Evan Brooks

Fun facts about Evan:

Evan attended the NC School of Science and Math.  He is a Park Scholar and his resume is already three pages long, without any fluff!

What is your proudest accomplishment as an NC State student?

During my sophomore year, I was the recipient of the “Choose Development!” Fellowship from the Society for Developmental Biology. The fellowship allowed me to conduct two summers of paid research in developmental biology at the NC State vet school and present my work at the annual meeting of the Society for Developmental Biology in Minneapolis last summer. I also got to meet peers from across the country who are interested in research careers and it’s been a blast getting to know them. I’ll have the chance to present my work at the annual meeting again this coming summer (in Portland, Oregon!)

What do you love best about your department or major?

All of the professors and advisors that I’ve had the opportunity to interact with the Biological Sciences department have been super supportive of not only me but also other students. I can’t tell you how many times that I’ve had a friend tell me about an amazing interaction that they’ve had with a professor or advisor in Biological Sciences.

What do you plan to do after graduating from NC State?

I am currently interviewing at Ph.D. programs for developmental biology. After graduate school, I want to be a professor so that I can conduct research on organ development and regeneration and mentor the next generation of scientists.

Care to give a shout-out to a faculty or staff member that you would like to recognize?

My advisor Ms. Jennifer Lee has been an amazing support for me since my freshman year. She always finds time to talk to me even if she is super busy advising other students or has a lot of things on her plate. My introductory biology professor Dr. Miriam Ferzli has fostered my interest in teaching by allowing me to be a teaching assistant for her BIO 181 and BIO 183 SCALE-UP courses and I am so grateful for those experiences.

What advice would you give to students at the beginning of their degree program?

Follow your passions, whatever they may be. As long as you do what you love and invest lots of time and energy into those things, you’ll come out successful (however you define it) in the end.

Here are a few other highlights of Evan’s college career:

• Currently works in the lab of Dr. Nanette Nascone-Yoder at the NC State vet school on the molecular mechanisms of heart looping in the frog model Xenopus laevis
• Has conducted research in the lab of Dr. Pamela Yelick at Tufts University in Boston on skeletal defects in zebrafish
• Named an Honorable Mention for the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship in 2017
• College of Sciences Ambassador
• Co-president of the Society for Multicultural Scientists
• Undergraduate Research Scholar in the NC State Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity Intensive Research Training Program
• Led an Alternative Service Break trip to Belize in the summer of 2017