Hello! I’ve been excited to write this post ever since I completed the PhD application cycle in Spring 2025. When I was applying to graduate school last year, I read countless blog posts and I’ve been eager to give back to the grad application community by blogging about my own experience. My hope is that by sharing my experience with the PhD application process for neuroscience & psychology, I can help you understand what the process looks and feels like and to help you know what to expect, as I know it can seem overwhelming!

I also know having access to sample essays and CVs was a great help to me when applying (I looked at far too many), so I’ve made my materials for Stanford University available here.

I also intend this post to be a living document, so if you have any comments or questions, feel free to send me an email at gebhart[at]stanford.edu and I’ll update accordingly!

A Little Bit About My Background

My research experience in undergrad was pretty nonlinear. I started in physics, then moved to computer science, math, experimental psychology, and finally computational neuroscience. I had several reasons for doing this:

• I thought I wanted to be a doctor until my senior year of highschool, where in a medical internship I discovered I really didn’t like working in medicine. Coming into college, I wanted to try out academic research but didn’t know exactly what I should study. So, I thought I would try out everything that piqued my interest!
• I thought it would be useful to have a broad background to draw from if I ended up wanting to be a researcher.
• My research interests changed over the course of undergrad. I entered wanting to major in math and physics, and eventually dropped the physics for cognitive science. I’ve always been interested in cognition and realized that studying it from a mathematical/physics-informed perspective is pretty cool! But my perspective and interests have shifted a bit from even that.

I had a few areas I would be willing to complete my PhD in which made it both easy and difficult to apply. It maybe could have helped if I waited a year to apply and tried to find a lab to work in for a year post-grad. But at the time, I felt ready and had several reasons for applying immediately after undergrad:

• I love research
• The community
• Opportunities for teaching and mentorship
• Personal motivation to make a research contribution

That being said, before applying I think it’s useful to think about why you want to go to graduate school regardless of your experience. You should not go to graduate school because:

• It’s the next thing to do
• You don’t know what to do after college
• You aren’t resilient or capable of coping with failure

Graduate school is a big commitment, time-wise and life-wise. To relieve the pressure: I’ve also learned that there is no “typical applicant”. The best thing to be is yourself (but professional, of course) and not stick too closely to what other people have done. Because then you won’t be representing yourself and your interests!

Variations in Programs

While PhD programs in Psychology and Neuroscience are pretty similar, the biggest difference often lies in the first year. Broadly, programs tend to be either rotation-based or direct admit.

In a rotation-based program, you spend your first year working in several different labs (usually two to four) before choosing your thesis advisor. This setup allows you to explore a range of research areas, lab environments, and mentorship styles before committing to one for your dissertation work.

In direct-admit programs, you enter the PhD already matched with a specific faculty member and lab. This can be great if you already know exactly what research questions excite you and feel confident in your ability to have a strong working relationship with your potential advisor. However, it also means you’re committed to a topic and PI from day one. If the project, mentoring style, or lab culture isn’t the right fit, it can be hard (but not impossible) to pivot.

A Typical Timeline

Regardless of format, most PhD programs in neuroscience or psychology follow a similar general structure:

Year 1:

• Rotations or a first-year research project
• Coursework (ethics, statistics or quantitative methods, computational modeling, psychology/neuroscience core courses)

Year 2:

• Join a thesis lab
• Take qualifying or candidacy exams (“quals”)
• Develop and defend a dissertation proposal

Years 3 and Beyond:

• Conduct dissertation research
• Write and defend your dissertation

Choosing Between Rotation and Direct Admit

Most programs I applied to were rotation-based, but interestingly, my final decision came down to a rotation and a direct-admit program. I ultimately chose the rotation-based option. For me, it offered flexibility and the chance to find an advisor whose mentoring style and research focus truly aligned with my interests. Many people choose rotation-based programs for that same reason. They don’t want to commit to a lab before getting a sense of how the environment actually feels day to day and whether they have a good dynamic with the PI (principal investigator) of the lab. But others thrive in direct-admit programs because they already have a clear research direction and want to dive in immediately. Ultimately, neither is “better” than the other. It depends on you and your confidence in your research goals and knowledge of what kind of environment you need to be most successful.

