Linnea Bavik, '17

A post-doctoral fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Linnea Bavik, ’17, B.S. mathematics, physics, spends her days studying the social lives of bacteria.

“Bacteria are very social organisms,” Bavik says. “They are constantly signaling to each other to figure out who to help and who to hurt. And they can do some crazy things, evolutionarily, like killing themselves to help the collective.”

While they’re mingling and signaling, bacteria can also share genes in a process called horizontal gene transfer. And genes for antimicrobial resistance get a little extra oomph.

“Oftentimes, horizontally transferred genes are encoded on extra-chromosomal units called plasmids,” Bavik says. “These plasmids can evolve some very interesting strategies, such as offering the host some benefit, such as antimicrobial resistance genes. I’m researching the relationship between plasmids and what environment we expect to see antimicrobial resistance arise.”

It's challenging work, and Bavik has never been interested in getting it right on the first try. Out of high school, she turned down an offer from a private college because she would have had to maintain a high GPA to keep her scholarship.

“I wanted to take risks with my education, to try things that may be very difficult for me and at which I might not achieve a high grade on my first try,” she says. She was delighted to find mentors at Western who encouraged her to try difficult classes and projects.

Bavik kept taking chances in graduate school, opting to study evolutionary biology, rather than stick to her previous work in physics, math and materials science. She knew she’d have to hold her own with colleagues who had spent years immersed in biology.

“I think my background at Western helped give me confidence about what really matters in science: taking risks, trying new things and following your interests, even if it’s scary. This is the kind of courage I believe is important in science, since we seldom find new discoveries by taking a well-trodden path.”