Hometown: Calais, Vt.
Major: Biochemistry
Minor: Biology
Student Path: Commuter
Activities: Academic Honors Program, Norwich University Fencing Club, Chameleon Literary Journal, Summer Research Internship, Undergraduate Research Program Ambassador, Published research in The Oswald Review + the International Journal of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics.

What Norwich Taught Me

Norwich “taught me all the basics of performing research—formulating a research question and a hypothesis, writing a proposal, troubleshooting, failing, and communicating results with an audience unfamiliar with my field’s lingo.”

Norwich and Beyond

During three intense years at Norwich, Sikora solidified his love for language and chemistry and led the fencing club while completing NU’s academically rigorous honors track. Inspired during a world literature course with associate writing professor Sean Prentiss, Sikora became interested in the translation of medieval Chinese poetry, beginning work on Lady Su Hui’s Star Gauge, written in A.D. 360. He also published a refereed journal paper on Beowulf and edited the campus literary journal, the Chameleon.

In the lab, Sikora studied bioinformatics among other topics, examining the differential expression of genes behind certain types of cancers as part of a research project. He developed a protocol to express the H.pylori enzyme NDGluRS in E.coli bacteria with Assistant Professor of Biochemistry & Chemistry Ethan Guth. He also worked with Associate Professor of Chemistry Seth Frisbie to test the fit of calibration curves used to convert electrical signals to chemical concentrations.

“I am deeply grateful to all the professors who taught me,” he says. “Every one of them was a generous, kind, patient, and knowledgeable teacher.” Sikora graduated in May 2016 and plans to attend medical school in the future to train as a general practitioner.