Alumna Profile

Hilleary Osheroff ’00

Mentoring Young Scientists

By Chris Lydgate ’90
Hilleary Osheroff

Neuroscientist Hilleary Osheroff ’00 works with aspiring biologists and anthropologists at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle featured Hilleary Osheroff and her work at the American Museum of Natural History in January. Hilleary, whose interest in science was launched by a genetics class from Janis Shampay [biology, 1990–], went on to get a doctorate in neuroscience at Rockefeller University in 2008. She has spent the last few years directing the Science Research Mentoring Program at the museum. The program enrolls 40 high school students each year, who study with biologists and anthropologists; some also participate in a mentoring program funded by NASA. “Mentoring in general has been shown to be one of the most effective ways to convey information to students,” Hilleary told the Eagle. “Giving these kids the chance to build one-on-one relationships with actual scientists, who always turn out to be younger and cooler than they were imagining, is awesome.”