Blake Downing
He/Him
I am gay and I am a soon to be microbiology PhD student!//
I’m a senior graduating from the University of Minnesota with a degree in microbiology, and I am currently interviewing with PhD programs across the country to continue pursuing my passion for the microbial world. My research interests all basically align in geomicrobiology. I currently work with microbes that respire iron anaerobically, and am hoping to expand my work in graduate school to study other bugs with interesting metabolisms. I’m a huge fan of wet lab and field work, and one day I hope to pursue a career either as a professor or government scientist. I came out publicly as gay my junior year of college. After finishing coming out, I’ve been very interested in helping to promote LGBT+ diversity and inclusion in STEM fields. I hope to make this part of my outreach work in my PhD. Outside of the lab, I love to spend time outdoors hiking, biking, or hammocking, curl up with a great book, or come up with good ideas on how to prank my roommates!
Twitter: @blkdwnng