Welcome to the woods! My name is Matt Catrambone and I'm super excited to be joining the People, Places, Pines team as a new blogger. As of now, I am majoring in biology and quantitative social science (QSS), but who knows where I will end up! I will be sharing my journey as I try out classes, activities and research opportunities in various departments. Outside of the classroom, I like to listen to music, hike, ski and explore the surrounding area with my friends. Nice to meet you all!
Coming in with very little programming experience, I was pleasantly surprised by the beginner-friendly nature of this course. Although a very fast-paced course, CS1 gave me the academic confidence I needed my freshman fall. I was able to code games, maps and drawings all in 10 weeks, always surrounded by help from Vasanta (our lovely professor) and over 20 teaching assistants. I also made some close friends through the course, so I would highly, highly recommend it to anyone.
This has been my favorite class at Dartmouth thus far. Co-taught by a married couple, the introductory course fostered a challenging, yet welcoming environment for mainly first-year students. After learning about basics in epidemiology, immunology, microbiology and statistics, we dedicated entire lectures to specifically learn about over ten infectious diseases. I particularly enjoyed understanding treatment methods (vaccine, drug discovery, prevention) from both the scientific and epidemiological points-of-view, and the connections we made to current events. Now, I can confidently contribute to conversations about topics I used to be intimidated of.
A field that is often dominated by buzzwords and fear-mongering headlines, global health is a fascinating field that I was initially hesitant to engage with. And I'm so happy I did. Anne Sosin as a lovely professor who prioritized engagement and curiosity. Through weekly discussion posts, diverse sets of readings, three papers and a case study, we were able to explore four large areas of global health in conjunction with our interests. I focused on how rural health inequities connect to structural violence, colonialism, and biomedicine/technology advances. I was definitely one of the younger, less experienced students in the course, but the support was so accessible that I recommend this course to anyone interested!
Hi everyone! I hope you all are doing well. I'm very excited to be writing on the blog regularly again taking off in the summer. Campus life is definitely a bit busier now that I am a sophomore, but before I get into some of my newer commitments and responsibilities this year, I wanted to use this week's post as a quick recap of my summer. It was amazing to be home after three terms at Dartmouth, and I'm very grateful I got to spend some quality time with my family and friends in New Jersey.
My main commitment this summer was working in a lab at the Public Health Research Institute at Rutgers University. After taking an infectious disease course in the winter (BIOL11), I fell in love with the course content and how the field is so interdisciplinary – it seemed to pull several of my interests together. So, I reached out to my professors and they connected me with the PI who I would work with over the past three months. Since the lab specializes in tuberculosis research, I was tasked with identifying biologically significant genes for M-TB bacterial growth so that knockdowns could be made with CRISPRi technology. The resulting trends in growth and survival could then be used to better understand drug resistance, tolerance, and development. One of my favorite parts of the research was how there was an optimal balance between independence and collaboration; I felt as though I was learning to be self-sufficient but always surrounded by people who were willing to help.
Outside of work, one of the highlights was simply being home. As a triplet, it's very hard for all of us to find time to spend together with our busy schedules. I very much appreciated how much quality time we were able to spend as a family, whether that was spontaneous beach day trips, concerts, or drives to some of our favorite hometown spots. We kept ourselves busy, but to me, that's what makes summer fun.
I also spent a lot of time outdoors. I took my dog for a lot of walks and even had Murphy meet up with our friends' dogs for a little "play" date. He just fought with them the whole time, though. I also went on a few hikes, visiting my girlfriend up in the Berkshires, and then driving up to see a few local Dartmouth friends was very fun.
Because my work schedule was not super strict, I luckily had time to travel to places I'd never been before. At the beginning of the summer, I went to London to visit a few Dartmouth friends who were living there. It was my first time in Europe, so I enjoyed exploring the different regions of the city. Several other Dartmouth students were coincidentally there doing the summer program at the London School of Economics which made adventuring even more fun. After visiting Paris too, I definitely am more inspired to take advantage of Darmtouth's study abroad programs whether that be in Europe, or maybe one of the offerings in New Zealand or Costa Rica.
Another fun moment was when a few friends and I drove from New Jersey to Chicago for Lollapalooza. It was my first time (1) driving that long and (2) attending a music festival, but it was so worth the commitment (and the intense sleep deprivation.) I got to see a lot of my favorite artists (Backseat Lovers, Mt. Joy, Noah Kahan, the 1975, Kendrick Lamar, and ODESZA), and I can proudly say that I have gotten the proper festival experience. Because I will likely be on campus next summer, I'm so glad I got to spend this time with the people and places I love. I feel properly refreshed and excited for the terms to come.
In addition to blogging, I work as a Fellow for the Tucker Center, which focuses on promoting spiritual and ethical life on campus. As part of this role, I'm leading the Interfaith Alternative Spring Break Trip. Read on to learn more about my work!
