Meet Sana Shakir. She\u2019s a rising senior at 51ÁÔÆæ majoring in biochemistry with a certificate in forensic science. She\u2019s also a student researcher in the Sensory, Neuroscience, Attention and Perception (SNAP) Lab; a former food research and development intern; and she\u2019s also the incoming president of the university\u2019s Muslim Student Association.<\/p>\n
Her secret to doing it all, and with aplomb? \u201cI think one of the important things that I learned about myself throughout college … is to be flexible to plans changing,\u201d Shakir said. \u201cI think many times we think we have to have everything set out and that\u2019s the only way it can go. But I have found a lot of comfort and success in giving myself a guideline of what to prioritize, and I go from there. It\u2019s helpful to be flexible so you don\u2019t get locked into a corner.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shakir\u2019s life has been all about flexibility and being willing to try new things. Her family migrated from Iraq to America when she was just eight years old. They settled in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, where Shakir grew up nurturing a love for math and science. She chose 51ÁÔÆæ for her college education both for its proximity and its status as an R1 Research University.<\/p>\n
When it came time to choose a major, \u201cI was torn between biology and chemistry. I was like, let\u2019s go in between and do biochemistry,\u201d Shakir said. \u201cThen I get the best of both worlds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her work at college began even before freshman classes started. Shakir participated in UR@51ÁÔÆæ, a summer research program that pairs incoming 51ÁÔÆæ students with faculty mentors to assist in their research inquiries. Here, her flexibility started to shine: Despite being a biochemistry major, Shakir found herself under the mentorship of then-psychology professor Adam Greenberg and working in his SNAP lab.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was something I was nervous about at first, because I wanted to do something more related to my major. When I tried to find other labs, it just didn\u2019t work out. I was comfortable in that lab,\u201d Shakir said.<\/p>\n
She turned it to her advantage, in fact. Throughout her time as a student researcher, Shakir managed to find projects in the lab that aligned with her major. When Greenberg received an offer to teach at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Shakir continued her research with her mentor.<\/p>\n
Currently, \u201cI\u2019ve been trying to find a link between the chemical structure of odors that we smell and \u2026 how they\u2019re perceived by human behavior, and seeing if those minor chemical differences change how we smell certain things,\u201d Shakir explained. Later this year, the group hopes to do some studies surrounding COVID-19 patients and if and how they recover their sense of smell after the disease runs its course.<\/p>\n
That research background has already proved useful. During her sophomore year, Shakir found a job posting for an internship at Wixon, a research and development company that assists businesses in the food and beverage industry with flavor development. For example, if a company wants to make a diet version of a product by eliminating salt or sugar, Wixon will work to keep the taste and flavor of the original product without using those ingredients.<\/p>\n
Technically speaking, she shouldn\u2019t have gotten the job. The ad called for a junior or senior to fill the position.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, I\u2019ll just wiggle my way in. I have enough science and math knowledge to see what they say. I went for an interview and they accepted me,\u201d Shakir said.<\/p>\n
For a year, she worked in the flavor development lab, where her boss would often assign her formulas to mix together, after which she would taste and rank her creations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThroughout my time there, I worked on a few projects relating to sourness and sweetness and trying to develop the best formulas for that. I was mostly doing the work, but sometimes, when I got more experience, he would ask me, what do you think we could change here? So I got to have a little bit of input as well,\u201d Shakir said. <\/p>\n
The experience gave her a taste \u2013 pun intended \u2013 of the working world. Shakir says that she could easily see herself working in food-related research and development, though she is leaning more towards a job in forensic science.<\/p>\n
This year, Shakir is tackling a new experience beyond work and research: Leadership. She is the incoming president of the 51ÁÔÆæ Muslim Student Association, an organization that provides support, community, and friendship for Muslim students on campus. Shakir served on the MSA\u2019s board as an event coordinator during her junior year. <\/p>\n
This year, \u201cI want make things a lot more inclusive in the organization and try to invite some new students,\u201d Shakir said. \u201cI want to reach out to newer freshmen and people who didn\u2019t see themselves in the MSA space before, to find comfort in that and be able to meet new people and find it a welcoming community.\u201d<\/p>\n
That includes helping to organize events like dodgeball games, or bringing in Islamic speakers for education and inspiration.<\/p>\n
Shakir is still unsure about her plans after graduation. She\u2019s debating pursuing graduate work or entering the working world, hopefully in a forensic science-related field.<\/p>\n
Wherever she chooses to go, she\u2019ll jump in with both feet and a lot of flexibility.<\/p>\n
By Sarah VIckery<\/strong>, College of Letters & Science<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Meet Sana Shakir. She\u2019s a rising senior at 51ÁÔÆæ majoring in biochemistry with a certificate in forensic science. She\u2019s also a student researcher in the Sensory, Neuroscience, Attention and Perception (SNAP) Lab; a former food research and development intern; and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28112,"featured_media":16049,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[1715],"tags":[1858],"class_list":["post-16046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-focus-2021","tag-august"],"yoast_head":"\n