Five Picower students honored as ‘Graduate Women of Excellence’

As mentors, advocates, community builders, educators, and leaders, five students from Picower Institute labs were honored April 29 for looking beyond themselves and their research to support people around them.

Nicole Aponte Santiago, Scarlett Barker, Karen Guadalupe Cruz, Karen Cunningham and Joyce Wang were among 50 “Graduate Women of Excellence” recognized by the MIT Office of Graduate education in a ceremony held only every other year.

Cunningham, who in the lab of Troy Littleton studies how the strength of neural connections called synapses varies, is a graduate resident advisor in the undergraduate MacGregor House dorm. In that role, she is an embedded mentor for 45 younger students.

“I enjoy mentoring students and I love being part of the community,” she said. “It’s important to me to contribute to my community in ways other than scientifically.”

Karen Cunningham speaks with Troy LIttleton and her husband — Karen Cunningham and husband Steve talk with Professor Troy Littleton

In the lab of Mark Bear, Wang works to uncover the mechanisms underlying learning and memory by studying how the brain processes vision. But as she strives to improve the field’s understanding, she also teaches local K-12 students about neuroscience as a way of “giving back to the world.”

“I get to teach them about optogenetics for the first time, I get to teach them about what memory formation is like in the brain – blow their minds, basically,” Wang said. “A lot of K-12 kids don’t get exposed to neuroscience at all.”

Karen Guadalupe Cruz, the first in her family to be born in the U.S. and to graduate from college, works in the lab of Mriganka Sur to study the neuroscience of decision-making. But ever-mindful of support she has received in what she calls a “bit of a long-shot” journey to pursuing a PhD at MIT, she advocates within MIT and in Cambridge to build a more inclusive and supportive community for LGBT+ and minority students and residents.

“As a marginalized person across several axes, I’m well aware of how difficult the graduate school environment can be for many communities,” she said.

To be honored, each student had to be nominated. Above the bustling crowd at the ceremony, where attendees had the chance to visit with each honoree at a biographical poster, quotes from each nomination graced a large screen for all to see.

“Scarlett is a deeply caring mentor,” read the testimonial about Barker, whose research in the lab of Li-Huei Tsai investigates how some people remain cognitively resilient, even amid adversity such as Alzheimer’s disease pathology. “She is able to inspire urgency, creativity, excitement and collaboration. She is an inspiring scientist, leader and friend.”

Joyce Wang smiles as she stands next to her poster — Joyce Wang

Santiago, a member of the Littleton lab who studies how neurons that connect to the same cells interact to strengthen or weaken circuit connections, earned similarly high praise from her nominator: “Apart from being hardworking, committed and highly excited about her research, she has also strived to help and inspire others who are pursuing or thinking about pursuing research. Nicole represents the best example of a graduate woman of excellence.”

In her remarks, MIT Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Education Blanche Staton made clear that while students deserve to be recognized for their academic achievements, those who also strive to improve the lives of others achieve an additional dimension of esteem.

“Our honorees represent the best of MIT,” she said. “They are part of a rich legacy of distinguished scholarship and they lead in advancing a respectful and caring community.”