11/09/2022
The month of October ended on a good note on the islands of Puerto Rico where I presented my works on Alzheimer's disease pathology. The 2022 National diversity in STEM (NDiSTEM) conference organized by the Soceity for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) took place in San Juan, Puerto Rico from October 26th through the 29th. I was honored to have attended this conference as a travel scholarship award recipient.
Naming it the National Diversity in STEM was not just a bluff. It was one of the most diverse spaces I have ever found myself in. I made a family for almost every other identity I ascribe myself with. Starting from being a Ghanaian. I met Eunice who is a manager at Johnson and Johnson. In an attempt to explore opportunities available at Johnson and Johnson, I found out she was Ghanaian. Shortly after we started conversing, Nana, whom I met with earlier during the poster session came over to say bye to me, only to realize that I was chatting with another Ghanaian. I also met a few guys who were originally from Yemen, Egypt, and Lebanon. The binding factor was that we all loved Arabic poetry; specifically, those written by Antarah whom I call the Arab Shakespeare.
A picture of myself, Eunice, her co-worker ( he was in Ghana last year for vacation), and Nana.
I was initially dreaded by the scheduled 2 hour-long poster session until I realized that I had spent two and half hours talking about my research without noticing. I had very intriguing questions from my audience which will be useful in shaping my next steps. More importantly, I received feedback from my assigned mentor regarding my presentation skills. I also had professors who tried to persuade me into joining their labs for graduate research. Lots of opportunities!
A picture of me presenting my poster at SACNAS. Photo credit: Dr. Elizabeth Felton (MD-PhD associated director, UW-Madison).
Finally, I came back from this conference rather enthusiastic about wanting to finalize my time in undergraduate studies and pursue the opportunities out there. Specifically, I intend to apply to some postbaccalaureate positions at the NIH, NCI, and Stanford University to keep me in touch with academic research while I take a gap year. More to come! Stay tuned!!