{"id":14859,"date":"2022-09-13T11:57:14","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T15:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marymount.edu\/?page_id=14859"},"modified":"2022-09-13T11:57:14","modified_gmt":"2022-09-13T15:57:14","slug":"maia-pappadakis","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marymount.edu\/spotlights\/maia-pappadakis-spotlight\/","title":{"rendered":"Maia Pappadakis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Class of 2022<\/span><\/h2>\n

\"MaiaMajor<\/span><\/h3>\n

Biochemistry<\/a>, with minors in Mathematics and Science<\/p>\n

Why did you choose to attend Marymount?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

I really liked the small school atmosphere. I didn\u2019t want to feel like I was going to get lost at a big school. And I felt that the professors here were really going to care about me. I was offered the Clare Boothe Luce Program for Women in STEM<\/a>, which was also definitely a motivating factor.<\/p>\n

What sparked your interest in Biology, Health and Biochemistry?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

My mom is actually a high school biology teacher and introduced me to the field. I fell in love with it and took a lot of classes in high school. Once I got into a lab in college, I fell even deeper in love with biochemistry.<\/p>\n

What was the focus on your senior\u00a0thesis research?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

I wrote my thesis paper on mRNA vaccines. I looked at the composition of the vaccines, how effective they were and the kind of impact they were having on society. It was really interesting to look at what they were made of. In my presentations, I liked to joke that everyone is claiming \u2018we don\u2019t know what is in it,\u2019 but I can tell you what is in it! I studied the vaccines as everyone was getting vaccinated, and it was really nice to be able to tell my friends that they should definitely get vaccinated.<\/p>\n