Shady El Damaty, Ph.D. Candidate in Neuroscience
“The stability provides intellectual emancipation, allowing me to pursue a symbiosis of traditionally disparate research fields without the background anxiety of an uncertain funding climate.”
Shady’s research is in the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience as applied to juvenile justice and violence prevention. He frequently writes about his efforts and experiences of in a blog on his study’s website.
“I am very excited about the opportunity to synthesize Magnetic Resonance imaging of the growing brain into juvenile justice and violence prevention programs, striking a balance between generating knowledge and societal impact that is difficult to achieve in the nascent field of neuroscience.”
Shady is most enamored with the independence that comes with the NIJ research dissertation fellowship. The fellowship provides ample funding throughout his 3-year PhD project to support the high expenses associated with collecting human brain imaging data. The NIJ fellowship is a vista for Shady to extend brain imaging into high-risk youth populations often ignored in mainstream developmental cognitive neuroscience. In coming months, Shady will recruit over 50 teen participants from Washington D.C. communities challenged with violence in order to further understand how environmental adversity interacts with teenage brain development and social attitudes.
Congratulations to Shady for receiving this fellowship opportunity, as well as congratulations to an additional year of funding!