Master’s student in Bacteriology
It’s the Olympics in the Bacteriology master’s program at UW–Madison. The sports? Pipette basketball. Parafilm stretching. A 96-well plate memory game. Pin the flagella on the bacteria.
These Lab Olympics were the brainchild of Anna Moyer, a research master’s student who plays a huge role in making graduate school more fun for peers in her department. Her vision was to create a safe environment where graduate students could connect and be silly.
“I believe that collectively, we — academia as a whole — take life too seriously,” Anna said. “Everyone in the master’s program is obviously smart and capable of incredible science, but you can’t pull on a spring forever. At some point, you have to let it rebound. This was a space where we could rebound, become human again, giggle, and play.”
Anna has many other roles in her program as well, including peer mentor, event committee member, and volunteer. On the events committee, she’s able to incorporate play, connection, and fun into events that give graduate students a chance to pause their rigorous schedules. In her volunteer work, she’s given presentations about microbiology to middle school students, where she gets to explore their curiosity through the lens of a beginner. The experience also builds on her passion for spreading the latest knowledge about a field as far as it can go.
“Our knowledge of microbiology research, across the board, has increased exponentially, and I am honored to be a part of the community that spreads that current knowledge beyond ourselves,” Anna said.