My Journey of Science

Megan Robinson

Biol 4500

Professor Karpel

December 8, 2016

My Journey of Science

My interest in science stems from a long time before entering as a freshman at Southern Utah University.  I have always wanted to be just like my mother and follow in her footsteps, whatever she liked I liked as well.  Growing up my mother had, and still has a career of being a dietitian, and would teach me how different foods affect your body differently. So I thought that when I went to college I would graduate in nutrition and be accepted into the dietetic program at some college.  As I grew up and went to high school my interest went more into how the body was working and became more curious about how to do experiments in which it could help explain why the body works the way it does, how interactions between humans and nature work together, and how scientist can make the world better.  With this, I had the plan of becoming a biologist.

As a freshman, I had the concept that you would graduate with a biology degree and then from there you could do anything.  I didn’t understand that biology is such a broad subject and that from taking general biology class encompasses so many career opportunities.  As I progressed in my schooling and taking more specific biology classes, I found my passion for studying diseases. In microbiology or any other biology class, whenever we lectured and discussed parasitic organisms that are the cause of many diseases it would have my full attention. And I wanted to know what career I could get into that would let me be surrounded with information of what diseases are currently occurring and how could I help be part of the research being done.

This is when I learned that the professors are there to help guide us to the careers we are most interested in.  My freshman year I would never go into the professor’s office, I thought that they were just there to teach, not to help us find a career path.  My sophomore year I had gone into my professor of ecology’s office when I needed help with an assignment.  After she had helped me find the answer she asked me what I was planning on doing with my biology degree after graduating.  At this time, I still was in the mindset that I have a biology degree I can do everything with it if I wanted to do some research here I could or if I wanted to teach I could.  But I didn’t really know what you really could do with a biology degree.  She could see right through me and asked what really peaked my interest, and I told her I loved learning about diseases.  She then introduced me to the field of epidemiology. From that time forward I chose the classes that help me understand the science being done in the field that was somewhat related to diseases.

Through each of the classes, I have taken it has given more insight into how scientists work and come up with the questions that help the world around us.  My personal biggest insight to how scientists work was through this capstone class.  I understood through the previous classes that scientists come up with a question and then perform research to see what has already been done if any and then try a way of understanding what is happening.  This capstone class has given me a taste of becoming a scientist because we were able to go anywhere with the prompts and lectures in class.  We had to perform the research and understand the topics.

Capstone has also helped us solidify that we have the tools to find the answers to many questions. It has allowed us to use the knowledge we have thus far and expanded it to answer further questions.  Like the scientist in the workforce, we were able to do similar research and understand the research that has been done on subjects of diseases.  Another insight to the research being done is that sometimes there isn’t an answer for that experiment.  That, not all the experiments or research perform have the results that we want.  And that it is okay if it doesn’t work out the first time, the human population doesn’t have all the answers, that's why there is a need for scientists.

I believe that I will be using science long after graduating from Southern Utah University.  I am pursuing a career in epidemiology and doing research on what outbreaks are currently happening.  And be able to use science to help educate the public and what steps to take to prevent outbreaks or control the outbreaks occurring. But this is not only where I will use science in my life, I can use it for everything.  I can use science to teach my future family, I can use it for my own curiosity.  And learning at Southern Utah University it has provided me the tools to do my own research.   

How Science Has Impacted My Life

Ever since I was young, I’ve had an interest in science. Once I was in high school, that interest focused on the human body. I excelled in all of my high school science classes, including general biology, human anatomy, human physiology and general chemistry. I am a good student, but I especially do well in classes that I enjoy. These classes weren’t all easy; some were concurrent enrollment classes. So, I definitely worked harder in them than other classes I was taking. While I did study a lot, probably more than most people in high school, I really enjoyed learning. During my senior year of high school, I participated in the Rural Health Scholars camp at SUU. During this camp, I got to learn about different areas within the health care field. I learned how to suture on a raw piece of chicken, I dissected a cow’s eyeball, I observed a cat getting spayed, and I learned how to give someone a cast. These experiences helped influence my decision to work towards a career in the health care field.

