My name's William Butler. I'm a fourth-year neuroscience major. I work in
the auditory neurobiology department and we're working on the structure of hair
cells in the inner ears so working to fix sensorineural hearing loss in particular.
My family has pretty severe hearing loss so what I think is really cool about research
is that you're working on a small scale and all those small scale innovations
build to solve a bigger problem. I've worked with my lab director for the last two and a
half years from the very basics of science research to the more complex dissections
and things that I'm doing now. Getting involved in this research is actually
what helped me determine my major. There's not just opportunities for
research in the sciences I have friends who are working in the English
department, in the politics department. There's a lot of opportunities to get involved in
research in whatever department you're looking for.
There's a huge focus on academics and I think that's really important but people
are always very active in the community in Charlottesville and in the UVA
community and really ready to get out there and do things that they are really
passionate about.