Nicole Amagliani says that the small classes drew her to the Castleton campus. She says that knowing she would have individual time with professors and an easier-to-manage class setting sold her on the school.
Amagliani majored in Biology with concentrations in Microbiology and Biomedicine. As a child growing up in Connecticut, she always imagined a career in those fields.
“I’ve always wanted to find out why things are the way they are and how they happen,” she said. “Science is the study of why and how.”
She plans to attend grad school after getting some real-world experience and wants to use her knowledge to help develop new forms of antibiotics.
Amagliani praises her professors for their effortless aid in her education.
“Professor Greg Engle has given me the chance to perform summer research for the last few months,” she said. “Thanks to him, I now have an idea of what lab work is really like: one successful piece of data after a thousand failed attempts. Lab work is not easy, and it will never go your way the first, second, or third time.”
Amagliani adds that Professors Cynthia Moulton and Brad Coupe have also shaped her experiences in the field.
“Through a short study abroad trip in Costa Rica, they both have taught me that observational research is just as important as lab research and conservation of wildlife is just as important as creating antibiotics,” she said.
The university has provided Amagliani with many great experiences, including being able to assist in academic labs.
“Undergrad research is basically unheard of anywhere else,” she said. “I will have a leg up on both experience and mastering scientific techniques for when I graduate.”
After she graduates, she says she will remember her connections with her professors the most.
“Each and every professor I’ve had the privilege of getting to know has been an amazing and humbling experience. They have all given me their best advice on classes, work ethics, after-graduation fears, and troubles to their best abilities, and I could not be more thankful.”
