Impact: Research at Brown
Immersive Research
Undergraduates develop skills through summer internship and fellowship programs
Brown-lifespan center for digital health ultra award
Devon Newman ’25 received a Brown Undergraduate Teaching and Research Award (UTRA) to work with Megan Ranney, MD, former deputy dean of Brown’s School of Public Health and founding director of the BrownLifespan Center for Digital Health, on two projects. The first tested a digital intervention to reduce intentional firearm injury among teens, and the second evaluated a text-based intervention to reduce depressive symptoms and peer conflict in at-risk adolescents. A public health major planning to pursue a career in medicine, Newman said that the research “fits in really well with my major and my interests, especially the gun violence study, because a lot of the sites where we’re doing the study are rural areas, and I’m very interested in rural public health as I come from a town of about 5,000.” He continued this research project for an independent study credit.
National center for health statistics fellowship
John Lin ’23 completed a research fellowship at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, where he conducted epidemiologic research—analyzing national data on food insecurity and adult allergies as well as leading a preliminary analysis of the new National Health Interview Survey for teenagers—to inform CDC policies. “My fellowship was such an important learning experience because I got to see a more public role for research. In the future, I hope to continue working with the government and academic institutions like Brown.” Lin has continued his research with long-time mentor Paul Greenberg, MD, Brown professor of surgery, at the Providence VA Medical Center on medical education, health policy, and ophthalmology.
Caltech wave fellowship
Sultan Daniels ’23 participated in a WAVE Fellowship at the California Institute of Technology, where he worked with a postdoctoral researcher to conduct information theory research in the electrical engineering department. His project involved developing the proof for a scheme that achieves the fastest theoretical rate at which data could be reliably transmitted by a Gaussian network channel. “The biggest thing that this research project gave me was the chance to put faces to the names in the field. I enjoyed speaking with the other students interested in information theory to brainstorm together or hear about their aspirations. I also enjoyed talking with the professor and the postdoc, as they were always able to point me to interesting papers or other insights,” Sultan said. He is applying to PhD programs with the goal of continuing to pursue research in information theory.
Duke University Amgen Scholars Program
Yannie Lam ’23 conducted pharmacology research as part of the Amgen Scholars Program, administered through the Office of Biomedical Graduate Education in the School of Medicine at Duke University. In addition to working in a lab, she attended weekly lectures given by researchers, spoke with current PhD students, and presented her research to other students and faculty at the Amgen Scholars North America Symposium at the University of California, Los Angeles. “The program made me want to pursue a PhD. I’d never done biochemical research before, so this was a really good lab environment where I got to try something new. I realized that I’m really interested in translational research where you figure out how to solve problems related to human disease.”