Thoughts About the Timeline

PhD applications are a long process. A really long process, in my opinion (and even longer if you’re a big planner!). And there’s a great reason for it - on your end, there’s a lot of decisions to make, materials to prepare, and essays to write and on their end, they need to take the time to choose which of you to interview involving several looks over your applications, big meetings, etc.

I started planning out my applications perhaps a bit too far in advance but this is roughly the process I followed:

December 2023

• Pretty thoroughly researched schools to apply to.
• Made a spreadsheet of 25 or so “top” schools, noting which advisors I’d want to work with at each.

May 2024

• Started asking for letters of recommendation. Maybe too early but I was applying to a lot so wanted to make sure they could be written.
• Narrowed down my list of schools to 15 or so I was really considering. Started looking at application requirements for each school.

July 2024

• Started brainstorming personal statements and writing my first drafts.

August 2024

• Prepping my CV
• And writing applications…

September 2024

• Started showing application drafts to professors, friends, and family to get feedback.

October 2024

• Still writing away…
• Personalizing the draft statements I’d written to individual programs.

November 2024

• Got things ready to submit, including gathering transcripts, etc.

December 2024

• December 1st was my latest deadline. I had everything in before Thanksgiving break so I could focus on finishing the semester strong.
• Started hearing back about interviews in mid-December.

January 2025

• Kept hearing about interviews and rejections
• Had my first few in-person and zoom interviews

February 2025

• More interviews…
• Heard back about more interviews and rejections…
• Started hearing back from graduate schools about interview outcomes

March 2025

• The last interviews…
• And heard back from the last few schools
• Made my decision at the end of the month

April 2025

• April 15th is Decision Day!

Preparing Your Applications!

Recommendations

Strong letters of application make a huge difference in your application. They help the admissions committee see who others think you are as a researcher (in addition to what you’ve self-reported in your application), as well as your potential as a scientist.

Who to Ask?

The strongest letters will usually come from faculty members (with a PhD) who have directly overseen your research. But, letter writers can also include: a course instructor or professor who knows your academic performance and work ethic well, or a post-doc you’ve worked with). It’s generally not recommended to ask graduate students for letters since admissions tend to weigh letters from faculty more heavily.

The importance of choosing a balanced set of recommenders is understated. Ideally, you want your letters of recommendation to support, emphasize, and/or supplement the claims you’ve made in your application (regarding research experience, extracurriculars, academic performance, etc.). Rather than choosing letter writers who all have the same perspective on your work, choose ones (if possible) that can offer different perspectives on you as a scientist.

For example, I chose two of my PIs (one who I had worked with one-on-one for about three years who knew my technical and critical thinking skills well, and one who I had worked in numerous group settings with and who had witnessed more of the mentoring side of my research capabilities) and one professor I’d taken many classes with and TA-ed for twice (she could reflect on my academic performance, enthusiasm for teaching and mentoring, and passion for computational neuroscience).

Ask early (and often)

Professors are balancing research, teaching, maybe multiple letter requests at once. Give them as much time as possible, ideally at least a month before the deadline, and keep in mind earlier is ALWAYS better. When reaching out to professors for a letter, try to ask in person. It makes it easier to discuss details and show that the request matters to you (and it’s harder for them to say no).

Also, it’s always best to make writing you a letter as easy as possible for your recommenders. If you are applying to several programs, I’ve found it helpful to share a short spreadsheet that includes: program names and deadlines, specific guidelines for recommendations, how to submit the letter, and a checkbox for them to click once they’ve submitted the letter (to give you peace of mind). I’ve also found it helpful to send along my CV, a list of significant experiences, accomplishments, and/or interactions you’ve had with your letter writer, and my statements (if they’re done in time, or at least a little outline of what I’m planning to write about).

In addition to this spreadsheet, I often remind my letter writers about a week before each deadline via email and a few days before to the day of the deadline. These reminders often aren’t seen as an annoyance, but are greatly appreciated in my experience.

Transcripts

This one’s simple but important: order your transcripts early.

I ran into a little conundrum where I realized I hadn’t requested my official transcripts from community colleges I attended during high school (containing credits that counted towards my undergraduate degree). But programs required that I submit official transcripts from each institution where you’ve earned credit, even if those credits were later transferred. Don’t be like me. But also don’t panic if you are late on this, most programs mainly want to verify that you’ve completed the coursework you’ve listed, which can be done with just your undergraduate transcript.

