Zayda Dominick will pursue a doctoral degree after graduation. Photo by Angela Foster.
It didn’t take long for graduating senior Zayda Dominick to find her place on the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga campus.
On Saturday, May 9, she will graduate with a degree in biochemistry with minors in psychology and biology. Before deciding on biochemistry, Dominick asked Chancellor Emeritus Steven Angle, a chemistry professor, for advice at an accepted student event.
Many students might find it intimidating to talk to their school’s chancellor, but not her.
“She had approached the chancellor of the University, Steve Angle, at the time,” said Dr. Keenan Dungey, head of the Department of Chemistry. “He is a chemist and, as a freshman, she was like, ‘I want to get involved. How can I get involved in science more as a freshman biochemistry major?’
“Dr. Angle recommended that she talk with Dr. Ben Stein, who was an assistant professor of biochemistry in the department at the time. And so as a freshman, she got to go into his research lab and start learning some biochemistry research techniques.”
While Dominick was eager to find her passion on campus, she wasn’t sure at first what to pursue.
“I came into college having no idea what I wanted to do,” she said. “The only thing that I knew was that I liked science. I thought chemistry was cool. I liked biology. I thought maybe I could study biochemistry.
“I wanted to try anything and everything throughout college. Along the way, whenever I got involved in research and a lot of my science classes, I realized, ‘This is really cool.’ I want to keep doing this.”
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Dominick conducted research with Stein for two years. During that time, she learned a range of laboratory procedures and techniques and contributed to academic writing.
Stein described himself as a “resource” for Dominick, helping her with her technical research, scientific communication and reasoning skills.
“I was struck by Zayda’s determination and curiosity,” said Stein, who now teaches at the College of Holy Cross in Massachusetts. “When I first met with Zayda, she told me that she was interested in a research career and had already started looking into my research projects, despite not having yet taken many of the relevant college courses. She read some of my research papers and even proposed possible experiments. I immediately knew that she needed to get into the lab as quickly as possible.”
Dominick still keeps in contact with Stein.
“He was my very first research professor,” she said. “I still message him all the time. I send him pretty much all my posters, all my stuff, and he even helped me write my CV.”
This support wasn’t unusual for the UTC Department of Chemistry, Dominick explained.
“I had a lot of support, especially from the chemistry department,” she explained. “Every single professor in the chemistry department was so helpful in getting me involved, helping me with my research, and helping me learn how to do posters and how to present well.”
Zayda Dominick was a member of the pre-med society and part of the chemistry club.
UC Foundation Associate Professor of Chemistry Jared Pienkos was another professor who conducted research with her.
“The best memories of Zayda are from the freshman class intro to chemistry,” he recalled. “Zayda sat in the front row. I still remember it was the left side of the classroom. Every time I asked a question, her hand would just shoot up. She was always like, ‘I want to answer this.’”
“It was wonderful as an instructor to have someone so willing to jump on answering questions or just so engaged at that level.”
Dominick recalled visiting UTC before deciding to attend and said the community and support drew her to the campus.
“I drove here by myself and talked to some of the students; that’s what ended up making me choose this place,” she said. “It’s just the culture. Honestly, I didn’t really look much into anything else. It was that all the students I met were extremely nice. Every student I met here really liked it here.”
Working with the department, Dominick has presented at multiple conferences across the country and won awards throughout her time as an undergrad. She will continue her research at the University of Louisville, where she was accepted into the Ph.D. program.
She plans to get her doctorate in immunology and microbiology.
“I actually want to take what I learned at UTC to my graduate program,” Dominick said. “I want to study host-pathogen interactions. My goal is to study how the proteins involved in our immune system interact with pathogens.”
Her ultimate goal is to teach, wanting to become a professor and conduct research in the medical field.
“I’m so happy I made the decision to come here,” Dominick said. “Honestly, I think it was the best decision that I could have made for my undergrad because I got a great experience here, being able to explore my interests in a welcoming environment where I felt like I could explore all those interests very freely as well.”
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