Department of Physiology celebrates 74 December graduates

Seventy-four seniors from Michigan State University Department of Physiology are expected to walk across the graduation stage during today’s commencement ceremony at the Breslin Center. 

The 24 physiology majors and 50 neuroscience majors from the department will join more than 5,000 other Spartan graduates during the estimated two-hour event. 

Yesterday on Friday Dec. 16, the MSU Board of Trustees presented 52 students with the Board of Trustees Award for achieving a perfect 4.0 GPA. The Department of Physiology had a total of ten students who received the coveted award: four physiology seniors and six neuroscience seniors, which was the major that had the highest number of recipients. 

In addition to being acknowledged during the commencement ceremony today, the students will also receive $1,000 from the university for their accomplishments.

“As a department, we are very proud of all that [the graduates] have accomplished,” said interim chairperson of the Department of Physiology Karl Olson, adding that he hopes the graduates have only positive memories of their time at MSU. “My advice is to follow your dreams and passions. Your heart will guide you down the best path.”

Neuroscience undergraduate academic advisor Becky La agrees.

“As a first-generation college graduate, I know completing a bachelor’s degree is no easy feat,” said La who started her position in 2020. “I really think it truly takes a village to get you across the commencement stage. No one can take your education away from you.”

Nor the never-ending support.

“Every year I work with our recent alumni who are applying to professional schools, graduate schools, and jobs,” said physiology undergraduate academic advisor Lori Seischab. This will be her 16^th commencement ceremony at MSU. “When I’m giving mock interviews or feedback on personal statements, I am impressed with the progress our alumni make during their gap years.”

Nevertheless, it never gets easy saying goodbye and knowing it might be the last time seeing a student.

“It is definitely bittersweet, and I also recognize such is the nature of higher education,” said La. “I want to see students persist and ultimately graduate so they can be one step closer to their future life and career goals. It has been an honor to be a small part of their time here at MSU.”

Graduates from MSU Department of Physiology will be part of the afternoon session that starts at 2 p.m.

All commencement ceremonies will be live streamed at commencement.msu.edu. 

Now, let’s meet some of our esteemed graduates!

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For Navya Kalia, she knew she wanted to major in neuroscience while in high school.

“At that time, I was really intrigued by the concept of synaptic plasticity and the ‘use it or lose it’ phenomenon,” said Kalia who formerly served as president of MSU’s Premedical Chapter of the American Medical Student Association. “I’m really glad I pursued this interest because my curiosity for neuroscience has grown since then.”

As a student in both the Lyman Briggs College and Honors College, Kalia is also a recipient of the Board of Trustees Award. It was a goal the Novi, Michigan native set for herself from day one.

“As a premedical student, I knew I had to be academically competitive for when it came to apply to medical school,” said Kalia who plans to start med school next summer. “It was definitely difficult to maintain this GPA but having the goal on my mind was helpful during tough times. Having the support of my peers, who were facing the same challenges, and faculty helped as well.”

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Maintaining a perfect 4.0 grade point average is no easy feat. 

Just ask Grand Blanc, Michigan native Michael Visniski, a recipient of the Board of Trustees Award.

“Overall, I am proud of what I was able to accomplish but definitely would not recommend everyone try to achieve this,” said Visniski adding that the last couple of semesters required sacrifices of his personal time and a couple of tiring weeks to pull through. “It is not for the faint of heart.”

Despite the warning, he says to look for connections and overlapping information between classes that can help with saving time and energy.

“There is a lot of overlap in neuroscience courses, so looking for those overlaps and being able to build each class off of each other will ease the workload in the long run,” he said. “It can be overwhelming at times, but don’t be afraid to make sacrifices if you need to study.”

The neuroscience graduate is currently waiting to hear back from various veterinary schools that he has applied to. He plans to start vet school next fall.

“I grew up surrounded by biology with my mom as the biology and anatomy teacher at my high school,” said Visniski who is also a member of the Honors College and Lyman Briggs College. “So that has always been something that has interested me.”

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If there’s one piece of advice Akanksha Kapur can give incoming physiology freshmen, it would be to not freak out.

“It’s ok to struggle with a class,” Kapur said. “Just take a deep breath and try your best.”

It’s this very same advice that helped her finish her physiology undergraduate degree with a perfect 4.0 GPA.

“I just wanted to give my best to each of my classes and in the process, I ended up maintaining my 4.0 which was a nice surprise,” said the recipient of the Board of Trustees Award. “There was a class almost every semester which I thought would end up breaking my 4.0.”

Born in New Delhi, India but grew up in Troy, Michigan, Kapur has always dealt with navigating through big cultural shifts. When she came to MSU from a high school with a small student population, she knew that in order to feel integrated into the community, she had to get involved.

“I made it my goal to only be involved in clubs and volunteering [events] that I was really passionate about,” said Kapur who is a member of the Honors College and Lyman Briggs College. “I think that decision helped when applying for medical school because my interviewers could tell my passion was authentic. By being so passionate about the clubs I was in, I was able to take away many more life lessons as well.”

Kapur is still completing interviews for medical school and doesn’t anticipate making a decision until next April. 

And as for what area of medicine she plans to focus on?

“I know I really want to work on focusing and addressing inequities in medicine which is why I want to get my MBA,” said Kapur adding that she would love to spend time after med school working in countries where the healthcare system is extremely strained. “I have interests in OB/GYN, pediatric emergency, and ophthalmology. I guess only time will tell where I end up.”

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Being involved in many extracurricular activities as an undergrad was important to Quinn Abate.

For the past three and a half years, the physiology senior has been working as a student research assistant in the MSU Sleep and Learning Lab under the mentorship of Kimberly Fenn. On top of that, she is also a member of the American Medical Student Association, the pre-medical fraternity Phi Delta Epsilon, and the Honors College. Over the summers, she has worked as a nursing aide at a long-term care facility and at Sandia National Laboratories as a research and development intern. 

“Being involved in these activities allowed me to develop my professional skills, expand my knowledge of future career paths, and participate in meaningful engagement with my community,” said the Albuquerque, New Mexico native who also volunteered at McLaren Health Care and tutored for MSU Student Athlete Support Services. “Many of these activities also helped me to step outside of my comfort zone and pursue opportunities for personal growth.”

Despite her busy schedule, the nationally certified EMT was still able to graduate with a perfect 4.0 GPA and be recognized as one of 52 recipients of the Board of Trustees Award. 

“The difficulty of maintaining a 4.0 varied quite a bit based on the semester,” said Abate who also enjoys playing the flute. “I wouldn’t say I set a goal of having a 4.0 at graduation but I always sought to give my best effort in every class which was reflected favorably in my grades.”

Abate and her group recently won the Department of Physiology’s top honors for their undergraduate capstone project investigating the effects of external temperature on sweet taste preference.

“As a carb lover and winter weather lover, I definitely related to this topic on a personal level,” she said.

Abate hopes to start medical school by next fall.

In the meantime, she has plans to travel to Portugal and Spain next month before returning to East Lansing to work as an EMT.

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