Biomedical engineering student Maxina Sheft is spending her last summer as an undergraduate working as a researcher with the support of the Fulbright Canada program.

Sheft has joined Melanie Martin’s lab at the University of Winnipeg to work on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques to determine the diameter of axons in the human brain. Axons are the long, thin part of nerve cells that transmit impulses, and diameter influences how fast the information is conducted. She’s one of two undergraduates from Georgia Tech selected for the program this summer.

“I was attracted to the program by the variety of project opportunities and the availability of researchers in my field of interest,” said Sheft, who is entering her fourth year of studies in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory.

Sheft was able to select several potential projects from faculty members across Canada. She interviewed with Martin’s lab and was invited to join in their work. Though she wasn’t able to travel to Canada because of the ongoing pandemic, she’s been deeply involved in data analysis and writing papers and grants.

Sheft said she’s planning to graduate in December and will be applying to Ph.D. programs in the fall — making the Fulbright Canada program a valuable experience.