Psychology honours graduate and sleep researcher Mayuko Arai awarded Dean’s Undergraduate Convocation Medal

What started out as a six-month volunteering stint in Brazil led Mayuko Arai to discover her calling in psychology at Simon Fraser University (SFU). Graduating with a CGPA of 4.23 at the top five percent of her class, this psychology honours student was awarded the Dean’s Undergraduate Convocation Medal.

Arai first became interested in studying psychology while volunteering in Brazil, where she witnessed first-hand individuals battling socioeconomic challenges such as poverty and addiction.

“I will never forget my experience volunteering in Brazil. I was moved by the songs they sang while playing the guitar, and I enjoyed hearing them talk about their families. At the same time, it was heartbreaking to listen to their stories and see how their behaviour could change due to drug use,” says Arai. “Realizing how little I knew and how helpless I felt motivated me to learn more and pursue psychology.”

Her interest in the field was further cemented when she took courses exploring behaviour and the brain, as well as  volunteering as a research assistant with Dr. Brianne Kent’s Translational Neuroscience Lab. Arai cites the time she spent in the lab as the highlight of her academic career at SFU and it is through the lab that she became interested in exploring how sleep and circadian rhythm disruptions influenced Alzheimer’s disease.

“Psychology courses such as Learning and Memory (PSYC 325), Laboratory in Behavioural Neuroscience (PSYC 386), Biological Rhythms and Sleep (PSYC 388), and the Honours Seminar (PSYC 490) helped deepen my understanding of the brain, forming the basis for my research projects in Dr. Kent’s lab.”

Under the guidance of Kent, her honours project, “The Impact of Acute Trazodone Administration on Sleep in Mice”, examined the effects of an antidepressant on sleep as a potential intervention for Alzheimer’s disease. Her research has since been published in peer-reviewed journals such as SLEEP Advances and SFU’s Undergraduate Journal of Psychology.

Arai has received several other awards in recognition of her research and academic excellence, such as the Undergraduate Student Research Award, the Psychology Alumni Honours Award, and the CPA’s Certificate of Academic Excellence. She was also selected to deliver a symposium talk on her research at the annual Canadian Neuroscience Meeting hosted by the Canadian Association for Neuroscience (CAN).

After graduation, Arai began pursuing a PhD in neuroscience at UC Davis, California. She is grateful for the support from Kent and her lab members, and hopes to advance her research in the areas of sleep and neuroscience.