Another note: make sure to unencrypt your official transcripts before uploading once you send them to yourself. There are a number of free websites to do this, some of which will watermark your transcript and others which will not. But either can be submitted.

Essays!

The bane of my existence in fall 2024. Just kidding - I actually had a somewhat good time writing these! There are two main types of essays in PhD applications: statements of purpose and personal statements. Some programs also ask for a diversity statement or other short supplemental essays.

Statement of Purpose

The statement of purpose (SOP) is a chance for you to answer:

• Why do you want to do a PhD in Blah discipline?
• Why are you qualified to do this PhD?
• What do you plan to do in the PhD, and specifically, Blah PhD at Snarf University?
• What do you want to do long-term (career plans) and how does Blah PhD at Snarf University align with that?

In this essay, you’re telling the story of who you are as a scientist. There is a general formula for writing this essay that looks something like this:

• 10% Introduction (with a narrative hook about how you got into science, were motivated to pursue a research career or a PhD) and thesis statement (why you? why now? doing what in the proposed program? And why you need a PhD?)
• 60% Research Experience (little summaries of your research experience focusing specifically on how you got involved with the lab you were working in, what questions you were trying to answer, what you contributed to answering those questions, products of the research, and what you learned from it and how to connects to why you want to pursue a PhD now)
• 10% Other Motivations (I included some relevant highlights from a few classes I took and my computational neuroscience TA-ing experience)
• 20% Why Snarf University (focus on why the school you’re applying to is ideal for you to be trained as a scientist, what you can contribute to their community, and who you would want to work with at that university).

Personal Statement

In your personal statement (PS), you are discussing who you are as a person and scientist. It’s a chance for you to answer:

• Who are you as a scientist?
• What is your personal motivation for wanting to do a PhD?
• What has your scientific journey been like?
• Personal motivations? You can think about it as the motivation behind your CV, and can include more experiences and motivations outside of your research than are typically advised in the SOP.

Diversity Statement

Most schools didn’t ask me for a personal statement but for a diversity statement. Diversity can mean a lot of things. It’s not just about identity but also about the perspectives, experiences, and values that you bring to a field. Here are some examples I included:

• Growing up in a rural area with limited access to science programs and taking the initiative to teach myself science.
• Working as a math tutor at a liberal arts college and learning how to find ways to make concepts interesting and accessible to students with distinct backgrounds and learning styles.
• Leading diversity oriented student organizations.
• Advocating for accessibility in research through making my work open-access, promoting ease of understanding in my presentations, etc.

Supplemental Essays

Some programs throw in supplemental essay prompts. It’s helpful to keep a few short anecdotes or stories in your back pocket that you can adapt for different prompts. These stories can often double as great talking points during interviews.

Also - you can repeat your statements for schools! I had the same base paragraphs for 75% of my SOP for almost all schools and swapped out the rest for information specific to each program. At the end of the day, make sure it sounds like you, not anybody else. I think having my voice in my statement helped me out a lot. With that in mind, having family read them or someone who knows you (not just research you, very well) can be helpful.

Submitting Your Applications! And the Waiting Game…

Please, please, please don’t wait until the last second to submit your applications. I made myself finish them all before I left for Thanksgiving break and it was one of the best decisions I made the whole application process. Submitting early let me actually take a break over the break before gearing up for finals (uninterrupted by apps!). Totally up to you, but it may help your peace of mind to know that everything’s in.

Waiting to hear back was definitely the hardest part of the application cycle for me. It’s where you have the least control in the process - the ball is completely in their court. But it’s also time for you to recover or focus on parts of your life other than impending graduate school. Depending on which programs you apply for, the waiting game may be weeks or months long. I heard back about my first interviews two weeks after the application deadline and got my last decision in late March. I personally wish that I would have been more conscious about finding things to focus on other than the decisions.

After Applications…

Prepping for Interviews

Once you get an interview, schools are genuinely interested in you as an applicant. They typically want to take you at this point, but just don’t have the funding (or have too many outstanding applicants) to make the decision without talking to you first. Your job during the interview is to show them who you are as a person (more important than I realized at the time) and have a real science conversation. As long as you don’t truly derail the interview (honestly pretty hard to do), your chances are pretty solid (though acceptance rates post-interview do vary pretty widely by program).

