We are excited to welcome DaChawn Kincaid as our SUMREX student for May – June 2018. Please visit this site regularly, as DaChawn will be posting reflections on his ODU experience. In this post, DaChawn briefly introduces himself.

(Dr. Joshua Behr and DaChawn Kincaid)

My name is DaChawn Kincaid. I am a upcoming junior Presidential Scholar from Tougaloo College which is located in Jackson, Mississippi. My hobbies include playing the drums, piano, and basketball. Along with these hobbies, I have always been interested in the various social problems that our society has today. This is why I chose to major in Sociology at Tougaloo College. I also decided to pick up a minor in Disaster Coastal Studies. I became interested in this study while attending an event on Tougaloo’s campus. This event introduced DCS to many of the social science majors at Tougaloo. I was drawn to DCS because I realized that natural disasters can cause or worsen many social problems our society has. I have yet to take any classes that are within the DCS program. However, this fall I will begin this program. My minor in DCS is one of the huge reasons why I chose to participate in this internship. I chose to partake in this internship because I wanted to get an introduction to my minor while learning from the professors that will be mentoring me while I am stationed at the Virginia Modeling, Analysis & Simulation Center and Old Dominion University. Among these professors are Drs. Yusuf, Padilla, Frydenlund, and Behr. For the short time I have been here I realized that these professors are very intelligent and that having conversations with them and asking for their help when needed will be a tremendous benefit for me. The things I hope to receive are opportunities to network with intelligent individuals, gaining the knowledge and skill of creating models of events and locations, and gaining new experiences and a new perception of the world we live in today. This entire experience will help me figure out my next step in terms of education. I am still thinking about graduate school and maybe joining a PhD program afterwards. As far as my career goals I have not yet decided what I want my career to be. I have narrowed my career goals to either becoming a lawyer, professor, or a working for the Central Intelligence Agency.