FEATURE STORY
First Year Mic.E. Students Meet
First year Microbial Engineering (MicE) students met recently to discuss
their impressions of the BTI graduate program over lunch at D'Amico & Sons
in the University's MacNamara Center. The six students accepted into the
program this fall are all pursuing their masters degrees through the MicE
program's research track, which requires completion of an original research
project under direction of a Mic.E. graduate faculty member.
"It's convenient in how you can choose what you want from so many different
disciplines," commented Ramyavardhanee "Ramya" Chandrasekaran. Ramya and
Annapurna Kamineni are international students who both had the University
of Minnesota highly recommended to them by professors at their separate
schools at Anna University in Madras, India. Annapurna found the MicE
graduate program a natural progression from her undergraduate degree in
biotechnology, and Ramya was referred to the program by MicE graduate
Shweta Srikanth, now a Biochemical Engineer with Merck & Co. in Philadelphia.
For other students like Dan Rouse of St. Paul, the MicE program provided
great research opportunities close to home. Rouse did his undergraduate
work in biotechnology and microbiology at North Dakota State University in
Fargo, ND, and hopes to apply a background in Microbial Engineering to
reducing the impact that humans have had on the environment.
Clint Remarcik of Bloomington, MN, entered the program after completing his
undergraduate degree in biology at the University. He's doing rotations in
three different areas of study - medicinal chemistry, drug design and
electrochemistry - and is amazed at the wide selection of disciplines
offered by the program.
"I was referred by a friend who knew of the program but had already
completed a Ph.D. in Biochemistry," Clint explained. "He said he would have
enrolled in the MicE program instead had he known about it at the time."
Jacquie Allen, a biology and mathematics major at Luther College in
Decorah, IA, worked as a micro tech at 3M in St. Paul and spent 8 months teaching
reproductive health abroad as a volunteer in Tanzania before deciding to pursue
her masters degree closer to home. She was looking for a solid masters program that
was not connected to a Ph.D.
Perhaps the most interesting referral story was that of Aunica Skogen, who
joined the program in part because of the opportunity it presented to actively engage in laboratory research.
She was encouraged to apply for the program by then Director of Graduate Studies
Robert Brooker after the two got to know each other through his undergraduate class in
genetics.
"Professor Rob Brooker lives near where I work in Plymouth," she begins the
story of how they first began discussing the program. "One day he came into
the BP gas station where I worked as I was reading his genetics textbook.
He said 'hey, I wrote that book', and I said, 'I'm your student!'"
-Tim Montgomery
