Linfield’s new assistant professor in the biology department seeks to help students understand her teaching by adapting her teaching style to their way of understanding the work.

Sreerupa Ray is teaching courses on biochemistry and molecular biology here at Linfield.

“The one thing I noticed is that the students come from a diverse background. So my goal is to try and cater to different and diverse backgrounds,” Ray said. Her goal is “to be able to project my teachings so that it could reach to all those students.”

Ray has liked her time at Linfield, “For me, it has been very good so far. I started last July in 2017 and I really enjoy working here.”

In addition to teaching, Ray also said she enjoyed having the opportunity to teach and do research.“It’s a very positive work environment, which is very supportive.”

As for what the hopes to achieve during her time at Linfield, she has small, achievable goals for herself.

“At this point, all I want is to focus on my teaching, my teaching styles and how I can build better pedagogical techniques,” Ray said.

If others could describe Ray’s character, Ray believes others would consider her trustworthy. “I think I’m responsible. You could count on me. If I’m giving something and I take the job, to my best possible extent, I will try to be absolutely honest and give more than hundred percent of my energy,” Ray said.

She also talked about how others found her to be easy to talk to and approachable for conversations.

Ray completed her bachelor’s and master’s of science in microbiology at Bangalore University in India.

She completed her doctorate program at Louisiana State University and earned a doctorate in biochemistry.

She did her post doctoral research for around a year and a half at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She was also a postdoctoral associate at Yale University’s School of Medicine.

During her time outside of Linfield, she took a fancy to tennis and is currently learning the sport.

She likes to go running and does Philately, otherwise known as stamp collecting. She also loves to read novels when she has the free time.

Ray gives these words of advice to undergraduate students who aspire to have a career in the biology field.

“One thing I will tell students, which my mentors also told me, is that any subject, no matter what subject it is, you need to have fun and enjoy doing everything with it,” Ray said.

“Because if you enjoy doing it, the things that you’ll learn will settle in better.”