{"id":244707,"date":"2026-04-29T07:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T11:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=244707"},"modified":"2026-04-29T11:09:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T15:09:02","slug":"meet-the-graduate-malak-nechnach-26-clas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2026\/04\/meet-the-graduate-malak-nechnach-26-clas\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Graduate: Malak Nechnach ’26 (CLAS)"},"content":{"rendered":"

For many first-year students at UConn, finding ways to pursue research can be like one of those classic dilemmas: You need experience to get started, but you also need to get started to gain experience. This was a familiar problem for one of our <\/span>Peer Research Ambassadors (PRAs)<\/span><\/a>, Malak\u00a0Nechnach.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nechnach<\/span><\/a> is a senior majoring in physiology and neurobiology, with a minor in mathematics. When she arrived at UConn from her home country of Morocco, Nechnach was adamant on getting involved in neuroscience research, but was unsure how to begin.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I wanted to pursue research — I just had no idea how, and that was a big learning curve for me,\u201d says Nechnach. <\/span><\/p>\n

Since there was no one clear path to research, she decided to pave her own way.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy freshman year was essentially a whole bunch of cold emailing, and I just did not know how to approach the whole realm of research,\u201d says Nechnach.<\/span><\/p>\n

Deciding to take it a step further, she began talking to her peers in similar fields and was eventually introduced to a PRA at the Office of Undergraduate Research.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so surreal now that I think of it, like a full-circle moment,\u201d she says. \u201cI remember the entire time I was thinking, \u2018I want to be you in four years.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Her PRA helped introduce her to her own PI, Inge-Marie Eigsti from the Department of Psychological Sciences and the\u00a0<\/span>Connecticut Autism and Language Lab (CALL)<\/span><\/a>, who played a crucial role in helping Nechnach develop the foundational skills required to thrive in research. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s amazing,\u201d says\u00a0Nechnach. \u201cShe truly helped me gain more confidence in myself and my skills and encouraged me to approach different professors.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nechnach\u2019s\u00a0research at CALL made her realize that she wanted to focus more on neuroscience, specifically behavioral neuroscience. After talking to one of her TAs in a course she was taking, she expressed her interest\u00a0in joining\u00a0the\u00a0<\/span>Sciolino lab<\/span><\/a> and gaining more experience with benchwork, working with mice, and most importantly, conducting experiments that were captivating to her. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Working in the Sciolino lab gave her the space to explore different\u00a0techniques, but it also meant starting from square one.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was given a start, but it came up with a lot of challenges because I had to learn a lot of new things,\u201d says Nechnach.<\/span><\/p>\n

What pushed her to continue was the urge to create something of her own: <\/span>\u201cI always came into research knowing that I want to have an independent project at some point. I just want to be able to build something of my own.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Within a year, many things changed for Nechnach. By junior year, she was able to start her own independent project of a year and a half, investigating how exposure to a high-fat diet alters stress-sensitive norepinephrine circuits in the brain. By the beginning of junior year, she had become an OUR PRA, received funding from the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)<\/a>, and became a <\/span>McNair Scholar<\/span><\/a>, allowing her to get a federal grant as well.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve presented in 10 conferences across the United States so far, and it has been an incredible experience,\u201d says Nechnach. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the journey was not easy, with setbacks on finding the right field of research for herself, as well as gaining the connections required to get lab research opportunities. Her experience is a prime example of why the correct mentorship in a field like this is so important. Mentorship not only helps gain the right connections; it also guides to the research path you want to be a part of. And this guidance is driven by clear communication. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe students that thrive in research are the ones that communicate to their graduate students and PI about exactly what they want to get out of this experience,\u201d says Nechnach. \u201cYou can\u2019t just assume both parties want the same thing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As a PRA herself,\u00a0Nechnach\u2019s\u00a0primary goal is to ensure that students\u00a0are able to\u00a0get the most support possible from their mentors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people have suffered in research because they did not get the mentorship they needed,\u201d she says. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is why she believes the pairing of mentors with their mentees is a critical starting point and should not be done randomly. Having a system in place allows students to be matched with PIs who have a similar background in research and a similar schedule to ensure their goals are communicated effectively.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her advice to current and future undergraduate students is to\u00a0maintain\u00a0a close connection to their major and area of interest, and to keep their eyes out for opportunities to get involved.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cReally put yourself out there,\u201d Nechnach says. \u201cKeep applying, catch any opportunities you see, and don\u2019t be scared of failure. It\u2019s worth it. It\u2019s not something you\u2019re supposed to realize in the moment, but it\u2019s something you\u2019ll realize in four years, and you\u2019ll be glad you pushed yourself.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nechnach plans to implement this herself in her future career in research. After graduation, she will be joining the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to continue doing research for the next two years as a part of the Post-Baccalaureate Research Scholars Program in the brain and cognitive science department.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Morocco to UConn, Malak Nechnach helps first-year students find their footing just like she did<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":244841,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2429,2226,2649,2390,2076,2712,2235],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2413],"class_list":["post-244707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-awards-scholarships","category-clas","category-blue-pride","category-physiology-neurobiology","category-research","category-student-success","category-today-homepage"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-10 09:36:47","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244707"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":244878,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244707\/revisions\/244878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/244841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244707"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=244707"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=244707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}