UT Permian Basin graduate student, Amanda Dumire is passionate about research and that’s exactly what kept her at utpb to earn her master’s degree.
"I started taking classes here not with the intention of getting my masters just to refresh some things and then I was so shocked at the level of research they had going on here and the caliber of the instructors. They just pulled me in and i decided to get my masters here. I actually took a long break! There is about 6 years between my undergraduate and graduate degree,” said UTPB student, Amanda Dumire.
Amanda was born and raised in Midland and earned her undergraduate degree in biology from Baylor. A few years later she was ready to enter the classroom again, this time she decided to stay home.
"I found out right away that all of the professors were all really willing to engage with your personally and to make sure that you’re involved and get the level of instruction that you need. There are also a lot of research opportunities. It seemed like at Baylor that getting a good research assistantship spot was competitive and something that I didn’t even try for because I just thought that there was no point. But here I actually had professors pulling me in and asking me to do research and really actively engaging me so I really enjoyed that about UTPB.”
“We are immensely proud of Amanda and we are so thankful that she chose The University of Texas Permian Basin to come back and to continue her education.The research at the University is really growing here. We have 5 research centers that are emerging and one of the ones that we are most proud of is Biomedical Research. The University of Texas System gave us $7 million over the years to go out and hire the best and the brightest faculty in this area," said UT Permian Basin President, Dr. Sandra Woodley.
Ontop of the Biomedical Research Lab, UTPB has also created four other applied-research centers: the Natural Resource Center, Cyber Security, Texas Water and Energy Institute, and The Center for Engaged Teaching and Learning. Each is focused on solving real-work problems.
“We have strong science, math, engineering, technology programs here at the institution. We have one of the most accomplished pre-med programs in the state. Our students graduate and get into medical school at about a 70% rate, that’s far above the state average for pre-med programs. We are really proud of the work we are doing in those programs. As I said before, students do not have to go off to more well-known institutions to get that high quality academic experience. Our student will leave here with a university of texas system education and we are really proud of that,” Woodley added.
“It’s really easy to slip through the cracks whenever you’re in such a big class size and I really enjoyed the ability to have a personal report with my professors here and I feel like i made some really good relationships with them and have strong mentorship,” Amanda explained.
Something else Amanda enjoyed? The strong female leadership in the science programs on campus.
“I always really appreciated having my mentor Dr. Cui here who I was able to ask any question and build a relationship and she is so amazing and brilliant so it was definitely and inspiration to me to aspire to be like her. I think it’s really important because if you don’t see yourself represented then it’s hard to imagine seeing yourself in that role as well. I don’t even know as a young person if I ever even thought of scientist as women, I thought of old men with crazy hair with a lab coat.”
“Amanda is an outstanding biology graduate student. She is self-motivated, dedicated to her studies. I should mention, she received mostly A+’s in her courses,” said Biology Professor, Dr. Mei-Zhen Cui.
“We also have very strong women in stem here at the University from professors and others who really go the extra mile to make sure our students get the help that they need to discover lots of things as they’re going through their degrees,” said Woodley.
Whether that’s support with financial aid and scholarships or advising and career planning, our team is passionate about serving students and removing any barriers they face in pursuit of the degree.
“I think UTPB will exceed anyone’s expectations who comes in. There is such a great environment her there is a level of instruction that i would put against baylor or any other University and there are so many opportunities for hands-on learning and hands-on engagement that you may not be able to find elsewhere so I think it’s just all around a really good place to grow and set yourself up for the future,” said Amanda.
And the future for Amanda looks bright.She plans on heading to Austin to continue her research, hopefully in labs at UT.
“I feel a lot more confident after my time here. I feel really confident going out into the workforce this time as opposed to before my time at UTPB,” said Amanda.
“The strengths of our programs and the close-knit opportunities that our faculty have with our students here I think is something that differentiates the University. The professors here know the names and the stories of all of our students. They work really hard to make sure our students will be successful, they mentor them, they provide the support that they need to be successful and the university has a very strong track record of making sure that our students when they leave here are successful when they go,” Woodley added.
