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The McNair scholars program gives us the opportunity to meet with people who have come from the
same situations, like other unrepresented people who have gone on to earn their degrees,
other first gens who have gone on to earn their Ph.D’s. Up until coming to college
I really didn’t know what a Ph. D meant. A lot of people don’t, they know that Ph.
D are should of, you know, experts in their fields, but don’t know what it means to
get a Ph.D. Through the honors program, I learned that to get a Ph.D you have to contribute
something to your field that is unique or hasn’t been seen before. And that sort of,
has driven me to want to earn one.
If I could somehow create some new understanding or generate some new knowledge that could
influence an entire field, even the entire world that is sort of why I want to get a
Ph. D.
First and foremost I love learning, I couldn’t see myself doing anything other than being
in a position to do that at all times. I also enjoy helping others learn and so the professorial
side of things really, um helping students gain knowledge and mast concepts and things
like that. I also really enjoy being in a lab, so being a professor is sort of the perfect
storm of those things. I could run my own lab, I can be constantly learning and I can
teach students and help them follow the same path that I have.
My name is James, I am a McNair scholar and a CMU Chippewa.