“After my freshman year, I participated in an NSF REU program at Portland State, where I was able to work in a virology research lab. It was a really great experience, and I went back the following summer as a part-time volunteer. During my last semester (winter 2013) I completed a senior honors thesis and gave a presentation based on the work that I did in the Stedman Lab.
There are so many great professors at UP, it’s hard to choose a ‘most influential.’ I would have to say Dr. Jeff Brown had the greatest impact on launching me into research. Both his enthusiasm for research and his focus on helping students made a really huge impact. He also served as my thesis adviser and was extremely helpful in guiding my efforts at scientific writing. I certainly wouldn’t be where I am without his encouragement and advice. Dr. Ahern-Rindell was also very influential. I learned a lot through her research-based genetics course. UP faculty are definitely unique in their willingness to spend time helping students.
I heard about the NIH Postbac program through Michele Leasor in the Honors office. Since I graduated halfway through what was technically my junior year, I didn’t feel prepared to make a choice about grad school or my post-college career. I was interested in the NIH Postbac program because it offers the opportunity to spend a year in a world-class research setting and decide whether I want to continue on path to a research career. It basically gives you the opportunity to be treated like a grad student before you commit to a graduate program.
Currently I am working in Harlan Caldwell’s Chlamydia research lab in the Rocky Mountain Laboratories branch of the NIAID (Hamilton, Montana). I am assisting members of the lab in their efforts in genetic characterization and vaccine development for Chlamydia trachomatis. There are definitely some very exciting projects going on here! I’ve been doing tissue culture, infections, titrations, and fluorescent microscopy so far. I have been here less than three weeks, so of course there’s still a lot to learn!”