Student Spotlight: The Path Less Travelled

When Eric Edwards was making a move from Minnesota to Texas, he knew his old 1998 Grand Am would not make the 1,500 mile trip. He sold the car and once he arrived in Lubbock purchased a bike to get around town.

“Since I didn’t have a car, for the first 20 months I did everything on my bike,” Edwards said. “I would go to the grocery store, leave with two days worth of groceries in my backpack and just really started to enjoy cycling everywhere. And then I met a guy out at the Clovis Air Force Base who does triathlons and he started pushing me to get into the competitive side of cycling. It just snowballed from there, and now it is my favorite hobby out here.”

Edwards, has been cycling competitively for about a year. He now races with the Texas Tech Cycling team and competes in USA cycling sanctioned races at state and national levels. He cycles three times a week, 50 to 100 miles on Saturdays and each Tuesday and Thursday about 30 to 50 miles.

This year Edwards has suffered a few injuries. After a bicycle wreck, he broke his ribs and earlier in the year tore his ACL snowboarding. Before coming to TTUHSC, he was a snowboarding instructor. But he said, even with the injuries, cycling is what he enjoys.

“Riding out in the Ransom Canyon or Buffalo Springs Lake area or sometimes out past Post and Slaton, gives me that endorphin rush,” Edwards said. “I feel great after cycling and it helps relieve a lot of stress.”

Edwards has reason to stress. He is a Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences student who is working on his MBA, and also serves as the TTUHSC Student Government Association president.

“I have really developed time management skills,” Edwards said. “I have to really budget my time really well. I may be working on weekends doing research, studying, doing homework assignments and then find it really rewarding when I finish all these tasks.”

Edwards was born and raised in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, which is a suburb of St. Paul, Minneapolis. In 2011, he graduated from the University of Minnesota in Duluth. One of his co-workers collaborated with Dr. Bryan Sutton, Ph.D., from the TTUHSC Department of Physiology and encouraged him become a graduate student.

“I looked into the program here at TTUHSC and once accepted, moved down here and never looked back,” Edwards said. “I’ve always been fascinated with biology, and chemistry was always interesting to me. But when I started biochemistry my junior year in college I just loved it and I decided to pursue it.“

As a Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Edwards is working toward his Ph.D. in biochemistry and his MBA through STEM, which is specifically for students in the science field who want to get into the industry field. Edwards hopes to work for the pharmaceutical or biotech industry but on the administrative side, possibly with biotech consulting or management for these companies.

For the past three years, he has been working with Dr. Clint MacDonald’s lab working with RNA processing.

“Everyone knows about DNA,” Edwards said. “It’s important because if there are problems with DNA, it can lead to diseases like cancer. The human body needs to process the information stored in the DNA and in the process turns it into RNA. If the processing gets out of control or happens at the wrong time, then you can get health issues for example like increased tumorigenesis of cancer or male infertility. It’s very complicated. The lab is trying to figure out how these processes work and how the regulation of it happens. We are looking at one protein and how it turns off and on and how it influences the RNA processing.”

Edwards is proud of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and said he encourages students to look into research.

“You always heard about becoming a doctor and the good things they are doing. but with research, the science has come so far,” Edwards said. “The new treatments for diseases that are coming out are beyond what we could have imagined even a decade ago. Research is an exciting field to be in if you want to push the envelope with human knowledge and to help people at the same time.”

Although he enjoys his field, Edwards said when he began at TTUHSC, one of the most difficult things was meeting students from other schools. He decided to become a student senator for the TTUHSC SGA.

“This is actually my third year in SGA,” Edwards said. “I really liked the opportunity to interact with other students and to go out in the community with them and show off what the HSC has to offer. Upon completion of my term as a senator I wanted to get my hands into it further and I ran for vice president of operations. I really enjoyed being a part of the leadership team that is in charge of this senate of 60 plus people. Last year I decided to run for president this year. And it’s offered so many great opportunities.”

Edwards said one of the greatest experiences has been working with the other SGA officers and senators.

“It’s a great team,” Edwards said. “I could not have handpicked a better team. All are such great student leaders who are reliable and work well together. Even our senators are exceptional. They are required to complete community service hours and they have surpassed that by double. I am so proud to be a part of these leaders.”

Edwards said when he completes his degrees here at TTUHSC, he hopes to head out West, possibly in the Portland, Seattle or San Francisco area.

“Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I had stuck to teaching snowboarding and move to Colorado,” Edwards said laughing. “But I know I’m on a better path. This is such a great community here at TTUHSC. I know I will definitely look back fondly at my time here.”