Highlights
Student Profile: Joshua Pierce
Joshua Pierce arrived at the University of Pittsburgh at the beginning of his freshman year thinking that he wanted to become a doctor. Then he took his first organic chemistry class and he thought differently—he was hooked. After that, he changed his major to chemistry with a concentration in biology and changed his career goal from MD to PhD.
As he neared the completion of his bachelor’s degree in 2003, Pierce applied to graduate programs all over the country, from the University of Pennsylvania, to the University of Michigan, to the University of Texas. But ultimately, after evaluating the opportunities at other institutions, it was once again Pitt he decided on.
“The work that Professor Peter Wipf was doing was really appealing,” offers Pierce, whose interests dovetailed with Wipf’s biologically applicable research. “I liked his philosophy and the way he ran his lab, and because he is the co-director of the new Drug Discovery Institute, that is something extra and exciting that we are exposed to as well.”
Like his colleagues in the Wipf Lab, Pierce is required to spend six-day, 60-hour weeks engaged in teaching and research, but he is quick to point out that if it were possible, he could easily spend 1,000 hours in the lab. “The time goes by in a blink.”
Already the recipient of a Mellon Fellowship, Pierce applied for and received a 2006-2007 graduate fellowship from the American Chemical Society Division of Organic Chemistry. As part of the requirements of the award, he presented a poster based on his research at the 2007 National Organic Symposium.
“The American Chemical Society is the professional organization to belong to and receiving this fellowship was a great honor,” says Pierce, who presented a talk at the 2005 ACS meeting in San Diego.
Pierce expects to graduate from the University of Pittsburgh for the second time in 2008 and plans to pursue a post-doctoral appointment as a next step. Beyond that, the options include a career in academics or industrial pharmaceuticals, but he is content to stay open to the possibilities before making any firm decision.
