Rafting through the Grand Canyon two years ago, Braetan Peters ’26 was taken by the beauty of the cliffs and valleys, but something else was also on her mind: her cell phone.

“The trip lasted eight days, and five days were actually water rafting throughout the canyon. So, we covered over 130 miles, and it was intense camping. And during that time, I did not have access to my cell phone, so I constantly felt the need to reach down and go ‘Oh, where’s my cell phone?’”

So, when it came time to find a topic for her Elon College Fellows research, Peters decided to explore the addictive factor of cell phones and how peoples’ behavior changes after not having access to the devices for extended periods.

“That experience in the Canyon really propelled this research forward,” said Peters, who is from Annville, Pennsylvania.

Elon College Fellows is a four-year academic and professional program in Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences, for students who are passionately committed to exploring the breadth, depth and connections within the arts and sciences.

Right now, Peters is in the process of gathering survey data. Over the summer, she partnered with Hatch River Expeditions, a family-owned rafting company in Northern Arizona. The company sent out Peters’ information to its clients, asking if they’d like to participate. Once confirmed, Peters surveyed people before their rafting trip and then followed up after.

“Grand Canyon is probably one of the last places left where your phone can’t constantly get internet. We hope we can help her get what she needs,” said Steve Hatch, owner of Hatch River Expeditions. “Not very many people in the world get access to the Grand Canyon the way we do. Whenever we can, we like to use that access to help people.”

In addition to survey results from Grand Canyon rafters, Peters will also survey students on Winter Term study abroad trips to Tanzania and New Zealand, where their cell phone use will be minimal.

A biology major with a neuroscience minor, Peters is currently on a pre-med track, so she says, getting experience with this kind of research will be helpful for her future. Undergraduate research is one of the five Elon Experiences, along with study abroad, service, leadership, internships and research. �þ��� are required to complete at least two of the experiences before they graduate. With �þ��� research, students pair up with a faculty member as their mentor. Mat Gendle, professor of psychology, is serving as Peters’ mentor.

“It’s been super helpful to have someone to guide me through this process since it’s my first time,” said Peters, who has also been an Elon Women’s cross country and track and field student athlete for the past three years.  “I chose Mat Gendle because of his enthusiasm to work with me on this. This isn’t something that he has done previously, but he has knowledge in the neuroscience area.”

Peters is working on a manuscript for the project and hopes to submit it for publication after graduating.

Academic Additions

Elon will launch two new majors this fall, including neuroscience, housed in Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences, and digital content management through the School of Communications.

The neuroscience program will offer three options: a Bachelor of Arts, a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Science with a specialization in exercise neuroscience. The digital content management program will help equip students with the creative, strategic and technical skills to lead content creation and strategy across digital platforms.

�þ��� Refresh

Several construction projects have been underway in summer 2025, including the completion and opening of Acorn Academy, a partnership with Vivvi to provide employer-sponsored child care. The child care facility is housed in the north wing of the psychology and human services studies building, which was originally used for Elon Children’s Home.

A new 485-space parking lot for first-year students is also under construction east of the Francis Center. Although the lot will not be completed in time for the start of the fall 2025 semester, it is anticipated to be finished in the 2025-26 academic year.

Other construction projects include renovations to Holland House, a 4,000-square-foot brick building that once served as the official residence of two Elon presidents. The building has been updated to accommodate an expanded golf clubhouse, featuring coaches’ offices, locker rooms, and a gathering space for athletes. Work is expected to be complete in fall 2025.

Work has also begun on the HealthEU Center, a 135,000-square-foot facility that will combine academics with recreation, health and wellness offerings along with support for the well-being of members of the university community. The building is expected to open in fall 2026.

The Homecoming concert returns!

The Office of Alumni Engagement and the Student Union Board have collaborated to bring back the Homecoming concert! This year, on Friday, Oct. 10, Plain White T’s will perform at Rock the Block on Haggard Avenue and Young Commons.

The last Homecoming Concert was hosted three years ago by the Student Union Board in 2022, when Tai Verdes performed.

New Leadership

Haya Ajjan, dean of the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business

Haya Ajjan will begin her first full semester as dean of the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business. Ajjan previously served as associate dean and professor of management information systems for the Love School of Business and began her new role on June 1, 2025, with an eye toward deepening experiential learning opportunities for students and strengthening partnerships with employers, industry leaders, and the broader community.

“�þ��� has nurtured my growth, transforming me from an acorn into a thriving oak,” Ajjan said. “I’m excited and grateful for the opportunity to give back to an institution that has given me so much by working under the leadership of President Book and Provost Kohn.”

Brian Mathews, dean and university librarian

Brian Mathews began his leadership of the Carol Grotnes Belk Library on August 1, 2025, where he now manages a team of 22 full-time employees who have greeted more than a quarter million visitors over the past year in the heart of �þ���’s main campus. With a record of achievement that spans two decades and five prominent national universities, Mathews brings to �þ��� professional interests in the way people engage with information: in his words, their “personal knowledge management.”

“I look forward to helping shape a library that’s grounded, strategic, and future-facing – one that supports human-centered innovation, sparks imagination, and invites students, faculty, and staff to work together in exploring the complex social, political, technological, and informational challenges of our time,” Mathews said. “I’m especially looking forward to working with the librarians and staff at Belk Library. They’re filled with ideas, generosity, and a joyful energy that’s contagious.”

Whitney Gregory, dean of students

Previously the assistant dean of students at Elon, Whitney Gregory brings two decades of student affairs experience to her new Student Life leadership role, which began on June 1, 2025. As dean of students, Gregory will provide strategic leadership for student success and welfare initiatives, including supervising the directors of the Student Care and Outreach and Student Conduct departments, the assistant dean of student success and retention, and the assistant dean of students.

“I am honored and thrilled to step into this new role as dean of students at �þ���, a community I’ve been proud to call home,” said Gregory. “I’m excited to continue advancing the work I love – supporting student wellbeing and success – and am deeply grateful for this opportunity to serve as a leader and advocate for student interests and empowerment.”

Heather Packo, associate vice president for the Student Professional Development Center

Heather Packo joined Elon in June 2025 as the new associate vice president of the Student Professional Development Center. She previously served as head of the Career Management Center at DePaul University’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business.

At Elon, Packo will lead a team of 22 full-time career professionals who comprise one of the nation’s best comprehensive career services programs, with a top-20 ranking by The Princeton Review and a #20 ranking for internships by U.S. News & World Report.

She will oversee the continued design and implementation of a comprehensive career services strategy through the Student Professional Development Center that enhances student employability, fosters employer relationships and integrates career readiness into the university experience.

“�þ���’s commitment to cultivating a career ecosystem in support of both student and alumni career and professional development is both forward-thinking and impressive,” she said. “Throughout the recruitment process, this commitment was clearly articulated. In speaking with key stakeholders – from the SPDC team, campus partners, senior staff and academic deans, and the president – it was clear that everyone is ready to move the needle from good to great and work together to ensure Elon students are career ready at graduation.”

The major will launch in fall 2025 and will build off the success of Elon’s neuroscience minor, aligning with the Boldly Elon strategic plan commitment to STEM education. The new program will offer three options: a Bachelor of Arts, a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Science with a specialization in exercise neuroscience.

“This is something that we think will set us apart from other neuroscience programs,” Wittstein told the News & Record. “Exercise neuroscience isn’t a huge major across the country, but it’s definitely a space where we have a strong exercise science program where we think a lot about health and wellness.”

More information about the new major will be available in summer 2025.

Each spring, graduate students in the human movement science curriculum at UNC-Chapel Hill organize a day-long conference highlighting emerging research across the interdisciplinary fields of kinesiology, exercise science, rehabilitation sciences and biomedical engineering.