           Throughout my years at SUU, I have had many biology and chemistry classes. While I did learn a lot from the biology and chemistry class lectures, it was the labs that really helped me understand how scientists work. During my freshman year, I took general chemistry. I remember having to wear a lab coat and safety goggles to the lab. I felt dorky, but I also thought it was cool; I felt like a scientist. Every lab I have taken since then, I’ve learned more about how scientists work. I learned all the safety rules and how important it is to follow them in the lab. In general chemistry, I learned to record everything I did during the lab in a journal. I’ve learned to ask my own questions and formulate hypotheses which I tested through experiments that I designed. For my general biology lab I worked with Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches and tested the effects a growth hormone supplement had on their growth. I’m really glad I had a partner that didn’t mind touching the cockroaches, because it took me all semester to finally gain the courage to pick one of them up. For my ecology lab, I learned how to write a scientific paper on an experiment we had done.  In advanced genetics, I wrote my first literature review. This gave me a good idea of what scientists have to do before they can start primary research or get a grant, or when writing a research proposal, thesis or dissertation. Although I felt very accomplished after I had completed my literature review, I don’t think I would want that to be a part of my future career.  All of these experiences have helped me decide what parts of science I do and don’t enjoy so that I can choose a career path I want to follow. 

           Even though I am not going to medical school like I had originally planned, science will still be a big part of my life. After my fourth year of college, I finally made a decision and chose what career I wanted to have. After I graduate in May, I am going to get a degree in medical lab sciences. With that degree, I plan to work in a medical lab as a lab technologist. That’s about as far as I’ve gone planning my future career. But I have high hopes for it! I had always thought I would end up somewhere in the healthcare field being around a lot of people and working with patients. So, it’s a surprise to me and to the people who know me that I want to go work where there is a lot less people around, and no patients. But, the more I think about it, the more I am excited to not have to deal with sick people on a regular basis. Although it’s been tough bouncing around different career options for the last two years, I’m glad I finally landed on this one. The best part is, I get to continue to feel dorky and cool in my lab coat and safety goggles!

Bryan May

Dr. Jonathan Karpel

BIOL 4500

Paper 3

When I first started at Southern Utah University, I had a very skewed perception of reality. In high school the teachers basically spoon feed students information and I was ready to have some more of that. Throughout high school I rarely did research on my own and took home homework maybe once per month. Obviously there was a steep learning curve once I got to SUU. Other than those obvious changes, there are some character traits, values, and ways of thinking that have been influenced by my peers, teachers, and need to gain knowledge that I hope to successfully portray in this paper.

My original desire to come to SUU revolved around my one goal to get into med school. The school has a reputation of acceptance and I wanted to connect myself with a school that gets people in. That was my first mistake. The reason people get accepted is that SUU provides an environment where we can learn as much as we want to. We can get involved with the teachers who remember our names and can have personal conversations with us around town and who want us to take big roles in their research. On the other hand, the teachers let us take responsibility and expect us to ask them questions if we want help finding the answers. Now I love that, but at first I really didn’t appreciate putting forth that much effort to find an answer. I think as far as medical schools go, they like that we can have those personal relationships with our professors because it drives us to achieve high test scores, participate in amazing research and be involved in the community.

The longer I have been here, the more my original desire has changed. There is a difference between what takes you somewhere and what keeps you somewhere. While my originally encouraged me to come to SUU was getting accepted into medical school, what has kept me here are the other things I’ve gained from the school. Throughout my time at SUU I’ve gotten to know several teachers extremely well. From taking classes from them and helping them with different classes, I have learned that professors have real lives outside of the classroom. It’s interesting to see them outside of the classroom with their kids, or at the grocery store buying junk food. While the professors here are normal people, the difference between a professor and any other person is their love of knowledge and natural curiosity about the world. Most people can’t wait to get out of school so they can do what they want, but a scientist wants to discover something new about the world and make a lasting difference. Who else can isolate a certain gene and implant it in a new organism, or go hiking to explore the human impact on an environment just to name a few research projects on campus. That attitude is contagious and is something that SUU has really been able to deliver because of the personal nature of the faculty on campus.

