Cornell Fellow asks the question ‘Why sleep?’
One great mystery is what sleep does for us. A Cornell College student is tackling that mystery head-on by asking the question “why sleep?”
Senior Makayla Kelleher, a behavioral neuroscience major, was named the Floyd Scott Fellow in Neurology and Sleep Medicine and interned at the Center for Sleep Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, this summer.
Sponsored by the Berry Career Institute, a select group of students participates in the Cornell Fellows program, which provides high-level internships and professional mentoring opportunities to students.
The mysteries surrounding sleep and why we sleep have interested Kelleher for a long time.
“We really don’t know why we sleep at all, but we do know that when we are sleep deprived negative things happen to us,” Kelleher said. “So, we can only theorize what the benefits of sleep really are.”
As part of her Fellowship, this Cornell College senior shadowed healthcare professionals, conducted research projects, and participated in Journal Club–a group that reviews and analyzes academic articles on one topic per week.
While Kelleher has participated in reading academic articles, her name will also appear in a future scholarly article. She and her fellow interns will be published as contributing authors in the research they have been doing this summer.
“For an undergrad to be published in academic papers as one of the first few authors is a pretty big deal,” says Kelleher.
18 Days
Growing up in Newton, Iowa, Kelleher always watched documentaries with her friends and family. She recalls watching one documentary a long time ago that asked what sleep was.
“That’s where I fell in love with sleep and psychology, watching documentaries when I was younger. I am continually feeding that need for learning, discovery, and explanation, and having the Mayo Clinic opportunity has opened that door for me in real-time,” said Kelleher.
She and her team worked quickly throughout the summer internship, and as they approached the finishing line of their first research project, Kelleher realized it was day 18 of the internship—the length of one block or term at Cornell College. In only 18 days, Kelleher said she and her group had made significant progress toward their first project and started a second research project.
“Usually, and in the past, it has only been one project, but we are moving so fast we had to start a second one,” said Kelleher. “That just shows that Cornell students can get anything done in 18 days.”
Kelleher appreciated every minute of her unique experience at Mayo Clinic this summer.
“At Mayo, I have been given the opportunity to shadow. For an undergrad to be given that opportunity, it’s so spectacular,” said Kelleher.
Now she will be putting her new knowledge to use as she starts her senior year. In the future, Kelleher plans to pursue her Ph.D. in behavioral or cognitive neuroscience, and she says her time at Mayo Clinic has prepared her.
