Doctoral Student Elizabeth Brown Earns University of Cincinnati Dean's Fellowship

Meet Elizabeth Brown, recipient of a University of Cincinnati Dean's Fellowship:

What is your undergraduate degree?

• Anthropology from Florida State University

What is your graduate program of study?

• Biological Sciences

Describe your research in one sentence:

• My graduate work focuses on understanding the genetic basis of olfactory behavior using Drosophila as a model system.

What is the most interesting thing about your research that no one understands?

• When I tell people that I work on fruit flies, they usually ask me how to get rid of them from their work/apartment. However, fruit flies are an incredibly valuable model system in the biological and biomedical sciences. They have significantly advanced our understanding of the fields of genetics, neuroscience, cell biology, and many others.

What is the best part of graduate school?

• Going to graduate school is a unique experience that affords me the opportunity to pursue a career that allows me to fulfill my intellectual curiosity while advancing our current understanding of the field of behavioral genetics. The Graduate School at the University of Cincinnati has provided an intellectually stimulating environment that has allowed me do precisely this.

What is the worst part of graduate school?

• There is no worst part of grad school. I am challenged every day to become a better student and researcher. I wouldn’t change a thing.

What does this fellowship mean to you?

• This fellowship will allow me to focus my full attention on producing high quality research, publishing the work in peer reviewed journals, and completing my thesis here at the University of Cincinnati.