Graduate Profile: Caleb Woods
Caleb Woods’ opportunity to work closely with faculty while at Alma College was just one tool that set him above his peers in graduate school.
“Because of the hands-on training I received I was able to hit the ground running in my graduate program,” the 2006 graduate says. “There are few peers I know of that left their undergraduate training with as diverse a toolbox as I had.”
Woods is a graduate student at the University of Washington studying medicinal chemistry. He hopes to conduct industry research or teach at a collegiate level.
“Because of the hands-on training I received I was able to hit the ground running in my graduate program. There are few peers I know of that left their undergraduate training with as diverse a toolbox as I had.”
“I think the best example of what a biochemistry degree from Alma can do for you is the ease in which I was able to transition to a graduate school research environment,” he says.
“Most of the credit has to go to Dr. Beckmann and other faculty in chemistry and biology. The diverse set of laboratory skills I acquired at Alma are indicative of the fertile research opportunities for undergraduates.”
Those research opportunities are what drew Woods to Alma.
“Because the professors at Alma don't have graduate students and are not under constant pressure to write grants, I feel like the time they have for educating undergraduates is much greater than at larger research institutions,” he says.
While at Alma, Woods was a teaching assistant, president of the rock climbing club and performed in the Alma College Dance Company.
