From Nobel Prize Laureate Dr. Robert J. Lefkowitz
to Mohammad Noor, winner of the Darwin-Wallace Medal, we have certainly had our
share of notable speakers. I enjoyed hearing from the distinguished members of
Duke’s faculty immensely during my time as a Howard Hughes Research Fellow.
Sadly, my summer fellowship is nearing its end. But as we wind down with one
more final week of research, I’ve had the time to reflect on the amazing talks I've heard from some very different and very inspirational speakers.
We heard about extremophiles from blooming
new professor Amy Schmid and iron homeostasis from the distinguished Dean of
the Duke University School of Medicine Nancy Andrews. Although the subject of their research varied
immensely, there were quite a few things that all of the speakers shared. I
think it’s important to note these qualities, as they are arguably what makes
one a successful scientist. These speakers are some of the most prominent and
successful scientists in their field.
They are the epitome of years of hard work. So I were to tell you what
all of these great figures share, I’d say it’s their distinguished curiosity,
their intellectual drive, and their extreme perseverance. As a scientist, you
may study the same topic, trying to figure out the tiniest details of something
that most people haven't the slightest awareness of. But you must have faith in
your research, and you must work hard. You must persevere.
As I said in my previous blog, science is a
sun shower, “ Sure we hear about amazing technology and scientific discoveries
all year round, such as the Higgs Boson, water-powered jetpacks, robots, etc.
but all of these things took YEARS of hard work, and many, many, mess-ups.” As such,
it takes a certain type of person to persevere through, and find the forever-prized
rainbow.
Out of all of the seminars, Huntington
Willard’s stood out to me especially. Not only was his research genetics and chromosome
activation very interesting, but his guidance and words of wisdom after years
of successful research I thought were quite inspiring. Luckily, I managed to get
this entire great list down.
Good luck in all of your own endeavors. If one
of those endeavors includes a career in science, then may this list be of help
to you!
No comments:
Post a Comment