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In the Spotlight: January 29 Campus Connections

Student Spotlight
Emily Haggett, all in

When Emily Haggett was ready for a change from her video editing job, she came to SMCC to try her hand at some biology classes. She’s now fully immersed in the Marine Science program, from performing hands-on research to discovering a new marine virus.

Emily earned a bachelor’s degree from Champlain College in 2013 and had worked for three years for a small advertising agency when she decided to come to SMCC in 2016.

Besides learning in the classroom, she has taken laboratory courses at MDI Biological Laboratory and at Bowdoin College, had a NASA-funded internship with the Friends of Casco Bay organization, and presented work at a Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s national workshop in Virginia.

She also discovered a novel marine virus, known as a bacteriophage, last spring that’s been entered into the National Center for Biotechnology Information database. The NCBI is a program of the National Institutes of Health.

Emily appreciates that SMCC has a lot of students who, like her, are of nontraditional age and are here to learn new skills or change careers.

Her advice to students?

“Take advantage of every opportunity in front of you and do as much as you can. There’s so much to do, you just have to find it.”

Photo caption: This electron micrograph shows the virus, or phage, that Emily Haggett discovered. The virus has been entered into the National Center for Biotechnology Information database.

Faculty Spotlight
Adam Tambone, producing professionals

Adam Tambone began teaching at SMCC in 2008 after working as a design engineer in the automotive and semiconductor industries. Now he’s chair of the pre-engineering program.

As a teacher, Tambone enjoys improving the lives of his students and serving the public. The first two years of the program are very similar to the first two years of engineering programs at four-year universities. After graduation, most pre-engineering students transfer to baccalaureate institutions and then become engineers.

Tambone is also interested in the digital image processing that supports CGI software. And when he isn’t teaching, you might find him playing baseball as a pitcher in two adult baseball leagues.

“We want our students to have good, long, productive professional careers. We’re producing professionals.”