Abel Alcázar-Román, Ph.D., right, with his mentor, Susan Wente, Ph.D. (photo by Neil Brake)
Graduation 2008: Joy of science drives new Ph.D.s
Jennifer Sparks, Ph.D., grabs a quick bite before the Graduate School ceremony. (photo by Neil Brake)
Clinton Bartholomew, Ph.D., and Iris Castro, Ph.D., before the Graduate School ceremony. (photo by Neil Brake)
Atuhani Burnett, Ph.D., at the Graduate School ceremony. (photo by Neil Brake)
With family members who traveled from as far away as Peru and Cyprus cheering for him, Abel Alcázar-Román became one of Vanderbilt's newest Ph.D. graduates last Friday.
He was one of more than 250 individuals to earn academia's highest degree from Vanderbilt this year, the largest group in the institution's history. Nearly 100 of the graduates completed their studies in Medical Center departments or programs.
Alcázar-Román, a native of Peru, came to the United States for his undergraduate education, already knowing that he loved biology. A summer research experience at Indiana University sealed the deal for him, and he chose Vanderbilt for his graduate experience because of the energy he felt here — the construction of new research buildings, the recently recruited young investigators, and the enthusiasm of the current students, he said.
His graduate career has been exemplary, said his mentor, Susan Wente, Ph.D., professor and chair of Cell and Developmental Biology, citing his high impact research publications.
“I've learned to be a scientist with Susan,” Alcázar-Román said. “That seems obvious to say, but it's so valuable, and I got that here.”
Next up for Alcázar-Román: a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale, where he will continue to focus on the basics of “cellular trafficking” — how cells regulate the movement of molecules.
The majority of his biomedical Ph.D. peer group — about 75 percent — will also go on to academic postdoctoral fellowships, said Kim Petrie, Ph.D., director of Career Development & Outcomes Analysis at Vanderbilt. Of the remainder, some will enroll in professional degree programs (law, medicine, veterinary medicine) while others have accepted positions as professors at four-year colleges, high school science teachers, medical writers, policy analysts and technology consultants.
In his opening remarks at last week's ceremony on Library Lawn, Associate Provost Dennis Hall, Ph.D., told the graduates that the American poet Robert Frost described education as “hanging around until you've caught on.”
“Thank you for hanging around … we think you've caught on,” Hall said, drawing laughter from the crowd.
He exhorted the graduates to join academicians the world over in “the struggle for ideas.”
“The world we live in has a great need to those who can advance new ideas and for those who can help others recognize the merits of good ideas, whether old or new. Part of your job, going forward, is to help us figure out which ideas are good ones, which ones need to be incorporated into our ever-changing worldview.
“So please, get out there and join the struggle,” Hall said.
Most of the biomedical science Ph.D. graduates began their studies in either the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program (IGP) or the Chemical & Physical Biology Program (CPB) at the Medical Center.
Both graduate programs organize the training — intensive coursework and laboratory rotations — of students during their first year at Vanderbilt.
At the end of the first year, students choose mentors and home departments or programs where they complete their coursework and doctoral dissertation research.
IGP mentors include faculty members in the seven basic science departments of the Medical Center, the Neuroscience graduate program, the program in Human Genetics, and the Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Arts and Science.
The CPB program includes a subset of IGP faculty interested in structural and chemical biology as well as members of the departments of Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics.