A Different Perspective on Research

Before this internship, I honestly had no idea what research meant. The idea of being a researcher didn’t seem exciting. I am the type of person that likes to be hands on. Whether I am working on a project or even studying. Hands on studying to me is achieved by getting up and using whiteboards and organizing study groups. This is one of the reasons I believed that I wasn’t the right type of person to fit into the research field. Thankfully, my mind has opened up to the idea. My perspective on my future has changed in positive and exciting ways.

Research is much more team oriented than I expected. My colleagues and I tend to have similar questions as we use and learn very similar simulation programs to carry out our experiments. In most cases, it isn’t ideal to ask the mentors questions for every minor road block. This is when our small office conversations allowed us to learn from each other. A majority of the time, the learning was reciprocal. Progress achieved independently is so rewarding.

Cutting edge technology comes from universities with these programs. I didn’t know this was true. I believed it was all industry that was responsible for this. This internship has given me a new found inspiration to pursue research. I will pursue a undergraduate research program in hydrogen technology thanks this experience at my new school because of this internship.