Wittstein offered a deeply personal account of his academic and professional path, tracing his journey from his �þ��� days at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, through his pivot into human movement science, to work in industry and eventually the pursuit of a doctorate. Reflecting on more than a decade at Elon, he emphasized the balance he has found between research, mentorship and �þ���. He also spoke candidly about challenges along the way, including periods of depression, the search for personal and professional identity and purpose, and how the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped his engagement with professional societies and institutional service.

The conference also spotlighted original research by students and faculty. Jill Dolman ’25 and Srikant Vallabhajosula, professor of physical therapy education, presented their collaborative study, “Concurrent Validity of Wearable Sensors for Walking in Young Adults.” Their work supports the use of wearable technology to evaluate gait in real-world settings, with implications for pediatric assessment.

Another project, “Comparison of Peak Hip Joint Angles in Static and Dynamic Positions with Active Range of Motion in Bharatanatyam Dancers,” combined biomechanics and cultural dance analysis. The study was conducted by Doctor of Physical Therapy students Kaitlin Kerr-Osman, Avery McCamy, and Kayla Liles, in collaboration with faculty members Jack Magill and Vallabhajosula.

In a fitting full-circle moment, the conference also marked the ten-year anniversary of a formative connection. It was in spring 2013, at this event, that Wittstein and Vallabhajosula first met—unaware that their paths would later converge as colleagues and collaborators in the field of human movement science.

The new program will include a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science in neuroscience, building off the success of Elon’s neuroscience minor and aligning with the Boldly Elon strategic plan commitment to STEM education.

In the interview, Wittstein emphasized how the new program fits in with Elon’s identity as a liberal arts institution.

“�þ��� have to take courses in science and civilization and society and in [human] expression. They have to get some advanced studies. They have to take a global perspectives first-year seminar and a core capstone, which is the one I coordinate,” Wittstein said. “Those courses are really meant to anchor Elon’s education with the strength of a liberal arts program where [students] are getting breadth and depth, they’re developing skills that are more around critical thinking and problem solving and communicating to lots of different audiences with different backgrounds and being able to inquire deeply about general questions or specific questions.”

More information about the new program will be available in summer 2025.

The new degree program, housed in Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences, is built on the concept of “interdisciplinary agility,” allowing students to learn, understand and adapt to new information using knowledge and skills from diverse areas. The program embraces the field’s diversity, combines hands-on lab and lecture experiences to develop core knowledge and technical expertise and emphasizes professional skills to prepare students for successful careers and leadership in the sciences.

“Neuroscience  is everything. It’s the way you think. It’s the decisions you make. It’s the way you feel. What makes neuroscience unique is that it requires interdisciplinary thinking, and often, collaboration, is truly interdisciplinary ,” said Matt Wittstein, coordinator of the neuroscience minor and associate professor of exercise science. “You are taking elements of biology and psychology to understand how neurons and groups of neurons work together to result in behavior.”

The Bachelor of Arts in neuroscience will require 48 semester hours and allow students to explore neuroscience beyond STEM approaches. �þ��� who earn this degree will be prepared to enter fields such as medical sales, scientific writing and regulatory affairs.

The Bachelor of Science in neuroscience will require 64 semester hours and includes the option to specialize in exercise neuroscience. �þ��� who complete this degree will be prepared for medical school, health professionals or graduate schools.

Both options give students the ability to pursue a dual degree, major, or minor in a related or different subject that can deepen their understanding of neuroscience.

In 2009, Elon started a neuroscience minor which has continued to sustain interest, with a desire for a major building over time. Since 2020-21, an effort to develop a major has been underway.

“Over the years, the minor has done an outstanding job of providing students mentored research experiences and meaningful coursework,” said Wittstein. “With the addition of the major, those opportunities will grow, both deepening experiential learning and extending to more students. The addition of the new major will also enhance the existing minor by adding more elective options and shared learning experiences.”

In addition to biochemical foundations courses like Human Physiology, students will also take neuroscience methods courses (Statistics in Application and Research Methods),  disciplinary neuroscience courses (Behavioral Neuroscience and Neuromotor Control) and neuroscience integration courses, which will include a Neuroscience Capstone Seminar. Additional semester hours of electives will also be required, allowing students to align their coursework with personal goals.

