From Neuroaesthetics to Contemplative Psychosomatic Medicine, independent concentrations give students the ability to customize their Brown experience. Now, 10 years after graduation, four alums from the class of 2015 reflect on how their unique degree prepared them for their current endeavors.
When Chloe Zimmerman Gunsilius ’15 MD’27 GS first entered Brown, she planned to double-concentrate in public health and religious studies. But she changed her mind after attending a contemplative studies talk and taking a class on Buddhism, both of which grew her fascination with the medical practices of different religions and cultural traditions.
She ultimately decided to complete an IC in Contemplative Psychosomatic Medicine. At the time that Gunsilius chose to create her concentration, the contemplative studies concentration did not yet exist. It became a formal concentration in September 2014, one year before she graduated.
As a student in the Program in Liberal Medical Education, Gunsilius “was really interested in understanding how different cultures approach suffering” and how religion shaped people’s beliefs, she told The Herald.
“I really wanted to understand how the practices that evolved from those traditions could actually propel” current medical conventions, she said. Gunsilius is now an MD/PhD candidate at Brown.
Like Gunsilius, Mina Shakarshy ’15 entered Brown intending to concentrate in an existing degree program. But she thought her intended concentration — cognitive science — was too theoretical, and instead wanted to pursue something that would be more “applicable” to her future career, she said.
After taking CLPS 0510: “Perception, Illusion and the Visual Arts” with Professor of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences William Warren, she became interested in integrating computer science with graphic design — leading her to create an IC in Perception of Digital Art and Design.
Brown didn’t offer many design classes at the time, Shakarshy said. But creating an IC enabled her to take more classes that interested her, making her college experience at Brown “worth it,” she explained.
Now, she is a staff product designer at Modern Health, a company that promotes mental wellness in corporate environments.
When Danny Sobor ’15 was an undergraduate, he also hoped to combine his interdisciplinary interests into one IC: Neuroaesthetics.
“I’ve always been a visual person,” wrote Sobor in an email to The Herald. “Combining the material study of making paintings with a scientific underpinning of visual cognition felt like a more holistic way to understand the visual world.”
Although Sobor is now an oil painter, he still appreciates “understanding the biology” behind his work, he wrote.
“Even with the scientific grounding,” he added, “paintings are still magic to me.”
For Alexandra Urban ’15, her independent concentration in Educational Neuroscience has played a key role in her career path.
“It might be rare, but the knowledge I gained while at Brown is still alive and well in my current role,” wrote Urban, who is a former photographer for The Herald.
Urban currently conducts research on science education for Coursera, an online course provider. She wrote that she’s passionate about “exploring how the human brain learns and applying that to improve how we teach.”
Studying Educational Neuroscience prepared Urban to obtain both a master’s degree from Harvard and a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University, she added.
Gunsilius expressed a similar sentiment, noting that her independent concentration has been “infused” in everything she has pursued throughout her career. It has been particularly fundamental to her PhD work, which focuses on how to develop a digital therapeutic treatment for the brain’s chronic pain, she explained.
Pursuing an independent concentration was “daunting,” Shakarshy said. But after completing the application process, the concentration itself was “super rewarding.”
“The act of creating an IC, crafting a novel curriculum path and defending your choices to the dean of the College requires exploration and courage,” Urban wrote. “While it’s easier not to pursue an IC, I am so glad I created my own major.”
ICs, Urban added, are “so uniquely Brown.”
