Each year, the Indiana University-Bloomington Center of Excellence for Women & Technology (CEWIT) hosts a campus-wide Women’s Research Poster Competition open to both graduate and undergraduate students whose research overlaps with technology. Sophomore Nithya Murthy, who has for the past year worked in the Jordan Lab as part of the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington (SPH-B) Department of Health & Wellness, earned the First Place Outstanding Research Award in the category of Health and Behavioral Sciences for her poster entitled, "Impact of Mild Cognitive Impairment Subtypes on the Geospatial Movement of Seniors."
Murthy is majoring in neuroscience in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and minoring in data science through the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, which works closely with CEWIT. Last summer, Murthy received an invitation to participate in CEWIT’s Emerging Scholars Research Experience and chose to work under the mentorship of Health & Wellness Design Interim Department Chair Evan Jordan, Ph.D., a trailblazer in the field of cognitive health research.
"Dr. Jordan’s mentorship and the support CEWIT gave its cohort helped me a lot in understanding the research process and keeping up with my tasks," says Murthy. "Being a part of Dr. Jordan’s lab has helped me see the patient side of research."
Among Murthy's duties in the Jordan Lab contacting and recruiting research participants, allowing her the opportunity to see first-hand the interaction between public health, healthcare, and society.
"The AURESIA study targets seniors with mild cognitive impairments in both rural and urban environments, and learning how to approach this community over the phone and connect with them was something I struggled with personally,” says Murthy. "However, it was a wonderful learning opportunity that refined my communication and people skills, which are vital for my goal of becoming a physician. I consider myself a personable and compassionate person, and this experience has given me a lot of practice implementing those skills with new and different groups of people."
Because the team is in the recruitment phase of AURESIA, Murthy did not have enough data to present on the goal of the study, which is to “identify and understand the role of environmental stressors in the development of Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias (ADRD) and related health inequities across urban and rural populations.” Undeterred, Murthy took a different tack and decided to tell the story of how various kinds of MCI can impact a person’s quality of life.
"My grandfather struggled with memory issues—for the last two years of his life he was confined to his home, with family members or hired help providing everything for him," says Murthy. "The goal of my poster presentation was to depict just how detrimental cognitive impairments can be on one's lifestyle, limiting their former activities, isolating them from communities, and shrinking their world view."
"It has been a joy having Nithya in my lab this year," says Jordan. "I'm extremely supportive of the goals of the CEWIT Emerging Scholars program and it has been a mutually beneficial experience for both the lab and Nithya. She quickly integrated into our research team and became an asset to our project exploring the role of environmental stress in ADRD. At the end of our year together, Nithya has a strong grasp of the research process and gained training in a variety of cognitive assessment tools as well as the intricacies of collecting data on environmental stressors using a custom-built mobile app."
For Murthy, taking home the gold—as well as $200 in scholarship funds—was a big surprise.
"This was the first time I made a serious poster presentation based on research, and it definitely boosted my confidence in my research and presentation abilities," says Murthy. "Even though our study is still in progress, I really enjoyed being able to tell a story and raise awareness with our data, which I am eager to continue doing!"
For more stories on SPH-B students, faculty and staff making a difference locally and worldwide, visit go.iu.edu/48bx.