American Society for Microbiology Meeting Minutes

September 26, 2013

Meeting started at 6:15 PM. To begin, Dr. Self made a short announcement of a volunteer opportunity at a local elementary school. Volunteers will be asked to teach young students about an array of fun scientific experiments. Interested parties should contact Dr. Self via e-mail or sign-up on the ASM@UCF website. Amelia, from the Honors HERO program, announced her Shepherds Hope and Orlando Regional Medical Center volunteer opportunities. Afterwards, the floor was given to a group of 4 panelists who were either UCF biomed-related graduates or were about to graduate. Each panelist was asked to give a short presentation on why they chose their degrees, what their career goals are, and what hardships they overcame during their academic career. Francis is a soon-to-be graduate of UCF who recommends becoming a teaching assistant and taking pathological microbiology. Dominic is a PhD student who collects fungus for his research. He cites that his passion of endophytes stems from dart frogs, whose poisonous skin can be retrieved to make medicinal molecules. His key to success is collaborating across multiple disciplines and to pursue what you truly enjoy. Felix is a biomedical science undergraduate who cited many bumps in the road including family issues and mentioned taking initiative in your future endeavors. Alisha is a recent graduate who, despite being a high school dropout and facing countless other obstacles, found a love for microbiology and has decided to pursue graduate school. She says, Dont be afraid of the someone saying no because if you ask enough someone will say yes. A question and answer session was held where students could ask about anything and everything regarding school. Meeting ended at around 7:30 PM.