Alicia Halhed

M.Sc.BINF. ‘21

I completed my undergraduate degree at Trent University in forensic science with a minor in biology . In my fourth year, I completed an undergraduate thesis in microbial and agricultural forensics. I was also introduced to the world of bioinformatics through a course I took in my last semester.

Excited about the bioinformatics I had learned in my undergrad, I decided to pursue the MSc bioinformatics program at the University of Guelph. During my master’s degree at Guelph, I did research in microbial ecology. I enjoyed programming in R for my thesis and having the opportunity to teach undergraduate biostatistics through my TA position.

Now (Fall 2021) that I’ve completed my MSc, I am pursuing a PhD in biology at Carleton University. My doctoral research is laboratory based, working in plant biochemistry. While I will not be primarily doing bioinformatics for my PhD, the programming skills I learned my MSc will help me in the data analysis stages of my PhD.