INSET-The Final Week

Now that the internship is reaching its end, I realize this has definitely been the best way I could have spent my summer. I gained valuable skills, such as Matlab programming, that will later help me in my career. I also gained insight into not only the perspectives of graduate students, but also those of my fellow interns. Everyone has their own view on science, science education, and the future of research. I vastly improved my science communication skills and I am now more confident in my abilities to convey scientific ideas to people with different science backgrounds. Time and time again, I would have to change how I explain my project, especially during practice presentations, so others wouldn’t have to put in tremendous effort to follow along.  Also, it was nice to see how what I am learning in college is being used in practice. Seeing that connection has motivated me to continue learning as much as I can.

INSET-The First Few Weeks

It has only been 3 weeks into this internship and I feel as if I have learned more in these 3 weeks than in any regular semester. I am working in the Systems Bioimaging Lab and my project involves increasing the axial resolution in widefield microscopy using deconvolution methods. Don’t worry, I didn’t understand it at first either and I still have trouble remembering some of the terminology. I spent the first week learning Matlab and the ins and outs of my project. I am fortunate enough to have been paired with a patient mentor that  is willing to take the time to teach me what I need to know, or even just help me refresh on old material. This is my first research experience so I didn’t really know what to expect.  I just kept in mind that everyone I am working with is just another person; that even though research is a big part of their lives, they have lives outside the lab too. The only difficult part of my internship is maintaining my excitement about the project. Most of my time is spent in front of a computer (which can get boring at times), but I just have to remind myself of the overall goal to regain my motivation. I am looking forward to the coming weeks because I will be able to work with the fancy microscope in the lab.