Other than the things that make me want to be here, there is more that has really helped me while at SUU that wasn’t fun, but was essential to becoming a contributing member of society. Thinking back to high school, because of the way teachers presented information, it appeared as if most things were known that we talked about. I’m sure it was said that science was adding to itself, and if I would have thought about the fact that there were still scientists alive today, I should have gathered that there is still much to be discovered. It wasn’t until I came to SUU and found the vast number of research projects. As I looked into different research, I learned it wasn’t all extremely complicated or groundbreaking but it was instead fairly fundamental research. From this I learned two different things, the first is that we definitely do not know everything. Scientist learn new things every day. Every major university will have the same amount and usually more research going on. The second is to be skeptical of those things I think I know everything about because a small aspect of it that may not be known or even questioned may have a large impact on the entire process in question. An example of this comes from the astronomy class I am currently taking. Recently we have been talking about dark matter and dark energy. Studies on gravity in relation to galaxies show that either our understanding of gravity is wrong on a large scale, or about 95% of the mass in the universe is unseen and far from the center of the galaxy. Again, I give this example to demonstrate how much we don’t know. 95% of the mass in the universe is an astounding figure. Something is definitely off, but scientists just don’t know how to detect any of it. This shows that there is still much to be learned on a small and large scale and it is the fundamental research here in chemistry and physics that will spur ideas to find the answers to more question.

As I am preparing to leave this institution, I have thought of some of the things I want to take with me that I have gained here. The most basic thing is relationships. My peers all have a strong drive to succeed. They are hard workers, intelligent, and have high achievement standards. They are people that have helped me succeed in my own endeavors and I need to continue to stay in touch with them because it’s not always what you know, but who you know that can help you in the long run. Another thing I have gained are basic scientific skills. I know it is cliche, but the scientific method is a huge part of life. It teaches us the first step in getting answers is to ask a question. I plan on going into medicine. People will come with questions constantly, and my only hope of answering them is to use my skills I have gathered here to find the answers. Very rarely will I be performing experiments, so one of the biggest things I need to take away from SUU is an ability to research. Finding credible sources and being able to sort through them to find the information I need is crucial. Several things teach these skills. The Library Management class is all about finding credible sources, general biology also taught where to go especially to find scientific writing and this class has been helpful in expanding my research to different areas of study. This gives me confidence that no matter what question a patient may ask, I will be able to find the most current research on the topic to give an answer if there is one.

Another skill I have gained at SUU is how to learn. At the beginning I was trying so hard to learn every little thing and it made me miss the big picture ideas. The further along I have come the more I have seen ideas resurface from previous classes. When I finally grasped these basic concepts, my study became much more effective. I learned more quickly and even if I didn’t know anything about a new idea, I could use these principles to figure out the meaning of the new idea. I know that if I can retain these basic concepts then I will be a better physician, student, and teacher when I enter the workforce.

In conclusion, I have learned so much from my time here at SUU. I changed from someone who thought they knew everything to someone who knows how little I actually know but who has a strong desire to learn more. The world around us is exciting and keeping that excited attitude promotes new learning and encourages us to learn to the edge of our current understanding through effective research then find new and creative ways to discover more. I hope to never lose sight of those few critical concepts I have learned here and add more of them to my repertoire as I continue my schooling. I believe it is only in this way that I can meet the demands of the field I will hopefully enter soon. I am confident that my study of the life sciences here at SUU has helped prepare me for everything that is to come because of those simple attitudes, and attributes it espouses.

How will science influence my life as a Dentist?

