Congratulations, Shifat Hossain, one of the recipients of the Danny Brower Memorial Scholarship for undergraduate MCB students. This is her second time winning the scholarship. “This scholarship is going to help me a lot financially so that I can invest more time on my research,” says Shifat.
Currently, she is working in Dr. Michael Brown’s lab in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry. The lab researches the role of soft matter involving membrane lipids and water on the activation of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCR). She has been working in the Brown Lab since her freshman summer.
Even though she was interested in research since she was young, she did not really know what it was before coming to the University of Arizona. In order to gain experience in different types of research, she has also worked in a pharmacology lab, a molecular biology lab, and a sociology lab.
Shifat is majoring in Molecular and Cellular Biology, Chemistry, and Bioinformatics, with a minor in Computer Science. Some of Shifat’s favorite classes have been in MCB. She says that she really liked MCB 304, Molecular Genetics, which inspired her interest in genetics. She also really liked MCB 447, Big Data in Molecular Biology and Biomedicine, which relates to her interest in bioinformatics and wanting to learn how to apply computational biology to genetics. Her future plans are to get a PhD in genetics and bioinformatics.
Shifat is an international student and was accepted to several universities before deciding to attend U Arizona. She liked that U Arizona had a lot of opportunities for undergraduate research. She also liked the large amount of support offered to international students. When Shifat first came to U Arizona, she did not know anyone, but quickly felt welcomed and included by the University of Arizona’s Global Ambassadors. She enjoyed her experience so much that she decided to work for them to help other international students.
As a Global Ambassador, Shifat helps international students adjust to campus and learn about the culture of the United States in a supportive environment. To make new students feel welcome, the ambassadors pick them up from the airport with their name written on a huge board. They have regular get-togethers to meet other international students and take trips around Tucson including to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
Outside of school, Shifat really enjoys board games. One of her favorite board games is Settlers of Catan, along with Risk and Duel. Shifat also enjoys playing the acoustic guitar and likes to cook.
Congratulations again, Shifat Hossain, for winning the Danny Brower Memorial Scholarship!