Goals

School Year Goals: Fall 2023-Spring 2024

This year I have several goals I am working towards, both at my internship and in the classroom.

Professional Goals

Communication

I will need to be able to share information effectively with physicians about patient test results in my future career, both in writing and verbally. Communication is a major skill focus for me due to this as I need to share information quickly and thoroughly to prevent confusion. I will be learning how individuals at my internship share their experimental results, how they help one another and get a better grasp of the scientific language used in the lab. I am hoping that the communication skills used at the internship will benefit me in my future career by helping me identify potential communication issues that may arise and how to overcome them.

Gain technical laboratory skills

There are fundamental lab techniques that are used for all experiments in every lab setting, such as pipetting, cell culturing, and microscopy. I want to get more practice with these experimental techniques before entering my program in the Fall of 2025 so I am ahead with these skills. At first, I will be observing my supervisors before performing these experiments myself. Understanding these techniques early will benefit me later so that technical skills are not an issue.

Understand the research environment

Research laboratories have a main focus, however each person involved in the lab has individual projects. I am trying to understand how collaboration helps with research development when everyone seems to have different specialties. In most labs, there are designated individuals who are the experts in certain tasks and are the go-to for questions. I want to know how this is important. Additionally, I will be learning the benefits of collaborating with other lab groups across the country.

Academic Goal

Exposure to new topics

Working at the Linnemann Lab is one way for me to explore a potential career pathway in research. During this school year, I'd like to be mindful of experiments and theories I enjoy learning about at the lab and connect them to my classes. I want to pinpoint areas of study from the lab that I want to know more about. This will give me a better understanding of what specialties I could see myself in for my future career. For example, if I specifically enjoy the genetics aspect behind diabetes research, I can look for future job shadowing and future internships that focus on the genetics of diabetes. Knowing what I am interested in while working at the lab helps me discover new career opportunities and which classes could help me with additional discovery.

Goal Progression

Communication

The individuals at my site utilize a digital lab notebook through One Note that can be shared with the whole lab. I have found that this software is easy to use. When there were steps in an experiment that I missed due to classes, I was able to go through my supervisor's notebook to catch myself up. We had lab meetings each week to set goals, share individual experiments with a Q and A, and discuss other experiments from conferences. I enjoyed the lab meetings since I got in-person exposure to other experiments I wasn't a part of. At times, they felt like mini-seminars where other lab members asked questions to challenge who was presenting. It seemed to help presenters see gaps in experiments and lead them to improvements.

This internship has been challenging with communication being introduced to new vocabulary. Thankfully, many of the classes required for my major this school year have helped me understand lab material, or vice versa. Courses have expanded on lab material that I did not understand, especially immunology concepts used in my final project.

2. Gain technical laboratory skills

This internship along with various lab courses has introduced me to lab skills I didn't have before, such as working with complex microscopes, timing several experiments at once, setting up the lab in an organized way to keep the experiment flow, etc. These are skills I need to take with me in my professional program and future employment. I developed these skills beforehand so there is less stress around developing these skills in high-stress environments.

I enjoyed using the microscopes the most while working at the lab. It was a major aspect of my final project, and I was able to pick up the skill quickly. I used this skill often and I was able to produce images on my own that my supervisors and I were proud of.

I've also learned that sometimes the research lab has better technology than at the undergrad course level. While instruments are similar and produce the same results, the tools available at my internship allow for higher quality control due to increased complexity.

3. Understand the research environment

While I was in the lab there was trading of tissue samples from out of state since our lab had access to a specific technology. Collaboration plays a huge role in research labs, ranging from individuals within the same lab and labs in different states or countries. Collaboration allows scientists to share information and technology to further the understanding of complex problems.

Additionally, funding also has a significant in research labs. Science is expensive and requires outside help through grants available to the lab as a whole or individual research projects.

Attending lab meetings has helped me understand what other individuals are working on. While all experiments were related to diabetes, the mechanisms researched were different, expanding my knowledge and allowing me to see other research possibilities related to Type 1 Diabetes development.

Academic Goal

Exposure to new topics

Working in Dr. Linnemann's lab has been a great career exploration experience. Everyone in the lab has been supportive, kind, and helpful both with internship material and schoolwork. From this experience I feel that Type 1 Diabetes research is a possibility in my future. I've enjoyed learning about Type 1 Diabetes, establishing professional relationships with my supervisors, and had fun while working on my project.

Along with my internship, I have also discovered that I enjoy Microbiology and Immunology from my courses. I have enjoyed these courses so much and I am thankful that the Linnemann lab had some crossover with these areas of study. I know that next school year I will experience more content with these courses and I look forward to it! I would like to continue my career exploration by attending job fairs and job shadowing at workplaces focusing in Microbiology/Immunology.

Reflection and Future Directions

I do feel the biggest achievement while working at my internship, while not an original goal, was learning how to manage my time. Between the internship, classes, and my personal life, I had a difficult time adjusting. The best method I acquired when managing my time was prioritizing. It helped me create a balance when one category needed my attention more than others.

I still have many things to learn in the next year, including reviewing class material over the summer. There are a few courses I did not meet my own expectations for, and I'd like to go back and gain a better understanding to prepare me for next school year at IUSM. I plan to review by looking over old notes, viewing educational videos, reading, etc. I'd also love to continue updating this eSite so I can track my own progress in future programs and workplaces.

I'd also love to seek out job shadowing and job fair opportunities. There are several local hospitals in my area and I'm interested in visiting a few labs to see how each operates.

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