Zeal for the building blocks of life
Major: BioMolecular Engineering
As soon as you utter the word DNA, my blood rushes faster," said Dr. Gul Afshan, whose passion for studying microscopic objects and genome science is contagious.
Her doctoral studies in chemistry at UW-Milwaukee focused her attention on a protein only 11 kilodaltons (a dalton is 1/12 the mass of a carbon-12 atom). The protein is one of about 100 that is part of the vaccinia virus, from which the vaccine for small pox was developed. Knowing every component and its function is crucial to understanding viral attacks on humans, both those propagated by man and nature. During her post-doctorate work at UW-Madison she studied HIV.
"I teach chemistry with vigor and love, but in my mind, in my opinion, every student should have insight into what genome science is. Because that is where the world is going." Admitting that she is biased on the subject, she added, "I think that not everybody needs to be an expert with genome science, but we should have some knowledge about it. This is what we are - DNA beings. It's about knowing ourselves."
Her enthusiasm translates well in the classroom, as exemplified by the MSOE Falk Engineering Educator and Outstanding Mentor awards on her wall, and perhaps more telling, the note on her door: "We dropped in to say hi. Sorry we missed you."
It is from two alumni who had popped in to chat.
"This message" - and others like it - "is my reward," she said.
Afshan admitted that another benefit of teaching, which she has done at MSOE for the past 6 years, is the transformative nature of the classroom. "I'm a student myself in that class all day. The students always teach me and, the best part is, they don't know that they're teaching me. And I always thank my students at the end, because I am no longer the same person."
She also is passionate about music and is the singer - in four regional Pakistani languages - for a group called Eastern Passions. Like her, everyone in the group has a day job and performs because they love the music and sharing something from another culture. The group performed on campus as part of a relief concert after the Pakistani earthquake.
A firm believer in the power of cultural exchange, Afshan explained, "I always tell my students, if you ever get a chance to be a foreigner, where the culture, language, food and dress is different, then never miss that opportunity." She added with a laugh: "And Canada doesn't count."
Merging her passion for other cultures and microbiology, Afshan is helping determine the viability of offering a biomolecular engineering major at MSOE and creating a cultural exchange program with universities in Pakistan.
In her spare time, Afshan is learning Swedish as well as more about her great passion, biomolecular engineering. She also enjoys reading National Geographic and writes poetry in her native language of Urdu. Afshan lives in Whitefish Bay. Her daughter, Tonia, is a freshman languages and business student at Boston University, and like her mother is multi-lingual, speaking Urdu, Spanish, English and learning French.