First-Year Ph.D. Students Share a Little About Themselves

They come from Ghana and India and China, and they come from Ohio and Michigan too.

Their interests range from equestrian to knitting to coaching and playing soccer to photography to Harry Potter. One wrote a children’s book. Another previously studied in Scotland.

And while they may come from different places and have different hobbies, they all share their interest in science and research, and they are the nine first-year students studying for their Ph.D.’s in the Michigan State University Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology.

In a getting-to-know-you session April 3, the newest students spoke to their more experienced colleagues and faculty about their families, their hometowns, their pets (most of them love dogs) and their interests outside school.

The nine students (in order of their presentations) are Kate Murphy, Derek Bowman, Natalie Vredevoogd, Caitlin Schneider, Conying Wang, Ally Lewis, Nana Kwame Kwabi Boateng, Ashika Goel and Anthony Schulte.

Program director Dr. Jamie Bernard created the one-hour program, complete with PowerPoint presentations, question and answers sessions and pizza, to provide an opportunity for the Ph.D. students to gather as a group and share their experiences.