Student SPHere 2008-09

The semester is moving along quickly as it usually does this time of the year. Over the weekend I finished a my other big project for the molecular epi class. It consisted of two analysis of sorts based on what he have been learning this semester. The first was an analysis of three Hemagglutinin sequences from outbreaks on swine farms. The second part was analyzing PFGE and ERIC-PCR gels. It took a bit of time but was fun to try to do the analysis that I read about in papers. I have also been spending a bit of time preparing for my final test of the semester, aside from finals. Its in my biostats class

On Sunday Megan and I joined the division to help fight colon cancer. We did it last year but it was more personal this year. While my grandma does not have colon cancer, I am now much more in favor of doing things to kick cancers butt. Here are the photos of the division walking. My wife and I drinking coffee trying to stay warm and me looking perplexed doing what I do best, stand out in a crowd.

Since I started grad school in the fall of 2006, I have taken 22 different class. I gathered that useful piece of information by filling out my degree program form, one of the first things I must do on the road towards the PhD. Now I just need to get my committee in place, which I plan on doing this summer. I am going to be taking some interesting class next semester. As it stands now I will be taking: MBA 6220 Operations Management, PA 5011 Leadership and Management, PUBH 6348 Writing Research Grants. I wont know until August if I get into the MBA course. The grant writing course will be quite helpful, as I want to be an academic when I grow up, thus will be writing grants for a living. The MBA and PA course will be most useful helping me understand facets of the business world that I am so keen on working with to help become better prepared for public health threats. If all goes according to plans I should be able to take these classes the following spring ISE 5302 Critical Infrastructure Security and Protection OMS 6056 Managing Supply Chain Operations.

In other news, I am anxious to get some plants in the ground. We have prepared a space for a garden at our home and have veggies growing in the house. I cant wait to have fun doing some landscaping this summer. We moved in to late last year to do much of anything. There is practically no landscaping at our place, so its like a blank canvas, which makes us excited.