Here are some tips that helped me feel prepared:

• Have a clear, confident 3-5 minute spiel about your research and motivations for doing a PhD. This is often the backbone of interviews and sometimes comprises the entire interview.
• Know your past research inside and out - especially your specific contributions to your project(s). I literally whiteboarded out the details of every project I’d worked on, re-presented old talks and posters to my mirror, and wrote out short summaries of each project. While this may have been overkill, it helped everything feel fresh and made it significantly easier to answer questions about my work during interviews.
• Be ready to talk about ideas you have for your PhD and how they can be implemented at each institution. In interviews, I often found myself tripped up by questions like “so, what’s your dream project?” or “ideally, what would you study in your PhD?”. I’d spent so much time thinking about how to explain my past research that I wasn’t thinking ahead enough about what I wanted to study in the future. I think what interviewers are looking for here is for you to be able to articulate a project that you would be interested in that can be completed with the resources and time available in a PhD.
• Be able to discuss why you applied to the school and why you want to go there specifically. Show that you understand the program, the people, and the research environment. At the end of the day, all interviewees are fantastic researchers, they know this from your applications. Interviewers are looking for who will be the best fit for their program.
• I prepared notes on each interviewer, the school, and my research that I would review before each interview. I get pretty nervous during interviews, so having those notes was a good little safety blanket. But I didn’t find myself reading them too much.
• Take a deep breath. Drink water, sleep, and take some time for yourself too.

Interviews

Interview Formats

Interviews look different for every program. In my case, most were on zoom, only two were in person, and a few overlapped. It seems that zoom interviews have become more common after the pandemic. They’re a great way for the program to cut costs and are often followed by in-person visit days once you’ve been admitted to the school.

Zoom interviews often took one of two formats. Either they were “simulated” interview weekends (all-day zoom interviews, social events, and information sessions for 1-3 days) or just isolated interviews with 3-5 professors/PIs over the course of a week or two. A few tips for these kinds of interviews:

• Send thank you notes! While this is true for in-person interviews as well, I think it is especially useful for virtual interviews since they lend one more insight into you and your character.
• It may be awkward! It’s not you or the interviewer. It’s just zoom…
• Attend the extra events! This may include info sessions, student mixers, and Q&As. Not only will it signal genuine interest in the program (which may be tracked), but it also can help you make your decision later on.

In-person interviews are a whole another ball game. They’re often spread over the course of 2-5 days where you’re flown out to the school, treated to dinners and social events, and engage with faculty and students through 4-8 thirty minute interviews. You’ll often share a hotel room with another student interviewing for your program. The amount of interviews and length of the interview session differs drastically depending on the school. A few tips for these interviews:

• Walk around and get a feel for the campus (and to decompress)
• Mingle with students and faculty! This is beneficial for you and them!
• Pay attention to the vibe. You’ll be spending a number of years here if things go well, trust your intuition on how it feels to be there.

The Interviews, Themselves

Most of my interviews were about thirty minutes long with each professor. They usually started with a simple: “So, tell me about yourself.”

It’s up to you how you construct this important spiel. I would begin with my educational background, then walk through my relevant research projects. Often the conversation would take off from there with many follow up questions from the professor, tangents, and shared excitement. My best interviews were when we both got excited about the same thing and the professor launched into stories for the rest of the interview. This is also somewhat of a technique that you learn along the way, I do highly recommend using it.

Near the end of each interview, they’ll tell you a bit about their own work and ask if you have any questions. I’ll be honest, one of the hardest parts of interviews for me was figuring out what to ask during the question time. I had a few interviewers who hadn’t read my application beforehand (or we didn’t have much overlap in research interests) and suddenly I had thirty whole minutes of questions to fill. I never felt like I had enough questions prepared. But when in doubt, asking about their work always tends to open things up.

I found it helpful to research professors beforehand and their students. They will by default assume you don’t know much about them and explain what their lab does anyways. I would recommend skimming a few papers to set yourself at ease. But at the end of the day, it’s better to connect with your interviewers as people, not just accomplished scientists.

Some common questions I got in addition to “tell me about yourself” include:

• Tell me about your favorite project. What did you like about it? Why was it interesting to you?
• What do you want to do in your PhD?
• PhDs require a lot of resilience. Do you think you can handle it?

And some less common questions that I found harder to answer:

• What’s a paper you read recently that you were like wow… if I could do that in my PhD, that would be awesome?
• Why’d you study math?
• Why’d you go to a liberal arts school?
• Why neuroscience and not something else?