The Neuroscience Advisory Committee, with representatives from the Departments of Biology, Chemistry, Exercise Science, Mathematics and Statistics, and Psychology worked together on the program, keeping in mind input from a wide array of disciplines. Wittstein said he envisions the program growing to the size of some of the largest majors in Elon College.

“All of the equipment that we use, all the spaces that we use, we’re borrowing from our existing departments. As we grow, there’s going to be a need for innovative spaces and new equipment to be able to teach neuroscience and engage students in research experiences,” Wittstein said. “We put a lot of thought into not thinking about this as purely a pre-med or pre-graduate science track but how does this really allow students to explore neuroscience and apply it to the questions that interest them the most?”

More information on the new program will be available in the summer of 2025.

Her research uses eye-tracking technology to look at memory differences among people who have varying degrees of autistic traits. Feintuch helped coach a special education gymnastics team during her time in high school and when she arrived at Elon, she knew she wanted to pursue a research project that combined her personal passions with her academic ones.

“I just became interested in how learning differs for everyone, and as a biology major, I was interested in the science of why and how this was happening,” she said.

Feintuch is majoring in biology with a concentration in molecular biology and a minor in neuroscience. Her project is titled “Evaluating the Self-Reference Effect as an Encoding Strategy for Individuals Displaying Autistic Traits: An Eye-Tracking Study.” Feintuch is mentored by Amy Overman, assistant provost for Scholarship and Creative Activity and professor of psychology. The pair have spent the last two years designing a behavioral experiment in the form of a memory exercise. They also focused on recruiting participants and administering the experiment on a computer with eye-tracking software below the test.

Feintuch has been able to pursue this in-depth research with Overman as her mentor through Elon’s Lumen Prize program. The Lumen Prize is Elon’s most prestigious award for �þ��� research and awards scholars a $20,000 scholarship to support a chosen research project and allows the scholar to work closely with a faculty mentor on that project for two years. Each year, 15 rising juniors are named Lumen Scholars and conduct research that often produces conference presentations and publications.

Feintuch knew that applying for the Lumen Prize would allow her to have access to the resources necessary to complete her research at the highest level possible. “I wanted to maximize the opportunities that I could have at Elon,” she said. “I wanted to be the best version of myself and really go after what I wanted to do in life.”

Under the guidance of Overman, Feintuch has been able to meet other academics in her field, become a stronger and more critical writer, and think deeper both in and outside of the lab.

“Lindy is intelligent and consistently exceeds goals that she sets for herself or we set together,” Overman said. “However, the qualities that truly make her stand out are her willingness to work to understand the perspectives of others, especially the people who participated in her research and the broader autistic community, and her willingness to lean into being a leader on her project and beyond.”

Feintuch and Overman have presented their findings at conferences such as the Gatlinburg Conference on Research and Theory in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Feintuch hopes to continue her education after graduating from Elon in the spring to eventually pursue a career in genetic counseling, specializing in assisting individuals with neuro-developmental disorders.

“Making connections with so many people and really building on connecting with professors and professionals in all different positions has allowed me to approach my post-Elon experience with a lot of open-mindedness,” Feintuch said. “I can be really successful in a lot of different fields because I’ve been able to engage in lots of different activities during my time here.”

The Class of 2023 graduate already thought that studying abroad would be difficult for him to tie into his studies, but he found a winter term trip to Panama that was a perfect fit.

Majoring in biology with a minor in neuroscience, he wanted something that would expand his hands-on research skills. The trip’s purpose was to record data at night, on and around an island in the middle of the Panama Canal, for a Smithsonian study of bats and their positioning on plants while locating insects.

When he arrived on the island — which was smaller than Elon’s campus — his main mode of transportation was by boat. This led to Murphy spending a lot of time on the water and also having the opportunity to record data on coral reefs for a module in the Caribbean Sea. In Panama, nature was his classroom and learning was hands-on, exactly what he was hoping to receive from his time abroad.

