Amanda Dumire waited a while to get her master’s degree in biology from University of Texas Permian Basin, but she feels the wait was worth it.
Summer graduation is set for 7 p.m. Aug. 13 at the Midland County Horseshoe Pavilion & Arena. About 300 students are expected to participate.
“(It) still feels kind of surreal that I’m done with my master’s finally. I can’t believe it’s over, but yes, (I’m) feeling very excited, and I feel like I feel like I’m much more equipped to go back to the job market after the experience that I’ve gotten here,” Dumire said.
Dumire graduated from Baylor University with a bachelor’s degree in biology. She graduated from Midland Classical Academy. She worked with Mei-Zhen Cui, professor and co-director of the Biomedical Research Center.
She recently defended her thesis in the lecture hall of the Science and Technology Building where she was being interviewed.
The lab she was in works on mechanisms of cardiovascular disease, particularly atherosclerosis.
“My project in particular looked at some characteristics of a protein called Peak One, and how it influences smooth muscle cell migration in the context of atherosclerosis,” Dumire said.
According to the Mayo Clinic website, “atherosclerosis is the buildup of fats, cholesterol and other substances in and on your artery walls. This buildup is called plaque. The plaque can cause your arteries to narrow, blocking blood flow. The plaque can also burst, leading to a blood clot.”
“I really fell in love with research here, but I don’t know if it’s enough to go all the way to get my PhD,” Dumire said.
She added that a PhD is something she wants to pursue, but it’s probably going to be a couple of years.
There was a roughly six year gap between Baylor and UTPB.
“For a while, I moved to California and lived in the Silicon Valley area and worked at a science and technology museum for a while, and also for a tutoring company. But I ended up moving back here after a few years because it was just too unaffordable,” Dumire said.
Midland Classical helped prepare her for college in a lot of ways. She said the classes were structured was similar to college, so it taught her time management.
“Academically, I didn’t ever feel behind at Baylor so I think I was prepared that way as well,” Dumire said.
Baylor was her choice for undergraduate because she thought she wanted to be a doctor.
She noted that the break between college and graduate school was beneficial.
“I feel like it made me appreciate the education a lot more and work a lot harder; and just all of the life experience that I had had in between kind of matured me to where I could get the most out of my classes here,” Dumire said.
She added that she has always been interested in disease mechanisms and human physiology.
“That’s kind of why I initially thought I wanted to be a doctor, but then I kind of realized I don’t have the right personality for that. I really just don’t like being around people very much,” Dumire said.
She will be looking for research assistant jobs.
“… I also always really loved working in a lab and just having detail-oriented projects that I could be alone and focus on, so I feel like research is a really is a really good thing for me,” she added.
When she started at UTPB, Dumire said she took undergraduate courses, but wasn’t planning to earn her master’s there.
“… But whenever I found out how high level the research was that was going on, and the professors were really great and so they ended up recruiting me into the master’s program here. I’ve been just really pleasantly surprised all around (at) the caliber of instruction. Even though it’s a small program, sometimes that can be really beneficial because it allows for a lot more in-depth, one-on-one instruction and allows for everybody to get good research experience,” Dumire said.
Scott McKay, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, praised Dumire’s work.
“Amanda is a very dedicated and talented researcher. Her recent work has been accepted in the very prestigious Journal of Biological Chemistry. Her research mentors, Drs. Cui and Xu of the UTPB Biomedical Research Center were very impressed with Ms. Dumire’s ability and work ethic since joining their research group as an undergraduate. She recently defended her thesis to complete her M.S. in Biology – Biomedical Emphasis requirements,” McKay said.
Amanda’s parents are Leonard and Jenifer Dumire and she has an older brother and older sister.
Her mother is a nurse who went back to school to get her bachelor’s degree and about a year ago finished her genomic certification from Stanford.
“Now she also does genetic counseling as part of her job, so she’s definitely scientifically minded,” Dumire said.
Her brother, who just moved to North Carolina, and her father, are more politically inclined.
Dumire said her parents are probably coming to graduation.
“… They came to my thesis presentation so they’re always been very supportive,” Dumire said.
