LEARN celebrates more than 20 years of neuroscience mentorship

2024 LEARN Scholar Lauren Stewart ’25 is participating in the first longitudinal study on brain aging in Panama at INDICASAT-AIP, Panama City.

By Margaret Wilson

The LEARN program is a perfect example of the domino effect that mentorship can create. Over 20 years after its initiation, the neuroscience research program connecting Lafayette students with alumni researchers for the summer continues to create new generations of scholars and leaders.

Spearheaded by Wendy Hill, Rappolt Professor Emeritus of Neuroscience and director of Hanson Center for Inclusive STEM Education, Elaine Reynolds, professor of biology and neuroscience, and a network of faculty and staff, LEARN was conceived of as part of an institutional grant proposal and was initiated in 2002.

“We were looking for ways to expand the research opportunities for our students and were aware of the many successful Lafayette alumni who were teacher-scholars at prestigious academic institutions across the country,” Hill says. “This led to the idea of a summer program where students would be in residence at locations around the United States and conduct research with alumni.”

The program eventually found funding from the McCutchen Foundation. Over 20 years later, LEARN, which stands for LafayettE Alumni Research Network, is still going strong, matching current neuroscience students with alumni at institutions across the world. Students accepted to LEARN receive transportation and housing, as well as a stipend.

To Hill, the concept of LEARN was predicated on a dual benefit model.

“Students would gain mentorship from outstanding scholars who … had deep and abiding connections to Lafayette, and alumni could give back by sharing their expertise with our amazing students,” Hill says. “We also knew that undergraduate applicants with research experience, both at their alma mater and beyond, have a significant advantage when applying to graduate schools in the sciences.”

Lauren Stewart ’25 was placed with former Lafayette professor Gabrielle Britton, Ph.D. and her team as the 2024 LEARN Scholar at INDICASAT-AIP, Panama City.

Some mentors, including Kevin LaBar ’90, Ph.D., from Duke University and James Simmons ’65, Ph.D., of Brown University, have welcomed students repeatedly, with Simmons hosting a student every year since the program’s inception until his retirement this year. This commitment to fostering the next generation of neuroscientists is part of what makes the program so successful.

“The mentors really do it because they want to support the program,” says Prof. Luis Schettino, associate professor of psychology and current chair of the neuroscience program. For Schettino, the program stands out, both in its longevity and in its approach to cross-generational Lafayette connections.

“[The students] are working with somebody who comes from Lafayette, who they can relate and talk to about their own experiences,” Schettino says. “In any situation, that already creates bonds—and our students really have formed bonds with their mentors. They keep in touch with many of them.”

Both Hill and Schettino credit the people of the neuroscience program, especially former chairs such as Lisa Gabel, dean of natural sciences, James Dearworth Jr., professor of biology, and Elaine Reynolds, professor of biology and neuroscience, with making LEARN as successful and expansive as it has been for over two decades.

“The [former] chairs of neuroscience have been very good at networking and finding graduates who might be interested, who remember the work that we did with them,” Schettino says. “[They remember] the mentorship we applied with them, so they want to give that back.”

This pay-it-forward model, as well as participants’ positive experiences, has helped the LEARN program flourish.

“We find that our students who go through this program really profit from the experience,” Schettino says. “They encourage other people the following years to go and do it. [For some,] it was a critical time in their lives, where they really decided, ‘Yes, this is what I want to do.’”

For Hill, the legacy of the LEARN program can’t be understated. Both at its beginning and today, LEARN has consistently launched students’ careers, deepened the College’s ties with alumni, and significantly contributed to the field of neuroscience.

“The impacts of the program have been numerous and deep, and they have left a lasting, personal mark on all of those who have been involved in LEARN,” Hill says. “Our Lafayette community of neuroscience scholars has grown stronger and more interconnected, fostering a sense of camaraderie and collaboration that continues to thrive.”