charismaticmicrofauna

I developed a love for the ocean when I was very young, living in Honolulu, Hawaii with my family. I was adopted from Taegu, Korea when my American military family was stationed in South Korea. We moved to Hononlulu shortly after I was adopted. I have wonderful memories of sitting on the beach and admiring the beautiful blue.  As a child I would ceremoniously give those little blue tangerine slice jellyfish Vella vella  a proper beach burial when they washed onto shore. In some ways I feel like a large part of my life has been driven by my recollections of the beaches of Honolulu.

We moved from Hawaii to Germany, from Germany to New Jersey, but I always longed to return to the sea. As I grew up my curiosity about the natural world grew and I was inspired to go back to college. I started with an AAS in Biotechnology from Delaware Technical and Community College. I lived in Southern Delaware at the time and I spent the time that I was not in classes surfing the Eastern Shore. I also worked in a poultry diagnostic laboratory and conducted various routine laboratory procedures t o ensure the health and safety of the chickens that would be processed for human consumption. Have a question about chickens? Ask me.

After I graduated from community college I transferred to the University of Delaware and earned a BS in Marine Science and a concentration in marine biology.  As an undergraduate I worked in a laboratory where my project was to physiologically characterize what we believe is a new species in the phylum Chlorobi based on significant phenotypic differences from other members of this group. My work with this red single cell isolate (RSC1) had been to characterize its physiology in comparison to other Chlorobi, particularly Chlorobaculum tepidum.

In the fall semester, 2012 I was invited by the College of Marine Science and Policy at the University of Delaware to embark on a three week research cruise along the Mid-Atlantic ridge in order to sample hydrothermal vent sites on the ocean floor. With the help of the ROV Jason and the Jason team from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, we took microbial and fluid samples around black smoker vents for proteomic and electrochemical analysis. Being at sea for a month was an opportunity of a lifetime for me, and I will be returning to sea in November 2014. I’m looking forward to sharing my adventures!

My current research focuses on the investigation of carbon fixation mechanisms of Gammaproteoacteria that live within the cells of hydrothermal vent tubeworms Riftia pachyptila. I recall the first pictures and stories that I saw about these “alien” creatures that live at the bottom of the ocean when I was just a teenager and being filled with awe that life could live in those inhospitable conditions. However, as I continue my education and learn about the natural world, I have found that life is capable of flourishing anywhere and everywhere.

Education has always been of utmost importance to my life.  My adopted dad was the son of Italian immigrants in an arranged marriage who raised their family in Philadelphia, and was the first person in his family to go to college. His dad, my adopted granddad was an abusive alcoholic and his wife, whom he married when she was 16yo was always illiterate. Adopted dad was underprivileged and grew up observing the limitations that his mother faced in the world at the hands of her abusive alcoholic husband towards her children.  He worked hard, achieved excellent grades, graduated from West Point Academy, retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army, and now has two master’s degrees. Throughout my childhood, he impressed upon me that having an education was one of his greatest wishes for his daughters.

As an adult I have experienced first hand how empowering education can be, and how far women have come, but also how much further we need to progress. Not just as women, but as a human race. My hope is that I reach many people and enlighten their lives with my journey, because it’s been a dream come true for me. But, if I inspire one person in this world to yearn to learn and burn to explore the world around them  as I have then I will be content.