Yale University

Yale is located in New Haven, Connecticut, and on the advice of the program, I flew into LaGuardia airport in Queens, New York. As we descended, familiar landmarks came into view: the Statue of Liberty became more than just a toothpick in the harbor, and the Empire State Building began to distinguish itself from the dense buildings of Manhattan. I landed around 5 pm, and met my shuttle at baggage claim. Unfortunately, due to an accident on the interstate, the drive to New Haven took over four hours, and I ended up arriving long after the dinner was over. So, I checked into the hotel and went searching for dinner. Lucky for me, there was a Mediterranean restaurant across the street, and I enjoyed a fantastic dinner of a Greek salad, falafel and babaganoush. My roommate, a biology major named Iris from the University of Washington in Seattle, arrived back from the dessert and wine session, and she gave me the briefing for the next day, an exhausting experience spent under the scrutiny of faculty and graduate students.

The day began with breakfast at TAC (The Anylan Center), a building attached via skyway to the Medical School (let’s just say I felt right at home…). It apparently cost about 175 million dollars to build, and their money was spent very well. Windows are everywhere, and open bays dominate the lab space. We saw a presentation by Dr. Richard Flavell, the chairman of the immunology department at Yale: he talked a bit about the history of the department as well as how immunology is the connection between many of the fields of biology as well as immunology as the foundation of almost all diseases. Dr. Sankar Ghosh talked for a bit about NF-kappa-B, one of the most famous regulators of immune function and inflammatory response. Finally, Dr. Kevan Herold talked about the connection between the bench and the clinic, and the process by which new scientific developments transition from the lab to utilization in a medical setting. One of the goals of his research is injecting human immune cells into rats to better study the mechanisms of diabetes development within the pancreas, and I brought up the work that Dr. Griffith has done with artificial scaffolding for cells, and I apparently really threw him for a loop. One of the professors (a lovely British gentleman) gave me props during dinner for the look on Dr. Herold’s face, and Dr. Schatz interrupted and laughed at my horrified look, saying that this is one of the reasons it is so good to present your work often, because you never know who will be in the audience and ask a question you never would have thought about. (for those immunology buffs, Dr. Schatz is the guy who discovered RAG1 and RAG2, the main enzymes involved in VJD recombination; it is through this process that the immune system is able to respond to so many different pathogens).

Next followed interviews with members of the immunology department. We had four half-hour interviews with different faculty members, as well as an information session with graduate students. Surprisingly, the interviews were a combination of typical/expected questions like “Why immunolgoy?” “What are your weaknesses coming into this program?” as well as miniature presentations about their research. Being one-on-one was really a great opportunity to talk with professors about their research as well as get a good feel for who they are as a person.

My first interview was with Dr. Tian Chi. His research involves chromatin (DNA) structuring and how things called histones (a family of proteins) remodel how the chromatin coils in order to regulate protein production (=epigenetic modification). Epigenetic modification is why identical twins can have different traits (eg one with autism and one without autism). It is also something that is actually inheritable, an interesting throwback to Lamarck (a scientist before Darwin who worked with the idea of environmental heritability…the most famous example of his research is the idea that giraffes stretched their necks to get food that is higher on the tree, so giraffe offspring had longer necks due to this environmental factor). He really appreciated that I wanted to eventually work within a field that would require me to do lots of speaking to people of all different levels of experience within biology.

Next, I interviewed with Dr. Bob Means. His lab does work with pathogenicity and host response mechanisms of herpes viruses (especially Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus and the diseases it causes in immune-suppressed HIV/AIDS patients and transplant recipients). He is actually the faculty advisor for Scientists and Engineers for America (SEA), an organization which searches to broaden the effect of science from the bottom up (local/grassroots organizing) and top down (giving scientists the tools to work with policy-makers). It seems like my cup of tea for sure. (in that vein, my new favorite idea to broaden the appeal of science for all curious and inquiring minds:
http://www.sciencecafes.org/ )

My next interviewer was Dr. Craig Roy, a member of the microbiology department that specializes in those pathogens that replicate within other cells, and the host cell’s immune response to such stresses. The main organism he studies is legionella, the bacteria that causes Legionnaire’s disease. He seemed to be supportive of my indecision regarding what sort of topics I would like to research in graduate school. “Really, what is most important is that you leave graduate school knowing and understanding science, from the doing to the reading to the talking to the writing…you want come out of there prepared to go anywhere and do any sort of research.”

The final professor I interviewed with was Dr. Akiko Iwasaki, and she really seemed so compassionate about science and why I loved what I did. We talked so much about the excitement of science that she didn’t really even talk about her research (which actually has to do with how nerve cells in mucosal lining function in immune response), but it was great just sitting around and talking with her about my hopes and dreams for science. It’s funny, but the professors really have such a tongue-in-cheek view of their own profession. I like that they all have maintained their own sense of person even as they have become world-class researchers in their own right.

