Naomi
Johnson
Hometown: Cary, NC
Major: Neuroscience, with minors in Chemistry and African American and Diaspora Studies
Research Interest: Epilepsy
“My experience with the CSS program has certainly helped shape my appreciation for all of the STEM fields and has helped me to hone my career path a bit; however, it's also expanded my perspective on the many opportunities that I could pursue after undergrad.
WHAT DREW YOU TO THE CSS PROGRAM?
I love the focus that CSS places on increasing diversity in STEM, not only at the undergraduate level but pushing students to pursue graduate level degrees in STEM.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE CSS EXPERIENCE SO FAR?
I love going to the annual back to school banquet because it’s a great opportunity to see everyone and discuss what we’ve all been doing over the summer and what we have planned for the school year.
HOW HAS CSS SHAPED YOUR CAREER GOALS?
My experience with the CSS program has certainly helped shape my appreciation for all of the STEM fields and has helped me to hone my career path a bit; however, it’s also expanded my perspective on the many opportunities that I could pursue after undergrad.
WHAT IS YOUR PRIMARY RESEARCH INTEREST?
I am currently working on a project that studies SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy), specifically looking at where in the genome increases the likelihood for developing SUDEP through flurothyl kindling assays and QTL mapping using R. I am doing this work with the Philpot Lab under principal investigator Ben Philpot.