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Sheldon Hilaire joins a prestigious list of Dominicans to earn a PhD after graduating from Virginia Tech University of Blacksburg, VA. Dr. Hilaire grew up in Castle Comfort and is the son of Ian \u201cNano\u201d Hilaire from Petite-Savanne and Claudette Hilaire of Virgin Lane. He was inquisitive and curious, and this ultimately manifested into his goal of furthering his education and one day becoming a Doctor. This also would not have been possible without encouragement from his mother as well as his family, friends, and mentors.<\/p>\n
Sheldon attended Midwestern State University to pursue a pre-med degree but spending a summer doing undergraduate research, he envisioned a different career path. After obtaining his bachelor\u2019s degree in Biology with a minor in chemistry, he worked for a few years in Wichita Falls, TX. Eventually, Sheldon decided to pursue a master\u2019s degree in Environmental Sciences with a focus on Environmental Health. \u00a0The master\u2019s degree experience gave Sheldon the opportunity to design and successfully execute his own experiments. These greenhouse experiments showed the potential for uptake of veterinary antibiotics by forage grasses grown in antibiotic-laden manure. Sheldon would go on to get two first-authored peer reviewed publications from this work.<\/p>\n
In 2017, weeks after graduating with his master\u2019s degree, Dr. Hilaire embarked upon doctoral studies in the fall of 2017. At Virginia Tech, Sheldon was able to expand and improve his laboratory skillset, as well as design and execute two successful field studies. These studies further investigated the fate and transport of contaminants of emerging concern and how manipulating manure land application can mitigate the associated issues. During his time, Sheldon worked under the tutelage of his mentor Dr. Kang Xia, as well as other experts in respective fields including Dr. Rory O. Maguire, Dr. Heather Preisendanz, and Dr. Mark Williams. \u00a0Sheldon was able to defend his dissertation a semester early in December of 2020 with confirmation of his graduation on December 17th<\/sup>, 2020, of the same year. While at Virginia Tech, Sheldon presented his work at several local and international conferences and co-authored a book chapter and special report all related to veterinary antibiotics in animal manure. He has recently accepted a position at Virginia Tech as a Research Faculty in Environmental Science\/ Lab Manager. With this degree, and position, Dr. Hilaire hopes to continue working in his field of interest as well as increase his publications this year.<\/p>\n Sheldon hopes that his work can continue to contribute to a better understanding of practices and their impact on the environment. He also hopes that his journey can inspire others, especially other West Indians, and Dominican natives, to take a chance, believe in themselves and work hard to achieve their goals. It is also important to have faith, even when things might look bleak, God had a plan he knows he would not be here today if not for God\u2019s mercy and favor.<\/p>\n There are many people who helped Sheldon along his journey, and it would be impossible to mention everyone here but Dr. Hilaire wishes to thank his wife, Joy, for her patience and understanding while he worked to finish his degree. He also would like to thank his mom, brothers Nigel, Brenton, Joshua and sisters Elorn, and Sophie, Aunt Glenda, and Raphina Daniel for their continued support and love over the years. His in-laws Jamie and D\u2019Orange Gaines and their families and friends for taking him in and welcoming him. His friends near and far in Wichita Falls, Dallas, and Houston, Tx, Kentucky, IN, Canada, California, New York, New Jersey, Dominica and Blacksburg, VA. Thank you all!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sheldon Hilaire joins a prestigious list of Dominicans to earn a PhD after graduating from Virginia Tech University of Blacksburg, VA. Dr. Hilaire grew up in Castle Comfort and is the son of Ian \u201cNano\u201d Hilaire from Petite-Savanne and Claudette…","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":262991,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,77,235,9,157],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-262989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-educationyouth","category-homepage","category-homepage-carousel","category-news","category-science"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n