said that she's considering picking it back up again during her time here.
Outside of the classroom and away from the bench, Sumyuktha was trained in Indian classical dance, but mentioned that she hasn't done a lot of it recently because its not very prominent in U.S. colleges. Luckily she still finds time to enjoy it every summer back home. Additionally, she really enjoys event planning and is "seriously considering being a part of the Dartmouth Graduate Student Council."
Dartmouth and the Upper Valley provide Sumyuktha with limitless potential to explore, "the only place I've been to on the East Coast is the New York/New Jersey area." This her first time in New England, so she's hoping that during her time here she can visit the surrounding cities since everything is only a couple hours drive away. Although she doesn't know much about what's in the Upper Valley, "[she's] really looking forward to finding out!" She's also never gone skiing before and is looking forward to learning.
We look forward to seeing you on the slopes this winter Sumyuktha! Welcome to Dartmouth!