Interviews are a lot socially, mentally, and logistically. Even after zoom interviews, I felt drained and needed to take time to recover afterwards. Try to stay present, pace yourself, and be kind to yourself. The grad school process is a marathon, not a sprint, especially for interviews.

Admitted Student Visits

I think it’s more common now for schools to do admitted student visits after virtual interviews (should you be admitted). These seem like a great idea to me personally; you’re already in the school and can focus on learning about the place, meeting people, and understanding how you might fit in the school.

But, I actually didn’t go to any. By the time the visits rolled around, I already had a good idea of where I wanted to go and it was where I’d already interviewed in-person.

Making Your Decision

Choosing a Program

I said “choosing a program” and not “choosing a school” intentionally. Remember that at the end of the day, you are choosing an advisor which is inside a lab which is inside a graduate program which is inside an institution (and maybe even more layers than that!). There’s a lot that you’re deciding when you pick a grad school but most of your time will be spent inside the lab you end up joining.

Some factors I thought deeply about include:

• Research interest overlap
• Room to explore topics, methods, and labs outside of my initial interests (especially coming directly from undergrad)
• Publishing expectations and culture
• Collaboration between labs
• Ability to teach or TA (important whether or not you think you’ll love it)

That being said, one of the biggest factors in my decision was program location and whether I could live a fulfilling life outside of my research. Even though we’re researchers, we are people at the end of the day. We have interests, passions, and things outside of our academic work that energize us outside of academic work. These things matter a lot more than I initially thought.

For me, being able to spend time outdoors year-round was hugely important. I love:

• The opportunity to research outside (made possible by computational projects).
• Heading outside to hike, run, or bike after long days. This was tricky to do in LA, which made me all the more excited for the possibility in grad school.
• Weekend adventures to keep me sane.
• And I’ll be honest, I’m not a big fan of precipitation.

Other factors I thought about a lot include:

• Work life balance and cultural expectations around work
• Proximity to mountains, the ocean, and trails
• Being close enough to a city for convenience but also able to escape it
• Closeness to family and friends

Unconventional and Not So Unconventional Things That Helped Me

There were a lot of things, some expected and others less so that helped me in the graduate school application process. Here are a few that made a real difference:

Making a “Life Map” I applied to the Knight Hennessy scholarship last year while I was applying to graduate schools. To answer one of the prompts, I made a “life map”. This was essentially a giant diagram where I wrote out all major events, accomplishments, and moments in my life so far and connected them thematically. It ended up being useful far beyond that one essay. It really helped me understand what I care about, how to articulate my life so far, and what directions I want to grow in.

Talking to Mentors about their Application Journeys Hearing how my current professors navigated the process (often decades ago and in wildly different ways) was really helpful. There’s definitely no “right” way to apply to grad school. People are successful with wildly different strategies. It definitely pays to be yourself though.

Mental Health Support This is not glamorous, but was essential. Having my routines, friends to talk to, and trying to focus on enjoying my last semester of college kept me from burning out. Graduate applications are stressful and so is beginning graduate school. Taking care of your mental health is an understated form of preparation.

Exploring a Lot of Research Directions in Undergrad Testing out a lot of areas in undergrad helped me understand what I actually enjoy rather than what I thought I’d enjoy. It made it easier for me to articulate my interests to program and explain why I was interested in them. That being said, I’m still figuring it out.

Talking to People (a Lot of People) I reached out really widely to talk about the graduate admissions process. Especially as a pretty reserved person, this was hugely helpful in calming my anxieties, knowing what to expect, and getting excited.

Applying Widely to REUs, Grants and Other Opportunities I applied to a lot of programs in undergrad. I look back at a lot of my earlier essays and cringe… a lot. But each one I did helped me to better write about my research experience, present ideas, and pitch myself. It definitely helped me feel more confident when it came time to apply to graduate school.

Reading Papers Not unconventional, but the best thing you can do is read, read, read, read. Reading widely helped me with everything: interviews, statements, research ideas, and my understanding of where the field is heading.

Q&A

1. Should I reach out to professors/PIs beforehand?

Some say yes, some say no. I say yes.

Reaching out was incredibly helpful for me. For each program, I reached out to 1-3 professors whose work I was really excited about and asked if they were taking students this next year. Most of them responded and I even got to zoom with a few of them! Reaching out gave me a good sense of who might be interested in my work, got me more comfortable with having research-based discussions with potential PIs, and opened doors (through name recognition) that I don’t think would have been opened otherwise.

