Name: Trisha Ramsdell

Hometown: Vicksburg, MI

Year: Junior

How has research affected your academic journey/plans?

Doing research was one of the things that really helped me
solidify my passion for science, which led me to declare my major in
microbiology. In addition, it helped guide me to discover my interest in
epidemiology, which I now plan to study following graduation.

What is the most rewarding part of being a peer advisor?

Definitely seeing my students having a fun, rewarding experience
in research.

What is something your students don’t know about you?

I love cookie dough more than baked cookies.

What do you like to do for fun?

I love the movies! I even got a job at a movie theater in high
school to help fuel my obsession.

What’s your favorite movie? Or one you've seen recently?

Saving Private Ryan! Matt Damon in a war movie? Perfect.

What book are you in the middle of?

I unfortunately haven't started a new one, but I recently
finished Ghost Map, which is about the cholera outbreaks in 1800s London.

If we looked in your email inbox right now, what would it look
like? Are you the type of person who has tons of unread emails or none? Spam?

Way too organized. My email is my "to do list". If I
need to take action on something, it stays in my inbox until it's done.
Otherwise it gets archived if I will need to reference it in the future or it
gets deleted. I read my emails pretty frequently and check my spam about once a
week to make sure that nothing accidentally got sent to it.

Favorite spot on campus?

Anywhere with food.

Favorite class? Favorite Professor?

My favorite class has easily been my Arabic classes with Dr. Wijdan
Alsayegh. She is super passionate and truly wants to help see her students
learn and succeed. Both of my classes with her, AAPTIS 102 and AAPTIS 201, were
instrumental in my education of the Arabic language and culture, and I really
felt like our class became a family.

What is your dream job?

I would love to be an epidemiologist who travels the world
working on a range of problems affecting public health. I tend to be drawn to
health issues related to maternal/infant health, or anything that is related to
microbes. However, if I could do ANYTHING (aka be knowledgeable, successful,
and enough money to live comfortably) I would want to be a food critic.

What are your plans post-graduation?

I plan on attending public health school to earn my master’s in
public health (specifically molecular epidemiology and global health). From
their I want to obtain my PhD in epidemiology and maybe eventually go to
medical school.

Would you rather be able to speak fluently every language in the
world or be the best in the world at something of your choosing?

Speak fluently in every language. Being able to speak to anyone
I meet in their native language would be amazing and I think a lot of good
could be done in terms of bring people together.

Would you rather change the past or be able to see into the
future?

See the future

Would you rather live one life that lasts 1,000 years or live 10
lives that last 100 years each?

One life that lives 1,000 years