Hometown/city/country

I am from Seoul, Korea. I spent most of my life there, prior to college.

Why did you choose BIG?

The scale and breadth of biomedical research being done within the Harvard community, as well as the Boston area, are just amazing. Having graduated from a small liberal arts college, I got especially excited about exploring many different research areas during rotation and learning from fellow scientists from all over the world.

What advice would you give to college students who are interested in a PhD in genomics/bioinformatics?

The field is thoroughly interdisciplinary, so it is crucial that you stay curious. You do not need to be an expert at everything, as long as you are excited to learn from colleagues around you. Nevertheless, a strong foundation in statistics and familiarity with coding are key in most genomics research, so make sure you put in the effort in college. Spend some summers and the school year, if possible, doing research in a bioinformatics lab. Not only would you be able to get research experience, you will have people around you whom you can ask about their PhD experience! Being a PhD student is a long-term commitment, so it is good to get a sense of what it would be like.