INBRE Scholars: Truc Doan

The Nebraska Institutional Development Award Program (IDeA) Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) program has welcomed 27 undergraduate students from across Nebraska as they embark on their summer research experience at Creighton University, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and UNMC.

Below, Truc Doan, a biochemistry major at Doane University, talks about his INBRE experience.

Who is Truc Doan?

I lived in Vietnam for 13 years before my family moved to America. When my family arrived in the United States from Vietnam five years ago, I didn’t know any English. Although I was at a disadvantage compared to my peers, I made the decision never to use the fact that English was my second language as an excuse for not doing well in school. In high school, I struggled, but even when I felt discouraged, I never quit and at graduation placed in the top 5 percent of my class. Despite having to study more than my peers to get the grades I wanted, I knew the gravity as well as the positive aspects of experiencing two different cultures. Both the Vietnamese and the American values I hold influenced my decisions and my passion in education.

Has science always been a part of your life?
When I was young, my parents suggested the possibility of becoming a doctor or an engineer. My family has a long history in the area of medicine in Vietnam. My mother practiced medicine in Vietnam before we emigrated to the United States, and her sister is a surgeon who still resides in Vietnam. Science has always been a part of my life.

Why did you choose to participate in the INBRE program?
As a freshman at Doane, I had heard about this program. I realized INBRE would provide me with the experience to do research with the Doane faculty, a goal I had been seriously considering since my early experience at Doane in my interviews of biology faculty and their research, and then my experience at UNMC this past summer in the medical and dental education program. INBRE will focus my learning in and knowledge of research. This has been a goal since my freshman year at Doane. Not only will INBRE provide me the setting in which I can improve my knowledge of what it means to be engaged in research and the knowledge that comes from that, it also will provide me with a vision of how I can apply all of this to my own career path.