Welcome

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Personal Statement

Exploration

Academics mean different things to different people. For some it means learning a trade, for others it means earning a degree and yet for others it means finding oneself. For me academics mean exploration. I am curious at heart and seek intrinsic growth in everything I am exposed to, especially learning. Creativity, research, and discovery are the three pillars of exploration, and I intend to pursue them thoroughly.

Bioinformatics

It is becoming increasingly clear that the biological systems we study are based on Information. This information is naturally stored and adjusted over time via subsystems, each assigned a biological sub-discipline. The study of the information itself has grown into a scientific field of its own, called Bioinformatics.

Computational Biology

For every biological discovery, there are several new questions. As discoveries become increasingly in-depth and complex, so too do the uncovered questions. All questions require special tools for their answers. Many questions raised in Biology can only be answered using special computational tools. The science of creating such tools has become the field called Computational Biology.

Bioinformatics and Computational Biology

Computers store information as discrete values known as 'bits.' Nature stores information as three dimensional structures, which comprise genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic information. Bioinformatics and Computational Biology bridge that gap between discrete values and uncountable natural information all around us.

Intrinsic Quality

In late 2005, I declared my professional goal to become a scientist. Not only was this decision spawned by my intellectual curiosity, but also for my strong desire for continued intrinsic self development. Since my motivation for science stems from such roots, intrinsic quality is important in everything I seek and accomplish. I define intrinsic quality as the meeting point between ethics, critical thinking, and reflection.

Ethics

Ethics encapsulates the evaluation of conscious actions according to a set of normative values. Normative values are rules which state what should and should not be done in a given circumstance; they are the definition of what is right and wrong. Thus, ethics is the comparison of specific conscious actions to the actions normative values mandate. It is important to realize that ethical analysis is not only retrospective, but also prospective. Prospective ethical analysis is the method by which normative values are formed and refined, hence normative values, or morals, and ethics form a circular process where both are continually adjusted by the other.

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is another, yet not distinctly separate, type of evaluation. Critical thinking involves mapping arguments to evidence in order to formulate an opinion. Such argument maps are built upon an ethical and moral base. Such processes identify specific elements of input, such as arguments, strength of those arguments, assumptions, conflicts and conclusions.

Reflection

Lastly, reflection is an important component of ethics. While prospective ethical analysis strives to prepare for specific situations, the goal of retrospective ethical analysis, or ethical reflection, is to diagnose the moral righteousness of a past action. Reflection also asks what changes in circumstances would have justified different action. Indeed, reflection is a tool for adjusting plans for potential ethical decision in the future; retrospective and prospective ethical analyses are closely linked.