Major: Chemistry
Hometown: Central Falls, RI
What makes the College of Arts and Sciences at URI unique?
The College of Arts and Sciences at URI is unique because it gives students the opportunity to grow and succeed and delivers the tools necessary for students to push their learning. I have benefitted personally from the facilities that the URI College of Arts and Sciences offers to its students. For being a state university, the College of Arts and Sciences, and URI as a whole, do a very good job at ensuring that students have the tools to succeed and graduate with the skills necessary to be competitive in the field.
What accomplishments and activities are you most proud of doing while at URI?
One accomplishment I am very proud was getting the opportunity to represent URI at the NSF EPSCoR National Conference in October 2019. As part of the NSF EPSCoR SURF program offered at URI, I had the opportunity to work full time in my research lab over the summer and present my work to others who participated in the program, as well as conference attendees. It was a few months after this event that I was approached about representing Rhode Island at the National EPSCoR conference; and show universities around the country the great work happening at URI. I learned a lot from this event and about great research happening around the country, and it put into perspective what URI and the College of Arts and Sciences had offered me and the opportunities I had been given to succeed.
What research projects, internships, and/or study abroad programs did you participate in at URI? How did they enhance your education?
I have devoted a large amount of time since the Spring of my Sophomore year to the research lab I work in under the supervision of Dr. Matthew Kiesewetter. I currently am working on a project developing miticides to treat varroa mites, a parasitic mite that lives on the honeybee, which contributes to loss of hives throughout the country. This experience has enhanced my education because it has taught me much outside of the traditional classes I have taken as part of my degree. Through theory, techniques, and skill, working in lab has taught me lessons that I will carry on with me throughout graduate school and my career. I have also learned so much more about honeybees than I ever thought I would have as a part of working in the lab incidentally.
What do you value about your liberal arts education?
My liberal arts education has really helped me broaden my horizons and learn about new subjects throughout my time at URI. Classes I would have never thought of taking in the past which turned out to either be very important, or simply interesting, are what make liberal arts education important to me.