Taylor Powell (PENDING)

1) Where did you graduate from high school?
Lincoln Charter in Denver, North Carolina, USA.

2) Where did you graduate from college?
UNC Charlotte with a B.S. in Computer Science (conc. Bioinformatics) and a minor in actuarial mathematics. Also studied Neuroscience through Arizona State University and Kinesiology at UNC Greensboro (Go Spartans!)

3) What are your current UNC Charlotte academic majors?
Currently, I’m a Master’s student of Bioinformatics here at UNC Charlotte.

4) Which GPSG goal are you most excited to help accomplish this year—and why?
The GPSG goal I’m most excited to work towards is increasing and maintaining 95% usage of the Niner Engage Plus app - specifically within the Graduate Student Chat among the leadership of the 37 grad student organizations.

5) What is one thing in your bag/backpack right now that you probably shouldn’t admit to carrying around?
I keep my bag fairly organized, but I did find a sticky note with my name misspelled on it (Taylor Powwel) from when I picked up a poster from the printing office in Woodward (shout out CCI Poster Printing Services).

6) If you had to write your thesis/dissertation as a Netflix show, what would it be called?
Growth at 37°C, A Fungal Fight for Survival.

7) What is one important thing every graduate student at UNC Charlotte should know?
Every graduate student should know that on-campus parking is free on the weekends.

8) What’s your go-to response when grad school gets overwhelming?
I put Herbie Hancock’s song Perfect Machine (1988) or Placido Domingo singing Puccini's Nessun Dorma (1982) from Puccini's opera Turandot on my Spotify on my phone or laptop, and remind myself—Vincerò! (I will win!).

9) What’s one thing you wish someone had told you before starting grad school at UNC Charlotte?
Before I started grad school at UNC Charlotte, I wish someone would’ve told me just how overwhelmingly positive the experience was going to be, and how many amazing people I was going to meet.

10) If your personality were the result of two famous people combining their traits, who would they be—and why?
My personality has to be a mix between Michael Phelps and Bill Engvall, because I definitely feel like a dorkfish sometimes.

11) Dream Job?
I’d like to be be an artisanal game designer with a studio in the Appalachians.