PSY Student Spotlight: Hannah Hurd

November 18, 2024

Meet Hannah Hurd, a third-year neuroscience and psychology major and a member of the Women’s Leadership Institute (WLI), a program at Michigan State University that was designed to support and empower women students with leadership aspirations.  

 

Why do you study psychology? 

I am a psychology major because I love to figure people out, why we think the way we do, and how behavior can be manipulated. I love looking at psychological perspectives and experiments and connecting them with neuroscience principles and scientific research. 

 

What interested you about WLI, and what are you looking forward to this year? 

What interests me about WLI is the community built on empowering and networking with other aspiring women leaders. I love hearing guest speakers and learning from other people's walks of live. I have been a mentor to others in many different areas, but even good mentors need mentoring themselves! I am looking forward to the theme of presentation and learning about how to market myself to an audience. I aspire to be confident and practice new approaches to challenge my mind and voice to lead with purpose.   

 

What are your goals for the future? 

My goals for the future are to continue research. Before I graduate, I want to have summer research experience and an internship to prepare for further education. I have a strong desire to extend my knowledge in a graduate PhD program and eventually find my calling in a neuro-behavioral based career.   

 

Is there anyone at MSU that has helped you along your college journey? 

I want to give a shoutout to Isabella Riopelle, my first college-long friend, mentor in the HC Peer Navigator program, and fellow psychology major. She has given me the support, encouragement, and confidence to be where I am. She is an amazing, hardworking, intelligent leader, researcher, and friend and without her patience and encouragement, college would have been a jungle I'd be lost blindly in. 

 

The WLI’s mission is to ignite women leaders while their vision is to advance leadership equity for women globally. The program aims to create a sustainable community by providing high quality programming for MSU’s students, faculty, and community. To learn more about the institute, view application materials, and take advantage of their resources, visit their website at: https://socialscience.msu.edu/research/centers-institutes/wli/wli-about.html.