Meghan M. Dillon Email & Phone Number

Raleigh, Nc, Us

Carmel, New York, United States

Worked at Centennial Golf Club as a pro-shop assistant through the MGA's GOLFWORKS program.

Binghamton, New York, United States

Researched the impact of stressful and toxic environments on Drosophila melanogaster. My team and I explored how exposure to environmental toxicants (such as commonly-used herbicides) influences life history traits in Drosophila melanogaster. In this role, I frequently practiced valuable genetics laboratory techniques, including virgin collections, fly rearing, stock maintenance, and interpretation of GWAS results.

Binghamton, New York, United States

Designed and supported impactful research - in both biofilms and education.In Fall 2022, I worked in the wet lab to conduct biofilms research. This project was designed to explore the use of electrospray printing to create biofilm-resistant surfaces, with potential applications for minimizing medical implant-related infections. Assisted with culture preparation, inoculation, harvesting, etc. As part of a four-member team, I also worked closely with faculty and students in the engineering department to discuss results and plan future work. While I found this research to be incredibly rewarding, in January of 2023, I decided to join Dr. Light's education research team. As a graduate of the university's First-Year Research Immersion Program myself, I have greatly enjoyed the opportunity to help create, implement, and assess the impact of a role-playing exercise intended to prepare current students for research poster presentations.

Binghamton, New York, United States

Operated as an official student representative of Binghamton University to provide informative campus tours to prospective students and their families. Harnessed the “Bearcat Spirit” to welcome guests and encourage application and enrollment.

Binghamton, New York, United States

Peer Mentor - the program's equivalent of a Teaching Assistant - for the Ecological Genetics stream (Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023) and Microbial Biofilms in Human Health (Fall 2022) stream of Binghamton University's First-year Research Immersion Program. Involves instructing and guiding students during laboratory/lecture sessions and team meetings to develop teamwork and research skills within the disciplines, and providing feedback and encouragement as they continue to design original research projects to be executed in the next stages of the program.

Binghamton, New York, United States

Conducted novel research as a student in the Ecological Genetics stream of Binghamton University’s First-year Research Immersion (FRI) Program. The program provided me with an amazing opportunity to work alongside fellow students and research educator Dr. Christina Baer to design an innovative project, begin to develop necessary scientific communication skills, and gain mastery in DNA extraction, PCR, and R programming.In our first semester, my team and I researched how the expression of arachnid silk genes is influenced by various environmental conditions. In our second and third semesters, we designed and executed an original research project to explore differences in the silk genes and proteins of ecologically distant lepidopterans. After the conclusion of our time in FRI, my team and I decided to further our research by continuing this study as Independent Study for the Spring 2022 semester. More about these projects can be found under the “Projects” section of my profile.

Patterson, New York, United States

Served as a personal attendant to provide care and supervision for a child with a developmental disability five days a week.

Patterson, New York, United States

Worked for many years as a staff member with Camp Herrlich. Camp Herrlich is an after-school and summer camp program that promotes education, teamwork, and inclusion of children of a wide variety of backgrounds and abilities. Junior Counselor:June 2017 – August 2017.In this role, I worked as a summer camp counselor, managing small groups of children aged 4-12, alongside and under the supervision of a senior counselor. I also gained some experience working with special needs during this time, in the group setting.Senior Counselor: June 2018 – August 2018, June 2019 – August 2019.In this role, I worked as a summer camp counselor, managing small groups of children aged 4-12. I operated as the primary counselor on my groups, working to ensure the safety and happiness of the children under my care, evaluate counselors-in-training, and help instruct the junior counselors that worked alongside me. During this time, I was promoted to be a special needs counselor. This involved the one-on-one care of children with special needs to help fulfill their individual physical and emotional needs, and promote their inclusion into the camp-setting. Assistant Theater Director/Teaching Assistant and After-School Staff:September 2018 – June 2019, September 2019 – March 2020.In this role, I worked at the elementary school after-school program. I performed various roles, from helping children with homework, to supervising and facilitating a wide variety of activities. In this role, I also helped direct the teaching of theatrical production to larger groups of students. Over the course of several months, myself and the teacher of the program worked to teach these children the acting, singing, and choreography of a play/musical. At the end of the program, we facilitated the performance to a small audience.

Patterson, New York, United States

In this program (UAlbany’s “Science Research in the High School” Program), I learned the fundamentals of scientific research. I learned, over the course of three years, how to analyze research papers, conduct statistical analysis, design/execute original research projects, and write an effective research paper. I designed, executed, and presented two orginal and novel research projects in this program. More about these projects can be found under the “Projects” section of my profile.

Bachelor Of Science - Bs, Biology/Biological Sciences, General

Activities and Societies: First-year Research Immersion Program, Binghamton University Tour Guide Program, Binghamton University Student.

High School Diploma - Advanced Regents Designation With Honors

Activities and Societies: UAlbany Science Research in the High School, Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), CHS Wind Ensemble, CHS.