I grew up in sunny southern California and decided to stay there for my undergraduate education. In 2004, I graduated with a BS in biochemistry from California State University at Los Angeles and decided to follow that education in the Biology Department at MIT the next Fall.

My decision to join MIT was based largely on my experiences as an MSRP (MIT Summer Research Program) summer intern in 2003. At CSULA, my research was in an environmental chemistry lab studying the photochemistry of carcinogenic pollutants. While this work really interested me, I was also curious to learn more about biological systems and how they're studied. This prompted my participation in MSRP and, during that summer, I not only got to do some really fun science, but learned a lot about the environment of the Biology Department, too.

During my stay, I was struck by how friendly the graduate students, postdocs, and faculty were. In the lab, everyone seemed excited about their research and was more than eager to answer my many, many, many questions! There was an obvious focus on training future scientists to think critically and open-mindedly about their research. Outside the lab environment, the students showed me that while they all worked hard, they also knew how to have fun! I left MIT that summer with a good feeling about the congenial, intellectually-charged, and motivating environment that this department provides.

As a grad student, I’m still happy to have chosen MIT. The program design promotes a collaborative atmosphere and provides lots of interaction with the faculty. This is especially true in the first year, when we take classes and start considering which labs to join. That we spent much of our time together lent more toward a supportive, rather than competitive, environment and made my adjustment to MIT much easier than I would have thought.

As for my adjustment to living in Cambridge, the transition was made very easily since this city is really student-friendly and the older grad students from California gave great advice to prepare me for the bitter Massachusetts winters (like layering and buying snow shoes!) The extracurricular activities available both on- and off- campus are diverse, complement many interests and, as I have found for myself, provide more than enough things to keep occupied. I'm having a lot of fun so far!