Rebekah Vela of Brownsville Conducting Animal Behavior Research at Southwestern University this Summer

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Rebekah Vela of Brownsville (left) is conducting research this summer with Southwestern University Professor Fay Guarraci (right).

GEORGETOWN, TX (07/10/2013)(readMedia)-- Rebekah Vela of Brownsville is one of 31 students conducting research at Southwestern University this summer as part of a new student-faculty collaborative research program called SCOPE.

The SCOPE program is part of the HHMI-Southwestern Inquiry Initiative, which is funded by a $1.3 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Students participating in the eight-week program get their housing paid for as well as a stipend.

Vela and psychology professor Fay Guarraci are studying how hormones and drugs affect mating behavior in female rats. All their research projects have potential applications to humans.

Vela is majoring in animal behavior at Southwestern and hopes to become a veterinarian.

Southwestern University is a selective, nationally recognized undergraduate liberal arts college with an enrollment of 1,400 students. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in Texas. For more information on Southwestern, visit www.southwestern.edu.