INBRE Scholars – Meet Nicole Mckenna









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Nicole Mckenna
Twenty-eight students from nine different undergraduate and community college programs have joined the Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) program this summer.

The program was created to:

  • Expose students to serious biomedical research;
  • Build a statewide biomedical research infrastructure between undergraduate and graduate institutions; and
  • Strengthen each undergraduate institution’s infrastructure and increase its capacity to conduct cutting-edge biomedical and behavioral research.

Below, we get to know more about INBRE scholar Nicole Mckenna.


  • Name: Nicole Mckenna
  • Hometown: Papillion
  • School: Wayne State College

I had many health problems as a child and spent a lot of time in the hospital and at doctor’s offices. Seeing how much of an impact the doctors and nurses had on my life made me want to go into the same field so I could help other people like I had been helped.

Science excites me because it is constantly changing. There are always new breakthroughs and changes in how medicine is practiced. I will pursue a career in science. I hope to provide something new to the medical world and open many doors for other researchers to investigate for years later.

It is important to have programs like INBRE because it allows students to investigate careers before they have to pick one for the rest of their lives. Also, these programs remind students of why they are taking the classes they are and keep them motivated to excel in their undergraduate studies.