Maria Bonovich-Marvich ’85

Maria Bonovich-Marvich ’85, 美国专利商标局的专利分析员, 打算今年在孟菲斯庆祝她的第35届同学聚会. 不幸的是，像许多事情一样，返校节/团圆周末是不同的.

Over the next few weeks, 校友关系办公室将重点介绍今年庆祝重聚的校友. 我们很难过今年不能在一起，但期待着明年大家能回到校园.

Mariam Khayata ’22, is the Digital Content RSA for Alumni Relations. 她找到玛丽亚，问了她一系列问题，这是交流的一部分. Be sure to save the date for Homecoming/Reunion Weekend 2021 – October 1-3, 2021!

Mariam Khayata你为什么选择在365betapp下载学院学习生物专业?

Maria Bonovich-Marvich在我高中的大学预演日，迪安·艾伦在孟菲斯大学的西南餐桌(很快就会去365betapp下载岛)负责. I walked by the table and went no further. 这所学校的形象、对科学的重视以及院长艾伦对个人的关注都是我想要的. I went home and told my father - “I found my college”. Serendipitously, his best friend, Joe Eades ’56, was an alumnus and his daughter, Susan Eades Mackey ’85, was committed to going as well. She became my roommate. Funnily, my twin brother attended Sewanee! 我一直都知道我要主修生物，而365betapp下载岛对我来说是一个理想的地方.

MK: What was your experience at Rhodes like? What activities/organizations were your involved in?

MBM: Rhodes was a bastion of opportunity for me. 我加入了越野队，之前从未参加过越野队. 我从没有踢过足球，在大三时就加入了足球队. 我是勤工俭学实验室的助教，在那里我发现了我对科学研究的热情. It was a busy time but taught me that if I wanted to do it all, I needed to manage my time very efficiently.

MK: What are some of your fondest memories at Rhodes?

MBM: I can list three of MANY.

• The fondest memory is of 3rd term. 在我的时代，我们有两个12周的学期，节奏快，日程紧张. 春假结束后，我们又开始了为期6周的学期. 我利用这个机会去做救生员工作，学习，并参加了一些非科学类的课程. 我最喜欢的课程是英语教授珍妮·沃森(Jeannie Watson)的课，她很棒. 在这学期里，我也终于有足够的时间玩恶作剧了. Some great friends and memories resulted.
• 其次，跑步时秋天的味道让我想起了很多关于越野的回忆. 我们每个周末都去参加比赛，这很辛苦，但绝对值得.
• 另一段美好的回忆是和我弟弟斯蒂芬一起度过的时光. 他和我在家里并不总是意见一致，但在罗兹却变得非常亲密. 当他大二毕业后去纽约的汉密尔顿学院上学时，我哭了.

MK:你在365betapp下载中学到的人生课程或经历中，有哪些是你今天仍在引用的?

MBM: 哦，当然，如果你用心去做，任何事情都是可能的!

MK:作为美国专利商标局的专利分析师, what does a typical day look like for you?

MBM: 我每天大部分时间都在做研究，写关于拟议发明的法律分析. Specifically, 这一天是用来评估和分析一些基因治疗的发明，这些发明可能会发展成未来的治疗方法，也可能不会. 我们目前的热门话题是CRISP(为此获得了2020年诺贝尔奖)和CAR - T细胞疗法. 由于我实际上不再做研究了，所以我喜欢阅读有关它们的文章.

MK: You are celebrating your 35th Reunion this year! How often do you return to Rhodes for homecoming? What’s the first thing you do when you’re back in Memphis?

MBM: I went to our 5th reunion but life became busy. I finally returned to Rhodes for my 25th reunion. It was a blast!!! I decided it was going to be a regular occurrence, THANKS COVID. The first thing I do in Memphis? Hmmm, I did not have a ton of free time as a student, so I try to learn a bit more about the city each visit.

MK: 整个夏天，你和你的团队赢得了虚拟Lynxfit挑战赛! 自COVID-19爆发以来的过去几个月里，你是如何保持健康的?

MBM: The LynxFit Challenge was such a great idea. I met two amazing DC team members, Madalyn Bryant ’17 and Kim Medland ’91. We encouraged and prodded each other throughout the month. 我为这两个人感到骄傲，因为他们超出了自己的期望. 锻炼是我一天中很重要的一部分，但这个挑战真的激发了我的竞争精神，我也加强了锻炼. No surprise to my friends in Northern Virginia!

MK作为一名狂热的马拉松运动员，你对跑步的热爱是从你在365betapp下载期间开始的吗? Before? After?

MBM我其实不是一个狂热的马拉松运动员，但相对来说还是个新手. 大约15年前，一种自身免疫性疾病夺去了我的生命，我的跑步也停止了. But, it seems that the break was good for me. Even though I have to be careful and work around this disease, 四年前，我第一次参加马拉松比赛时，我的跑得很好，有资格参加波士顿马拉松比赛，并可以自动进入纽约和芝加哥. 也许，这次骨折给我留下了膝盖和臀部，大多数我这个年龄的人都磨损了. I pretty much use marathons to travel. 我最喜欢的比赛是在挪威特罗姆瑟的北极圈参加午夜马拉松. 一周前，我和一群女性在瑞典完成了接力赛，于是决定去特罗姆瑟参加马拉松比赛. It was a PR (personal record) and quite an experience. My marathon goal is to compete in what is called the 6 majors. Boston, New York, Chicago are done. 我申请并获得了柏林马拉松的参赛资格，但那被推迟到2021年, fingers crossed. If I run well in the upcoming Nashville marathon, 我将自动进入伦敦，这是最难进入的马拉松比赛. The last is Tokyo.

That said, Rhodes is why I run. Sandra Buenahora ’84 grabbed me my first day at Rhodes at the amphitheater and said, “Run cross country with me, the team has 3 people and need 5”. 我们蹒跚地度过了最初的几个星期，球队对我们很有耐心. 有一天，我们这些新手突然明白了，你无法阻止我们逃跑. We were Bita Esmaeli ’84, Caroline Stockton ’84, Liz Hart ’82, Sandra and I. The next year Allison McCarthy ’85 joined us. We were small but mighty!

MK: 你最怀念罗兹大学的什么经历?

MBM: Certainly, the sense that I was believed in 100%, 尤其是当我离开罗兹进入研究科学领域时，当时对女性相当敌视. 这让我回想起365betapp下载是一个神奇的学习场所，在那里，性别, economic status, and interest was blurred. 各种各样的研究都对我开放，我的教授鼓励我做到最好.