Soren Emerson is a an entering first year PhD student in the Vanderbilt University neuroscience program. He previously attended, and graduated from, Davidson College with a B.S. in neuroscience. He conducted three years of independent research at Davidson College under the mentorship of Dr. Mark Smith, a behavioral pharmacologist, and Dr. Rachid El Bejjani, a C. elegans neurobiologist. His research modeled the genetic and molecular mechanism of cocaine in C. elegans and the results of the project yielded a first author publication. At Vanderbilt, Soren plans to continue his research career in neuropharmacology.