Giramnah Peña-Alcántara is Dominican-American and grew up in Massachusetts, Illinois and New York City. She is a Ph.D. student in the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program. She holds a bachelor of Science in Biological Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and master’s degree in Global Affairs from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China as a Schwarzman Scholars. She is also a NSF Graduate Student Fellow and a Gruber Fellow. Giramnah has conducted research with the Ting Laboratory at Tsinghua University researching mirror-image gene transcription and reverse transcription. More recently, she worked with the Horvitz Laboratory at MIT where she explored how C. elegans can be used to elucidate the connection between neurodegeneration and the lipid metabolism. While at Yale, Giramnah looks forward to further elucidating the gut-brain axis. Outside of research, Giramnah is a passionate advocate for her community and for increasing diversity in STEM. She volunteered with U.S. Congressman Espaillat, New York City Council Member Rodrigues, BoSTEM, the Leadership Training Institute, and MISTI Teaching Labs. She also loves embroidery, baking, and skydiving!
