Michelle Marquez is a fifteen year old sophomore at the Math & Science High School at Clover Hill in Midlothian, Virginia. She has developed a passion for understanding the human perceptions of art by using scientific correlations. Michelle discovered the mathematical structure of sounds that triggers selective emotions. She was able to prove that certain types of music affect the brain and that the responses may have an evolutionary and biological basis. Michelle’s research provides a new foundation to how music therapy can work in treating symptoms of mood, neurological, and anxiety disorders such as PTSD and Attention Deficit Disorder.
Michelle is an award-winning scientist at the Metro Richmond STEM Fair, Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, and a First Place & Best in Category winner in Behavioral Science at the International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles, California. A newly discovered asteroid will be named after Michelle by MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory and the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research program. She was recently interviewed by Dr. Sanjay Gupta on “Vital Signs”, CNN. She is also the founder of an Out-of-the-Box neuroscience initiative that explores and promotes a trans-disciplinary blend of Arts and STEM fields looking for a place “Where Science Meets Art”.
