Friends of the CNLM Awards

Purpose and Criteria: These awards are funded by annual contributions from the Friends of the CNLM. The purpose of the awards is to provide financial assistance to students while they perform research in CNLM laboratories over the summer. Awards will be based primarily on evidence of excellence in undergraduate laboratory research and secondarily on academic grades and other activities.
Eligibility: Must be a UCI undergraduate enrolled in undergraduate research over the summer. The undergraduate receiving the award ordinarily must have no other scholarship support and must not be receiving compensation from any other UCI source for their research work in the CNLM laboratory for summer (for example, a summer project already awarded a SURP award is ineligible for the Friends of the CNLM Award).
Awards available: 1 or more $1,000 awards
Requirements: CV/resume (max 2 pages), unofficial transcript, and personal statement addressing research experience, current research project, future research goals, and how the award will be used to support research activities (500 words).

2025

Alexis Madrid
(Advisor: Dr. Javier Diaz Alonso)

Athena Nguyen
(Advisor: Dr. Bryce Mander)

Kyrie Varieur
(Advisor: Dr. Bryce Mander)

Shreeya Walawalkar
(Advisor: Dr. Stephen Mahler)

Michelle Zheng
(Advisor: Dr. Suzanne Bohlson)

Hassan Shaikh
(Advisor: Dr. Marcelo Wood)
"The Weekend Warrior Effect: Consistent intermittent exercise induces persistent cognitive benefits"

Joshua Nguyen
(Advisor: Dr. Michael Yassa)
"Neurofilament light: a marker of neurodegeneration in down syndrome"

Nikhita Kaushik
"Creating a neuroscience community for Southern California high school students"

Brian Gomringer
(Advisor: Dr. Autumn Ivy)
"Does early-life exercise influence the expression of astrocytic aquaporin-4"

Tri Dong
(Advisor: Dr. Marcelo Wood)
"Exercise-induced cognitive benefits are memorized by the brain"

Sharmin Shanur

Her research focuses on the effects of exercise on gene expression.

Caden Henningfield

His research focuses on how exploration of a virtual environment improves hippocampal cognition.

Navid Ghaffari

While at UCI, Navid's research focused on understanding the brains of individuals who can remember details of nearly every day of their lives.