Rebecca McSweeney '21

1) What are some skills/competencies (NACE) that you developed during your internship?

• Oral/Written Communications: I outlined the progress on the written application in daily meetings with my supervisor, along with articulating the details of our experimental design and explaining the significance of our proposed research when writing the application itself.

• Teamwork/Collaboration: I worked closely with a fellow intern to craft the application, establishing a good working relationship with someone I had not previously worked with, along with my supervisor and our scientific advisors.

• Critical Thinking/Problem Solving: I synthesized information from my research into primary literature articles pertaining to the field our application was focused in. I also often made revisions to the application based upon feedback from our scientific advisors, and incorporating information on the relevant model systems we planned to use.

• Professionalism/Work Ethic: I gained more experience managing my time effectively within a flexible schedule, and participated in meetings and calls with vendors for animal models outside of Pyrefin.

2) How does this experience connect to your future career goals?

Persuasive scientific writing and the ability to design experiments are both important skills for a scientific career. While I was unable to physically work in a lab this summer, the increased experience with synthesizing information from primary literature papers to inform my own experimental design will translate well to the research career I plan to pursue after graduating from Holy Cross.

3) What advice would you give to other Holy Cross students?

I would advise other Holy Cross students to be flexible when your original plans change suddenly, especially with everything that has changed in the past few months. It is important to do your best to engage in opportunities that will help you to achieve your goals whenever you can, even if it is not the experience you originally envisioned yourself having. If I did not need to work from home this summer, I would not have had this opportunity, and would not have gained the connections I made this summer!