<p>Three additional things: </p>
<p>I’m an excellent essay writer. :)</p>
<p>Students Modeling a Research Topic is a local program that matches “teams” from high schools in the area to mentors at the Medical College of Wisconsin. These mentors are researching a specific protein. We learn about the protein in detail, its possible uses/effects, write a formal abstract, construct a model using a rapid prototyping machine and 3D modeling software called RasMol, and construct a formal research poster. The program is meant to introduce high schoolers to how the research community. My first year, when the group was still small, I was a leading member. We studied the how an influenza peptide is complexed, and binds to TCR. The second year, the poster was entirely my responsibility (it’s my baby. <3) and we studied the protein FOXD3, which is involved in keeping stem cells pluripotent.</p>
<p>Haha, I’m sure you didn’t need to know the specifics- just wanted to get across that even though the name is ridiculous, the program is definitely sound.</p>
<p>I’m also a minority.</p>