Growing up I watched my parents run a successful business in construction. As kids growing up we had anything and everything we could ever want, and I always knew I wanted to own a business that I could be my own boss and have a lifestyle like the one I had when I was little. I got to second grade and had the wonderful opportunity to get braces on! I spent the next SEVEN AND A HALF YEARS in and out of the orthodontist’s office, and call me a twisted sick-o, but I began to observe and think that I could be an orthodontist one day! I actually enjoyed going to the dentist and getting my braces adjusted! So, my young heart was set, I was going to become an orthodontist! But, I never knew the long road that lied ahead of me. Nobody in my immediate family, or even any of my grandparents went to college. I quickly learned that my path would require many years of school, so I accepted that fact and set out to realize my dreams! It’s been a long road and it has been a challenge carving the path as the pioneer in my family. I got into college and dove into the sciences and immediately found that it was definitely where I wanted to be. I was fascinated as I learned how the body functions, how medications are made, and the possibilities and potential of genetics and bio-engineering. I’ve learned everything from the laws of physics, calculus, what angiosperms and cnidarians are, what phylogenies are, and what matter is. It has been such an incredible journey to learn so much information about such a huge variety of subjects . . . but how would all of these studies help me become a dentist? Going to college has built a foundation of knowledge I will use forever, it has taught me how to study, and it has instilled in me a desire to continue learning for forever.

Science is a field of study that has no limits. There is always more to explore and always more to learn. The scientific method is a method that is designed to force more questions to arise and motivate progress. This directly relates to become a healthcare professional. In the past a dentist was just the guy that gave nasty shots, painfully drilled through my teeth, and struck fear into the hearts of anyone who stepped through their doors. While today that holds true for some folks, more and more people are realizing the importance of our overall health and how our mouth is the gateway to having good overall health. Healthcare in general is now coming together to form one big team. Physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and dentists all have to work together more and more to help our patients achieve good health in all aspects of their lives. With the way things are going in the healthcare world I have realized why having such a broad knowledge of biology, chemistry, physics, etc. is so important. As a dentist I am no longer only concerned about the health of my patient’s teeth, but the tissue around them, their neural health, cancer, pathology, and more. I mean, there is so much more that dentists are prepared to diagnose and deal with now than in the past. This is why the foundation I’ve built in all these different undergrad classes have been so important for my future as a healthcare provider. I can now connect the dots between different factors of the symptoms the patient explains and find the root cause and refer them to someone who can help them. It is exciting to see where healthcare is headed.

                It was the first test of semester one in Organic Chemistry and I looked down at my test . . . my heart sunk! After receiving my first D on an exam in my life I had to really take a step back and look at my study habits. I knew I had to make some changes, so I worked hard to really understand the material rather than attempt memorizing stuff like I had always done. At first I would spend hours in front of my textbook having to reread a paragraph 4 times just to understand what it was trying to explain, but soon I began to strengthen my ability to understand the information that I studied in textbooks. I began to go to class and understand what Ty Redd was saying and I realized it was actually Chinese he was speaking, it was organic chemistry. Things began to make sense and I started to enjoy what I was learning at SUU. After taking organic chemistry I really knew how to study and learn the material to the point of understanding. It was easier to remember because I actually understood the stuff rather than just memorizing it. The skills I’ve developed at SUU in studying will forever help me as a dentist. First, I have to go to dental school which is very taxing and difficult, but I know that the skills I’ve gained in undergrad will help me in being successful as a student in graduate school. Once I graduate and become a dentist, the learning doesn’t stop there; those skills will carry over as I continue my education as a professional.

                Lifelong learning is a huge focus at SUU, and being here the last 4 years has helped me understand why. There is no way to learn everything I want to learn in 4 years. Being here at SUU I have gained a hunger to learn more about everything. I am more curious about the why behind things, and now I know how to find the answers to those questions. Dentistry is a field with constant improvements and advances in technology and materials, and I will have to keep up on that. In cell and molecular biology I got good practice in reading scholarly articles (thanks Dr. Karpel ;)) and that will come in handy when I’m investigating whether or not a product is good enough for me to use in my practice. There are many CE courses that I will want to take so that I can be the best dentist I can be. All of this desire to continue learning is from my experience in undergrad.

