Celebrating the Labroots 2024 Fall Undergraduate Research Scholarship Winner: Stephen Hall-Nunez

Neuroscience is a complex scientific discipline comprised of determined and passionate researchers working on cutting edge innovations. With the rising cost of tuition and higher education, Labroots is proud to offer a series of rotating scholarships to help cover some of the costs associated with pursuing careers in STEM. The Labroots 2024 Fall Undergraduate Back-To-School Scholarship is designed to help cover some of the costs, like expensive textbooks, for undergraduate students in STEM.

This year’s recipient is Stephen Hall-Nunez, a freshman in neuroscience at Harvard University who recently graduated from Guilford High School in Guilford, Connecticut. Hall-Nunez aspires to complete an M.D./Ph.D. while and spends his spare time volunteering, listening to podcasts, designing robots, and being an avid dog lover.

“I’m so grateful to Labroots for giving me this extra support to help make my first year easier! I’ll be buying the first of many university textbooks and course materials I will use on my way to becoming a doctor.”

Hall-Nunez’s journey into neuroscience started after seeing a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of his brain. This triggered his fascination, and he realized that everything that makes us who we are is confined to black-and-white slices on a screen. Since then, Hall-Nunez has educated himself in numerous imaging techniques, including EEG, FDG-PET, and fMRI, along with several brain properties, including action potentials, neurotransmitters, and nerve conduction. He has since refined his goal to pursue the connection between nervous system triggers and movement coordination and how this influences movement and neurological disorders.

Regarding future changes he sees in his field within the next five years, Hall-Nunez envisions using computer science to help improve our understanding of neural networks, which could lead to new insights about cognition. Additionally, he believes advancements in genetic testing could help improve diagnosis accuracy, and gene editing delivery methods could also be used to treat genetic neurological diseases.

Hall-Nunez points to his neurological disability and reading about others who suffer from various neurological conditions, including Dr. Stephen Hawking with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a genetics researcher stricken with Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy, and several colleagues who have Down Syndrome, autism, and Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) as the influencers of his decision to pursue this path. Additionally, he credits the MITES Semester program for advancing his knowledge regarding frontotemporal dementia.

Outside of research, Hall-Nunez remains active by focusing on projects free of academic demands like grading. He is captain of the high school robotics team and the Science Olympiad team, and he listens to podcasts, his favorite ones being Radiolab and This American Life or Stuff You Should Know. Additionally, he’s remained sharp by tutoring special education, working as a lab assistant for AP and IB Chemistry, and volunteering on Zoom. Now that he’s starting college, he aims to find his niche within the Harvard University community.

To connect with Hall -Nunez and follow his career, please follow him on LinkedIn.