Hello! I am Lyat, a high school senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology with an interest in neuroscience and creative writing. I am passionate about understanding how the brain functions in neurological diseases as well as in decision-making. I want to understand the brain from an interdisciplinary perspective meshing together biology, computation, and mathematical approaches. One of the projects I worked on is a study at the Bickel Lab at Virginia Tech where I had the opportunity to study how impulsive neurological behaviors played a role in diabetes self-regulation. I grew up with diabetic grandparents and friends, subject to how diabetes disproportionately affects black communities. Through my research, I wanted to not only understand the disease that marked my childhood but also how individuals can regulate their diabetes without the confinement of racial disparities in the healthcare system. Whether by working on my research project, interning at Children’s National Hospital, or designing a study on antibacterial resistance at my school’s biotechnology lab, I always seek to turn challenging questions into testable hypotheses. In my free time, I enjoy writing poetry and short fiction, and non-fiction stories. My writing has been published in the New York Times and I am a national gold medalist and American Voices Award recipient from Scholastic art and writing. The most rewarding part of the writing process is being able to connect and reach out to people who relate to the same experiences as me.