Quakers Fighting in the Streets

I work as a fourth fifth year graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, in the lab of Junhyong Kim. I entered as part of the second class of students in the Genomics and Computational Biology graduate program. Having completed my classes and laboratory rotations, I face the frustrations, curiosities, and enlightenment of a dissertation, focusing on the evolution of gene expression in the cell-division cycle of natural strains of budding yeast.

Generally speaking I enjoy building computational systems, exploring the intersections of science with art, culture, and religion, reading anything I can get my hands on, existing in nature, and the many forms of cycling.

Old Pine and the Great Spirit

Previously I attended Dartmouth College, where I received my Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, with a minor in Genetics, Cell, and Developmental Biology. While contrasting memories of woody New Hampshire and urban, historic Philadelphia do battle in my brain, I do wish my daily commute featured more "lone pines".

The Computer Science department at Dartmouth provided a fantastic foundation for me. This is a specific instance where focusing on undergraduate teaching as opposed to graduate level research greatly rewards the student. I think back as to what it would have been like to be taught by John Kemeny in the 60’s, when Computer Science was Mathematics and everyone was thrilled to play with BASIC.

The Hawk Will Never Die

Half of my teenage years were spent within the concrete walls of St. Joe’s Preparatory School, just north of Center City, Philadelphia. I fondly remember my classics professors, who were all second-to-none. Father Joe D’Alessandro taught us to chant declensions and conjugations in Gregorian fashion. Sarah Atkins taught me Attic Greek and Intermediate Latin, and I won’t forget the Homer Simpson-esque figure of Dikaeopolis. Mr. Kling was the capable commander of Vergil’s Aeneid, and Mike Dougherty, tough-guy that he was, taught us the slippery ropes of Roman Poetry. Of course I cannot forget the thoughtful gaze and prolific one-liners of Dr. Henry Bender, with whom I traveled in Italy and Greece.

Half of my time was spent rowing along the Schuylkill River. Before St. Joe’s had it’s own boathouse, we rowed out of PennAC, third along Boathouse Row, which was quaint but cramped.