Rachael Heittola

I began building my experiences through classes and other research opportunities during my undergraduate career which carried throughout my graduate career. During my undergraduate career I researched the amount of reactive oxygen species and glucose consumption in pancreatic cancer cells. This taught me lab safety techniques, monitoring cell-growth, develop my skills in experimental and scientific design, basic cell culturing practices, and basic lab communication practices. These helped me excel in my masters program, where I am working to observe the interaction between Bacillus anthracis, endospores, and macrophages to understand how the disease Anthrax thrives in the cells that are supposed to protect us. The techniques that I learned in my undergraduate career were also put to use on top of being a lead researcher in the viral lab, which requires self-motivation, communication skills, time management, and problem solving abilities. I believe these skills will have a positive impact on my future endeavors when it comes to jobs since I know how to manage my time, have good communication skills, pays strong attention to details, and can problem solve. On top of these lab and class experiences, during the same time I was competing on the University's basketball teams at both Bemidji State and Northern Iowa. This allowed me to become extremely hardworking, have an excellent work ethic, team player mentality, proficient at time management, being goal-orientated, performing well under pressure, discipline and leadership skills, created a drive for perfection and a love for volunteering. Along with classes and basketball, I also have had two jobs as a waitress. Being a waitress has taught me patience, develop excellent people skills, managing priorities with a positive attitude, develop very good memory skills, and being highly efficient to create a memorable experience for the customers. These experiences have made me into the person I am today, but my main goal is to make everyone around me feel better and be the happiest version they can be. Ever since a young age I have wanted to have a positive impact on people's lives and I want to show that through the jobs I work at and my future endeavors.