“I remember being in a small boat with my program, with the waves ranging from six to eight feet. The boat was jam-packed with all of our snorkeling gear,” Murphy said. “But also with our research equipment consisting of mallets, PVC pipe and waterproof paper, there was this moment where we all started singing sea shanties, including our professor as we rose up and down in the ocean, reassuring us that everything would be fine once we got to our destination.”

Murphy described getting into the ocean as an “out-of-body experience.” He said he felt like he was dreaming as the sun beamed down through the bluest parts of the water with fish swimming around him as he wrote his observations on his waterproof paper. Just the thought of having written underwater made him laugh.

When asked about his favorite experience, he said that writing underwater was the most memorable, but that it was impossible to choose a favorite because there were so many experiences packed into such a short period of time.

As the recipient of the Marvin and Eva Burke Clapp Odyssey Scholarship, Murphy’s time at Elon was made possible through the generosity of the Clapp family, who made a generous gift to Elon to endow the scholarship. He says being a part of the Odyssey Scholar program will forever be ingrained into his identity, just like his nickname “Murph.”

When first touring Elon with a friend, he said he wondered why everyone was so happy. He saw people laughing and high-fiving as they walked down North Williamson Avenue. But now, he looks back on that moment and thanks the Odyssey Program for giving him the opportunity to truly understand why Elon is such a special place.

Scholarships and donor generosity gave Murphy the opportunity to attend Elon, but it also allowed him to gain valuable experience, covering the costs of his tuition so that study abroad became a reality.

Following his trip, Murphy returned to Elon ready to explore a new interest that was developed abroad – conservation. He also continues his passion for research at a veterinarian’s office in Greensboro where he uses lab equipment and even conducts surgeries to research heart worms, a chronic problem for domesticated animals. During his time at Elon, Murphy was also able to work as a �þ��� assistant for biodiversity and aquatic biology. He loves how the newly built Innovation Quad and its state-of-the-art equipment and technology has evolved STEM programs on campus, helping students follow the constant changes of the science world.

Beyond Panama, Murphy’s scholarship funding also took him and his cohort to Boston for a networking event where many of the scholars received job offers. He has found that the close-knit community of the Odyssey Program helped him take advantage of the opportunities given to him. He is so grateful for the donors that made his experience along with so many others possible.

“Donations to Elon help people like me have the opportunity to travel and to meet people through these experiences who are going to be in our lives forever. These are the people who are going to survive through thick and thin with you. I am so grateful, and without the aid I received, it wouldn’t be possible to have the friends I have and to have accomplished all that I have here at Elon,” said Murphy.

Murphy is also grateful to his mentor Associate Professor of Biology Antonio Izzo for believing in him and helping him get his graduation plan back on track following the pandemic so that he would complete all of his requirements on time.

Post-grad, Murphy is taking a gap year to work in the research field before medical school, and he wants to get recertified as an EMT. One piece of advice he’d like to give current Elon students is to take chances.

“This is supposed to be the best four years of your life so don’t mess it up by sitting around and not trying new opportunities while you are here.”

Those experiences — chronic stressors, levels of income, access to healthy diets and activity — look different across demographics and may account for why Black Americans are more likely to develop dementia than their White, Hispanic or Asian American counterparts.

“A lot of the reasons people develop dementia are things we can change,” said Turney, an associate research scientist at Columbia University Medical Center. “African Americans have the highest rates of dementia across age groups, as early as 65. Asian Americans have the lowest mean, and White Americans are in the middle. The goal is for everyone to reach the Asian American rate as shown in the research, which would be health equity. To do that, we must first accurately identify the disparities, show they exist and what’s driving them.”

Turney’s presentation, “Weathering and Patterns of Brain Aging by Race and Ethnicity,” outlined data and results from her research involving seniors and their children in New York City neighborhoods. Her appearance in McCrary Theatre was also part of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences’ Voices of Discovery speaker series.

