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Jordan Claytor graduated with a BS in Biology from Elon University in 2017. Currently, Mr.Claytor attends Grad School at the University of Washington. Currently, Mr.Claytor is working on a dissertation and investigating the ecologies of early mammals following the K-Pg mass extinction (the event that killed the dinosaurs). In a brief email interview Jordan was asked, "What fired his passion for Biology?" Mr.Claytor gave this response: "Biology piqued my interest at a young age and has stuck with me ever since. Paleontology, or the study of extinct organisms, really resonated with me. I remember watching countless nature documentaries on prehistoric animals and being fascinated with how much we can learn from fossils." It is clear this passion has driven Mr.Claytor to great lengths, he was the president of the Biology Club (2016-2017). He also was a member of the Tri-Beta Honors Fraternity. One year he even received the Biology Department Outstanding Student of the Year award—an honor he is incredibly proud about because it is voted on by the faculty. Since starting at the University of Washington, Mr. Claytor has received numerous awards for his research including the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and over $5000 in other research grants. He has visited Elon several times since graduation, when he got the chance to lead several guest lectures for Dr. Gammon and Dr. Kingston. Although Mr. Claytor has all these amazing accomplishments there are educational opportunities and people to highlight that guided his path as it extended. Mr. Claytor wanted to specifically recognize and thank Dr. Kathy Gallucci a Biology professor here at Elon for taking him under her wing and introducing him to the world of teaching. He stated, "Through these experiences, I discovered my passion for teaching and science communication which I’ve been able to further develop during my PhD program." Another opportunity Mr. Claytor's engaged in was the study abroad program in Perth, Australia during the spring semester of his sophomore year. In his time abroad, he worked with a graduate student on their dissertation project and gained firsthand experience with research skills, such as data collection and analysis. Mr. Claytor stated, "This was a formative experience that influenced my decision to conduct my own research and pursue a PhD." After he graduates from his Ph.D. program, his hope is to work in education or science communication. It is unclear whether this will be accomplished through museum outreach and education programs or through undergraduate teaching. But what is most important to Mr. Claytor is that he is increasing access to the sciences, and both of these positions would allow him to do so. Click here to see some of Mr. Claytors research.

Nicole Charmaine Wright Graduated from Elon University in 2003 with a B.S. in Biology. After graduating, Dr.Wright went on to get her MPH and PhD from the University Of Arizona in 2005 and 2010. During her time here at Elon, Dr.Wright worked with Dr. Niedziela on developing a system to uniformly hatch brine shrimp as well as doing some basic toxicology research. She presented her work at SURF(Spring Undergraduate Research Forum) and the Association of Southeastern Biologist meetings. Dr.Wirght specifically highlighted that the one-on-one interaction we have as Elon students had a lasting impact on her life. Dr. Wright now uses those meaningful interactions as a blue print for teaching her students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. "I try to give my students the same kind of time and connection that all of the biology professors gave to me." she states in a brief email interview. As of current day Dr.Wright identifies her place in the field of epidemiology as a musculoskeletal aging epidemiologist focusing on osteoporosis epidemiology, and racial disparities in osteoporosis management and outcomes. In short Dr.Wright states "[That] is a lot of words to say bone health matters". She specifically highlights this important fact with an analogy stating "Your skin may be the largest organ, your brain and your heart may be vital, but the bones are the glue. Not only with the actual physical ability to keep your body upright (no octopus here), but the skeleton also provides protection for your vital organs, and nutrients to keep cells running". DR. Wright continuse to talk about the importance of calcium channels in cell function, If calcium is lacking in your diet....your body will take it from your bones to ensure normal cell function leading to bone weakness and eventually osteoporosis. Dr.Wright specifically focuses on how regulation of other systems in your body, particularly when health conditions lead to irregularities in those systems, alter bone health. The passion for Dr.Wrights feild is rooted in her family. Almost every adult in her family has had a knee replacement, Dr.Wright herself has had hip surgery, and her brother had a corrective brace for scoliosis. Dr.Wright highlights this battle of health issues within her family by saying 'we were not blessed in the bone and joint department." One of the biggest hardships and Dr.Wright had faced Specifically with respect to osteoporosis, was watching her grandmother shrink away over the years, Dr.Wright understood this was not a part of normal aging, this life experierce inspired her to look into the racial disparities element of her research. More recently it has become more of a passion for her after seeing little in the field about bone health in communities of color, particularly Black women, "I knew I was not the only Black person with a grandma with osteoporosis, so I wanted to do what I could to add to the field." Dr.Wright says, Defining the drive for her work. Dr.Wright conducted research specifically on the racial disparities that exist in Outcomes After Major Fragility Fractures. The focus of Dr.Wright research was the number of non-Hispanic Black women with osteoporosis is low; however, older studies have shown that those who sustain fractures have worse outcomes than non-Hispanic White women. Given that 25% of women with a hip fracture die within one year of hip-fracture, increased mortality rates in other fracture types, and the high rates of disability following fractures, worse outcomes in people of color, despite the low number, could lead to an increased burden on the health care system. However, there had not been any recent studies on racial differences in post-fracture outcomes, and there has not been any studies evaluating racial disparities in post-fracture outcomes on fractures other than hip. Her team used data national Medicare data to identify non-Hispanic Black (n = 11,168) and White (n = 387,832) women with fractures, and then evaluated three important outcomes (death, debility [nursing home stay], and destitution [becoming Medicaid dependent]) in six of the major fragility fractures (hip, femur, pelvis, radius/ulna, humerus, and clinical spine). Her team found that non-Hispanic Black women had ~25% higher one-year mortality following all fractures with the exception of clinical spine than the one-year mortality rate of non-Hispanic White women. Non-Hispanic Black women also had about ~25% higher rate of one-year long-term nursing home stay for femur, hip, and humerus fractures than the rates of non-Hispanic White women, and lastly, non-Hispanic Black women had ~2.5-fold (100-150%) higher rates of becoming Medicaid dependent following fractures compared to the rates of non-Hispanic White women. These data not only provide contemporary data on racial disparities in post-fracture outcomes, but it hopefully can be used to allocate resources to ensure fracture patients receive appropriate care. This research is widely impactful. Having this foundational information on bone health in communities of color, Dr.Wright explains how her research "is opening the eyes of bone health in these communities providers, advocacy groups, quality metric organizations, and hopefully policy makers." Dr.Wright is a name to remember. Her work to advocate for people of color in the field of bone health and her long list of accomplishments is beyond inspirational and the Elon community is so proud to call her an alum. You can find Dr.Wrights research by clicking here .

