Mississippi State student interns at genomic research institute
September 25, 2014
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Mississippi State senior Anna Florence was one of the standout applicants to be selected for the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology BioTrain internship program.
Florence lives in Huntsville, Ala. but enjoys attending school in Starkville, Mississippi.
“It’s a very neat community of people that are just nice and supportive of where you’re headed,” she said. “The food is great and there are places around to go explore when you’ve been studying all week and you just need a change in scenery.”
The BioTrain internship program is one of the most competitive programs in educational outreach. Adam Hott, coordinator of educational outreach for HudsonAlpha, said more than 200 students applied in 2014, but only 26 were selected.
“This year, the BioTrain group seems much more confident in their ability to tackle complex thinking tasks,” Hott said. “Additionally, this year’s group was able to form together as a cohesive group quicker than groups from the past.”
Florence heard about the program while in high school and is happy that she not only learned a lot, but also was glad to be a part of the HudsonAlpha atmosphere.
“People walk in the door smiling and ready to work and they leave still happy,” she said. “They may be tired, but you can tell they love what they do and that kind of atmosphere is hard to not get excited about.”
When selected for BioTrain, all interns, regardless of the type of internship, are required to go through a one-week training process, also known as boot camp. Boot camp was a positive learning experience for Florence. She was excited to not only learn new things, but to get hands-on experience in the lab.
“I learned skills that I wish I had access to earlier in my academic career,” she said. “I got to do things that we have talked about in class but have never had access to in a lab.”
Florence had the opportunity to learn about different projects and discoveries that are happening in the biotech world while working at associate company CFDRC. The mission of CFDRC is to develop and commercialize innovative technologies. Three core focus areas are aerospace and defense, biomedical and life sciences, and energy and materials.
“I got to hear about projects that I knew I wouldn’t touch all summer, but it allowed me to learn about what is happening in the biotech field and gave me a better understanding of where I would like to end up,” she said.
Now that BioTrain has come to an end, Florence will be able to take what she learned during her time at HudsonAlpha and apply it to her studies in biological engineering.
“I now have a more educated view on how science that’s happening in the lab and engineering design go hand in hand,” she said. “And I better understand how to most effectively work with people to get things done that you couldn’t do by yourself.”
Founded in 2008, HudsonAlpha is a nonprofit institute with some of the world’s greatest thought leaders in genomics committed to improving human health and the quality of life through genomic research, economic development and educational outreach.
HudsonAlpha Educational Outreach interacts with more than 200,000 individuals a year providing them with hands on experiences to educate both inside and outside of the classroom.
Submitted by: Margetta Thomas, BioTrain communications intern