After graduating from Georgia Tech, I headed north to Madison, Wisconsin to attend the University of Wisconsin. Currently, I’m working on earning my doctoral degree in microbiology as a research assistant in UW’s Microbiology Doctoral Training Program. My thesis project, which is being completed under the guidance of Dr. Caitlin Pepperell, is centered around the use of methods in computational biology to study the ecology and evolution of natural populations of Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
My hope is to apply the knowledge of both microbiology and computational biology that I will obtain from my work as a graduate student to a career in the public health sector. More specifically, I aim to work in policy or outreach, serving as a liaison between public health professionals and the general populace.
As a biology student, Georgia Tech taught me the importance of being self-motivated. Much of the work I have done in my graduate program has been highly independent. Often times I am presented with a basic scientific concept or question. Developing the skill set necessary to address said question or concept and how to go about answering it is largely an individual effort. This is one of the biggest adjustments that must be taken when exiting an undergraduate career, but I can definitively say that Georgia Tech’s biology program more than prepared me for the transition.
Explore the broad diversity of topics the field of biology has to offer. Certain subjects may seem intimidating or unappealing at first, but after taking an elective, attending a seminar or rotating in a research lab, you might just fall in love with something totally unexpected.
Take the opportunity to talk to the professors who inspire you or you admire; ask them about their previous career and the path they took to get where they are today. Chances are, they’ve forged a path you may be interested in following. The professors are there to guide you, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel when the time comes to decide what you want to do after graduation.
There are careers outside of academia that are well worth investigating. Trust your intuition; it will tell you whether or not a particular pursuit is right for you. It’s hard to follow your muse, let alone foster it, when you don’t love what you do, so try to do what you believe will make you both happy and successful in the long run.
