Kanza Khan, ‘13
What was your favorite class and why? My favorite class (and also most challenging) was Biochemistry. I really enjoyed Dr. Prat-Resina's method of instruction and how well he was able to engage students in his lectures. It was really meaningful to be able to gain a different perspective on reactions that are commonly discussed in other courses. One of the coolest projects I have ever worked on was a group activity in which the whole class split into teams of two or three and worked on examining and explaining a different section/enzyme reaction of the electron transport chain. Once all of the presentations were made, they were uploaded to Prezi, which was really cool because we were able to integrate all of our separate presentations into a single file. This project was really meaningful because it highlighted the complexity of a common process that we may sometimes take for granted.
What have you been doing since graduation? Since graduating UMR in 2013, I enrolled in a graduate program in Psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM). In December 2018, I graduated with a PhD in Psychology with an emphasis in Brain and Behavior. The focus of my graduate work was in studying stress states in adult zebrafish (Danio rerio). I have accepted a postdoctoral associate position in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Iowa and started there January 2019.
How was your education at UMR valuable to the work that you do now? I have learned so much at UMR. Beyond providing me with a quality education in health sciences, I have learned what it means to be a good teacher. In my time at the University of Southern Mississippi, I have been the instructor of record for a wide range of courses. In each course, I strive to emulate all the qualities of a good instructor - clear instruction, pausing to check for student understanding, engaging students and teaching through group activities. These are all qualities that are shared by each instructor that I had at UMR, and I am eternally grateful for their patience and in the level of curiosity in the subject matter that they were able to inspire in students.