                Becoming a dentist went from a dream, to an overwhelming path in front of me, to a reality all because, throughout my life, I’ve worked hard to develop a passion for learning. That desire motivated me to overcome the odds as a first generation student and push through challenging times to build a foundation of knowledge I will use for forever, to learn how to study effectively, and to continue learning all I can. My undergrad time at Southern Utah University has played a big role in that whole journey and it makes me excited to continue progressing toward that goal I’ve had since a young kid going into the first day of second grade with a new pair of braces!

I'll Take a Bowl of Science With Some Existential Crisis on the Side, Please

Science.

1.      Describe your interest in and understanding of the life sciences as you entered SUU.

When I entered SUU, I was a frightened little freshman with a mental ego. I was ugly, and I knew it, but I was smart. My brain has been the source of my parents’ pride for as long as I can remember (I mean, have you seen my face? Just kidding.) I left high school with an interest in the medical field for two reasons. First, I was great at memorizing things. I have a moderately-okay photographic memory, so I had a fantastic time in my high school Biology class memorizing Latin names, remembering the positions of different anatomical features, and so on. This was right around the time when I was swooning over Dr. Cameron in Fox’s House M.D., and so began my heavy interest in medicine and the life sciences, with my naïve brain thinking that I wanted to become a doctor. You see, being a doctor sounded great to a teenager with acne and not many friends: the benefits would be wonderful (money, women, power, and women). However, I had also found peace in memorizing facts. I didn’t have the greatest time in high school, and what ended up being my “fun recreation” outside of school was typing up chapter outlines from my Biology book. I thought, “If I can’t be attractive and sociable and popular, I might as well be smart and ace every test.” Facts were easy, and the life sciences were based completely on logical facts. This was my initial interest in the life sciences as I entered SUU: it was easy for me, and seemed like studying the field would lead me down a path of happiness (MWP+W), while also stroking my ego of “I am very smart”.

However, things have changed. My interest in the life sciences is still burning brightly, though the interest in the spectrum of fields within the life sciences is exacerbated by my relatively new interest in philosophy. When I first started at SUU, I enjoyed facts and things that were easy to remember. However, I ended up enrolling in several philosophy classes over the years and have since developed a strong interest in the “why?” of science, which you cannot easily memorize. For example, questioning the philosophy of mind has sparked an intense interest within myself in regards to neuroscience and the natural wonder of the brain. The more that I learn within the field of science, the more that I realize I know nothing and I am not that special. The more that I learn in other fields of study, the more that I realize we have an incomplete body of knowledge within the life sciences. To put it shortly, I am a greater skeptic: I practice critical thinking naturally throughout my day. I don’t believe things at face value. I understand that concepts from seemingly unconnected fields of study may in fact be heavily interconnected. I understand that the varying systems functioning within our bodies are a natural miracle, and the unimaginable chance of life evolving to this point on our planet is simply due to different forces of nature interacting with each other at the speed of light. My rendition of the meaning of science has changed drastically over the last few years: I began as a superficial fact-memorizer, and ended up discovering the precious delicateness of life. I am now at a point where I wish to discover why the facts of the universe are the way they are, and science will help me get there: the scientific method is humanity’s best chance of producing an accurate description of the world that we live in.

2.      What has been your biggest insight on how scientists work and think about the world?

My biggest insight into the minds of scientists is that understanding is completely subjective. The reasons that one scientist may come to the same conclusion as another scientist may be completely different. The initial discovery of a now-canon theory may have been a complete accident, or simply not formulated from a logical progression of ideas (a last resort, if you will). I have realized that the greatest scientific minds think in novel ways and permit the formulation of unorthodox thoughts. However, I have also learned that science may also unfortunately limit the investigation into novel theories due to the fact that no prior evidence exists to give reason into the investigation. I believe that many of the most important scientific discoveries were pure accidents which could not have been produced by following a logical progression of ideas. For this, I wish that more funding was appropriated to pure experimentation where the reasons for doing something may be “just to see what happens”, and then building off of any knowledge gained. (Keep your fingers crossed that I don’t become the budgeting manager for the NIH).

