Matt Jaramillo and Jamaur Bronner
Colorado Natives/Psychology Researchers Find Common Ground in DHS Program
Poet Rudyard Kipling once noted the chasm between East and West and predicted that “never the twain shall meet.”
But Kipling never met Jamaur Bronner and Matt Jaramillo—two promising psychology students. Despite the distance that separates their university campuses, they shared, during the summer of 2009, a Knoxville, Tenn., apartment and many similarities, including their Colorado backgrounds and common enthusiasm for scientific research.
As part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Scholarship and Fellowship program, two gifted Colorado natives—Matt Jaramillo (above) and Jamaur Bronner (below)—shared an apartment and a daily commute while conducting research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory during summer 2009. The students, though enrolled at universities 2,000 miles apart, shared common interests that included psychology, an appreciation for scholarly research and an enjoyment of the outdoors.
While at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Bronner and Jaramillo participated in research at the Computational Human Behavior Center (CHBC) under auspices of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Scholarship and Fellowship program, administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education.
Bronner, using computers to examine previous research into aspects of the human decision-making, sought to identify elements of that process omitted from current computer models that experts use to ascertain how human emotion affects foreign leaders' decisions. He was surprised to learn, during his internship, that he had “a passion for computer science.”
His summer research, which focused on how human emotions affect decision-making, tapped heavily into his neuroscience background. Understanding the decision-making process, Bronner said, might someday help DHS better anticipate national leaders' decisions having implications for acts of international terrorism.
“I'd like to design new ways to counter neurological diseases and trauma,” Bronner said.
On the other hand, Jaramillo's summer research involved assessing an individual's personality by using his own spoken words rather than written questionnaires. Such research, he said, lets federal agencies profile “persons of interest” whose actions have bearing on U.S. security.
Jaramillo, who's mainly interested in “examining the role religious identification plays in our ability to cope with stressors” in life, aspires eventually “to teach in a university, do research and practice as a counseling psychologist who diagnoses and treats mental disorders.”
But for now, he will conduct more research and see clients at Colorado State University's (CSU) Counseling Center. Jaramillo has completed internships as a McNair Scholar in years 2006-2007, and he volunteers as a therapist-in-training at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins.
Both students are Colorado natives. Bronner, a Duke University student from Aurora, Colo., studies under DHS's scholarship program in return for a year's DHS service obligation after graduation. Jaramillo, a Windsor, Colo., native and first-generation collegian at CSU, earns his master's in 2010. He then will seek a doctorate, which he hopes to complete by 2013. Jaramillo will also serve one year with DHS after completing graduate study.
And both men earned praise from their mentor, CHBC Co-director Tracy Warren, who predicted a great future for each. “They're both hard workers,” Warren said. “I enjoyed working with them. They proved to be great students with a lot of potential.”
Bronner, who’s also his family's first college graduate, said he chose DHS's program because it offered “interesting projects relevant to my field,” and, he said that Warren was “interested in learning how emotion influences decision-making.”
“[Warren] knew my familiarity with neuroscientific research,” Bronner said. “So I researched current decision-making theories and ways emotional components may influence those decisions.”
He will earn a neuroscience degree with a minor in biology in 2010 and hopes later to work for a government agency. But first, Bronner added, “I want to learn more about physiology of the brain and its cognitive processes.”
By late August, both youthful researchers had bid Knoxville friends and ORNL associates farewell and had returned to respective campuses for the fall term. In addition to studies, each looked forward to winter sports that include snowboarding in their native state.
“We're both very active people who enjoy the outdoors,” Bronner said. “With Colorado's landscape, you pretty much have to be!”