Lukas RYE Metzner

Proudest Moment: Before my senior year, during the pandemic, I started an RSO called Students for Sensible Drug Policy, which advocates for more compassionate drug policy not based around criminal punishment, and fact-based peer education about drugs and drug safety. It was a challenge because of the lack of physical community, but I was able to find a group of like-minded people with diverse academic and personal backgrounds to run the club with. I think that "leadership" is seriously overemphasized in American education, but this certainly was a crash course in those skills. Not everything we tried to do was successful, but we were able to get involved in the political process and the campus activism community. Most importantly, the club will continue to operate next year. I'm really proud to have left something at UW and I have great hopes for the organization and its members for the future!

Thesis: Effects of Inhibition of P2Y12 Receptor during Opiate Withdrawal on Microglia Activation and Behavior

Hi! My name is Lukas, and I'm from Beijing. In my time at UW I've explored subjects ranging from anthropology to environmental science to neuroscience, which I ended up majoring in. Outside of classes, I've had so many incredible opportunities at this school, like working as a writing tutor at Odegaard, and going on an honors study abroad program in Costa Rica. I've also been involved in lab research on the molecular and behavioral neuroscience of addiction, and gotten involved in activism around drug policy, criminal justice, and racial and economic injustices perpetrated against communities through the war on drugs. In each of these, I've had the good fortune of meeting wonderful peers, allies, and mentors. Outside of school, I enjoy playing and watching basketball, cooking, and reading. I'm planning to embark on a career in neuroscience research, and starting next year I'll be working as a technical associate at the Feng lab at MIT researching the genetics and molecular neuroscience of neuropsychiatric disorders.