Susan Scanlon ’10 at Timothy Dwight College

Student Profile: Susan Scanlon ’10

An accomplished athlete and pianist, Susan Scanlon ’10 of Timothy Dwight College came to Yale from nearby Enfield, Connecticut. With interests in many different areas of science, including physics, chemistry, and biology, she has plans to pursue them all during her time at Yale.

As a freshman, Susan participated in the Perspectives on Science program, which features classroom lectures from Yale scientists about their current research and provided her the opportunity to work in Professor Ann Valentine’s chemistry lab. There she explored topoisomerase inhibition by potential titanium-based anticancer drugs. That experience, combined with a budding interest in advanced physics, has led Susan to consider an M.D./Ph.D. program following the completion of her Yale degree.

Susan attends Yale with support from the Suisman Foundation Scholarship and the Arthur Pomeroy Day B.A. 1890, LL.B. 1892 Scholarship. Below, she shares details about her Yale experience so far:

I chose to attend Yale because:

I am really interested in scientific research, and I wanted to attend a school with a strong program. I looked at a lot of different schools, big and small, but because of the residential college system, Yale was the best option for me. It offered the best of both worlds, a small-school experience and an internationally renowned research program.

My favorite class:

I have really enjoyed my physics classes. The professors have been so engaging, and by reading articles about current research, we learned about what people are currently studying in the field. Most of the research that I have done so far has been in the biosciences, but my physics classes have made me think that I might want to try some more theoretical work.

The professor who has taught me the most:

Ramamurti Shankar, who taught Fundamentals of Physics and Megan Urry, who taught Gravity, Astrophysics, and Cosmology.

The best book I’ve read at Yale:

Piège Pour Cendrillon (Trap for Cinderella). I really enjoy reading in French.

Favorite place to study:

My room. I have a really great room—it’s comfortable and perfect for quiet study.

My plans for study or work abroad:

This summer, I am going to France for fourteen weeks. For the first five weeks, I will participate in a pre-med academic program where I will take classes and shadow a practicing physician in Nice. After that I plan to spend nine weeks at the Curie Institute in Paris, performing research into cellular response to UVA radiation. I have been awarded the Wendy E. Blanning Memorial Summer Fellowship to support my research project.

My preferred extracurricular activity:

I play the piano with a group called The Musical Cure. We go to nursing homes in the New Haven area to perform.  I also participate in intramural sports, including basketball and football, and I was the captain of the Timothy Dwight softball team this spring.

My plans for after graduation:

After Yale, I plan to go to medical school. I am interested in many different areas of science, from physics to chemistry to biology, so I am considering applying to an M.D./Ph.D. program.

Something I learned at Yale that I will always remember:

I’ve learned how complex everything is, from the interactions between thousands of proteins within each cell of our bodies, to the formation of black holes at the centers of every galaxy, to the melodic and harmonic progressions of a Bach chorale.  Everything that I learn teaches me how much more knowledge I still have yet to discover.

(June 24, 2008)