RTOERO offers an annual scholarship program and awards scholarships valued at $3,000 each. Twenty post-secondary students are selected. The scholarships will help the students to pursue goals supporting the well-being, and the health of our people and places.

Geneva Mariotti –  BSc (hons) – Psychology  (recommended  by District 24 member Nona Mariotti)

Following the International Baccalaureate Program, Geneva began her undergraduate studies at York University in the Bachelor of Science program in Specialized Honours Psychology, where she largely focused on experimental neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience. She quickly became interested in participating in a lab, and pursued the lab of Dr. Joseph DeSouza who studied among other things the neuropsychology of dance in Parkinson’s Disease as well as vision. In her first laboratory role under Dr. DeSouza, Geneva assisted in the analysis and writing of various neuroscience projects, even leading a project of her own investigating facial emotional recognition in Parkinson’s Disease.

During her 3rd year at York University, Geneva began working in the lab of Dr. Jennifer Ryan at the Rotman Research Institute, working on projects using eye-tracking and fMRI methods to understand various aspects of cognition such as memory and learning in older adult populations. As she enters her 4th and final year at York University, Geneva is beginning her thesis project in the lab of Dr. Dale Stevens, where she plans to investigate conceptual representations within the brain. The recognition and financial support of RTO’s scholarship will certainly assist her in coping with this extra onerous year and her application to graduate school.

Following her 2023 graduation, Geneva hopes to begin a Masters and PhD program in cognitive neuroscience, where she will study the cognitive neuroscience of ageing. She hopes to become a leading scientist in the field of ageing, and to give everyone equal opportunities to live long, happy, and healthy lives.

Information about 2023 scholarships will be posted here in September, 2022.