Exploring the brain, and the world
MIT senior Joy Ekuta is a woman on the move: The brain and cognitive sciences major has made friends in the six states where she’s lived and colleagues in the five countries where she’s researched ADHD in children. She’s become fluent in Spanish, and taught new skills to students and teachers alike.A dancer who sings with the MIT Gospel Choir, thumps out Senegalese drum beats, and bakes in her free time, Ekuta attributes her “people person” ways to her large family — she is one of five siblings — and to the many places she’s lived. Ekuta was born in Nigeria but moved with her family to the United States when she was a year old. Since then, her family has lived in five different states.As a girl, Ekuta was encouraged by her father, a doctor, and her mother, a nurse, to pursue science. She loved her math classes in...