Overall, I have really enjoyed the faculty seminars throughout the past two months. Listening to the fascinating work that professors do here on campus was really quite interesting, but seeing their passion and excitement for science first hand was inspiring as well. One of the talks that I really enjoyed was Dr. Patek’s. I thought it was really cool how her lab and her work blends many different subject areas together, like biology, physics, and math. She also emphasized how her research is based on knowledge for knowledge’s sake, so she has the ability to research areas of science in which she has a lot of interest.
Furthermore, her research in the super-fast is very fascinating in and of itself. The fact that there are certain organisms in the world that can move as fast as the mantis shrimp is kind of mindblowing. Additionally, using the differences in speeds between smashers and spearers as evolutionary research tools was very interesting as well.
As a whole, I thought that Dr. Patek had a lot of passion in her talk. It was pretty apparent that she was very zealous and excited about the work that she was researching. My hope is that one day, I can have the same excitement as Dr. Patek in what I do or what I research.
