Hometown: Santa Rosa, CA
Undergraduate Institution/Major: CSU Chico/Physics
Third year graduate student in biophysics.
What led you to choose your area of study? How complex a simple thing can be. Physics is good at predicting what will happen for simple systems. Biology has complex systems made up of simple parts. Proteins, even well-studied ones like the Enterovirus capsids I study, still have secrets in why they choose to be the way they are! Understanding how improving one of the protein's function may lose ability in another function shows what Enterovirus prioritizes in infection and transmission, or how we may be able to anticipate future changes!
What is one fun fact about yourself? Before coming to UCSF as a graduate student I had been coming here for treatment for a congenital heart condition. I have been coming here since I can remember.
What useful tip(s) do you have for incoming UCSF students? It is important to get involved on campus in activities outside your studies, but don't overreach. Take your first couple of months here to explore your path, but once you find out which way you want to go give it your all!
