Hello everyone, thanks for taking the time to stop by and listen to my ramblings. I started this blog after listening to a speaker last week. One of the things he encouraged us as graduate students to do is start a blog, where once a week we read a scientific journal article and then write a review of it for a general, non-scientific audience. This is suppose to help us improve our ability to communicate science better, practice writing, and will give us a body of work to show potential employers when we graduate. I had never heard this idea before, but as writing is one of my weaker skills, I thought it couldn’t hurt.
I couldn’t help but add a couple of extra pages for some of my personal interests too. While my family has always had a flock of laying hens, it wasn’t until I started getting interested in exhibition poultry in middle school. In trying to learn everything I could about the birds, I became interested in genetics and tried to teach myself as much as I could (I may have been a bit of a nerd). When I was preparing to go to college, I decided to turn my interest in genetics into a career by majoring in plant breeding and genetics. After graduating, I worked for a few years for a seed company at a research station before returning to school for my Masters’ in Plant Science.
Having a career that very focused on summer research can sometimes make it more difficult to travel. Often I visit places in the “off-season” which can have its advantages (less people) and disadvantages (places are closed, cold weather). I love visiting different places and photographing them. My favorite pictures to take are landscapes, architecture, and animals. I like to think a have a few professional level pictures hiding among the thousands I have taken, and I would love to share them with others, so I have a page where I can show them off and talk about by travels.
Thoughts From a Wandering Hoosier 