Ancestral Biotechnology...hmmmmmm

Chaga

                                                              
A couple months ago I found out that I'm eligible for the "Post 9-11 GI Bill."  This is the Veteran's Administration's program for veterans who served during the current rounds of 'war' going on in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.

I retired from the Air Force, where I was a combat engineer, in 2004 and have been working in the Process Controls and Electronics industries since that time.  My first job as a civilian was in a local water plant, then I moved to a coal-burning power plant.  After a few years, I tired of coming home blowing black snot out of my nose and after narrowly missing being caught in a devastating explosion, I took a new job as the Electrical Systems Supervisor at a local hospital.  I've been crawling around the underbelly of the medical establishment since 2007, and absolutely love my job.





I was in there!

My new playground

I received a Bachelor's of Science degree from the University of Maryland in 1997, in Management Studies...heavy in science, biology, and minored in psychology.  I was poking around the UM website after learning of my educational windfall and discovered they have a robust on-line graduate program.  I applied for their Biotechnology Master's Degree program and found out this week I have been accepted!  I'm signed up for Molecular Biology 601 and Ethical Considerations in Biotechnology.  Classes start in late August, so I'm trying to tie up some loose ends including a  Journal of Evo Health paper with Dr. Bill Lagakos, and a couple top-secret e-books for two side-jobs.

Eskimo Potato

In my degree program, I am specializing in Regulatory Affairs in the Biotechnology Industry.  I want to explore the ins and outs of GMO crops and trade-marked probiotics as well as learn more about RCTs, bioinformatics, and DNA sequencing.  I'm hoping to keep my head firmly in the ancestral arena much like many new doctors, nutritionists, and psychologists have recently done.

Future plans involve exploiting the plants found all around my home in the Arctic to make exciting new prebiotics.  In fact, I'm heading out soon to transplant Eskimo Potatoes into my garden to see if I can get them to grow as a sustainable row-crop.  As far as I know, no one has done this before.  I'm also attempting to grow medicinal mushrooms and find renewable sources of botanicals such as Labrador Tea and Birch Polypore fungi.

Birch Polypores

                     

Any blogging I do in the future will probably revolve around my agricultural endeavors and human health.

Labrador tea

Cheers!