Preview: The new issue of Roanoke College magazine

Science, largely, has driven the direction of life for the past 15 months, largely determined the how, the when and the why.

Institutionally, Roanoke College is no stranger to science. The College has a longstanding tradition of educating, nurturing, training and preparing students for distinguished careers in the sciences — from as far back as 1935, when Vernon Mountcastle graduated from Roanoke with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. Mountcastle, who went on to earn a medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, became a legend for his breakthrough discoveries in neurophysiology.

Without question, Mountcastle — widely regarded as the “father of modern neuroscience” — was a giant in his field.

But who are rising giants? Who, supplied with the fruits of their Roanoke experience, is breaking through in the sciences?

• Jared Herr ’04, a heart failure and transplant cardiologist at California Pacific Medical Center’s Center for Advanced Heart Failure Therapies.
• Tamara Poles ’08, a community engagement specialist for the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who has dedicated herself to making science more accessible and understandable for people of all ages.
• Lea Lupkin ’09, the founding manager of behavioral products and programs at the International Coaching Federation (ICF) Pittsburgh.
• Kenneth Lampert ’12, a physician assistant working a variety of fields at the Albany (New York) Medical Center.
• Taylor Ferebee ’17, who is combining her expertise in genetics, network analysis and computer science to better inform geneticists and corn breeders about the inner workings of maize.

The Rising Giants. Click here to read more about these five accomplished alumni in a preview of the new issue of Roanoke College magazine.