Twenty-six students from 10 different undergraduate and community college programs have joined the Institutional Development Award Program (IDeA) Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE)/ Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (BRIN) program.
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Evelyn Pham |
Today we meet Evelyn Pham, a junior majoring in chemistry at Creighton University.
Tell us about yourself. Who are your heroes?
Hello, my name is Evelyn. I am 20 years old and I am about to enter my third year at Creighton. My heroes are my parents and grandparents. After coming to the United States in 1975 as refugees, my grandparents were able to build a new life from scratch while managing to support their large families. My parents themselves proved to me that, given the opportunity and by putting in enough effort, it is possible to overcome almost any obstacle. Both my parents were able to finish school as well as enter graduate school to become dentists. I feel that they are models for what I can accomplish and that my advantage is that I have been provided with an even greater range of opportunities to grab hold of.
What are your career goals?
As of right now, I am still undecided as to my career goals. I am definitely hoping to pursue a career in the science field and the next step would be to become more familiar with the possibilities that are available.
How did you become interested in science?
I have always been interested in the sciences because in my mind, it has always been the subject area that makes the most sense to me. There is always something out there to be discovered and it is fascinating how much we know yet at the same time, have yet to find out. Also, the fact that science covers such a wide range of possible studies permits us to choose a focus area and still be able to expand it to fit the whole “picture” because everything seems to tie together.
What do you hope the BRIN program will do for you?
I am hoping that the BRIN program will help me to get a feel of what research is about, what it takes and what it involves. As I mentioned earlier, I would greatly like to become more exposed to the possibilities out there and, since research itself is the basis of science, I feel that it would be an ideal place to start.
How do you see science evolving over the next 20 years?
I cannot predict the path that science will take in the future, but it is reasonable to say that new discoveries are made all of the time. Already, science has been applied in improving the quality of life, from its influence on food products to treatment of diseases. I see that science will continue to do so, possibly at an even greater rate as technologies improve and our database of information expands even further.