With both of my parents as alumni and my interest in science, UAB was a very attractive school to me from the start. Being from north Alabama meant that clean laundry was only an hour’s drive away, so Birmingham was an attractive location. With a strong record of academic success and smaller class sizes, UAB struck me as an opportunity to succeed in whichever field I chose to pursue. In hindsight, UAB was the most logical choice for my undergraduate education.
My time at UAB has taught me more than I can imagine. Following my freshman year, I decided to pursue a career in medicine. Soon after I made this decision, like many “pre-meds” I joined a research lab to augment my application. Progression through my more advanced coursework allowed me to truly understand the basic science behind my research, and I became fascinated with it. I worked for a biochemist who studied certain structural aspects of DNA—I never knew that a person could care so much about one molecule, but I eventually fell in love as well. With such a high density of biomedical researchers at UAB, meeting new scientists and engaging in academic conversation was very accessible to me. To broaden my horizons in science, I participated in a summer research program at The Ohio State University, where I continued my study of DNA by investigating methods of its repair. The novel research environment helped me better understand what a career in academia would entail, and the idea was very appealing to me. I decided that, no matter what formal training I chose to pursue, I wanted to keep doing research throughout the remainder of my career.
In addition, I have been able to become very involved with the student chemistry chapter on campus. This allows me to enjoy another passion of mine: science education. Because of Birmingham’s central location, I have had the opportunity to perform science demonstrations with thousands of children in over a dozen different venues in the Greater Birmingham Area. In another life, maybe, I hope do what Bill Nye does, teaching children fundamental principles of science.
My entrance into the Undergraduate Neuroscience Program was quite serendipitous. I entered college as a psychology major—I have always been fascinated by the seemingly-inexplicable nature of the human experience. My introduction to neuroscience occurred by way of a Science and Technology Honors Program seminar, “Mechanisms of Memory”, taught by two current faculty of the Department of Neurobiology. What drew me to neuroscience is that it, essentially, is a field dedicated to the demystification of the mind, bridging the gap between psychology and biology.
Through the backgrounds in biochemistry and neuroscience I obtained at UAB, I plan to continue my pursuit of science. Although I have worked primarily in a biochemistry lab, I hope to eventually study molecular mechanisms of neural changes. As for the present, I will be attending UAB medical school this fall, after which I hope to study neurology.
