Claire's Interview Reflection:

1. Describe your feelings about or response to the interview.

Initially I was very nervous about the interview because we, a group of college students, were going to be interviewing someone with a Ph.D. and years of experience and research in his field about a topic that we had limited knowledge about. Dr. Fisher, however, was clearly very friendly and knowledgeable in his field but made a point to try and explain things in a way in which we could understand them. He even paused several times to make sure that he wasn't going too fast when he was discussing very complicated concepts.

2. What changes occurred for you as a result of your interview.

I really enjoyed talking to Dr. Fisher because it allowed me to see how someone took a childhood interest in science and made it into an interesting and successful career. Also, it is true that science classes tend to build upon each other but in general I've kept them separate and just focused on learning the material and succeeding in one at a time. Since doing this interview and studying the material in this class in particular, however, I've tried to look at how all these areas tie together, for example how crucially genetics and the things I learned last semester tie in to evolution.

3. Did anything about the interview disturb you?

Yes, the thing that disturbed me about this interview was just how "smart" diseases like anthrax are at invading your cells and taking over your body. Dr. Fisher's and many other scientists' work is trying to find a way to combat these, but it is still frightening how complicated it is to stop them and how efficient they are at their "job" and how long it will likely be before they can be eliminated.

4. Describe the connections you found between the interview and your research & classwork.

I'm hoping to continue my education after Rockhurst by entering a Masters program for Genetics, which I actually mentioned to Dr. Fisher (between Questions 5 and 6 of the interview), so hearing him discuss the field of genetics and how it can be applied to the evolution of diseases and all species having recently taken a Genetics course and being in an Evolution class currently was very interesting. It's always nice to see how concepts and theories that we learn in textbooks and in the classroom can be applied and used in the real world.