Most of my experience has been in the design and implementation of research projects in the biomedical sciences. I chose the biomedical sciences because I had an interest in medicine and providing information relevant to the public health. While biology has been a passion of mine, I generally find any type of problem or challenge intellectually stimulating. I have a variety of hobbies and interests outside of biomedicine directly.

Website design:
One of the most efficient ways of organizing and disseminating information is through websites. Easily accessible through any computer, websites development is a great way of sharing interests. Over the last year, I developed this website to get practice in developing WordPress websites. I have been using WordPress because it is a versatile platform for website design, has a variety of widgets to choose from, and updates easily. It has allowed me to practice the design pages, use of google analytics to track visits and statistics and the embedding of graphics on webpages. Another useful aspect of WordPress is that you get to see all the HTML code also, an excellent learning tool. I have found several great resources for learning HTML5, CSS3, and PHP at w3schools. Channel 9 as provides a great introduction series called “HTML5 and CSS3 Fundamentals Series” with Bob Tabor. He provides an in depth instructions on how to work with HTML5 and CSS3 with simple language for beginners.

Opensource Software:
Since at the core, most projects in marketing, science, or business revolve around some type of data analysis, I have been learning about opensource data software. Recently, I have been learning Python, R and SQL. Python is an opensource high level and object oriented programming language used for data and graphical analysis. Python has a variety of modules which can be added to the basic Python to expand its capabilities to include websites, databases, image manipulation and statistics. Being free, it provides the opportunity to exchange programs freely between users and has well developed support group of Pythonistas. There are a variety of platforms with text editors and pre-loaded module programs to aide in code writing. Most of my experience with Python has been through the IPython platform which is a series of Python modules for scientist and engineers. Structured Query Language (SQL) is a high level programming code which allows you to pull up related terms from a database to develop data relationship models. Different then Excel, SQL databases are often publishable over servers (Microsoft SQL server, PHPmyAdmin), provide information directly to websites and allow the public or specific users to search and add to the databases. Most of my experience is with SQLite and MySQL. SQLite is a lean opensource database program. It runs basic SQL commands efficiently and returns tables. Microsoft also offers a free version of Microsoft SQL server 2012 for learning, it has basic functions with higher functions available for purchase. MySQL and Microsoft SQL server uses the Structured Query Language (SQL). I am currently in the process of developing a curated database for current drugs and drugs in development from different companies. The database includes, drugs, methods of action, and disease. I am hoping it will be provide me information on trends in translational medicine and what companies are pursuing. I have found several good sites providing background on learning SQL including w3school and microsoft virtual academy. R R is an opensource statistic software package. Similar to SAS and Matlab, R has a wide variety of packages and modules which allow you to do complex statistical analysis and create graphics to go along. In addition, some R packages can handle bioinformatic information and microarray analysis.

Science and Social Innovation
The main reason I entered the sciences was the opportunity to bring innovation to the public. I chose the biomedical sciences because it provided an opportunity to provide new insight to patient therapeutics. While my background is in the biomedical science, my interests expand into other areas and I spend a significant amount of time reading about other areas of sciences. Some of my interests include LED technology, emerging new materials, and software development.