In addition to just being on such a science dork high (which…let’s be honest…can sustain me for quite awhile) I was definitely quite spoiled by the food here! Lunch was delicious: an Italian salad with fresh mozzarella and tomatoes and vinaigrette, croissant sandwiches, and waaay-too delicious brownies. I also got a chance to talk with Mickey, a second year in Akiko’s lab. She is from Israel, and is therefore a bit older, having been required to finish her service in the army and traveling before going back to school. She loves Akiko, and has nothing but great things to say about her: she recently had a baby, so obviously, her time has to be split between lab and her baby. However, according to Mickey, this just means that you begin to learn to be the most effective and efficient scientist, because once you go home at night, you have to be a mom. It was just so heartening to hear that yes, even if you do work in the number one research institute in immunology in the country, you still can make time to do other things and not feel like you are short-shrifting research. It gives me hope that I can still continue music and environmental advocacy while working on my PhD, as well as still being able to see my family and friends every once and a while.

Happy hour is actually a normal event on Fridays here, although the fare was slightly elevated due to our presence…brie with almonds and wine tasted quite lovely after a long day! Usually, two graduate students or post-doctoral researchers will present thirty minute talks on their research in progress, and take questions from the crowd: about 100 people (pretty much the entirety of the department) attends, and goes to the happy hour afterwards in the lobby to discuss research and current plans, etc…it really creates a feeling of community within the department. The talks and happy hour were reversed as well so the faculty was able to spend time in one of the conference rooms and talk about us.

Dinner followed at the Yale Graduate Club, a very fancy old building on campus. Next was drinks and socializing at the GPSCY bar (pronounced gypsy; it stands for Graduate and Professional Student Center at Yale) – now, I know my mom and brother would laugh at the thought of me nursing a Stella and gabbing about my research projects, but it was fantastic. For the first time in my life, I felt completely at ease in a bar. Iris and I walked home after about an hour since we both have exams on Monday, one of those unfortunate parts of still being in school. Most of the other students either graduated in December or last May. It makes me feel quite young and inexperienced, but it’s the way it is, I guess. I’m also a generalist in a sea of specialists: only three of twenty students are straight “biology” majors, and the research I do is quite different from the work that many of them do with T cells or lymphocyte therapy techniques.

Saturday began with brunch and a poster session at the hotel: I wish I would have had more time to walk around and learn, but my lack of immunology experience made this a bit rough. Next, graduate students took us on a tour of New Haven and two student apartments. East Rock is really gorgeous: think Summit Avenue neighborhoods, but with less yards and no real promenade. But the architecture…wow. They also have two months of rent required for deposits, so you do have a reason to keep these houses really nice (most are converted into apartments). One of the apartments we visited was three bedrooms, plus two bathrooms, a living room, dining room and kitchen; for each roommate, it was $600 a month with heat and water included (New Haven standard procedure). I think I just have to be realistic and know that my current $325 monthly rent isn’t going to last forever.

The stipend for next year will be $29,000, and when I asked the other students if this was enough, one laughed and said, “Well, I just opened an IRA last month.” Another said that she saves $500 a month, and is paying off her college loans. Another said that she eats out all the time and goes out a lot since she hates to cook, and money hasn’t been a problem. Some grad students actually have enough to put down down payments on houses after their second year. I was floored: the amount is already extremely competitive as far as fellowships go, but since the cost of living here is lower, you are really able to save or spend a good deal of money. In addition, you get a $4000 yearly bonus if you win an external fellowship, or $5000 extra if you teach or TA extra courses.

Next was a walking tour of the old campus of Yale, an area about 4 blocks from the medical school and laboratories. I should bring up that New Haven basically IS Yale. There are some banks, and a couple hotels, but really…all that is here is the campus surrounded by cute New England-esque neighborhoods. Actually, a lot of the people living in New Haven work in New York City (an hour and a half train ride). According to the tour guide, the campus has primarily “Neo-collegiate Gothic” which is code for a surprising degree of opulence and grandiosity in every single building, including the gym.



In fact, there is a little bit of urban legend about the gym, which was apparently built with the money from a very rich and elderly patroness who wanted a church built with her money…since Yale already has a great deal of churches, the administration built a gym instead, but made it look like a church, so they could point it out to her when they drove past. It’s not that this architecture is bad by any means – the campus is beautiful. It’s just so different from what I’m used to. We also were able to stop at Skull and Bones (I was the only one who had the guts to touch the door!).



Also, there is a 15% discount at the J.Crew on campus for anyone with a Yale student ID (that has totally sold me on the school…right…). I should also stress that as a graduate student associated with the medical school, I won’t spend all that much time on old campus – the vast majority of my time will be spend in TAC.

Saturday night was spent at a microbrewery called “Bar” having such delicious foods as mashed potato and bacon pizza (do not judge until you’ve tried it…it is fantastic). I was lucky to have a chance to sit with two graduate students and just chat. Truly, so much of the graduate experience is determined by the other members of your program, so it was nice to spend time with them and get a better feel for the people I would be seeing all the time as a graduate student at Yale. Also, nightlife in New Haven was a lot more than expected – Iris and I stayed up quite late on both Friday and Saturday because downtown was so loud!

All in all, I’m shocked about how much I liked this weekend. I have no basis for comparison, but Yale seems like somewhere I could live for five years. Professors are brilliant and kind; students are supportive and have both work ethic and a life. We’ll see what happens.