#IAmScience
April 6, 2018
Garren Powell #IAmScience
Garren Powell is a freshman involved in research through the Freshman Research in Plant Sciences (FRIPS) program. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC “#IAmScience because research helps fulfill the curiosity I have for learning about the world around me.” By Allison Scott | Bond Life Sciences Center Some people spend their whole lives trying to figure out what they want to do. Garren Powell, however, has known that science was his route for as long as he can remember. “As a kid I was always the one doing my own little science experiments at…
March 30, 2018
Maddie Willis #IAmScience
Maddie Willis, a senior biochemistry major, works in the Burke Lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC By Allison Scott | Bond Life Sciences Center Setting a routine makes everything easier. However, changes to a set routine often leads to complications. For Maddie Willis, a senior biochemistry major, that change came in the form of working in different labs and learning their unique styles and areas of emphasis. She started in Lori Eggert’s lab freshman year and switched into Frank Schmidt’s lab for the next two years before changing labs a final…
March 21, 2018
Laura Greeley #IAmScience
Laura Greeley, a postdoc, works in the Peck Lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC By Allison Scott | Bond Life Sciences Center “#IAmScience because I’ve been able to build upon my experiences and explore science in a new, exciting way.” High school is a weird time for most people because everyone’s trying to figure out where they fit. Laura Greeley was ahead of her time, though. She uncovered important truths about her passions back then, and the postdoc in Scott Peck’s lab at Bond LSC hasn’t looked back since. “In high school,…
March 16, 2018
Tyler McCubbin #IAmScience
Tyler McCubbin, a Ph.D. candidate, collaborates with the Peck Lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC By Allison Scott | Bond Life Sciences Center “#IAmScience because I am passionate about solving real world problems with creative solutions.” A lot of people get signs as a guide for the direction they’re supposed to take in life. Tyler McCubbin’s sign was more literal. “There was a giant billboard alongside a county road and it said ‘Pray for Rain,’ and it’s probably still there,” McCubbin said. “Seeing that at the height of the drought was inspiring.
March 9, 2018
Chris Zachary #IAmScience
Chris Zachary, a junior chemistry major, stands near his lab station in the Mendoza Lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC By Allison Scott | Bond Life Sciences Center “#IAmScience because the lessons I learn through research will help me to one day become an astronaut.” Asking kids what they want to be when they grow up usually leads to a variety of answers: doctor, lawyer, president, astronaut. A few years down the line, though, most of those answers change. Chris Zachary, a junior chemistry major, is the exception. He never outgrew…
March 1, 2018
Sarah Gebkin #IAmScience
Sarah Gebken, a junior biological engineering major, works in the Pires Lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC By Allison Scott | Bond Life Sciences Center “#IAmScience because I bring a unique perspective to the world of research.” They say only an engineer could figure out their way around the engineering building at Mizzou. Now in her junior year, Sarah Gebken boasts the ability to do just that. Her unique perspective as a biological engineering major translates to her work in Chris Pires’ lab in Bond LSC, too. As both an engineer and…
Feb. 23, 2018
Duolin Wang #IAmScience
Duolin Wang, a researcher in the Dong Xu lab in Bond LSC, works in bioinformatics. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC By Allison Scott | Bond Life Sciences Center “#IAmScience because I want to explore the beauty of biological sequences through computational methods.” Bioinformatics is a melting pot in the world of science. As a study of analyzing complex data, it’s not a field for everyone, but its applications are vast. Duolin Wang, a researcher in the Dong Xu Lab at Bond LSC, isn’t intimidated by the complexities her field presents. She came to America…
Feb. 16, 2018
Eric Fedosejevs #IAmScience
Eric Fedosejevs, a postdoc, stands in front of his lab station in the Thelen Lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC “#IAmScience because I want to discover how plants decide what to store in their seeds.” The family garden doesn’t typically turn into a life-long journey of studying plants. But when Eric Fedosejevs went to college, the native Canadian found that plants naturally made sense when deciding what to do with his life. “Growing up, we always had a big garden with a lot of vegetables,” Fedosejevs said. “And with the…
Feb. 9, 2018
Patrick Nittler #IAmScience
Patrick Nittler, a Ph.D candidate in molecular plant biology at MU, stands near his lab station in the Liscum Lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC “#IAmScience because I push through failures knowing that eventually something will work out.” Breaking things apart and putting them back together has been engrained in Patrick Nittler’s life for as long as he can remember. Growing up, Nittler served as his dad’s sidekick as he salvaged parts of a broken computer to boost performance in their new one. Moments like those were bonding experiences that…
Feb. 2, 2018
Rohit Rao #IAmScience
Rohit Rao, a junior biology and psychology double major, works in the Sarafianos Lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC “#IAmScience because I get to apply knowledge from the classroom to my research.” There are a number of ways to get involved in research, but tennis probably doesn’t come to mind. Rohit Rao was practicing his serve alongside Kamal Singh in 2015 when the two began talking about science. The junior biology and psychology double major expressed his interest in working in research, and Singh offered for him to join…
Jan. 26, 2018
Ashten Kimble #IAmScience
Ashten Kimble works in Walter Gassmann’s lab in Bond LSC studying plant pathogens. | Photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC “#IAmScience because I am constantly learning and questioning. We try to understand life in order to improve it, but every answer brings on new questions and new areas to advance.” If you walked into Ashten Kimble’s apartment, you’d notice immediately that it’s filled with plants. While some plant biologists refrain from caring for plants on their days off, the graduate student embraces being surrounded by life. As a part of Walter Gassmann’s Lab in Bond…
Jan. 12, 2018
Carson Broeker #IAmScience
Carson Broeker, a biochemistry junior at MU, works in the Angelovici lab in Bond LSC. | photo by Allison Scott, Bond LSC By Allison Scott | Bond Life Sciences Center “#IAmScience because learning and chasing my innate curiosity about the living world with them makes me excited to work in lab each day.” Science can be about serendipity that leads to better discoveries and opportunities that researchers don’t expect. Carson Broeker knows this all too well. “I wasn’t always interested in research,” said Broeker, a junior biochemistry major. “I took the three science classes my high…