Meredith Student Earns Research Stipend from NCICU

Meredith College junior Nabiha Khan, ’20, is one of eight undergraduate students in North Carolina to have been awarded a stipend from the N.C. Independent Colleges and Universities (NCICU) to support their research.

Khan will present her research at the State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium on November 10 at North Carolina State University. Her project, What You Donut Know about a Single Fatty Meal, is about understanding the post consumption metabolic trend line for triglycerides for moderately fatty meals.

“I have volunteers come and eat 1-3 donuts and record the triglyceride intake, then take small blood samples every hour for about three hours to see how the triglycerides are being metabolized,” Khan explained. “I also store these samples to be looked at 24 hours later and compare those values to each other. This work falls under biological and nutrition research.”

Khan used the NCICU stipend to buy test strips that measure triglyceride values.

Undergraduate research is preparing Khan, a biochemistry major, for her future career. She plans to attend graduate school after completing her Meredith education.

“I hope doing research will give me a better understanding of what I may want to research and study in the future,” Khan said. “I think it will also help me learn to think with a more research based perspective that I feel will be helpful for both medical school and a Ph.D. program.”

She credits her Meredith support system, including research advisor John Mecham and Undergraduate Research Program Director Paul Winterhoff for encouraging her to participate in research and to apply for grants like this one.

“I didn’t come to college thinking I wanted to do research, but after starting it the summer after my freshman year I have fallen in love with it. I hope to continue always doing research to some extent in my future.”