Meet the Scholars

Laura Blank

Hometown: Sunrise, Florida
Major: Human Resource Management and Psychology
Minor: Economics
Career Goals: Industrial-organizational psychology, or professor within the field of organizational behavior
Research_interests: My research interests include social psychology, especially pertaining to group dynamics and productivity, and industrial-organizational psychology.                
Community Involvement: Habitat for Humanity board member; Academic Recruitment Organization; Honors Delegates; University Ambassadors               
Last Book, Show, or Movie: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
Favorite Meal: Mac and cheese

William Boose

Hometown: Naples, Florida
Major: History
Minor: Spanish
Career Goals: State Department or professor of history
Research_interests: My research interests include colonial Latin America, William Walker, and folklore.                
Community Involvement: Academic Recruitment Organization, Founder and President; Honors Delegates; Undergraduate History Student Association, Vice President; intramural sports: flag football, basketball, sand volleyball, kickball, dodgeball, frisbee   
Last Book, Show, or Movie: The Wheel of Time series by James Oliver Rigney Jr.
Favorite Meal: Olive Garden with Insomnia Cookies for desert

Aleyna Brown

Hometown: Draper, Virginia
Major: Flute Performance and Music Composition
Minor: Film Studies
Career Goals: Composer and Performer in international film orchestras; teacher of english as a foreign language    
Research_interests: My research interests include performance, pedagogy, musicology, ethnomusicology, and film scoring throughout history.  
Community Involvement: Academic Recruitment Organization Member; Flute Association; FSU Fundraising Chair        
Last Book, Show, or Movie: Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
Favorite Meal: Smoothie

Siera Condon

Hometown: Fort Myers, Florida
Major: Music Therapy
Minor: Psychology and French
Career Goals: Music therapist in a hospital's NICU
Research_interests: My research interests include music therapy applications, neuroscience, and developmental disorders.                
Community Involvement: Sigma Alpha Iota; Board of Advisors for the College of Music; Alpha Mu Music Therapy Organization                
Last Book, Show, or Movie: The Lucifer Effect by Philip Zimbardo
Favorite Meal: Chicken tikka masala and Darjeeling tea

Taylor Davis

Hometown: Navarre, Florida
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Minor:
Career Goals: To help people, particularly with environmental causes or the needs of developing countries
Research_interests: My research interests include sustainability and appropriate technology.                
Community Involvement: Wesley Foundation; EcoReps; Tau Beta Pi Honor Society            
Last Book, Show, or Movie: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Favorite Meal: 4 Rivers BBQ

Taylor Foor

Hometown: Huntsville, Alabama
Major: Applied Math and Actuarial Science
Minor: Meteorology and Business
Career Goals: Actuary or other business profession
Research_interests: I am researching data sources for use in HWind Scientific's hurricane analyses.                 
Community Involvement: UROP Colloquium leader, Academic Recruitment Organization, Future Seminole Actuaries, Garnet and Gold Scholar Society
Last Book, Show, or Movie: The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks
Favorite Meal: My mom's homemade enchiladas. 

Jorge Gonazalez

Hometown: Miami, Florida
Major: Computer Science
Minor: Mathematics
Career Goals: Software Engineer  
Research_interests: I am a research assistant at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory working with uranium crystal growth and optimization.                 
Community Involvement: Association for Computing Machinery; Hillel                
Last Book, Show, or Movie: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Favorite Meal: Pizza

Shannon Hodgon

Hometown: Athens, Georgia
Major: Communication Science and Disorders
Minor: Spanish and Business
Career Goals: Pediatric speech language pathologist
Research_interests: Research with the School of Communication Science and Disorders related to motor speech function.
Community Involvement: Women in Business logistics assistant; Academic Recruitment Organization; FSU CRU legacy group; Seminole Tap Tribe; NSSLHA
Last Book, Show, or Movie: Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Favorite Meal: BBQ

Julia Jensen

Hometown: Clemson, South Carolina
Major: Political Science
Minor:
Career Goals: Work with NGO's to provide better aid programs to internally displaced persons and persons living in refugee camps
Research_interests: Finding out how effective international and domestic aid organisations are in reaching target populations in Myanmar.
Community Involvement: Honors Student Association Vice President, Tallahassee Community Chorus, Guardian ad Litem, Requiem of Defiance Chorus, English Language Conversation Partner 
Last Book, Show, or Movie: Yes Minister by Jonathan Lynn
Favorite Meal: Tom Yam soup and taro bubble tea

Taylor Merritt

Hometown: Pensacola, Florida
Major: Biology
Minor: Psychology and Chemistry
Career Goals: Primary care physician
Research_interests: I am interested in all biological, chemical, and psychological research that is focused on improving the quality of life and medical care for the overall population.                  
Community Involvement: Presidential Scholar Executive Leadership Council Secretary; Honors Medical Scholars Program; Undergraduate Research Ambassadors; American Medical Student Association; Academic Recruitment Organization
Last Book, Show, or Movie: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Favorite Meal: Chocolate fondue, or chocolate anything for that matter!

