Alexandra or Alex is an incoming fourth-year student taking up BS Biology major in Microbiology at the University of the Philippines Los Baños. She took her face-to-face internship at the Museum of Natural History under the NICER Program on Center for Cave Ecosystems Research (CAVES) from July 8 to August 4, 2022, along with her five co-microbiology majors.

The internship program provided her a great opportunity to once again experience laboratory work after an almost 2-year hiatus due to the shifting from face-to-face classes to an online set-up. Aside from this, the internship allowed her to immerse herself in the field of research which is one of the career choices she plans to pursue after getting her undergraduate degree.

She had an actual experience of how to conduct a research study during her practicum, which entails learning microbiological methods, gathering data, discussing the
results, and presenting the whole study. Her interest is in the field of medical microbiology, specifically in Salmonella –which is the microorganism she worked on during her practicum. She wants to focus on medical microbiology for her job, as she believes that public health should be of utmost priority in our country.

Alex also loves to write. She is currently an associate news editor and opinion staff writer of the UPLB Perspective – the official campus publication of UPLB. Her duties include writing relevant articles, covering on-ground for certain events, and helping the whole publication depending on the responsibility assigned to her. All of these duties aim to serve the UPLB and Southern
Tagalog constituents.