Aaaaaaand we're off!
Following a masterclass-of-a-presentation, and an engaging and thoughtful question session (courtesy of Profs. France Daigle [Université de Montréal], Marylise Duperthuy [Université de Montréal], Éric Déziel (INRS—Centre AFSB), and Salim Timo Islam (INRS—Centre AFSB), Fares emerged with a huge smile on his face. He earned his PhD, and with "Excellent" mention too! First PhD from the IslaMyxoLab! Included in his thesis were FIVE first-author research articles. Way to set the bar high! So incredibly proud of him and all that he has accomplished, both in-and-out of the lab, during his time at INRS. Next step: to infinity and beyond!
To honour the first-ever PhD recipient from the lab, Fares was also the recipient of the inaugural IslaMyxoLab PhD AXE! :D It symbolizes industriousness, hard work, perseverance, and an ability to master one's surroundings.
The stars on the axe refer to an epic tale featuring Fares in which, several years prior, he had been writing a studentship application in which a "motivation for studying microbiology" justification had been requested. In his first draft, to start, Fares had hearkened back to his childhood in Tunisia, where he would look up at the stars in the desert and wonder about the cosmos, eventually linking this train of thought to microbiology. It was quite the grandiose tale, which had to be shortened considerably for space constraints. Ultimately, it goes to show you that while dreaming big in science is totally cool, you still have to pick a specific question and start trying to answer it through research and experimentation.
Comments