Ben Pifer

Hometown: Toledo, Ohio
Major: Biology
Minor: Chemistry
Career Goals: Medicine, specializing in pathology
Research_interests: My research interests include virology, toxicology, pathology, and immunology.                
Community Involvement: FSU Quidditch; Campus Orchestra; Academic Recruitment Organization Chair; UROP leader; Tri-Beta Honors Biological Research Fraternity
Last Book, Show, or Movie: Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
Favorite Meal: Chipotle

Olivia Rose

Hometown: Sarasota, Florida
Major: Psychology
Minor: Biology, Chemistry, and English
Career Goals: Neurological researcher and university professor
Research_interests: My research interests fall within the neurobiological underpinnings of disordered movement, with a primary focus on Tourette's syndrome.  Within this scope, I use neuroimaging techniques to gather data about abnormalities in oscillatory activity (patterns of neuronal firing) and sensory gating deficits; I also utilize neurostimulation techniques, such as transcranial alternating current stimulation, to directly manipulate neural oscillations.  Additional areas of interest include neuropharmacol
Community Involvement: UROP Leader; FSU yoga; Phi Beta Kappa; Garnet and Gold Scholar Society; Honors Peer Mentor
Last Book, Show, or Movie: No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre
Favorite Meal:  Shakshuka (a Middle Eastern dish of eggs poached in spiced tomatoes, peppers, and onions)

Sophie Rottenberg

Hometown: Tampa, Florida
Major: Biology and International Affairs
Minor: Chemistry and Spanish
Career Goals: International trauma surgeon
Research_interests: I research oxytocin receptors in brain and behavior development in the Neuroscience Department under Dr. Elizabeth Hammock.                 
Community Involvement: Honors Student Association VP of Executive Affairs; UROP Leader; Presidential Scholar Executive Leadership Council Social Chair; Omicron Delta Kappa Honors Fraternity; Colloquium Leader for the Honors College; VP of the Academic Recruitment Organization; Garnet and Gold Scholar Society                
Last Book, Show, or Movie: The Circle by Dave Eggers
Favorite Meal: Seaweed salad and panang curry

Leah Rumancik

Hometown: Fort Wayne, Indiana
Major: Actuarial Science and Statistics
Minor: Business and Italian Studies
Career Goals: Work for a property and casualty actuarial consulting firm
Research_interests: I am interested in the science of dreaming.                
Community Involvement: Future Seminole Actuaries Society; Kiteboarding Club treasurer; Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society   
Last Book, Show, or Movie: Il Bar Sotto Il Mare by Stefano Benini
Favorite Meal: Salmon and crab pinwheels from Publix

Amanda Schell

Hometown: Lakeland, Florida
Major: Statistics and International Affairs
Minor: Economics, Urban and Regional Planning, and Math
Career Goals: Statistician in the federal government
Research_interests: My research interests include statistics, criminology, and psychology.                
Community Involvement: Omicron Delta Kappa Honors Fraternity; Garnet and Gold Scholar Society; Presidential Scholar Executive Leadership Council Chair; Honors Colloquium Leader; Academic Recruitment Organization Treasurer; Reformed University Fellowship small group leader; intramural sports    
Last Book, Show, or Movie: The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail - but Some Don't by Nate Silver
Favorite Meal: Chick-fil-A fries, plain Wendy's baconator, Cherry Dr. Pepper, and vanilla cake with buttercream icing

Gregory Seel

Hometown: Winter Park, Florida
Major: Electrical Engineering
Minor: Physics, Mathematics
Career Goals: Pursue my musical passions through my engineering passions, Amplifier Circuits.
Research_interests: My research interests include acoustics, wave phenomena, astrophysics, quantum theory, particle physics, and education.                
Community Involvement: Presbyterian University Center; Campus Blues Band                
Last Book, Show, or Movie: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Favorite Meal: My own endlessly vile cooking

Jordan Singletary

Hometown: Tampa, Florida
Major: International Affairs and Environmental Science
Minor:
Career Goals: Marine biologist conducting environmental research 
Research_interests: I am volunteering with the FSU Coastal and Marine lab with the hope of working on one of their research projects to gain hands-on experience in the marine biology field.      
Community Involvement: Undergraduate Research Ambassador; Delta Zeta Sorority; Delta Zeta Academic Executive position; Honors Representative for NextGen Climate                
Last Book, Show, or Movie: Emma by Jane Austen
Favorite Meal: A GIANT flan

Lindsey Stawowy

Hometown: Cedar Park, Texas
Major: Biology and Environmental Chemistry
Minor: Mathematics
Career Goals: Pursue a career in environmental chemistry or biology
Research_interests: My research interest is in ecology.                
Community Involvement: Alpha Chi Sigma fraternity; 2016 Global Scholars Ambassador; 2016 Honors Colloquium Leader; Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society; intramural sports
Last Book, Show, or Movie: Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari
Favorite Meal: Chicken and waffles

Sarah Wagler

Hometown: Sarasota, Florida
Major: Chemical Engineering
Minor: Spanish
Career Goals: Chemical engineer focused on developing medicines or working in a Third World country
Research_interests: My research interest centers around the development of new drugs.                
Community Involvement: American Institute for Chemical Engineers; Marching Chiefs 
Last Book, Show, or Movie: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Favorite Meal:

Austin Westergom

Hometown: Sebring, Florida
Major: Economics
Minor: Entrepreneurship
Career Goals: Consultant
Research_interests: My research interests include sports and economics.                
Community Involvement: ATΩ; FSU Homecoming Representative
Last Book, Show, or Movie: Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Favorite Meal: Breakfast for dinner