![\"Graduation](\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Graduation-Cap_blue-500x500-e1586882554282.png\")
<\/a>CELEBRATING SUCCESS:<\/strong> During this time when we cannot come together to celebrate our graduates, UToledo is recognizing the Class of 2020 with a series of feature stories on students who received their degrees during our Dec. 6 virtual commencement ceremony<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n His desire to help people steered him to The University of Toledo to pursue his Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry and defined his educational journey here.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to be able to use the chemistry knowledge that I had from my undergraduate courses to make things that made a difference in people\u2019s lives,\u201d he said. \u201cInstead of just running reactions in a lab and making miscellaneous compounds because they\u2019re interesting in an academic sense, I wanted to make things that benefit people, so that\u2019s why I chose medicinal chemistry to study.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout his time as a Rocket, Horton\u2019s work extended well beyond the classroom, as he co-authored multiple research papers while he pursued business training for his post-doctoral career. His time at UToledo also included significant efforts in the entrepreneurial space, a trait that Dr. Isaac Schiefer, Horton\u2019s faculty advisor and associate professor in UToledo\u2019s Department of Medicinal and Biological Chemistry, said made Horton stand out.<\/p>\n \u201cHe submitted multiple small business grant applications while a grad student and participated in the iCorps program,\u201d Schiefer said. \u201cFuture students should consider Austin as an example of stepping outside of the basic science realm and receiving training in small business development for translational science.\u201d<\/p>\n Horton\u2019s multifaceted approach may have been what helped him to the finish line, even amid the pandemic. Faced with an abrupt job-search reorganization, Horton said adjusting to life during the pandemic had a positive outcome for him.<\/p>\n \u201cI was actually in one of the better positions in my coursework here to go remote because I had all of my data gathered for my thesis, it just came down more to writing it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe pandemic and the shutdown forced me to write my thesis.\u201d<\/p>\n