Lily George Travel Award

Sierra Gaudreau, Winner of the 2024 Lily George Travel Award

Sierra will go to Edmonton for The Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour and Cognitive Science, which will be held at the University of Alberta from June 25 to June 27, 2024.

Originally from Northern Ontario, Sierra Gaudreau is a recent graduate of Dalhousie University, having obtained an Honour’s Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and Biology.

She was introduced to research through the Dalhousie Integrated Science Program where she completed her first research project with the Cognitive and Motor Performance lab. This project investigated the relationship between humans and automation in the context of trust and team dynamics.

Sierra was very passionate about this topic and for three years she continued to research how humans use automation and how to optimize the performance of human-automation teams. She completed this research through many different opportunities including volunteer work, funded summer placements and an independent study which featured a collaboration with a robotics lab.

These opportunities to collaborate with experts in multiple fields including cognitive ergonomics and mechatronics taught her how to be an interdisciplinary thinker; allowing her to recognize all the different angles that can be utilized when investigating psychological and neurological phenomena.

For her honours project, she shifted the focus of her research to investigate changes in prefrontal cortex activity during stress. Through completing this project, she found a new passion in endocrinology and individual differences in the stress response. Her current research interests are broadly focused on clinical intersections with endocrinology with a focus on gender-based differences in health care.

In the future Sierra hopes to pursue a career in medicine and utilize research as a tool to uplift her community members. Outside of academia, Sierra is passionate about being an active community member. She is a regular volunteer at a long-term care facility where she participates in recreation activities and is constantly looking for ways to integrate her love of science with community advocacy through opportunities such as outreach events with youth. Her Northern Ontario roots have instilled a love of nature and outdoor exploration within her, which she brought with her to Halifax.

We wish Sierra the best of luck in her career and look forward to seeing where it takes her.