Stephanie Nicole Ross Foundation, Inc.

Cheshire Hardcastle is entering her fourth year at the University of Florida studying neuropsychology in the Clinical and Health Psychology Ph.D. program. Cheshire’s research focuses on understanding how the brain changes in older adults due to cognitive intervention. She will be proposing her dissertation in the upcoming year, focusing on finding the best combination of cognitive intervention techniques that will result in the most robust brain changes. Cheshire hopes that her research will contribute to one day utilizing cognitive interventions to prevent or prolong the onset of dementia, allowing families more time with their loved ones. Cheshire also enjoys working in the Psychology Clinic assessing older adults who may have dementia. Cheshire loves to spend time with her four cats: Calypso, Jane, Milk, and Stuart (ranging in age from 6 months to 19 years old!), take dance classes at the local studio, and make outdoor trips to the springs and beaches! 

Sarah Maylott, a 2019 SNRF scholarship recipient, has continued her work with infants, testing their baseline levels of social cognitive development in the hopes of documenting any atypical social disruptions (like autism spectrum disorder) and developing a new way of spotting early signs of autism through auditory brain stem responses. She formally proposed her dissertation in 2019-20 and was approved to move forward with data collection with women during pregnancy. She hopes to highlight any cognitive and perceptual changes during pregnancy and positively reframe any deficits as a trade off in cognition with resources devoted to areas of cognition that help mothers to biologically and behaviorally keep their baby safe and healthy. Additionally, during the past year, she coauthored three published papers, authored a paper that was accepted by a developmental journal, and was accepted to present at an international conference in Scotland this summer.

Elle Wiggins, a 2018 and 2019 SNRF scholarship recipient, is entering her fifth year of the Ph.D. program in Clinical Psychology, with a specialization in Neuropsychology, at the University of Florida. Prior to pursuing her Ph.D., Elle worked as a research analyst at the Vanderbilt Memory & Alzheimer’s Center in Nashville, TN where she realized her passion for better understanding the various diseases of the aging brain. Elle’s research focuses on how surgeries involving sedation with general anesthesia impact the aging brain. She is currently working on completing her dissertation which aims to help evaluate the efficacy of digital cognitive screening tools that can be implemented in hospital settings to identify older adults most at risk for negative post-operative outcomes. She hopes that her research will one day help identify older adults at risk for cognitive decline, resulting in earlier intervention and a more comfortable life. When not in the laboratory, Elle enjoys exploring Florida and spending time with her pup, Waffle!