Isabella Phillips has had the opportunity to explore and nurture her interdisciplinary interests as a neuroscience major at Mercer University. The Newnan native is one of three rising seniors awarded the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship this year. The other recipients are Wesley Kinney and Ainsley Westbrook.
Phillips, a member of the Mercer Honors program and Nu Rho Psi honor society, decided on Mercer for her higher education after attending the Presidential Scholars Weekend for prospective students.
“I fell in love with the campus and all the people. Above all, it was also all of the opportunities that they talked about being available to undergrads,” she said. “I was amazed at how easy it was to get involved (in research). At Mercer, you could get in as soon as your freshman year.”
Phillips chose the field of neuroscience because it combined her varied interests, which include psychology, biology and chemistry.
“The neuroscience program at Mercer allows you to explore that. I realized that that interdisciplinary aspect doesn’t end at Mercer. That whole field of neuroscience, that’s what it thrives on. I can see myself in the future being able to easily combine those different aspects of neuroscience into research projects,” she said.
She was able to join the lab of associate professor of physics Dr. Chamaree de Silva her freshman year, an opportunity she doesn’t think she would have had at other universities. For the past three years, she has conducted research related to cells and substrates, the surfaces on which organisms live. Since her sophomore year, she has also worked with Dr. Katie Northcutt, professor of biology and director of the neuroscience program.
“We look at how maternal hyperthyroidism can affect different behaviors, specifically in rodents,” she said. “There’s a higher risk of behavioral developmental disorders happening in children of mothers with hypothyroidism in their pregnancies. We don’t really know why that’s happening, and that’s what our lab is trying to figure out.”
Phillips has participated in two summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates programs. At the University of Nebraska Lincoln, she studied behavioral effects of traumatic brain injuries in a biomedical engineering lab. She also conducted research related to how microglia – immune cells of the central nervous system – affect multiple sclerosis at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
Dr. Northcutt said Phillips has applied what she learned in these summer experiences to her research at Mercer. For instance, she took the lead in incorporating two behavioral tests to analyze rat cognition that she learned at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln into her Mercer laboratory.
“Isabella is a very curious student who is clearly passionate about neuroscience and research,” Dr. Northcutt said. “She asks very good questions and is creative about finding ways to answer them. Isabella is also excellent at talking about her research with others, and her ability to communicate about science to a wide range of audiences is an incredibly valuable skill.”
Phillips is currently the president of the Mercer Neuroscience Organization and the University’s chapter of the American Chemical Society, and she has served as a writing tutor for the Academic Resource Center for the past two years.
“What I’ve loved the most (about Mercer) is the connections that I’ve made,” she said. “You’re not only connected with students and your friends but also with faculty members. It’s really reassuring as a student because you know you can go to them if you have questions not just with coursework but related to your academic career.”
Phillips said her Goldwater Scholarship wouldn’t have been possible without the support of her research mentors and family. The award has helped her to see that she’s on the right career path.
“I feel like everyone always struggles with imposter syndrome, and for me, I’ve found that that’s something that’s really popped up in college. I had this doubt that I wasn’t good enough. Getting this scholarship is this big external reassurance that I am where I’m meant to be, and this is what I’m meant to be doing.”
After graduation, Phillips plans to pursue a Ph.D. in neuroscience. She wants research to be the main focus of her career, but she is also interested in teaching at the collegiate level.
“My end goal, in addition to doing research, is also to help build connections between students and faculty like I’ve experienced here,” she said. They’ve been so helpful in getting me involved in research, and I also want to support other undergrad students that want to get involved as well.”
