My name is Giovanni Alberto Crestani. I am a PhD student at Burke’s Lab, Oregon State University, and my work focuses on Evolutionary Genetics. Currently, my major project is on the genomics of Drosophila melanogaster populations experimentally evolved for postponed reproduction. I am also deeply passionate about Information Theory applied to biologica systems and Evolutionary Dynamics of both biological and non-biological systems.
My hobbies involve playing computer games, trying different Linux distributinos (currently using Fedora Silverblue), and reading random interesting blog posts. I love hiking, grilling, and spending time outside. I also enjoy reading both fiction and non-fiction books. Currently, I’ve been reading Isaac Asimov’s books, following the internal story chronological order.
My story#
I was born and raised in Videira, Brazil. I had a fantastic childhood at my family’s farm, which taught me to respect and admire Nature. I got in touch with computers early in life, which helped me develop a curiosity and passion about the subject that will last a lifetime. These two are the foundation that supports my interests in the world today.
My family ran a business cultivating and selling reforestation trees. I always helped with small tasks, until my dad helped me develop “my own business” (at 13) producing spices and roses to sell to florists in my town. That showed me the role of business as important economical systems and taught me to value effort and money; later that would also be critical in my choice of starting (but not finishing) Engineering and Business degrees, aiming for the startup bloom that was happening at the time.
I quickly realized that I prefered theoretical knowledge and science in general. I was more interested in learning than doing. After reading The Web of Life and On Complexity, I switched my major to Biological Sciences, aiming to study the evolution of complex systems and pursue an academic career.
I received my Biological Sciences (Licentiate) degree at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil, in 2022. There, I worked in several different environments, spending time on the bench, the field, and the computer. I participated in distinct projects collecting and preparing water and soil samples for analysis, conducting molecular biology experiments, and building and running bioinformatics workflows. This aggregation of different areas led me to think about science in an interdisciplinary and systemic way.
Currently, I have an Angel and a Demon on my shoulder, one telling me to keep on the academic path, and the other telling me to get a good paying job in industry. I do not know which one is the Angel and which one is the Demon!
