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When I started at Weber, I had pretty much decided that I wanted to pursue engineering, despite spending most of my junior high and high school experience geared towards eventually applying to medical school. I desperately wanted to be a heart surgeon but felt that engineering would be a shorter route to earning money. As time went on, I found myself less than excited about my course material, and Spring semester of 2018, I felt an overwhelming urge to make my way back to a biological discipline.

Towards the end of the semester, I found myself scheduling my first microbiology class, starting that summer. This is where I met my soon to be research supervisor, Dr. Daniel Clark. Dr. Clark had mentioned some research projects during lab, and since he was a newer professor at the time, I figured it’d be an ideal opportunity to experience the full research process.

I ultimately chose to work with him on two projects, one concerned with visualizing infected fish cells, and another utilizing CRISPR to prevent Herpes Simplex 1 (the cold sore virus) from entering human cells.

I really have to say, choosing microbiology and choosing to work with the research group I did was like day and night compared to how I felt in engineering. I genuinely felt like I had a second family, and I was, and still am immensely happy with the choices I made.

We're still continuing to do what we can with research while social distancing, such as creating and revising some protocols and making sure we're ready to hit the ground running when we can finally come back to campus. Ultimately, we have decided to reapply to the   and a few other conferences next year as well, if public health measures and treatment protocols for COVID-19 allow it!

Overall, my research experience has inspired me to pursue graduate school and I intend to pursue an advanced degree in immunology or pathology.

What I Learned: