Student Research Spotlight

Each issue, we’ll interview an upperclassman (GS3+) about their dissertation research. Our inaugural Student Research Spotlight features Bryce Schroeder (MS3), who successfully defended his dissertation this past spring, earning his doctorate in Biomedical Engineering. Bryce tells us about his choice to specialize in bioengineering and optics. He shares about building fruitful collaborations—such as his joint project with fellow MSTP MS3 Greg Kirschen—and credits much of his success at the bench to cultivating a rich, varied personal life outside the lab.

Name: Bryce Schroeder

Hometown: Marysville, CA

Dissertation Lab: Shu Jia Lab, Biomedical Engineering Department

Clinical Interests: Peds or IM. Pulm or GI. Keeping an open mind.

You chose to do your dissertation on super-resolution fluorescence microscopy – a pretty unique subject to study amongst MSTP students. What drew you to this field?

I’ve always been interested in engineering and technology, and that’s the main reason. Also, I didn’t want to do cell culture work for four years. Engineering research is nice because, while it can admittedly get pretty rigorous and mathematical, it generally doesn’t die if you leave it alone for a long weekend.

Coming from a hard engineering perspective, how did you and Greg [Kirschen] in Neuroscience end up putting a paper together between the two of you? What was it like collaborating with someone in a different field?

I did some electronics and software work for his project on hippocampal neurogenesis. The Ge lab had made an excellent decision to base their mouse virtual reality system on open-source software—GNU/Linux and Blender Game Engine—so I was able to integrate an inexpensive Arduino-based electronic system to dispense rewards for the mice. That saved the project a lot of money, and provided flexibility. It’s good to do collaborations across department lines.

Through your graduate years, you managed to juggle a few different projects—for starters, your thesis and a side project with Greg and the Ge lab. What did you do that opened the door to more than one topic, and what advice do you have for folks planning to execute multiple projects?

Watch for opportunities, and network with other MD-PhD students. Also, don’t establish a precedent of working so much on your primary project that you have no time to do anything else. That’s a recipe for misery, because besides missing out on side projects, helping the undergrads in your lab, etc, you will miss having a personal life. You can’t go eight years like that. You need to work hard, but not like the anatomy final is two days away.

Did you have any mentors who were major influences or role models for you during your research years? What did you admire about them or their work?

I had a lot of support from my advisor and from Dr. Frohman. I also kept up occasional correspondence with some of my mentors from my undergraduate days. I admire people who are able to maintain diverse interests, and who are able to balance their career with a healthy family life.

Science research and PhDs generally require resilience and persistence. Twice now you’ve hinted at the virtues of a healthy personal life.

Having a life outside of science helped get me by when the science was not going so well. Have a personal life, have scientific interests outside your thesis project.

Speaking of things outside of science, I have heard that you are an accomplished amateur linguist, with a particular interest in the Hmong Mein language family. How did you pick up this hobby? What is something you think everyone should know about Hmong, or something unique to this language?

The Hmong people came to the US mostly as refugees after the Vietnam War. They were farmers in Southeast Asia, mostly, but the government just sort of dropped them in semi-urban areas instead of giving them land to farm. Many members of the older generation had trouble adjusting, especially in regard to the English language, which is very different from Hmong. It has more tones than Mandarin and about twice as many consonants as English. I started gathering resources for people who wanted to learn the language because some friends and I got the idea that we were going to learn it and there was almost nothing out there at the time. I believe the PDF of “Hmong Language Lessons” is the most popular file on my website, still, because Wikipedia linked it.

Anything else you’d like to tell the community about yourself? General warnings or advice?

Never forget that Nature is not divided up according to the titles on textbooks or the signs on walls in universities. Everyone should be interdisciplinary to some extent. Cultivate diverse interests, and let those interests suggest approaches and techniques to you in other fields.

Many thanks to Bryce Schroeder for his time and for his thoughtful responses.