Transitions…

Training students is my favorite part of my job, but successful training almost always means the trainee leaves. Those bittersweet moments of transition come in waves and come with the highs of watching the trainee succeed and the low of knowing that they’ll be leaving soon. The highs this month came with Linnea Volcko’s excellent PhD defense, making her officially Dr. Volcko! Destiny Brakey submitted and defended her dissertation proposal, moving her to the ABD phase of PhD life, and Quinn Carroll and Jessica Tabman finished their work toward their Masters degrees! Congrats to all from a very proud mentor. It will be fun to watch Linnea as she moves across an ocean to start a postdoc in Norway. Quinn and Jessica should have no problem staying in touch, both are moving to positions within UB (Quinn will start a dual degree program in Public Health and Social Work, Jessica is working as a research specialist in a medical school lab). Now we’re counting on Destiny to hold down the fort until this COVID thing passes and we can bring in some new trainees.