Yerkes Student Researcher Receives Bobby Jones Scholarship

Marie Walters, a student researcher at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and a senior at Emory University, has been selected to receive the Robert T. Jones Jr. Scholarship Award for a year of study at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Walters is one of four Emory seniors to receive the award.

Widely known as the Bobby Jones Scholarship, the award was established in 1976 and recognizes individuals who will be excellent representatives of Emory at St. Andrews. The scholars receive full tuition and a travel stipend for their year of study. In addition, four St. Andrews students are chosen to spend a year at Emory.

Walters, a Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology major from Dayton, Ohio, is a student in the lab of Stuart Zola, PhD, director of the Yerkes Research Center. Dr. Zola’s research is focused on memory, its formation, consolidation and retrieval.

“Marie has been a student in our lab for approximately a year, and she is one of the best we have ever seen. She has become the ‘go-to’ person in our lab,” said Zola. “The Yerkes Research Center is proud to partner with students to provide leadership and educational opportunities in the field of research,” continued Zola.

Walters plans to pursue a master of philosophy in neuroscience and has also been active in research on the impact of early life stress on memory. She also is a volunteer with Best Buddies, an autism awareness program. Walters plans to continue her research and community service activities in Scotland.

Recipients are selected by a committee of faculty, administrators and trustees of the Robert T. Jones Advisory Committee as well as former Jones scholars. The late Bobby Jones, an internationally renowned golfer, was an Emory University School of Law alumnus remembered by those who knew him as an extraordinary man of rare loyalty, compassion and integrity.