Career Roadmap
Gary's work combines: Education, Writing, and Teaching / Mentoring
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Here's the path I took:
High School
Yucca Valley High School
Bachelor's Degree
Engineering, General
University of Washington-Seattle Campus
Graduate Degree
Psychology, General
University of Rhode Island
Doctorate
Experimental Psychology
University of Rhode Island
Bachelor's Degree
Psychology, General
University of Rhode Island
Here's the path I recommend for someone who wants to be a Bioinformatics Scientists:
High School
Bachelor's Degree: Engineering, General
Graduate Degree: Psychology, General
Doctorate: Experimental Psychology
Bachelor's Degree: Psychology, General
Learn more about different paths to this career
Life & Career Milestones
I've taken a lot of twists and turns
1.
Wanted to be a Wildlife Management Major.
2.
Switched to History and Foreign Languages because I was not successful in college chemistry.
3.
Dropped out of school to enlist in the Navy to be a cook.
4.
Went to Nuclear Power School instead and realized my love for engineering.
5.
Went back to college with a ROTC scholarship and got my nuclear engineering degree.
6.
Spent the next 7 years in the Navy.
7.
Went back to undergraduate to change profession to Psychology.
8.
Was persuaded to go to graduate school and I got my doctorate in 2000 in Psychology.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Parents:
You think you are 'too good' for everyone else because you want to go to college.
How I responded:
It was a challenge. It was a long road for me to finish my education, mostly because I did not have the encouragement when I was child to pursue this as an expectation. It took a long time to realize that I had the capacity to do well in school and to become someone better.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
I worked very hard while in college - I typically held one full-time job or one or more part-time jobs while I was in school in order to pay for my education. I also availed myself of student loans, but I tried to keep that debt as low as possible.
I was the first in my closest family to go to college. I did not have any role models. It took me until I was 40 to finish school. I kept dropping out or interrupting my education, but I persevered and had a lot of encouragement.