Honors Student Alan Emanuel Receives Prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
PULLMAN, Wash.—Alan Emanuel, a Washington State University neuroscience and Honors College student who graduated May 8, won a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. He is the second neuroscience undergraduate to win this award.
The National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) is the oldest graduate fellowship that supports graduate students in various science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines, beginning in 1951. This prestigious award helps outstanding graduate students to become life-long leaders that contribute significantly to both scientific innovation and teaching. The NSF believes that these recipients are crucial to maintaining and advancing the nation’s technological infrastructure and contributing to the economic well-being of society at large.
Fellows receive a three-year annual stipend of $30,000, a one-time international travel allowance, and the freedom to conduct their own research at any accredited U.S. or foreign institution of graduate education they choose. Emanuel is headed to Harvard University where he plans to pursue a doctorate in neuroscience.
Emanuel came to WSU after completing an International Baccalaureate program at Lakewood Senior High School in Lakewood, Colorado. As a freshman, he took advanced courses and participated in the WSU Wind Symphony and other musical groups. He also began undergraduate research in Sue Ritter’s laboratory.
“Alan identified his interests early in his academic career. Because of this, he was able to work all four years with me. He had time not only to learn research skills, but to complete a substantial research project,” says Ritter, a professor in the department of Veterinary and Comparative Anatomy, Pharmacology, and Physiology (VCAPP). Emanuel approached Ritter about joining her lab after listening to her research presentation in his freshman introductory neuroscience class.
His first research project in Ritter’s lab was to examine in a novel way the manner in which body fat stores alter behavioral responses to metabolic signals that stimulate food intake. The results of this investigation were published, with Emanuel as a co-author.
Once he obtained the basic laboratory techniques and principles, Emanuel began his own research project. His undergraduate research and Honors Thesis project examined the functions of catecholamine neurons in the brain. Catecholamines are neurotransmitters that are released from hindbrain neurons and are involved in a number of important physiological functions. During his research, Emanuel discovered a subgroup of these neurons that inhibit the secretion of growth hormone from the pituitary gland. Growth hormone is important in stimulating growth in nearly all tissues in the body. In short, he has found a new mechanism that the brain uses to control the secretion of growth hormone.
“He is a very remarkable student,” Ritter says with a big smile. “He is self-motivated, works hard, and always has a vision for both himself and his research. I enjoyed working with him and learned a lot from his excellent scholarship. What could be better? Watching him progress over these last four years was very inspiring to me.”
Emanuel has been a member of the National Honors Society, the Tri-M Music Honor Society, and vice president and president of the Neuroscience Club. He involved the club in the opening of the Brain Power Exhibit at the Palouse Discovery Science Center in a Pullman business park and developed an elementary school outreach program which involved members of the clubs giving presentations about the brain.
He graduated summa cum laude and was featured as a Veterinary Medicine and Honors College Highlight student for the WSU Spring 2010 Commencement.
CONTACT: Merik Metos, Communications Assistant, WSU University College, 509-335-8070, mmetos@vetmed.wsu.edu