Since I announced that I will be attending Rutgers University for my PhD in Microbiology on Instagram I figured it was a good time to give all of you some more details about what I do and how I got there and what drives me (the abridged version). I apologize, in advance, if this turns into a philosophical like lecture but sometimes that happens when you get me talking. I honestly can't remember a time in my life when I wasn't interested in the sciences. Remember all those kids science kits that you could get from National Geographic or even the Discovery Store (RIP to the brick and mortar), well those gave me life. I always wanted to build a volcano or do some cool experiment. As I grew up this passion continued. I distinctly remember being in 6th grade science and our teacher decided to put on a PBS NOVA episode and I was literally the only one excited. They were just so interesting and informative. My love for science was cultivate from an early age. I was fortunate to have teachers who were able to recognize my burning passion and worked to build that into a career path. Many of my instructors, surprisingly, were strong female role models. Having women who believed in me helped a lot later in life when it felt like the world was telling me to give up.
Eventually my broad science passion was focused on a dream of curing Multiple Sclerosis. Many of my family members, including my father, have MS and I grew up watching them suffer. Up until recently, there had never been a desire so strong within me. I was sure that I was meant to find a cure or causes of MS. Somehow, during college, I ended up in a laboratory working on antibiotic resistance and development of new antibiotics for resistant infections. The overarching theme of my life has always been wanting to make a positive impact on people's lives. And this area of work made me feel like I was doing that. Not that my work would lead to something 10-15 years from now but that in a couple of years real progress could be made. I had fallen in love with bacteria and antibiotic research and development. Which gets me to where I am now, Last week I successful defended my Masters thesis that was focused on characterizing a new antibacterial compound that is a promising candidate for a new drug. and in two months I will begin my PhD where I plan to continue to work on antibiotic resistance. Its been a long journey and I have a long way to go but I've learned a lot. I've learned that passion and drive are the two most important qualities I posses. Numerous times during my undergraduate career I was told I wasn't cut out for this type of work or that I should pursue a non-research based biology degree, and it broke my heart that much of this criticism came from women. I was so driven to succeed and have the career I always envisioned for myself that I persevered. It didn't matter how many people told me I couldn't do it, I knew I could, and now I have. I am always so thankful I had those female role models when I was younger. I think seeing women succeed in my career field and seeing how much they appreciated my passion instilled a healthy stubbornness within me. If you asked my undergraduate adviser what she thought I would be doing today, she would probably say something along the lines of living in my parents basement having never worked a day because no one would want to hire me. Well she was wrong. Whatever you have chosen to do with your life do it with passion and drive. If someone tells you to give up, don't. See failure as an opportunity to start anew, whether that be to make a career change you have always dreamed of or to continue pursuing something you have been told to forget about. There are many road blocks that will be put in your way but try to think of these more as speed bumps; they may slow you down on your journey but if you believe in yourself and you are willing to put in the work they will never stop you from succeeded. Everyone has the "power" to get to where they want to be, and we all have different obstacles (some more daunting than others). If you are someone who has mild speed bumps use your extra "power" to help those who have a bigger hump to tackle. Try to make a positive impact on this world with everything that you do. Lifting someone else up is one of the best ways to do that.
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