Tanya Sharma, Biology

Tanya Sharma’s goal at Stockton was to prepare for a career in medicine, but she discovered new interests along the way by joining research projects that brought her eye to eye with an osprey hatchling and allowed her to watch human brain activity in real time.

Sharma, a Biology major from Mays Landing and a first-generation American, grew up watching the Indian crime serial C.I.D. The show’s medical examiner conducted procedures and tests to help solve complex crimes, and despite later realizing the fabricated details, the show “invoked my interest in science in a more hands-on way,” she explained.

While taking classes, she also began working as a patient care technician, which “solidified” her dream and gave her the confirmation that she was on the right path.

After taking anatomy, she became a teaching assistant to help other students with dissections and started applying the knowledge while assisting nurses with wound care at work.

“One thing I've learned from taking anatomy and working is that I love hands-on, what some might consider gross, procedures. I thoroughly enjoyed all the dissections I did in lab. Being able to do it again and assist other students as a TA was a gratifying experience,” she said.

Sharma added a behavioral neuroscience minor to support her interest in psychology and got involved with electroencephalogram, or EEG, research, which she ranks as a top experience at Stockton.

As a Foundations of Neuroscience student, she signed up to be a participant for the EEG lab for a class requirement, but it turned into “the coolest experience ever.”

EEG is a test that measures electrical activity in the brain by placing a mesh net with nodes onto the scalp. Stockton’s Healthy Brain Healthy Mind Research Lab uses EEG to study personality and healthy aging in adults. 

“The net application was a new experience, and not something I had imagined before, and to learn more about the purpose of the study piqued my curiosity on how brain activity can relate to wellness,” she explained.

At the EEG lab, she studied successful aging in older adults, focusing on the impact of personality and growth-oriented beliefs on life satisfaction.

The research she assisted with during her first year looked at openness and growth mindset and how they relate to and affect wellbeing outcomes in older adults. 

The following year, she helped collect data on a younger adult sample for comparison and learned that there are some differences in how wellness varies across aging.

“As we get older, our attitude can become more positive, with older adults having greater life satisfaction and emotion regulation than younger adults, and these positive attitudes and well-being can be explained through an increased openness to experiences as a result of engaging in cognitive activities,” she explained.

Sharma explored opportunities outside of her comfort zone too. “I was able to conduct osprey nest surveys with Professor Melanie Schroer and other Stockton students marking my first time ever wearing heavy rubber boots, walking on a marsh, admiring birds and actually being on a boat,” she said.

She developed an independent study project to research prey delivery across four different nests as they go from the river to the ocean and presented her findings at the NAMS symposium.

What she’ll miss the most at Stockton are the everyday activities of being a Biology major like “applying and disinfecting EEG nets, camping out in a Campus Center food court booth seat, and going to and from classes with my sister, who is a sophomore at Stockton,” she said.

Sharma’s next stop is medical school, a journey she feels prepared and excited for after building a strong foundation at Stockton.