2. Should anyone read my application materials?

Wholeheartedly yes. Have people from different parts of your life read them. I had my family, a few college friends, and a research mentor read and help me edit my essays. It made a huge difference.

3. To Reddit or not to Reddit?

Up to you. I chose to reddit. I regret it and I don’t. (Almost) every year an open access spreadsheet where students check off whether they’ve heard about interviews, acceptances, and rejections is posted to reddit. I also found sheets from previous cycles when I was applying.

It was helpful to know when to stop hoping to hear back from a program. But, the sheet is sometimes wrong (i.e. people make an error, misclick, etc.). I personally think it caused me a lot of unnecessary anxiety. If you’re prone to stress, anxiety, or overthinking, I would avoid it.

4. How do I know if I’m ready to apply?

Try thinking about some of these: do I have enough experience, enthusiasm and motivation to convince programs that I’m ready to start graduate school now in my essays? What about interviews? Can I define my interests well enough to have a sense of direction once I enter a PhD program? Do I feel like I would be ready to start a PhD with the skills I currently have (there aren’t more skills I would want to acquire before starting a PhD)?

If the answer to most of these questions is Yes!, I would encourage you to apply. If you feel like you don’t have enough experience, it’s completely okay to spend a year or two doing research first. Many people take this path and they often have a much clearer sense of direction than those of us that came directly from undergrad. It can both make your application stronger and help you confirm that a research career is right for you.

5. As an undergrad, how can I increase my chances of getting into graduate school?

Follow your gut. But if you can’t quite find it yet, these might help:

• Attend and present at conferences
• Cold email professors
• Do informational interviews with people
• Research. Research. Research.

Your goal in undergrad should be to explore, learn, and figure out what you enjoy doing, whether it’s research or not (in my opinion).

6. How many schools should I apply to?

Depends on your confidence level. I knew people that applied to over twenty, and others that applied to two. If you have a connection somewhere, that definitely helps and maybe you can apply to fewer, but I would caution against applying to too many because then you might not have the bandwidth to personalize your application to each program.

Personally, I applied to nine programs, and added two of those in the last month before applications were due. But the thing is, I wasn’t as excited about those last two programs and it showed in my applications.

In general, I think how many programs you apply to comes down to both how confident you feel about your application and which programs you feel like you could imagine yourself actually accepting to and attending if you were to get in (there’s no point in paying the crazy application fee if it’s not a great fit for you and you wouldn’t want to go if you were accepted).

That being said, having safeties isn’t a bad idea in general, but only if you actually want to go to the program. In my opinion it’s not worth applying if you feel like you’ll be miserable there.

7. Can I discuss mental health struggles in my essays?

I know some people that mentioned mental health challenges in their essays and were successful. I didn’t but I definitely could have. I discussed other personal challenges, like my father’s battle with brain cancer but only briefly as part of my motivation for trying research in undergrad and wanting to pursue a research career afterwards.

I think the key here is not making your mental health struggles the focus of your application. Don’t linger on them for longer than 2-3 sentences and frame them as a critical part of your motivation for doing research and/or graduate school. But I’m sure other approaches work as well. I’d be eager to hear what others think.

8. Any other advice?

Not to be cheesy, but: Take risks. Try new things. Don’t let the fear of failure prevent you from putting yourself out there. Do what you enjoy! Don’t just do things because others are doing them. Or you think everybody else is doing them. Take the long shot. Make impulsive decisions if they feel right to you. And chase what excites you!

Other Resources

• Admissions Q&As at Graduate School Programs
• Lucy Lai’s PhD Applications Post
• Kenji Lee’s PhD Applications Post
• Stanford’s Application Assistance Program
• Reddit… always

Acknowledgements

Huge thanks to Dr. Justin Li for reading countless drafts of my application statements and advising me on life as a researcher!

Thanks as well to all of my other mentors, inside and outside of research: Dr. Dan Snowden-Ifft, Dr. Carmel Levitan, Dr. Aysha Motala, Dr. Stephanie Nelli, Dr. John Kolassa, Dr. Satish Nair, and Walt Omelyusik MS. I am grateful for your guidance and all that I’ve learned from each and every one of you!