Ben Bio

hello!

We thought it may be a good idea to insert a little bio about all of us to see how our backgrounds differ prior to this experience in Luxembourg.

My name is Ben Switzer. I am 22 (about to be 23) years old, grew up in Buffalo, and have a bachelors degree in Biology with minors in psychology and neuroscience from Ithaca College. I signed on board to the Roswell Park Masters program because I had heard many positive things about the classes and research opportunities. After one semester I learned all of these rumors were true. I was able to construct a course schedule that appealed to my interests and managed to essentially choose the lab I wished to attend.

I was exited to be back home in Buffalo. I was even about to put down a deposit for an apartment off of Elmwood near the Roswell area. The Integrated Systems Biology program in Luxembourg (and Amsterdam) sounded intriguing but I didn't think I was ready to leave the city again that soon. But as you can see my plans changed as I realized this was a VERY new and exiting opportunity of which I had never been offered before.

Expectations:
Being one of the first CanSys students, and also being in Europe for the first time, I have many expectations. I hope that this program in Integrated Systems Biology provides all of us some new knowledge and technical skills in the lab which we can utilize and incorporate into our respective labs back in Buffalo once we return. I am interested in the field of bioinformatics because it holds the potential to really improve the ease and accuracy of present day research techniques, which will be help develop our knowledge in every scientific category. In terms of the trip in general, I hope to learn MUCH more French (and German) as well as try to document as much as I can involving cultural differences (fashion, food/coffee/bakery comparisons, attitudes, city living & transportation, musical tastes, class work, and plenty more that I'm not thinking of).

Being only the first day of classes today, I will not be able to describe what parts of the course I have enjoyed/disliked, found useful/found redundant...but I hope we can all provide as much feedback as possible in order to assist in the evolution of this program in a positive manner so that many future students may receive this amazing opportunity!

More from me soon. Please feel free to add any comments or questions involving the program as I'm sure we would all be happy to hear from you and discuss what's new!

Take care,
Ben