“Blessing Enya” originally appeared in the 2016 edition of Arising, the Research Journal of Savannah State University.
Story by Amy Pine. Photography by Hon Low.
I am originally from Nigeria, but I have been in the United States for the past six years. After completing high school in Atlanta, I decided to attend Savannah State University as an undergraduate at age 15.
Being accepted to Savannah State University at such a young age made me a little nervous because I did not know what to expect, and I felt like I was a little child in an adult world. For the longest time,
I avoided telling anybody my age because I felt like I might be picked on as a result. At the end of the day, people were actually nice and helpful. It was important to me that I try to fit in as much as I could, without forgetting where I came from. My parents were always there to support and help me in any way they could, and it has helped me become the adult I am now at Savannah State University.
During my freshman year, I was a Peach State Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (PSLSAMP) Scholar, and I did my first research with Hyounkyun Oh, Ph.D., a mathematics professor, on historical trends and predictions in Savannah’s temperature. The main goal of the project was to predict the temperature in Savannah using regression method, predictive method and Fast Fourier Transform method and compare the temperatures within a 30- and a 60-year period.
By my sophomore year, I joined the National Institutes of Health Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (NIH-RISE) program and worked under Hua Zhao, Ph.D., an associate professor and chair of chemistry, doing research on biodiesel.
By Summer 2013, I got accepted to my first off-campus research position at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where I had the opportunity to work with Janakiram Seshu, Ph.D., an associate professor of biology, on a research project titled “Purification of BB0504 Protein of Borrelia Burgdorferi,” which involved converting DNA to protein and purifying the protein.
I completed my second off-campus research at Alabama State University on “Detection of Avian Influenza Virus (AIV) Using qPCR.” This research involved RNA isolation from bird fecal sample, converting to cDNA and quantifying the cDNA to detect AIV.
Presently I am working with Takayuki Nitta, Ph.D., an assistant professor of biology at Savannah State, on MLV virus and the how small GTPases play a role in virus release. I have presented my research experiences at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students, the PSLSAMP conference, the Mathematical Association of America Southeastern Section conference, the Florida-Georgia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation conference and the Emerging Researchers National Conference in STEM.
All of these research opportunities have helped me understand more about what is being taught in my classes. They have also helped me with my networking skills and helped determine my plans for the future.
My future goal is to get my M.D./Ph.D. degree in microbiology, and I believe that Savannah State University has helped me achieve my goals. I have been exposed to summer research opportunities, networking opportunities, graduate school seminars and scholarship opportunities that I would not have gotten at other schools. I have told people around me about the kinds of opportunities to which I have been exposed, and they have also had the same experience.
As a result of these opportunities and experiences I have received at Savannah State University, I believe I am Savannah Smart, Savannah Bold and Savannah Proud, and I can get anywhere from here.
