Background: No science background prior to the Bridge to Bioscience Program.
Bioscience Internship: Joint BioEnergyInstitute (JBEI), Fuels Synthesis Department. Performed analysis of yeast strains genetically engineered to produce a chemotherapeutic.
Current Career: Senior Analytical Lab Technichian, DSM Biomedical
“In the beginning, I was worried because I lack a scientific background. But I quickly gained interest in the sciences….interning at JBEI, Dr. Rios, my mentor, gave me a lot of opportunities to work under the smartest and coolest researchers. He introduced me to a few researchers who was working on plant cell tissue cultures and encouraged me to work close with research associates and lab technicians to be the first line of support for experiments. People at the lab liked my work and positive attitude. They gave me the best performance reviews, which landed me this new job as an Analytical Lab Technician at DSM Biomedical.
The internship class [BTEC] 14B is basically a “get my foot in the door” credit class to get a full-time job. I got to hear about different research projects from each student at their individual internship workplaces. Surprisingly we all had different duties, from which we could learn…This class not only helped broaden my professional network, but also …trained me to always ask “WHY” to anything in order to understand the objective behind all experiments and research that are going on in the biosciences.
With this poster, I participated in [an] undergraduate student poster presentation program at JBEI. My presentationwon the best poster award among great competitors [including] students from UC Berkeley. I want to thank Dr. Karen Leung in preparing and helping us make such great posters. I am grateful to her helping us understand the purpose of the research experiments, familiarize [myself] with the necessary technical skills, and know the methods/techniques that are applied during experimentation. All these were very helpful in building my resume.
The experience and training from this class is extraordinaryin many ways as mentioned above. I apply these things that I learned everyday in [my] new job.”