I have also realized that the field of study pertaining to individual scientists will greatly influence the way they think about the world. Mathematicians may have a more abstract perspective on the world than, say, a geologist or a biologist. However, this means one thing: scientists use the knowledge they have gained and understand to great detail to formulate future theories and ideas to novel situations. I think this offers a fantastic moral to the story of science: learn as much as you can, in as many fields as you can, because a concept you investigate today in physics may open your eyes to further knowledge down the road in biology. Don’t sell yourself short by specializing in a single field without broadening your understanding with the help of other fields of science.

3.      How do you imagine science will play a part in the world you’ll be joining once you graduate?

Honestly, I have no idea, and that reasoning is due to politics. I see the following courses of action taking place: both science and logical reasoning will take over the planet and we will see improvement in every aspect of life, or science will be beaten down by narrow-minded thinkers and the planet will turn to chaos. The current year is 2016, and humanity is at its peak of scientific understanding, yet we cannot come to a consensus that climate change is an actual phenomenon. I believe that the time for science is now, and if humanity cannot reason that the scientific method is the natural path to truth, we may reach the point of no-return in regards to the continued existence of intelligent life on Earth.

However, if all goes well and the merits of science become understood on a much larger scale across every culture and class, then science will become the norm. We will investigate everything on a scientific basis, and humanity will work towards improving the planet and ourselves. Our moral code may be rewritten once traditional (non-scientific) trains of thought are abandoned. Really, I think that science will have an enormous impact on the world in more ways than I can imagine, and I am holding on to hope for that outcome.

Plus, the job market would be sweet, and my degree may end up being worth something!

1       1.      Describe your interest in and understanding of the life sciences as you entered SUU.

My interests in the life sciences pertained particularly to health. My understanding of what that looked like though was pretty far off from what the optimal would be considered. I didn’t realize how one enzyme would contribute so much to an entire disease. In other words, my understanding of the life sciences was pretty abysmal in comparison to where it is at now and even still I could use a lot more time to fully understand the life sciences.

2. What has been your biggest insight on how scientists work and think about the world?

For me I didn’t realize just how much research has to be done when just one point is trying to be made. I came here thinking that just one article or part of an experiment is enough to prove (I know very bad word) something. In other words, the biggest insight I have now is the viewing of meta-analyses and how they contribute to the understanding of the scientific community. These are the biggest contributors to my understanding of the world around me as they take multiple pieces of data prioritizing them based on chances of error (type 1 or 2) and etc. I believe that text books as well are a sort of meta-analysis so I will lump those into here. Basically, I find the world to be much more complex (and thereby more difficult to piece together the puzzle) than I originally thought.

3.      .             3.     How do you imagine science will play a part in the world you’ll be joining once you graduate?

At minimal my background in science has made me quite the critical thinker. Having said this, it isn’t something small to scoff at. This ability will allow me to look into just about anything and evaluate whether or not the information is useful in comparison to another source. This could apply to economics, social systems, science, or the intersections between disciplines even. I am glad to be a more well informed individual as a result of this skill from my science courses. I will be able to use my scientific field as a teacher, scientist or maybe even just as a person in the general public hoping to help others learn something in their lives. I hope to make a daily activity out of this skill, where I can continue to expand my knowledge on the topics I am most interested in. 

Criminal Justice and Biology: the Road to Happiness

Science!  The complexity, the unknown, and the ability to help the world.  These things are sometimes tied with science, but for me they drove my ambition to pursue a degree of Biology and Criminal Justice at Southern Utah University.  Without these aspects of science I don’t feel that I would have chosen the degrees that I have today.

Every person begins to question the world that we live in during an early age; this is called the ‘why’ phase.  Many people grow out of it or get satisfied by the answers that they receive from the people around them.  However, I on the other hand wanted to know more.  I wanted to know each little mechanism.  What each little mechanism controlled and how they related to one another.  At this young age, I knew that there were something that was able to explain why everything was the way that it was no matter the answers that I received through religious teachings or even from the people around me.  I would begin my own research into sites that would help me understand the processes of the biological world because those around me would not be able to answer my questions to the highest ability.

This was my first taste into research.  I had a hard time a first not knowing the specific questions to ask to find the answers I wanted.  However, article after article that I read I found different answers that I didn’t even know that I was asking.  This demonstrated to me that world I lived in was more complex than I first realized.  I found articles that expressed how the mitochondria was able to produce ATP allowing for the organism to be able to do other processes that are needed to sustain life.  I also found articles that spoke about space and how life could be possible if particular species adapted to temperature differences because the other needed elements for life were present on the planets.  These articles were not just that biology or science was complex, but the universe has so much to offer to another that is willing to take the time and look around exploring.

As I was looking around exploring the published worked of biology I began to realize there were holes in the research.  This confused me at first.  I was like science was suppose be able to explain all the questions that I had, but many times they produced more questions with no answers.  As I got older I realized that some science is known, but what is the most exciting part of science is the unknown.  If scientist just focused on what was known then there would never be new discoveries.  The reason that there are scientific discoveries are that scientists are not afraid to ask the hard questions that don’t have the answers and search for the answers themselves.  They know that they might be proved wrong through their research, but if they never asked the question than we would live in an uncivilized world.  Stuck in a place of unlearning.  For learning is the greatest proof of civilization.

With these ideas in my head, I knew that I wanted to do something to better the world through the world of science.  For the longest time I want to go into the medical field either as a surgeon or a doctor.  I felt that I would be able to help the individuals understand what was happening inside their bodies and the best way of treatment to help them stay in the best shape possible.  I would be able to do this by understanding and using the biological principles of the human body and what was required of them.  I would also be able to help fill in the gaps of understanding the human brain in the way of the structure and how particular diseases affect the cognitive function of the individual.  However, as I continued on my educational journey I realized one key feature about myself that hindered my ability to go into the medical field.  I was unable to remember and recall simple detailed facts no matter how much I studied.  Thus, the probability of me misdiagnosing an individual increased distractedly.

Two alternatives popped up in high school relating to biology; sports medicine and forensic science.  Sports medicine brought in another one of my interests sports.  I would be able to use the biology of the human body once again to work on sports teams to help injured players during the games and after with physical therapy.  Or so I thought.  As I did more research into this career path I found out that most people that go into sport medicine end up just doing physical therapy.  I was not in the realm of during physical therapy for the rest of my life.  That’s when the second alternative really took hold and I pursued it to this day.

My love for forensic science developed through watching television shows like C.S.I., NCIS, and Law & Order.  Though these shows are not completely accurate in the way that science is actually used in solving crimes.  It showed me that it is possible to be able to use science to help put away criminals using different aspects of biology.  Including data analysis, insect life cycle, toxicology, and human physiology.  This was solidified during my internship at the Utah State Central Forensic Laboratory located in Salt Lake City.

During my internship, I was able to use a multitude of my skills that I have learned throughout my time at Southern Utah University.  I was able to interpret data charts that were produced the technical machines.  I learned that when DNA is harvested from a crime scene that the DNA has to be ran through PCR and I was able to perform and practice doing my own PCRs.  Through comparing the technology shown on television and the actual technology that is available to labs today; forensic science still has a long way to go before it is able to reach the same standards of equipment as shown on the television.  However, with developments in the scientific world equipment will continue to improve helping with the criminal justice system allowing for the protection of every individual's rights.

Just like the comparison of modern forensic labs and those shown on television.  I have found a new paradox with reality.  Many individuals say that once you graduate with a degree career opportunities will just fall from the sky.  However, that is not the case.  As graduation keeps approaching there are more unknowns than there are knowns.  May of the forensic careers opportunities that I have applied for have all responded with the same response; “at this time you are not qualified.”  This raises important questions for me, “What to do next? Were these four years really worth my time?”  To the first question, I have no idea how to answer that one.  There are so many avenues to take with so many different outcomes; graduate school, military, or continue to look for work and getting certificates along the way.  For the second question, the answer is a little bit simpler.  Yes, these four years were worth my time.  I was able to do what I loved.  Learned about the world I live in.  Experienced the beauty and complexity that is biology.  Even learned about myself that biology is not always about the little details, but the larger picture and being able to put everything together in the end.