SOAR Member Profiles

Emily Olson

• SOAR Position: STEM Peer Mentor Scholar (2025-2026), Member
• Major: Biochemistry and Physics
• Faculty Mentor(s): Dr. Katy Hosbein, Dr. Michal Zochowski (UM REU), Dr. Daniel Erenso

Current Focus: Memory Consolidation in Rats during Sleep

Additional Interests: Science Education, Playing the oboe

Project Description

While a rat runs through a maze, specific neurons are activated while the rat passes through different parts of the maze; these activations are called place fields. During NREM sleep, these place fields are reactivated in short wave ripples (SWR) in the hippocampus. My project studies the linking of these place fields to SWR in both sleep deprived rats and non-sleep deprived rats and hopes to show why sleep deprivation causes animals to forget experiences.

Why does this topic interest you?

I am especially interested in researching how the brain functions from a physics perspective as it connects many of my interests, neuroscience, chemistry, and physics. From a practical standpoint, sleep deprivation causes memories not to be stored, so it is interesting to see how this works from an experimental perspective.

What are your professional aspirations?

After graduating, I plan on getting my PhD in biophysics, specifically in experimental neurobiophysics. Ultimately, I want to become a professor and help mentor the next generation of scientists.

Do you have any advice for future researchers?

Don’t be afraid to try new things or switch projects/entire areas of research. I have been involved in multiple projects which has helped me realize what I am most passionate about. You don’t need to know much about your topic starting out, just be willing to learn and try new things.

Return to Listing