The Eckardt Scholar program has supported me through many independent research projects. The support began when Professor Gus Ripa wrote beautiful letters of introduction to professors with interesting labs, leading me to develop key relationships early in my college experience. Once I began my actual research, the program provided necessary funding – specifically, Eckardt allowed me to further my research in Dr. Julie Miwa’s neuroscience lab, for which I study the effect of the lynx 1 gene on learning behaviors in mice and songbirds. The program also allowed me to participate in a summer internship at Le Laboratoire de Futur in Bordeaux, France, doing soft matter physics research by attempting to develop foam particles on the scale of microns for application in acoustic engineering.