Graduate Student Highlight: Nushrat Hoque
Each week, the Department of Chemistry highlights graduate students who are doing great work around the department. In this installment of our highlight series, we are featuring Nushrat Hoque, who is a second year student in the Weinert Lab.
Nushrat studies a class of O2 sensing heme proteins, termed globin coupled sensors (GCSs). She aims to understand the signal transduction mechanisms of the GCS protein from Pectobacterium carotovorum and identify downstream pathways/proteins controlled by GCS signaling.
Outside of the lab, Nushrat serves on the Eberly College of Science Climate and Diversity Committee, and she volunteers with the Penn State Chapter of the Graduate Women in Science organization, the chemistry Graduate Student Association, and the Bangladeshi Student Association.
This week, we met virtually with Nushrat to discuss her life in and outside of the lab! Please enjoy our interview with Nushrat Hoque.
Question: How did you get interested in chemistry?
Answer: Like many people, I had a wonderful chemistry teacher in high school who really emphasized chemistry as a place of exploration, rather than rote memorization. The challenge of figuring out the rules that govern behavior on a molecular level really drew me into the field and has sustained my interest.
Q: What inspires you as a scientist?
A: I am inspired by my students. Prior to graduate school, I taught high school chemistry for four years, and the students' willingness to dive into a concept or idea fueled my own sense of wonder at scientific discovery. I love the moment when the experiment/data finally starts to make sense, and there are always new things to learn.
Q: What accomplishment are you most proud of?
A: Grassroots organizing with the Bangladeshi American Women's Development Initiative (BAWDI) has been some of the most rewarding work I have engaged in. BAWDI focuses on cultivating a community space created by Bangladeshi women for Bangladeshi women in New Jersey.
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: I grew up in upstate New York.
Q: Do you have any hobbies?
A: Outside of work, I spend my time trying out new recipes and hiking.
Q: Do you have any pets?
A: I have two parakeets who enjoy waking up at the first light of dawn. I do not enjoy waking up at the first light of dawn, but I enjoy their company regardless.
Q: What’s your dream vacation?
A: I would love to travel through South East Asia and explore all the cuisines of the region. Bà Nà Hill Station in Vietnam is on my list of places to stop along the way.
Q: If you could have dinner with anybody (living or dead), who would it be and why?
A: I would have dinner with Zora Neal Hurston. I love how she integrates her anthropological research on folklore into her novels and brings issues of race and class in the reconstruction era into the light.
Thanks to Nushrat for these excellent and thoughtful answers! We hope you enjoyed this interview. Stay tuned for more graduate student highlights in the weeks to come!