Coming to Virginia Tech was an easy decision for Tobin Weiseman, a Blacksburg native.
Figuring out what he wanted to study wasn’t as simple.
Weiseman spent his freshman year studying business before having a realization: He wanted to study science. He quickly found a home in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, where he picked up his primary major, human nutrition, foods, and exercise (HNFE).
Weiseman said he decided on the major for its comprehensiveness, which allowed him to narrow his interest in the broad discipline of science.
“I did human nutrition, foods, and exercise because it had everything: biology, chemistry, nutrition, exercise science — there’s a lot of area to move once you get past organic chemistry. You can specialize,” Weiseman said.
After a hands-on experience during his sophomore year working as a lab assistant for Timothy Long, director of the Macromolecules & Interfaces Institute and a professor in chemistry, Weiseman added a second degree in nanoscience, part of the College of Science’s Academy of Integrated Science.
Now a fifth year senior, Weiseman will graduate in December with his human nutrition, foods, and exercise degree and in May 2017 with his nanoscience degree.
Weiseman said what he finds most important in his undergraduate career is the relationships he has built, especially with professors who have been supportive of him.
“My favorite part about HNFE is just that they are the best people,” he said. “It’s a special collection of people. If feel like they are the wind at my back, which is very cool.”
Despite potential scheduling conflicts between the classes required for the two majors, Weiseman said his professors and advisors made sure he could complete both degree requirements.
“Everyone in the nanoscience program has just bent over backwards to help me,” he said.
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