
Positivity Meets Personal Connections Mariam Drammeh ’25 has approached research, internships and campus involvement with an eye toward a future rooted in service to others.
“The importance of compassion in the work of public service is fundamental to everything I aim to do.”
~ Mariam Drammeh ’25
For Mariam Drammeh ’25, it’s personal.
Drammeh’s campus involvement – research work, internships, organizing campus events – shares a common thread of bringing people together to make meaningful connections. The Lawrenceville, Georgia, native double majoring in cognitive and behavioral science and German and minoring in art history was recently awarded the 2024 David G. Elmes Pathfinder Prize in Psychology, which recognizes a Washington and Lee University student who has shown extraordinary promise in cognitive and behavioral science or its application in professions through outstanding scholarship in basic or applied psychology. Drammeh said her research experiences are just one aspect of her W&L experience that has allowed her to learn about communication, collaboration and what inspires her.
The QuestBridge Scholar began her undergraduate research career as a first-year in the Technology, Health and Cognition Lab, overseen by Wythe Whiting, professor of cognitive and behavioral science (CBSC), and Karla Murdock, Jo M. and James M. Ballengee Professor of Cognitive Behavioral Science. The lab explores how cell phone use relates to adolescents’ and emerging adults’ well-being and sleep quality. Murdock, Drammeh’s CBSC adviser who recruited her into the lab, said Drammeh excelled as a researcher and quickly amassed responsibilities in the role, including data coding, online data collection and participant scheduling.
“Mariam is a person with agency,” Murdock said.
Debra Prager, associate professor of German, is Drammeh’s adviser in the German Department and said she sees Drammeh as “someone on an adventure — with a quest to learn and to grow and to build community.” As a first-year, Drammeh was selected to be a resident adviser in the 2022 Virginia Governor’s German Academy, a three-week, full-immersion summer program for Virginia’s top high school students sponsored by the Virginia Department of Education and hosted on W&L’s campus. The following year, Drammeh joined Prager on her Spring Term Abroad course in Graz, Austria, where students can live with host families for the entire four weeks.
“Mariam is a relationship-builder,” Prager said, “so I wasn’t surprised to see her gel with her host family right away, but two years later, they are still close; they are part of each other’s lives and a lot of that has to do with Mariam’s deep commitment to cultivating social connectedness. That’s immensely rewarding for me, too, as her professor and adviser.”
Drammeh’s Gilman Scholarship took her to Germany the summer after her sophomore year to work for a non-governmental organization for refugee assistance that includes a clothes closet and offers consulting services. Drammeh said her work with the NGO benefited from having staff and interns with various professional backgrounds and life experiences, which allowed for richer problem-solving and troubleshooting capabilities when addressing client needs.
“For example,” Drammeh said, “I became friends with a fellow intern there from Kyrgyzstan who spoke Russian fluently, and one day we encountered a situation where a refugee from Ukraine needed our assistance making a doctor’s appointment. She would translate from Russian to English, and I would then translate the message from English to German over the phone with the doctor’s office until we were able to get him the medical help he needed. It was very rewarding.” Drammeh cites the summer experience as one of the most pivotal parts of her W&L career, along with her experience as a peer counselor, which inspired her to pursue a career path that combines research, policy and community-based work.
“My internship coordinator gave me advice that has stuck with me: ‘You should always look at the people you are trying to serve in the eye. The act of service is not looking down on others – it happens at eye-level,’” Drammeh said.
Her summer abroad experience also led to her interest in pursuing a role as an ambassador for the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). This organization promotes international academic cooperation by providing scholarships, funding and support for students, researchers and institutions to study, teach or conduct research in Germany or abroad. Drammeh serves as a liaison for W&L’s campus. Her primary responsibilities are to plan events and raise awareness about various academic and funding opportunities for students to study, intern or work in Germany, a role she said allows her to share her passion for Germany and help connect other students with valuable international experiences, especially those from backgrounds that may not typically have access to such opportunities. Drammeh also tutors local children in German through Languages for Rockbridge in addition to serving as a peer tutor on campus through the German Department.
Prager noted that Drammeh co-organized the German Department’s most popular event of the last year, when students who have studied or worked in Germany or Austria present to the rest of the department and provide tips and guidance to students interested in pursuing similar opportunities.
“She is a consummate organizer,” Prager said, “focused on creating opportunities for others to stand in the limelight and share their wisdom.”
Drammeh spent last summer at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, where she worked on autism research and gained experience working with a clinical psychologist. Her exposure to the many different professionals involved with each client impressed upon her the value of diverse perspectives in client care.
“I was never in a meeting with just one type of person or profession. I was working with a clinical psychologist, but there would also typically be school psychologists in the room, social workers, occupational therapists, and everyone had a different and unique perspective when it came to troubleshooting,” Drammeh said. “The goal was simply, ‘What can we do to ensure this child can navigate life a little bit easier?’”
Drammeh is currently a research assistant in the Computational Cognition and Creativity Lab, led by Dan Johnson, professor of cognitive and behavioral science and head of the university’s Data Science Program, with a team tasked with exploring the relationship between artificial intelligence and human creativity. Johnson said he was impressed by Drammeh’s questions about topics like sentiment analysis and topic modeling, demonstrating both curiosity and initiative. Johnson said that Drammeh’s role in his lab has evolved into that of a strong team lead charged with identifying the group’s research questions and next steps.
“When Mariam walks into the room, both the positivity and the productivity go up dramatically,” Johnson said.
Drammeh plans to pursue a master’s degree and a doctorate in social policy, focusing on refugee and migrant communities and the policies that directly impact them. As Drammeh embarks on her graduate school journey, she hopes to eventually find a role that allows her to blend her academic interests, particularly her passion for research, with hands-on, compassionate service to underserved communities like the refugees she worked with in Germany.
“I want to be able to combine my love for research and the human act of connecting with other people,” Drammeh said. “The importance of compassion in the work of public service is fundamental to everything I aim to do.”
Drammeh said the people she has met on W&L’s campus have also inspired her to continue to be involved as an alumna and help the campus “make space” for students like herself.
“The people I have met on this campus are one-of-a-kind,” Drammeh said. “They are people who care. I’ve been lucky to have very compassionate and caring mentors, and being able to do that for other people in my personal life and future career is something that I would like to hold very dear from my W&L experience.”
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Mariam Drammeh ’25
Hometown: Lawrenceville, Georgia
Major: Double majoring in cognitive and behavioral science and German and minoring in art history
Campus involvement: Peer Counselor, peer tutor in German, volunteer for Languages for Rockbridge, vice chair of the Traveller Safe Ride program
After W&L: Drammeh plans to pursue a master’s degree and a doctorate in social policy, focusing on refugee and migrant communities and the policies that directly impact them.
On what motivates her: “I think part of my service to others has just been rooted in knowing that there is a lot of struggle on this campus and that beauty can be found if someone can hold your hand and lead you to the light. That is what I’m hoping to do for others. That’s how I found all my places on this campus and, hopefully, my place in the world.”
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