Tag Archives: life after college

Alumni Profile: Muhammed Fazeel

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Muhammed Fazeel

Graduated: May 2012

Favorite IB class and why: Ecology and Human Health (IB 361). Professor Allan held a fantastic class related to health. I especially liked it since he made a conscious effort of making relevant lectures based on current/recent epidemics.

Favorite extra curricular activities (undergraduate research, clubs, etc) and why: Being part of the Illinois Launch program at the Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership.

Why you chose IB:  Integrative Biology took a broader approach at understanding the world from a biology perspective which I found very stimulating.

How you feel IB helped prepare you for your career:  My time at U of I has given me the basic skills needed to better understand and address problems.

What you’re up to now: Soon after I graduated, I started a biomedical startup in Chicago. We have set up partnerships with a few clinics and our work is set to help several heart patients across America.

 

Alumni Profile: Colleen Stoyas

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Colleen Stoyas on the Beach

Graduated: May 2011

Favorite IB class and why: I loved my Ecology and Evolution class and the field work it entailed, my Organismal Biology class because of its labs, Coral Reef Ecology and its mandatory lab in Belize, Genes and Behavior, and so many others. I think the class I find myself continually applying to my every day “life” choices is Ecology and Human Health, taught by Dr. Brian Allan. This course investigates human health issues from an ecological perspective and regularly influences my perception of infectious disease outbreaks, grocery purchases, choice of where within a city or area to live (did you know lyme disease most commonly occurs in communities of moderate population size and not in rural areas?), and more.

Favorite extra curricular activities (undergraduate research, clubs, etc) and why: My favorite activity was definitely my undergraduate research on yeast genetics in the Freeman Lab (dept of MCB), and I submitted a distinction project prior to graduation. Outside of the lab I was in a co-ed Honor Fraternity, Phi Sigma Pi, that allowed me to make a great group of friends outside of my science courses and participate in service projects in the Champaign-Urbana community.

Why you chose IB: I chose IB over other Life Sciences majors because of the emphasis on analytical thinking and problem solving. In IB courses you are required to memorize less facts and instead given a set of information and asked to apply the principles you learned to answer questions on that information. This type of learning is extremely engaging and affected not only my studies, but how I approach any information given to me in life. I entered Illinois generally interested in science and was told growing up that I would make a good physician. While taking IB150, I realized that my interest in medicine had been in the discovery portion all along, and not in actually treating patients.

Colleen Stoyas with turtle

How you feel IB helped prepare you for your career: As I mentioned above, IB focuses on teaching analytical thinking and problem solving skills. I once had a project where I was asked to pick a plant on campus, and I had to email my professor a paragraph on that plant every week. Sometimes it seems hard to find a difference in a dormant magnolia tree from week-to-week in January and February, but “no change” was unacceptable. By the end of that semester I was at that tree every single day noticing so many differing events in its immobile life. IB taught me to be observant, patient, and responsive to my environment in addition to the value the knowledge the coursework provided me. These skills have been invaluable in my current career as a PhD student in Biomedical Sciences.

What you’re up to now and what you like about it: I am currently starting my third year as a PhD student in the Biomedical Sciences program at the University of California, San Diego. I am a member of the La Spada Laboratory, a large and diverse environment that studies the genetics of inherited neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s disease. My favorite part of my schooling/job is engaging with leaders in the neurodegeneration field and working at the cutting-edge of scientific discovery.

Advice for new SIB grads

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Hi all!
Matt
My name is Matt Grobis. I graduated in May 2012 from the Integrative Biology Honors major and am currently pursuing a Fulbright grant at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology. With commencement coming up this weekend (congrats to all IB graduates!), I thought I’d share the three biggest lessons I’ve learned since leaving the college bubble.

1. You’ll make mistakes… and that’s ok!
When I began my Fulbright, I was anxious to make the most of it. I had been on the waitlist for ten weeks, so I felt incredibly lucky to have this opportunity at all. I became involved in three separate research projects: formulating and carrying out an independent project on social foraging in wild great tits, helping a graduate student in a project on sleep and predation risk in wild great tits, and recording and analyzing mate-pair vocalizations in captive ravens. I became essentially buried in work, and the grad school applications, bio GRE, NSF-GRFP funding application, and furniture shopping for a new apartment added layer after layer of stress to my life. I made two crucial mistakes: underestimating how much time fieldwork takes to prepare for and carry out, and overestimating how much I can get done in one day. November was pretty miserable, and it was made so much harder because I wasn’t used to things not going well.

Great tits (Parus major) don’t always cooperate with your planned methodology

What the experience taught me, though, is that it’s totally fine to make mistakes. They’re the best way you learn. In undergrad, academic success has a pretty straightforward formula: pay attention in class, study before the exam, profit. It’s a lot different outside of college, where the path from Point A to Point B isn’t so obvious. You will make mistakes as you try to figure this out, but that’s how you grow. While working at the Institute has been a bit of a “tough love” learning experience, I feel I’ve grown so much as a researcher because there was no one to pull me out when I dug myself into that hole. As much as my research group liked me and wanted to help with my work, ultimately the responsibility was on me to fulfill the promises I made to my adviser and group members. As tough as it was, it’s one of the best things that could have happened to me during my year here.

2. Grades matter(ed), but experiences matter more
While your undergrad grades are important, they rarely come up in conversations in grad school, and probably even less so in the real world. Much more important to your future self (and future employers) are your experiences with what interests you. Interested in science journalism? Start a weekly science blog and see how you like it. Interested in field research? E-mail a university professor and ask to volunteer with the field season. I was amazed to learn that my adviser at the Institute is almost always looking for volunteers to help grad students with their fieldwork. Sometimes the professor can pay for your accommodation, too. In exchange for your help, you learn how to do good research by observing trial and error, master a ton of field techniques, and see whether this is something you want to continue with or not.

3. Got a question? Send an e-mail
Success is never completely independent. Everyone you look up to has had help along the way, and you’d be surprised at how willing people are to pay it back (especially if you’re thankful and nice to them). Go on LinkedIn and find U of I alumni doing what you want to do and invite them to coffee. E-mail grad students doing the research that sounds cool and hear their story. It’s ok not to get responses; don’t hassle them. But if you’re humble and genuinely interested, people will always be willing to help.

– Matt

For more information about academic advice, summaries of scientific articles, and discourses on metal music, check out my blog (www.mattgrobis.blogspot.com) or e-mail me at matt.grobis@gmail.com.