Major: Biology with a minor in philosophy
Year: 3rd
Career Aspirations: Good question; I have gone through a lot of career options over the years: Research scientist, Professor, Doctor, Physician scientist, Pharmacist scientist (?!), etc. I started getting interested in the business side of things recently though. So right now, I am thinking CEO of a pharma company, just because I think it would be cool to strategize at the cross roads between scientific research and business. Plan would be to either to do healthcare consulting for a bit after college (for networking and learning business stratagem) and then get a professional degree/ MBA. That’s the plan, but life is never so linear, so we’ll see what happens.
Favorite Class so far? Probably has to be Biochem with Professor Makinen and Strieleman for the sciences. For liberal arts education at its best, probably the Hiroshima and Nagasaki class that I am taking with Professor Field this quarter. It is a discussion based class regarding nuclear energy and weapons. Two words. Life. Changing.
Someone who has had a huge impact on you? I guess you can say my father has had a huge impact in my life. He’s been a very disciplined, caring and supportive figure and I think his principles have in part shaped my ideals and views of the world. We of course have our differences, but there is no doubt that he has played an important role in my life.
Favorite Childhood Memory: Let me see…learning how to turn on a bicycle is what comes to my mind; a little background, I learned to ride a bike in an alley behind my apartment back when I was in first grade. A neighbor was kind enough to teach me how to keep my balance and all that jazz. But when it came to turning, I always freaked, because I would lose my balance and had to stop with my foot. So we were practicing one evening and I was riding towards the end of the alley where there was a fork in the road. Usually, I would attempt to turn, but freak. This time, as fate would have it, a truck came out of nowhere. Luckily it stopped. But I did get enough of a scare and adrenaline rush to make a very sharp turn. Funny thing is after I turned I went from scared to ecstatic because I finally successfully completed a turn…a very sharp, close-to-the-ground turn at that. Moral of the story? Beats me, I just know I felt awesome after my “near-death” experience and is probably why it has stuck with me to this day. See you can do anything if you put your mind to it!
What song is currently stuck in your head (or playing on your iPod)?I recently got into trance/techno/electronic music, so I’ve had DJ Mystik’s Unchained Melody stuck inside my head. It starts off with nice violin orchestra, accompanied with a hymnal singing, along with associated trance beats. I listen to other mainstream artists from time to time, but the beats at times feel stale, so I got into trance and techno stuff recently.
Favorite Food:Anything Desi/ Indo-Pak. Biryani, Nihari, Naan, basically anything that falls in the curry/rice/bread department.
Fun fact: I play a lot of basketball and an ardent distance runner. I can’t say I am the best at them, but they are a lot of fun; funny thing is I wasn’t huge on sports from the get go, but after my middle school friends dragged me into basketball, I picked up running in high school to build up stamina; only to later fall in love with distance running.
Up to anything exciting on campus (RSOs you’re involved in): I am part of the CAURS, Chicago Area Undergraduate Research Symposium, and got promoted to director; next year should be interesting. Currently, I am doing research in Professor Kron’s lab, where I need to figure out a way to create a peptide library for this a technique used in our lab. Not making much headway, but I have a feeling I’ll come up with something.
Favorite Childhood TV Show or Book:My favorite childhood TV show was “Dragonball Z.” Although it was mostly about fighting and people harnessing enough ki to blow the planet up 7 to 9 times, it had its moments of friendship, loyalty and warm moments. And that was when my (unfortunate?) plunge into the world of anime and manga begin.
Something you’re currently passionate about: NBA. Bulls. Anime/Manga. Cooking. Nuclear weapons/energy. Pretty normal.
Motto you live by: Each of us has his own way of living and we are all afraid of choosing the wrong path. But there’s no “right” or “wrong” way to live. So relax a bit ok? Just work hard and trust yourself, and it’ll work out in the end.
3 Things that you get you through the Quarter: Basketball/Running, Loving family, and Friends