Dr. Shavonn Whiten, former student from the Department of Entomology, has been featured in a web article about her experiences in STEM during her college career and her job. Dr. Whiten is a Science and Technology Policy Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), placed with the United States Agency for International Development’s Bureau of Food Security (USAID).
A native of Baton Rouge, La., Dr. Whiten came to Texas A&M University to work toward the Ph.D. degree in Dr. Zachary Adelman’s laboratory, where her research was directed toward mosquito-borne disease control using tools of molecular biology and genetic engineering.
Dr. Whiten completed her undergraduate degree in biology with a chemistry minor at Xavier University of Louisiana. After graduation at Xavier, she participated a National Institutes of Health sponsored summer program in Ghana at the University of Cape Coast. Dr. Whiten began her masters in entomology at the University of Montana while working as a biological scientist at the United States Geological Surveys.
In the web article Dr. Whiten shared why she chose the STEM field and provided advice to young women wishing to pursue opportunities in this field. She also shared her experiences and lessons learned during her college career and in the working world.
Dr. Whiten’s work at the USAID has a global scope in agricultural biotechnology programming to help decrease poverty and malnutrition in developing countries.
For the original article, visit https://medium.com/@FeedtheFuture/interview-with-women-in-science-meet-shavonn-whiten-5cf22bd97f2d