Not Another Science Blog

As we speak, I have an exam, a presentation, and an assignment all due within the first three days post-Thanksgiving break...and here we are. I've been wanting to start blogging for awhile now, so I decided that the optimal time to do this was during the busiest time of my semester. If you haven't peroused this website yet, I'll offer a brief introduction to myself: 

My name is Boomer and I am a first year graduate student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. I am (trying) to get my PhD in Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology (BCMB) so one day I can become a professor. I think proteins are pretty rad, my undergraduate research focused on protein protein interactions, so I have a high AFFINITY for this area (hehe). However, I'm really looking forward to exploring different areas of the BCMB discipline in this first year of school so I can see what piques my interest. 

Outside of science, I really enjoy thrifting, dancing, playing sports, and exploring the world we live in with my pals. I'm a very nosy person and I'm constantly curious, so I'm not surprised that science is where I ended up. In college I participated in many activities outside of the realm of science. I was really invested in my school's Student Programming Board (SPB, I was president my senior year), I was a freshman Peer Mentor, I was a mentor for my STEM Scholarship, I gave prospective students tours as an Ambassador, I was a senator for our Student Government, and I really enjoyed playing intramural sand volleyball. 

I wanted to do this blog because I, like many new/fresh-faced graduate students in science, want to get into #SciComm. The STEM scholarship I mentioned earlier aimed to increase STEM accesibility to those who are less likely to stay a STEM major (those include racial minorities, first-gen status, and those coming from low socioeconomic regions). As a proud gay appalachian with a low math ACT score, I fit the profile pretty well, and I think I have a pretty unique perspective to share.

Through this blog I hope that I can share my journey through science with you. I also want to practice sharing my science with the public, as that is why we do science; to unearth our natural world's mechanisms and then communicate those findings to the public in order for everyone to be a well-informed citizen. I also hope I can be an example to people who don't think they have what it takes to be themselves in a career that they desire to be in (science or not..but science will be the primary platform here). 

I really hope this isn't the only one I write...but time will only tell I suppose.