Matt Sears has been on a road to success ever since he stepped foot at Elon and later graduated in May 2018. A former biology major to now being in the field of industry research at Beam Therapeutics (in their Central Nervous System team)... Beam has pioneered the use of base editing to potentially create a class of percsion genetic medicine. With these pioneering steps, Beam has the vision to provide lifelong cures to patients suffering from serious genetic diseases that could possibly be unburdened by one treatment. In a brief email interview, Mr.Sears highlights the importance of industry research by stating "...It is often the avenue that results in products/medicines that most directly benefit the general population." Prior to industry research, Mr.Sears had many accomplishments including being a lab manager and research specialist for a molecular genetics lab at UPenn where they investigated RNA-binding protein that was key to normal mammalian development. Him and his team utilized a wide array of techniques to answer our questions: molecular protocols, tissue culture, bacterial work, rodent studies, etc. At MIT, he was a research tech for two labs. One was a neurodegeneration/Alzheimer's lab and the other a synthetic neurobiology lab.

The accomplishment at Elon he takes the most pride in is Getting his undergrad ECF (Elon College Fellows) research on the mating behavior of the squash bug (a common agricultural pest) published. In reflection of his ECF Mr.sears States "The research and its results produced interesting insights into their mating system, as well identified an intriguing and “easily” interrogatable instance of evolutionary conflict between sexes." By the time Mr.Sears had graduated, him and his research team had all experiments complete and data mostly analyzed. They ran the initial manuscript by an expert in the field and learned that they had some tweaking to in a few big ways to get it published in the optimal journal, and in continuation they pushed post-graduation for nearly two years reforming and reframing what their team had and after all final efforts were in Him and his team's research was published. The process he had to undergo took him through the steps of exploratory research: from formulating an idea/hypothesis via literature synthesis, to designing and executing numerous experiments, and finally to data analysis, presentation, and publication.

Amongst all these accomplishments Mr.Sears has had various educational opportunities to credit for his time here at Elon. The College Fellows program being one excellent attribute to research he had to undergo. When explaining why Mr.Sears chose Elon as a school he stated "...one of the main reasons I chose to go to Elon was the knowledge, funding, and opportunities that are inherent to the fellows program results in an awesome educational experience. It led me to having a fantastic mentor, formulating my own independent research, presenting my research to a regional conference, and publishing a first-authored publication." As you can see, in that statement Mr.Sears highlighted the beauty of Elons ability to prepares us for the opportunities we are presented during our adult life.

Within all of this opportunity and success, Mr.Sears gives a special shout to Dr. Jen Hamel a professor here in the Biology department. In one occurrence Mr.Sears was presented with the chance to do field research on Barro Colorado Island in Panama with Dr. Hamel... Mr.Sears states it was a "unforgettable experience". He continues to elaborate on the rarity of the opportunity by stating "... it is not often you are presented with the opportunity to do field work at a beautiful field station surrounded by scientists from all around the world. It wasn’t a walk in the park or your typical time spent abroad during college, but it isn’t an experience I’d trade for anything!" He goes on to highlight Dr.Hamel by emphasizing the lifelong impact she had on him. "She was an excellent mentor and teacher, and she provided me with an extremely solid foundation for scientific research to further build upon. She continually pushed me to succeed outside of my academic comfort zone and seize opportunities that I normally wouldn’t have pursued, and I’m super grateful for that!" Mr.Sears exclaims after being asked "What professor did you feel impacted you most during your time here at Elon?". Mr.Sears also gives a special round of applause to all professors in the department for also shaping who he is today.

All of Mr.Sears hard work hasn't gone unfuled though, his interest for existence of life itself was the foundation of it all. When asked Why he was so passionate Mr.Sears stated "Life is a nearly unbelievable cosmic happenstance that emerged out of a seemingly random and entropic universe. Chemistry, physics, mathematics, geology, even astronomy – all these fields provide insight into the understanding, natural history, and mechanisms of biology. It is this grand culmination of the laws of the universe, and we get to study it!" He also brought in a quote from Carl Sagan saying “The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.” Which hones in on his point of the peacularity that comes with the existence of life how it can fire us to become the biologists we are today. Previous articles about Mr.Sears can be found by clicking below.