Nursing Student Awarded Career Development Grant

Meghan Pesce ’19, a student in the Wegmans School of Nursing at St. John Fisher College, was awarded a grant from the American Association of University Women (AAUW).

Pesce was selected to receive the Career Development Grant, which will help her offset the cost of tuition and related education expenses as she pursues her degree at Fisher.

After graduating from the Rochester Institute of Technology with honors in 2012, Pesce joined the University of Rochester’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, serving as a technical associate responsible for biomedical technical support, research, and sterile surgery assistance. During that time, she trained and mentored undergraduates, presented research, and co-published findings.

She became interested in nursing while working on a research project that investigated the neural mechanisms of addiction through errors in cognitive flexibility.

“I became interested in the field of nursing, which translates current research into evidence-based practice tailored to patients,” she explained. “I volunteered at Strong’s Neuromedicine ICU (NMICU) and was able to interact with patients, shadow nurses, and help families feel more comfortable during stressful and emotionally exhaustive times.”

While she completes her degree, she works as a gero-psych specialist at Strong, serving individuals who have primary medical and secondary psychiatric needs.

Through nursing, Pesce said she found an opportunity to translate her biomedical research skills into the health care setting. She hopes to pursue a career in an intensive care unit setting.

“Nursing also offers me a great degree of flexibility in terms of specialty while also allowing me to focus on my passion for research, mentoring, and teaching,” she said. “As a nurse, I plan to use my experience and research skills to help patients, advance health care and, one day, use my training and mentoring skills to train and educate the next generation of nurses.”