Featured Scholar: Benjamin Awad
“My name is Benjamin Awad and I am a fourth year physics major at Fresno State. My 10 week summer internship focused on therapeutic medical physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW Madison). I got into the field of physics because of my grandpa, who encouraged me to explore the field due to my interest in space and enjoyment of math. I spent many nights with my mom stargazing and watching meteor showers, which boosted my interest in physics.
“Once I entered my undergraduate studies, I began looking for research experience at Fresno State. This search led me to my current research professor, Dr. Mihai Gherase. His research falls under the field of biomedical physics research and he welcomed me into his lab in January 2023. He guided my interest in therapeutic medical physics, which deals with the treatment and prevention of human diseases, primarily cancer, using various treatment options.
“Conducting research with Dr. Gherase compelled me to join Fresno State's NIH Research training Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) chapter and they brought me to the CSU Summer Symposium and Graduate Fair at UCLA in August 2023. At this symposium, I presented my research and connected with Dr. McNitt-Gray at UCLA. He also specializes in medical physics and recommended me to apply to the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Summer Fellowships. I was lucky enough to be accepted into the Diversity Recruitment through Education And Mentoring (DREAM) Program. This program gave me a list of 50 different mentors and their choices and we would choose who we wanted to work with.
“At UW Madison, I worked under Dr. Jordan Slagowski in the Department of Human Oncology. Our project was to bridge the gap between preclinical and clinical radiation therapeutic research. This was done by using a method called Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy on small animals. In order to prepare myself for this internship, I utilized every opportunity around me that I could. Since Fresno State is a smaller university, there are a lot more programs that work on assisting students, like myself, to prepare for graduate school. All of the other undergraduates came from larger schools (compared to Fresno State) and they did not have the same programs that I did. As I mentioned previously, RISE helped fund my research, enabling me to present at seven different conferences. I also made use of the fact that my classes were smaller, so I was able to build more personal connections with my professors so they could write more about me when I asked for letters of recommendation.
“My day-to-day work schedule was the following: I would wake up and make breakfast around 8:00 am. I would then get ready and bike from my apartment about 2 miles to the UW Health Hospital, where my lab was located. I would get myself my morning coffee (of course) and begin working on my project at around 9:00 am.
“At around noon, I would make my way to the cafeteria to get lunch with some of the other lab members. After lunch, I would get back to my desk and work until 5:00 pm (sometimes earlier or later depending on what I needed to get done). I would then bike to the gym, where I would hit the weights, play basketball, or swim.
“Then, I would head back to my apartment and either make dinner or get take out. After dinner, I would enjoy Madison during sunset by walking around or sitting near the lakefront.
“Although I spent a lot of time in the lab, that was not my entire life for the 10 weeks I was there. I was able to visit my uncle in Muskegon, Michigan. All I had to do was take a short bus ride to Milwaukee and then catch a ferry that would take me across Lake Michigan. It was impressive how large Lake Michigan was. There were legitimate beaches that were created with waves rolling on them! It was nice to visit another state and see the similarities between Wisconsin and Michigan.
“I also was able to experience cheese curds. If you did not know, Wisconsin is known for their cheese, and they make fresh cheese curds, which are small bits of cheese that *squeak* when you bite into them. I got them from the Dane County Farmers Market, which is a massive farmers market that surrounds the capitol building in Madison. Finally, I had the opportunity to see two different baseball games: LA Dodgers vs. SF Giants and a Wisconsin local club game.
“The main difference between Fresno State and UW Madison was that UW Madison was incorporated into the entire city of Madison. This university was the city and vice versa. No matter where you went, there was always a university building across the street at all times. There were also buses that would take students anywhere in Madison. The sheer size of the school made it easy to feel lost, but there was still a strong sense of community. Although I was an intern, I was treated as a Badger (UW Madison's mascot). Everybody (in the lab and around town) was still super kind and would go out of their way to help me.
“This summer opportunity definitely opened up doors for me in the future. Whether it ends up with me getting into a Ph.D. program or choosing exactly what research I want to do, this experience was the main experience that shaped me and my future path into the direction that it is going now. As I am currently writing this, I am applying for Ph.D. programs in medical physics to get ABR Certified so I can work in a clinic and continue research in the near future.
“If I were to give any words of advice on how to get similar experiences, I would recommend students to ask.
“Ask everybody you talk to about different opportunities and careers. Worst case scenario, you either get told "no” or don't get a reply but these occurrences don’t change your life at all.
“If I did not ask Dr. Gherase to join his lab, I would have never joined RISE. If I never would have joined RISE, I would have never gone to UCLA to meet Dr. McNitt-Gray, who recommended me to apply for the AAPM DREAM.
“I am so thankful for the opportunities I have been given, but I was given these opportunities because I asked. Also make sure to join as many programs as you feel comfortable with. This allows you to meet more people and as a result, hear about more experiences and options.
“I would like to give a couple of special thanks. First and foremost, I would like to thank my family for putting their trust and faith in me and encouraging me to do anything that I aspired to be (although it may have changed many times).
“I would also like to give thanks to Dr. Gherase for allowing me to join his lab and learn about medical physics. I would also like to give thanks to Dr. Jordan Slagowski for being a great summer mentor and helping me throughout the entire summer.
“In addition to Dr. Jordan Slagowski, I would like to give thanks to Dr. Glide-Hurst and all of her graduate students, Chase Ruff, Yuhao Yan, Nicholas Summerfield, Renata Farrell and Anudeep Kumar, for all of their support for any questions that I had and the lab space to use for the summer.
“I would like to finally give thanks to Dr. Attar for his support as the Director of the Smittcamp Family Honors College.”
