VU graduate students to attend Nobel Laureate meetings in Germany
Three graduate students at Vanderbilt University have been selected to attend prestigious Nobel Laureate Meetings in Lindau, Germany, this summer.
Neuroscience graduate student Peter Hamilton and Lynley Pound, who is in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, will join 570 young researchers from 80 countries for a six-day meeting in late June with Nobel laureates in chemistry and medicine.
In late August, Susan Carter, a graduate student in Economics, will join about 370 young economists from more than 65 countries for a four-day meeting with Nobel laureates in economics.
Peter Hamilton
The meetings aim to inspire and motivate young scientists and economists through the exchange of ideas, and to encourage them to form networks of cooperation in their own countries and around the world.
Lynley Pound
“It is an honor to represent both the department and Vanderbilt University at this conference,” said Pound, whose faculty adviser is Richard O’Brien, Ph.D., professor Molecular Physiology and Biophysics.
Susan Carter
“The Lindau meeting presents a unique opportunity for young researchers like me to interact with some of the greatest scientific minds,” she said. “I have no doubt that this experience will shape my future career in science.”
Hamilton is in the Neuroscience Graduate Program. “I am fortunate and honored to be mentoring such an outstanding young scientist,” said his faculty adviser, Aurelio Galli, Ph.D., professor of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics.
Carter, whose dissertation subject explores bankruptcy and the use of payday and pawn loans and check cashing services by low-income people, said she hoped the meeting would help her expand her horizons and forge friendships with other graduate students that may lead to future collaborations.
Her primary advisor is Paige Marta Skiba, Ph.D., assistant professor of Law. William Collins, Ph.D., professor of Economics, chairs her dissertation committee.
The graduate students’ trips are sponsored by Oak Ridge Associated Universities, a major supporter of the Nobel Laureate Meetings.
Since the first Nobel Laureate Meeting in 1951, more than 25,000 students from 80 countries have participated. About a dozen Vanderbilt graduate students have attended the Lindau meetings during the past decade.