title: People's instinctive travels and the paths to science.
abstract: To be the recipient of the E. E. Just Award for 2014 is one of my greatest honors, as this is a truly rarefied group. In this essay, I try to trace my path to becoming a scientist to illustrate that multiple paths can lead to science. I also highlight that I did not build my career alone. Rather, I had help from many and have tried to pay it forward. Finally, as the country marches toward a minority majority, I echo the comments of previous E. E. Just Award recipients on the state of underrepresented minorities in science.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 averyaugust@cornell.edu.
authors.forename: Avery
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: August
mesh_terms: D002140:California; D002321:Career Choice; D003585:Cell Biology; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D008611:Mentors; D008913:Minority Groups; D012108:Research Personnel; D012586:Science; D014481:United States