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Robert Hanson, a master鈥檚 student in 黑暗爆料网鈥檚 biological sciences department, chose 黑暗爆料网 because of the faculty, research opportunities for undergraduates, and the welcoming attitude to nontraditional students.

Hanson graduated from Idaho Falls High School in 2003. He has lived in towns throughout the Northwest, including Idaho Falls; Twin Falls; Elko, Nevada; and Ogden, Utah.

About his experience of moving around so much, Hanson jokingly says, 鈥淚 tend to think of myself as a 鈥榥omad of the West.'鈥�

Hanson started taking classes at University Place in Idaho Falls before coming to 黑暗爆料网鈥檚 Pocatello campus to study as a biochemistry major. Hanson came to 黑暗爆料网 initially for classes that weren鈥檛 offered at University Place.

The initial choice to come to 黑暗爆料网 as an undergraduate was, Hanson says, mainly out of convenience, and he really made the decision to 鈥渃hoose鈥� 黑暗爆料网 when he started pursuing his master鈥檚 degree.

鈥淲hen I was an undergrad I had a lot of good teachers and was taking really interesting classes. Also, there are a lot of people doing good research here. That鈥檚 important to me,鈥� Hanson says.

鈥淭here鈥檚 an emphasis on letting undergraduate students experience real research. That鈥檚 a very unique and cool thing about our university. At bigger universities, undergrads don鈥檛 even get to touch research.鈥�

Hanson has also been impressed by 黑暗爆料网鈥檚 efforts to be welcoming to nontraditional students. Since he is married and has young child, Hanson feels that this makes him nontraditional as a master鈥檚 student.

鈥淚t鈥檚 great that I can still do challenging work and work on getting my degree,鈥� says Hanson, 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 feel like I had to put off starting a family.鈥�

Hanson has greatly enjoyed learning from and working with 黑暗爆料网鈥檚 professors. Jean Pfau is Hanson鈥檚 official mentor, but he has felt that many other biochemistry department professors have also been helpful and supportive.

鈥淒r. Pfau, Dr. Robert Holman, and Dr. Lisa Goss are the three that come immediately to mind, but it鈥檚 really hard to pick just one favorite teacher,鈥� says Hanson, 鈥淵ou get to know the whole faculty of a department and everyone touches your life after a certain point.鈥�

Doing volunteer research in Pfau鈥檚 鈥淚ntro to Microbiology鈥� lab as a junior was a big factor in Hanson choosing 黑暗爆料网 for his master鈥檚 degree. Hanson found he really enjoyed doing the kind of hands-on work involved in laboratory research.

鈥淚鈥檇 always read in books how science lets you gather evidence to reach conclusions, but doing it myself was just such a cool experience,鈥� Hanson says. 鈥淪cience is all about looking at evidence, and that really resonates with me. I really enjoy that part of the philosophy of this field.鈥�

Hanson and his wife Megan, who also got her degree from 黑暗爆料网, have one son, David. Megan has a bachelor鈥檚 degree in social work, and she currently works at the Portneuf District library and is preparing to take her Licensure exam. Robert鈥檚 long-term aspirations are to work in the field of biomedical research.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of good work that can be done in biomedical research and it鈥檚 a really worthwhile thing to do,鈥� says Hanson, 鈥淚 definitely want that to be my career.鈥