Welcome to the webpage! Hardhats aren’t required but they are recommended since things around here will be a work in progress until the end of the semester.
My name is Alex Antoncic, and I’m a 5th year undergraduate studying Molecular Genetics as well as Evolution and Ecology. My initial focus has been on the genetics side of things, which tends to have lab components consisting of being cooped up at the same bench each week for hours at a time. Don’t get me wrong, I really do enjoy benchwork but there’s also a side of me that loves being lost out in nature, whether it’s camping, hiking, kayaking, or some other reason that tends to lead myself to the great outdoors. While I’ve learned many things from my courses about plant development at a microscopic and cell level, I haven’t acquired as much knowledge about plants at a macroscopic level. I’m taking Ohio Plants to hopefully be able to appreciate and understand a little more about them, but at the scope in which we interact with them regularly in our lives! My coat of arms quote is:
“Make glorious, wonderful, unforgettable mistakes and learn from them!”
As scientists it’s in our blood to make mistakes, and I personally used to hate that. I would over-prepare and end up stressing over the smallest of details/errors. Throughout my college experience I’ve discovered the amount of accidents, inconclusive data, redos, and the like happen way more often than I would have believed growing up. By embracing when something goes awry and improving ourselves each step of the way, ultimately we build an even stronger version of ourselves. Sometimes it’s a nice reminder that everyone deserves a little more slack, including yourself. As far as outside of the classroom is concerned, most of the time I’m occupying myself with two golden doodles that happily call me dad (or I’m sure they would if they could talk). When the weather starts to take a turn for the worse I tend to drift online and play games on the computer I built a few years back, so I really stretch my personality from outdoorsy to homebody and everything in between.
