About me

Hi there, I’m Monica Chan. I’m a part-time 2^nd year PhD Environmental Health Science student in the College of Public Health.

When I’m not mentally exhausting myself learning, I’m a research microbiologist at the CDC in Atlanta, GA.

About Me

Background & Training

I’ve been around for a bit trying a bit of this and that. If I complete this final go around with education that would make me a triple dawg..

• B.S.: Environmental Health (SMITH, BLACK, & NAHER)
  • Animal Modeling, Developmental Tox, Environmental (aquatic) Tox evaluations
• Private Industry: Occupational Health and Safety Analyst
• M.S.: Environmental Health (SMITH, LIPP, & LU)
  • Prevalence of Cronobacter sakazakii in domestic environments in GA.
  • Food science, Quality Control, Pregnancy Health, Developmental Tox.
• Fellowship: ORISE Fellow
  • Built-environment (healthcare), composite sample approaches & swab-to-sequencer workflow development and validation.
• Ph.D. (student): Environmental Health (GLENN, LIPP, OTTESEN, & SANCHEZ)
  • Environmental Sample enhancement techniques for integration into swab-to-sequencer methods (MinION sequencing)
• Federal Agency: Microbiologist
  • All of the previous and whatever the Agency’s needs are. (COVID Response)
  • Specializing in recovery tool evaluation.
  • Evaluating and standardizing new tools and processes for guidance in field sampling and sample preservation.

Research Interests

• Improving/standardizing environmental sampling methods.
• Developing a work process for field sampling directly going into molecular workflows, including sequencing and identification.
• Developing approaches to enhance low-quality samples.
• Equating recovered gnomic copies to CFU.

Statistics, Programming, Data Analysis Exp

I have the basics that come with my academic history–STAT, BIOS, & EPID.
The FANR class about Experimental Design has probably lasted the most with me. So I am familiar with the basics of R.
My recent work history has had me playing with ggplot so I can make figures.
In the before COVID times I attended several GATech’s ABiL training and learned Linux and Python. Now due to COVID and pivot of work I have had zero practice and can’t remember a darn thing about them.

I don’t get too much exposure to different methods or types ways people use data in my day-to-day life. Generally if I know what I’m trying to do I can find a way to produce a product that is decent. Yet, with my limited exposure my imagination on what could be hinders my ability to search for possibilities.

Goals for the Course

1. How to use modern coding and analysis tools to obtain, organize and process data for detailed analysis.
2. Further develop skills to critically assess data and data analyses. (For self and others)
3. Utilize the developed skills and update/upgrade how microbiologists can present their data.

• BONUS: Code a little more elegantly and force myself to get in some quality practice with programming and data analysis

Fun Fact

I owe a lot to this weird cellulose sponge-on-a-stick sampling device (aptly named, 3M SpongeStick). This tool has been a mainstay of nearly 1/3^rd of my life. Though I don’t use the cellulose kind, I’m currently seeking macrofoam sticks as replacements to put into a molecular workflow. Alas, I will always hold a soft-spot for this tool, so effective at its job!

Sponge Stick Me

Link OUT: Predatory Journals

What’s the Deal With Birds?

If you don’t know what this paper is about it was “published” in the Scientific Journal of Research and Reviews last year. If you read it, you can see that it is rather unusual.
If you haven’t had experience yet, this journal is an example of a Predatory journal. These “journals” are a common scam in academic fields. Typically they work by soliciting manuscript submissions, charge authors with a fee, and “publish” skipping the typical quality checks and rigor of peer review. Alas, the publisher has redirected the direct link of the paper to the publisher’s site once the message got out.

See ya ’round sometimes!