Today's Desk Chair Expert, Maruf, is a PhD candidate in Virginia Tech's Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health program (and yes I did copy that from an article about him). On top of his research, Maruf has served in several leadership positions working to make changes that positively impact graduate student well-being. He is also the only person I know who uses "moreover" in casual conversation. 

Maruf shares with us his thoughts on the COVID-19 pandemic as a person who actually understands viruses and vaccines, and we reminisce on the weirdness of early pandemic days. He shares how his path changed from never considering graduate school to, you know, getting a PhD. Then he gives some seriously helpful and honest thoughts on how to evaluate if graduate school is a good option for you. We get into our shared history as "student leaders" and talk about fun times working together as well as what schools can do to better support graduate students and how difficult it can be to actually make these changes happen. You can find more of Maruf on Google Scholar, Instagram, and Twitter.

As a reminder, this series is called Desk Chair Expert because the guests are regular people talking about subjects they find interesting. Please understand that they are discussing the extent of their personal knowledge and expressing their individual opinions.

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