I enjoyed all of our faculty talks over the past few weeks, but Dr. Mohamed Noor’s presentation in particular stood out to me. Two of my friends had actually worked in Dr. Noor’s fly lab last semester. I also knew his name from a collection of emails from the biology department and my Bio 203 lab worksheets, where he was listed as one of the fly collectors for our semester lab project. The mysterious Dr. Noor was finally revealed to me in person just a few weeks ago during his talk. For some reason, I was surprised by who came in. Part of me imagined a serious, impersonal guy in a lab coat (presumptuous, I know, but something about the well known lab, books, and position as Dean seemed intimidating). I was wrong. The scientist who spoke to us was anything but impersonal and serious. He was enthusiastic, friendly, and humble. I think his enthusiasm was what stood out to me most and inspired me to write about his talk in this blog post. I can’t remember exactly the phrase he used, but his presentation was filled with him repeating “isn’t that just fascinating!” or “I just find it so cool that…” I became just as enamored with color changing caterpillars, lethal genes, and phylogenetic trees as he seemed when he explained his work. He was unapologetically excited about his work, a sentiment I want to hold with me as I navigate my time and courses at Duke and make decisions about my career path afterwards.
Having initially been unsure about his path as a student (a common theme among the faculty speakers) and even being thrust into positions like Dean of Trinity College without preemptively planning to do so perpetuated that to be successful, you don’t have to know exactly where you are going. Instead, he reminded us to just enjoy the ride and work hard because science at its core is about loving discovery- not solemn, aloof people in lab coats.
