Hear from several 2026 scholars about their research, Nexus Scholars perks, and what it’s like to spend the summer in gorgeous Ithaca.
Four 2026 Nexus Scholars (Belicia Pinkrah '28, Connor Iyengar '29, Zairan Chen '28, and Kaelin Lamberson '28) share what they learned working on linguistics, psychology, anthropology, and English research projects under the guidance of faculty mentors. They highlight the opportunity to dive into research full-time while also having plenty of time to explore Ithaca without classwork obligations.
Nane Arsenyan ’29, a physics and Spanish double-major, shares how the Nexus Scholars class sessions and other events allowed her to reshape her personal definition of the concept of research while working on an astronomy project with Prof. Dongwoo Chung.
Aeona Misra ’28, a physics major, worked on two physics education research projects with Prof. Natasha Holmes this summer. The team explored the impact of student questions in classrooms and how students are thinking about the concepts they’re learning in class.
Vyom Mukerjee ’29, a biological sciences major, took advantage of the downtime this summer – when not working on fruit fly genetics research with Prof. Mariana Wolfner – to explore Ithaca and other localities in the region including the beautiful natural areas.
Srinidhi Raghavan ’29, an intended computer science major, details the trial and error and refining processes that were critical to her work in Prof. Andrew Clark’s population genetics lab.
Graco Rossanigo '29, considering majors in economics and information science, discusses the freedom and agency he had while working on an in-depth social network analysis of Samuel Pepys with Prof. Benjamin Cornwell.
Zander Zhou ’29; considering majors in physics, chemistry, or math; took advantage of the Nexus Scholars Program to explore subjects beyond those he’d taken in class. He worked on the Classics Lexeis project with Prof. Jeffrey Rusten.