The Origins of a Student Neuroscientist
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On a rainy November day at the San Diego Convention Center in California, Sofia Del Fiol ’26 stepped up to the podium of Neuroscience 2025, the annual conference of the Society for Neuroscience.
In the audience were experienced researchers, industry professionals, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students—all listening to Del Fiol as she shared the results of her research on the use of cannabidiol to reduce epilepsy symptoms. On a speaker roster crowded with postdoc fellows and graduate students, Del Fiol stood out as the rare undergraduate.
Del Fiol’s journey in neuroscience started when she took her first Chemistry class at Whitman. Despite her initial interest in pursuing a Psychology major, the language of atoms and molecules ignited her fascination. So she declared a major in Brain, Behavior and Cognition to blend her interest in the behavioral sciences with the chemical processes that drive them.
“Something I really like about Whitman is that students have the opportunity to grow into their interests,” she says. “You have to take art classes, philosophy classes and classes you’re not used to … That really helped me because neuroscience is so interdisciplinary.”
Read the full story in the Spring 2026 issue of Whitman Magazine.
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Physics Professor Presents at International Conference
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Andrés Aragoneses, the Benjamin Brown Associate Professor of Physics, recently co-organized a minisymposium at the XLVI Dynamics Days Europe international conference in Lisbon, Portugal. The minisymposium brought together experts from all over the world working on the analysis of complex dynamics in time series and symbolic tools. Aragoneses also presented his recent work bridging quantitative linguistics and photonic dynamics, which reveals surprising similarities between the behavior of a laser system and human language, suggesting that both may be shaped by common underlying principles.
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Print Shop Closed This Week
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Please note that Printing Services in Boyer House is closed this week, reopening on Monday, Aug. 3.
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Friday Is a Half Day on Campus
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Most college offices will close at noon on Friday, July 31, as one of several discretionary staff half days scheduled throughout the summer.
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In a recently published photo blog, Eamon Winkelman ’28 explores the campus images that caught his attention during spring semester.
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Indoor Soccer: Futsal Game
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Sherwood Athletic Center, Multipurpose Gym
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Reid Campus Center, Basement
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Penrose Library, Room 313
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Indoor Soccer: Futsal Game
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Sherwood Athletic Center, Multipurpose Gym
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Stanton Sports: Sand Volleyball & Lawn Games
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Midsummer Musical Retreat: Faculty Concert
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Hall of Music, Chism Recital Hall [community event]
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Midsummer Musical Retreat: Concert
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Beginning in Hall of Music, Chism Recital Hall, then moving to Cordiner Hall [community event]
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Would you like to share an event with campus? Submit the information to the Events Calendar.
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Whitman Today is emailed to Whitman College staff, faculty and students each weekday during the academic year and twice a week during breaks. An archive of previous issues is available online.
All submissions are welcome! If you have accomplishments to celebrate, an event to publicize or other Whitman content to share, email whitmantoday@whitman.edu. Submissions of 125 words or less are due by noon on the business day prior to publication. Submissions may be edited and/or held for a later date according to space and editorial needs. Your submission also authorizes use on Whitman's social media unless otherwise specified.
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Find us on social media: @whitmancollege
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