Post-Grad Plans, featuring Asha Y. Caslin

Article Originally posted on 3/23/2018 here.

"I am fascinated by the mind and the brain. I also love the beauty of conducting research. I hope to contribute new knowledge to the science community and the world at large. I am particularly interested in social bonds and how a particular chemical balance can invoke feelings of closeness, or even love. I also think educating the public about neuroscience and science in general is important to the success of the field, especially since every single person is affected by what we learn about ourselves. I also want to continue to engage in the philosophical debates surrounding neuroscience, those of ethics, consciousness, the self, and the mind." A 2013 Norfolk Southern Scholarship winner, Asha Caslin majored in neuroscience and behavioral biology and philosophy at Emory University . Currently serving in the Peace Corps in Liberia, Asha hopes to eventually attend graduate school to study neuroscience.

Asha's experiences throughout college pushed her towards academia and research institutions. She explains: "I participated in summer research programs every summer of college. One was the Institute on Neuroscience, held at my home institution the summer before starting freshman year. I was able to work in the Yu and Wei Lab and continued working as a work-study student until the start of my junior year. While in this lab, I was able to work on my own independent research projects and was an author on two papers. I also participated in HHMIEXROP (Howard Hughes Medical Institute Exceptional Research Opportunities Program) at Columbia University the summer before my junior year, working under Dr. Eric Kandel, a Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist renowned for his work on memory in Aplysia snails. Junior year, I joined the Young Lab at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center to conduct research on the neurobiology of monogamous bonding prairie voles. I stayed with this lab until graduation, conducting my own independent research project my senior year. I studied abroad at St. Andrews University in Scotland the spring of my junior year and took classes focused on biology, psychology, and philosophy. This experience sparked a strong interest in the philosophy of the mind, and the summer before senior year, I received a summer research grant to conduct neuroethics research exploring the intersection of personhood, neuroscience, and race at Emory University. Overall, these research experiences geared me towards a deep appreciation and love for academia and research institutions."