Page 16 - Abacoa Community News - July '23

Page 16, Abacoa
scieNce oN the cuttiNg edge

MPFI Researcher Receives contributing factors to her success. With this award, she The students are the latest group to benefit from
Prominent Award To Launch will continue to have financial support to take risks and a partnership between FAU High and Max Planck
Academy, one of the world’s leading scientific research
pursue cutting-edge science. “The generous support of the
New Lab Freeman Hrabowski Fellowship enables me to continue institutions.

pursuing curiosity-driven discovery at the highest level
During the symposium, seniors shared posters and
The Max and also creates opportunities for other scientists to oral presentations of their research. An awards ceremony
Planck Florida explore their questions about the brain. I am excited to see followed to highlight their achievements, including:
Institute for what we can accomplish with this incredible opportunity.” • More than $10,000 in grant funding to support their
Ne u rosc i e n c e research
(MPFI) announces that Senior Research Symposium • Several presentations delivered at university, state,
Dr. Madineh Sarvestani Spotlights FAU High School and national conferences
has been named a Freeman A Foundation For Scientific Excellence
Hrabowski Scholar by the Students’ Science At Max “These students have immersed themselves in cutting-
Howard Hughes Medical edge research projects and have worked tirelessly to
Institute. The award Planck Florida Institute (MPFI) develop innovative approaches to studying everything
provides up to $8.6 million from our coastal ecosystems to the anatomy and
for five to 10 years to Twenty-two remarkable students from Florida physiology of the nervous system,” said David Fitzpatrick,
support outstanding early- Atlantic University High School – Jupiter Campus were Ph.D., chief scientific director and CEO of MPFI.
career faculty members recognized for extraordinary academic achievements at About The Max Planck Florida Institute For
who have strong potential the Senior Research Symposium held on April 25 at the Neuroscience
to become leaders in Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience. The Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience
the field and who are (MPFI), a not-for-profit research
committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion organization, is part of the world-
in science through their mentorship of trainees from renowned Max Planck Society,
populations underrepresented in U.S. science. Germany’s most successful research
Sarvestani, who has been conducting research at organization, with over 80 institutes
MPFI as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. David worldwide. Since its establishment, 30
Fitzpatrick, will launch her independent career as an Nobel laureates have emerged from the
assistant professor of neurobiology and behavior at ranks of its scientists, including five
Cornell University this summer. The focus of her research in the last three years alone. As its
will expand on her work at MPFI, which discovered new first United States institution, MPFI
principles of how the neural circuits that process vision provides exceptional neuroscientists
are organized. The Dr. Sarvestani Lab will explore how from around the world with the
the brain transforms light entering our eyes into visual resources and technology to answer
experience and, in particular, how this processing is fundamental questions about brain
shaped by how we move through our environment. development and function. MPFI
“We use body movements to extract more information researchers employ a curiosity-driven
from the world and to test initial guesses about what approach to science to develop new
we think we see or hear. This means that the brain and technologies that make groundbreaking
body work together to produce our reality,” Sarvestani scientific discoveries possible.
explains. “But we’re just starting to explore how this
actually occurs. In my lab, we’ll combine the diversity Science On The Cutting Edge
of brains, bodies, and environments that exist in nature on page 17
with state-of-the-art technologies to unlock the brain/
body interactions that derive meaningful information
from the environment.”
Receiving this award means many things to Sarvestani,
but chief among them are security and freedom as she
establishes her new research group. “This award enables
me to take bigger risks and do more exploratory research
in my first few years. It’s also great to receive the
recognition and be trusted with the responsibility that
comes with long-term funding,” she said.
Mentorship and commitment to inclusivity have long
been a part of Sarvestani’s career. She has worked with
students and interns on a variety of scientific projects,
has volunteered for Max Planck Florida’s Career Day and
Brain Bee events, and was an organizer of Neuromatch
Academy, a virtual computational neuroscience summer
school that provided training to thousands of students in
the United States and beyond.
“From a mentorship perspective, my goal is universal:
I want to create an intellectually stimulating environment
where everyone is challenged to excel individually but
feels a sense of common purpose that drives us to achieve
more as a team,” she explained.
Sarvestani cites consistent and honest feedback as
a critical component for good mentoring, along with
empowering individuals to learn to grow and trust their
own abilities.
“One key aspect of good mentorship that I’ve learned
from my mentors is consistent and honest feedback,
particularly constructive critical feedback. It often hurts,
in the moment, to receive critical feedback. It’s not easy
to give it either – it requires courage and grace. But
honest feedback is necessary for growth, particularly in
a field such as ours where external feedback is few and
far between,” she said.
The Freeman Hrabowski Scholars Program honors
the contributions of Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, III,
the outgoing president of the University of Maryland,
Baltimore County (UMBC), and a major force in
increasing the number of scientists, engineers, and
physicians from backgrounds underrepresented in science
in the United States. Hrabowski’s leadership sparked the
development of new and growing programs at UMBC,
HHMI, and other institutions around the United States,
including the renowned Meyerhoff Scholars Program for
undergraduate students.
As Sarvestani ends her time at Max Planck Florida, she
credits the institute’s philosophy of providing researchers
with stable funding and intellectual freedom as one of the