Neha Kashyap.

My name is Neha Kashyap and I am a 4th year Microbiology and Cell Science major with a minor in Bioinformatics.

 

I was born and raised in Tampa, FL and I adore my home city for its good eats and fun nature spots. My hobbies include hiking, reading, and trying out new recipes (especially for baked goods). Outside of my hobbies and research, I serve as the Secretary of the American Society for Microbiology, Student Chapter and serve as the Vice President of Gator Microbiome.

 

A little more on my academic journey: I decided to study microbiology at UF because of an independent research project I worked on in my senior year of high school focused on how the growth phase bacteria are in affect their transformation efficiency. I started my undergrad thinking I wanted to go to medical school, and I was a pre-med student until the beginning of my sophomore year. After getting a taste for virology and gene editing research the previous year, I became interested in pursuing research and going to graduate school. I also added my minor around the same time after taking (and loving) the Python Programming for Biologists class. I now TA for this class and have gotten to take more bioinformatics, programming, and statistics courses; my favorite class that I’m currently taking is AI for Agricultural and Life Sciences! I am planning to take a gap year to either work at the NIH (fingers crossed!) on a bioinformatics project or look for bioinformatics-related work in industry. During my gap year, I plan to apply for PhD programs in bioinformatics.