Aliyah Byron chose Muskingum because of the neuroscience program. The neuroscience and psychology double major was the vice president of the Psychology Club and the president of the Creative Writing Club, which she had been a member of since her freshman year.
During the summer of 2014, Aliyah completed a neuroscience internship at the University of Cincinnati. She explains the molecular research opportunity: “I had to cut out neurons and astrocytes (a type of glia/cell in the brain) and then run tests on them to see if a certain protein was more prevalent in one or the other.”
The internship was valuable, but not in the way that Aliyah might have expected – while it was beneficial experience, she realized that a career in research is not for her. At the same time, she gained transferrable skills that will benefit her in the future.