The interdisciplinary roots of neuroscience

Maeesha Tasnim Naomi ’24 was looking for a college that offered a great financial aid package, smaller class sizes and the ability to have a good relationship with her professors. Mount Holyoke provided all of Naomi’s needs and more.

“I cannot imagine what my life could have been like without Mount Holyoke,” she said. “Be it academics, internships, extracurricular activities, community, friendships or interests, Mount Holyoke beautifully helped me tie a lot of these things together and become a better and more confident person.”

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Naomi spent her first semester at home in Bangladesh. The time difference forced her to get up at five in the morning. Naomi recalled how understanding her professors were during that stressful time.

“The professors are so accommodating. They understand that you have a life, and things happen,” she said. “They genuinely want you to succeed in the coursework.”

Another defining moment that occurred in Naomi’s first year was her online first-year seminar course, where she was able to bond with other first-year students via Zoom.

“We made a messenger group chat, and we used the chat during class sometimes. I am friends with a lot of them still now,” she said.

Naomi chose neuroscience for her major not only because she wanted to learn more about the brain but also because of the major’s interdisciplinary structure, which allowed her to take courses in chemistry, biology, psychology and math.

Naomi also had the opportunity to study neuroscience in Europe when she studied abroad during her senior year at the Maastricht University’s Center for European Studies in Maastricht, Netherlands.

“I went there under the neuroscience and psychology program, but I genuinely liked taking other kinds of classes as well,” she said. “I took Dutch art history. I also took a class about technological history after World War II.”

Naomi credited her time studying neuroscience in the Netherlands for providing her with better understanding of possible career paths she can pursue. Her time abroad was the first time she had ever traveled solo. Over the course of five months she also traveled to 10 countries, including Norway to meet Quick Style, a Norwegian hip-hop dance group she deeply admires, at their studio in Oslo.

Through a Lynk-funded internship at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and another internship at Boston Children’s Hospital, Naomi shadowed senior postdoctoral fellows in their labs. At the University of Massachusetts, she analyzed neural circuits in the frontal cortex of the brain. At Boston Children’s Hospital, she collected data for analyzing effects of the immune system using techniques such as Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) purification and quantitative PCR (qPCR).

“Because of these internships and my independent research experience, I learned that I want to work in a more clinical setting,” she said.

Naomi’s passion for dance was a major part of her journey at Mount Holyoke. She joined the Raunak Bhangra Dance Team in her sophomore year and has become a co-captain and co-choreographer.

“It was one of the best decisions I made in my life. It's a little bit stressful sometimes, but whenever I choreograph, whenever I'm with my Bhangra team, I absolutely feel all the stress leaving my body because I'm focusing on dance steps only,” she said. “And it's very beautiful to have a community where everyone shares the same kind of energy and passion for dance. Sometimes I post stories on Instagram, and my friends back in Bangladesh are surprised. They never knew I could dance like that.”

Naomi helped to revive the Bangladeshi Association with other Bangladeshi friends from campus. She considers her dance team and the Bangladeshi Association to be family and has also extended her Mount Holyoke family through the connections she has made with other international students.

“The first week I came to college, I was excited, but I was also trying to figure out how to live here,” she said. “I was so fortunate that some other people from Bangladesh also came, and now I have friends from Pakistan, India, Ethiopia, China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Nepal and many other countries. We always sit together when we eat. And I feel like it’s a family dinner, like the American TV shows I used to watch at home.”

Naomi plans to attend medical school and is applying for her Optional Practical Training (OPT) visa.

“I really appreciate how [the Mount Holyoke] community taught me to be unapologetically myself while becoming more aware of different perspectives, and also rediscovering my roots and passions,” she said.