…what I have been up to since graduation, as UBRP played a large role influencing that decision. I applied to six graduate programs: Computer Science at University of Wisconsin, Madison; Bioinformatics at UC Santa Cruz; Computational Biology at Washington University in St. Louis; Systems Biology at Harvard; Bioengineering at Stanford; Bioengineering at UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco (joint).

Thanks to some awesome letter writing by Megan McEvoy (biochemistry), Lester McCann (computer science), James Hazzard (biochemistry), and Denise Krawitz ’95 (my mentor/advisor at Genentech), I was accepted into all of the programs. After much head banging, I ultimately decided to attend the joint Bioengineering program at UCB/UCSF, where I plan to focus on synthetic biology (Adam Arkin and Jay Keasling are doing very interesting research in that area).

My UBRP research experience at the UA with Dr. McEvoy, was instrumental in guiding my understanding and appreciation of research. On a more superficial level, the lab experience gave me academically "marketable" research skills -- actually having been in a lab means I have a useful technique skill set and a project to talk about. More importantly, as one professor I interviewed with aptly put it, I turned away from a career as a software engineer because I "had tasted the fruit of scientific research." Indeed, my experiences investigating a fairly fundamental system engaged me in trying to discover how something novel works, and after that, office productivity just wasn't as appealing.

Beyond the immediate consequences of being part of a research lab, UBRP connected me with Denise at Genentech. I had a fantastic internship experience at Genetech, and am currently collaborating with her for my senior capstone project in computer engineering. The benefits of those experiences (knowledge of proteomics, seeing massive drug production, programming experience, etc) have further guided my interests and helped open graduate educational opportunities.

In short, UBRP has had a significant positive impact on my educational and career path.

Josh Kittleson ‘04, UBRP alum in Dr. Megan McEvoy’s lab, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics.