Sean Gibbons (sean)

I am currently a Fulbright graduate scholar, researching photobiological hydrogen production at Uppsala University in Sweden.  I will complete an MSc in microbiology from Uppsala University in the spring of 2010.  I graduated in the spring of 2008 from the University of Montana (UM) with three degrees (a B.A. in cellular and molecular biology, a B.S. in microbiology w/minor in chemistry, and a B.A. in French language and literature).  I worked as a lab manager and research scientist in the field of microbial ecology at the UM from 2008-2009.  In 2007, I was awarded a research fellowship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute-funded MILES program and I was the research leader on a cross-disciplinary team studying a novel metabolic pathway; I later became a peer mentor for the MILES program.  I was a student and intern at the Biomimicry Institute from 2007-2008. 
I was the president of the UM Students for Peace and Justice (http://www.peaceandjusticefilms.org/), and I served as the board secretary for the Jeannette Rankin Peace Center (http://www.jrpc.org/).  I served as the president of Le Cercle Francophone for two years, after having lived in France as an assistant English teacher for nine months. I now volunteer at a French immersion camp in the summers as a French teacher/councilor.
I am especially interested in the field of molecular biology, biogeochemistry, synthetic biology for renewable energy and microbial ecology.  In addition to research, I am interested in exploring the intersection of science, culture and public policy.