Turney’s expertise is in studying Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and brain aging with a focus on understanding how racism affects the body, brain and health. She earned a doctorate in cognitive neuroscience from Pennsylvania State University and is a postdoctoral fellow at the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center. She hopes her work will improve the detection and treatment of Alzheimer’s and related dementias and develop prevention programs to target environmental, socio-cultural and biological mechanisms of change in at-risk populations.

As we age, our brains naturally lose mass and volume, but excessive loss of brain mass and structure is abnormal and may be indicative of dementia. Other signs of cognitive deterioration are white matter hyperintensities, often caused by tiny strokes occurring over time.

Turney’s research has shown that older Black adults have higher rates of white matter hyperintensities compared to White and Hispanic study participants. Even in midlife, Black people have more white matter hyperintensities than other races and ethnicities.

Her research has identified some possible causes of those disparities.

She focused much of the presentation on differences in biological age across race and ethnicity, studied by other researchers and which she uses as a hypothesis to explain her own work. A group of 30-year-olds may have the same chronological age, but the work they do, the conditions they live in and the levels of stress they are under cause “wear and tear” on the body. That can make people’s biological ages differ. For instance, Turney showed research data indicating that 30-year-old Black women have biological ages five to eight years older than their chronological age. Differences between chronological and biological ages in White men and women were “negligible,” she said.

“The cumulative impact of social, physical and economic adversities faced by African Americans leads to early health deterioration and advanced biological aging, which is believed to be caused by chronic or reoccurring stressors,” Turney said.

Another study compared income levels across race and ethnicity with signs of cognitive decline, using New York City’s median annual income of $35,000 as a demarcation. Minorities were more likely to earn less than White residents, overall, and more likely to earn less than the $35,000 threshold. Preliminary data showed that MRIs of middle-aged Black Americans who earned less than that median wage showed greater levels of white matter hyperintensities in their brains.

“There was no relation to income in White individuals. In Hispanic individuals, there was a slight difference, but in Black people making less than $35,000 a year, they were more likely to have greater levels of brain aging,” Turney said. “We need to continue to look at why people with less income are at greater risk for developing dementia. Is it access to healthcare? Are there other underlying health conditions? Is current (income) more important than a family’s income during childhood?

“What I actually found is that (family income during) childhood only matters for White individuals. In Black individuals, midlife income is more important.”

Throughout, Turney emphasized the need for more thorough data collection involving minority populations often underrepresented in studies. People who voluntarily present to a clinic for treatment or research may not represent the populations most affected or at-risk for certain conditions. Those at-risk may not even know their cognitive symptoms are abnormal, chalking them up to the standard effects of aging, she said.

“If we’re looking for a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, but we’re not studying the people who are most affected by it, if they’re not included in the study, we’re lacking answers in what’s causing Alzheimer’s,” she said. More thorough and targeted data collection could lead to the development of “precision treatments for all groups of people.”

She ended with a call for the next generation of cognitive neuroscientists to expand the search for the root causes of cognitive decline.

“My focus now is to get a more precise measure on how the body is aging, not just chronological aging, but to find out if life experiences are more important than chronological aging,” Turney said. “We also need to study adolescents and children to see how life experiences affect our genetic makeup to identify different critical timepoints or periods of susceptibility. Hopefully, one of you out there will start to study different generations so we can study causes across different groups of people at different life stages.”

The theme of the 2022-23 Speaker Series is “Living Well in a Changing World.” Learn more about Voices of Discovery here and the speaker series here.

Turney’s presentation, “Understanding Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Brain Aging,” will include her research around understanding how racism affects the body, brain and peoples’ health. Her work at Columbia University Medical Center’s Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain aims to improve the detection and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia. She hopes to develop prevention programs to target malleable environmental, socio-cultural and biological mechanisms of change in at-risk populations.

Turney is a STEM ambassador who is passionate about demystifying and diversifying STEM fields and building spaces for scholars from historically excluded backgrounds to thrive. She is a co-founder of the Women of Color Writing Accountability Group.