Kedar Mahagoakar

Kedar Mahagoakar came to our attention before he even took his first iCons class. Dr. Bill Lee, Vice President of Research at Gilead Pharmaceuticals was hosting a presentation about the development of AIDS drugs. He posed the question – does anyone know how AIDS works? Nobody in the room of over 70 people, faculty or student, raised their hand except Kedar. He quickly summarized the AIDS mechanism, to which Dr. Lee replied, “Um…yes, that’s exactly how it works, actually.”

“I figured the question might come up, so I did a little research before the presentation,” Kedar told us.

iCons director Scott Auerbach recalled the experience and said, “I wasn’t expecting anyone in the room to have the answer, and then Kedar sums it up perfectly. I thought, ‘wow, glad this guy is in iCons!’”

A sophomore biochemistry major, Kedar comes from Westborough, Massachusetts. He came to UMass for the Honors program, but applied to iCons to learn the process and problem-solving skills that scientists need. He puts these to use in Dr. Alejandro Heuck’s lab, where he researches a mechanism that gram-negative bacteria use to infect eukaryotic cells. “I enjoy the research that I am doing now because it involves fundamentally understanding how a toxin-transmitting mechanism (Type III secretion system) works. It is pure-science research.”

“Science has an important place in my life,” he says, though he avoids mixing work and play. In his free time he can be found exploring new parts of the Amherst/Northampton area, looking for good places to eat, shop, or go to concerts. Sometimes you’ll see him playing soccer or walking the campus, trying to decide between medical school and doctoral programs. Kedar offers these words of advice for anyone thinking about applying to iCons:

“By the end of your first two years, you will realize that iCons has had a profound effect on the way that you think and approach problems. iCons is a lot of fun and helps you meet classmates who have similar interests to you. You may get to meet some of your closest friends through the program. I did.”