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PARKINSON: |
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My
name is John S. Parkinson and I work
at the biology department at the University
of Utah. |
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ASPIRE: |
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What
kind of science do you do? |
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PARKINSON: |
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My
research deals with the behavior of
bacteria and I'm interested inunderstanding
how bacteria sense chemical changes
in their enviroment and how they respond
to those kinds of changes. |
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ASPIRE: |
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Is
it also theoretical or expermimental? |
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PARKINSON: |
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It's
experimental work but it's also very
basic. It has no immediate applied prospects
but but we believe that the information
we're getting will be eventually usefull
in developing new anti-macherial therapies. |
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ASPIRE: |
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What
makes your science important? |
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PARKINSON: |
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We
belive it's important because it's revealing
general principles of molecular biology.
How living organisms respond to their
enviroments and those principles are
applicable to all sorts of organisms. |
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ASPIRE: |
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What
made you decide to go into the field
you study? |
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PARKINSON: |
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I
got really interested in doing basic
research in biology when I began colleague.
I initialing thought that I wanted to
be a MD(Medical Doctor) and I got very
fascinated with the subject matter in
biology and decided that I wanted to
pursue it. |
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ASPIRE: |
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So
what is your academic background? |
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PARKINSON: |
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I
got a bachelors of arts at a very small
liberal arts colleague then I did my
PhD work at the California Institute
of Technology. I did post doctoral work
at the University of Wisconsin. |
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ASPIRE: |
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How
did you come to the U of U? |
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PARKINSON: |
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From
Wisconsin I applied for jobs and was
very interested in what was happening
in the University of Utah at the time.
There was a lot of expansion going on
at the time in molecular biology and
so I was able to become a part of the
expansion process. |
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ASPIRE: |
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What
do you like most about your job? |
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PARKINSON: |
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I
like the flexibility. I can wear almost
anything I want and I control me scheduel
and I get to pursue information and
intellectual expeiration in the area. |
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ASPIRE: |
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What
do you like least about your job? |
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PARKINSON: |
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A
difficulty in finding parking places.
That's about the only thing. |
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ASPIRE: |
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What
hobbies do you have outside of science? |
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PARKINSON: |
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I
do a lot of reading. Mostly science
fiction when I have the time. I like
to backpack. I like to travel. |
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ASPIRE: |
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What
advice would you give to an aspiring
scientist? |
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PARKINSON: |
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I
think it's important not to be discouraged
by what they may read or hear about
the sort of over supply of scientists
and academic scientists. If you're really
interested in pusrusing a career in
science and you think you're good at
it then you should certainly pursue
it. |
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ASPIRE: |
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Alright, thank you for you time. |
