Goals & Learning

Plans/goals for professional school: As of right now, I am planning to finish my undergraduate studies in hopes of pursuing a career as a dentist. Furthermore, I would like to attend a dental residency after dental school to specialize in a certain field. These are my current career goals because I have always been interested in helping people, working with my hands, and in entrepreneurship. I believe the field of dentistry fits those interests of mine. I think I am sure of my career options. My experience in this internship would only make me more sure of my decision because a lot of the people in my lab are either dental school graduates or are currently enrolled in dental school, and they have been sharing with me their experiences in dental school. In order to confirm my career goals, I will ask my supervisor and my coworkers about the dental field to see if it is a right fit for me. 

This internship has confirmed my goal of becoming a dentist, especially an orthodontist, by giving me real-world experience in how scientific research connects to patient care. Working with dental school graduates and students in the lab taught me about the challenges and rewards of dental school and how science helps improve treatments for patients. Talking with my coworkers showed me how dentistry combines my love for manual dexterity, working independently or running a practice, and making a positive difference in people’s lives—all of which match my skills and interests. This summer, I will be focusing on having a good work-life balance and trying to manage my time wisely to fit time that will be dedicated to studying for the DAT and taking towards the end of the summer.

Learning Goal #1:  Improve my communication & teamwork skills. 

How does this goal fit your career journey or prepare you for the future? 

As a future dentist, I would be surrounded by a group of dental assistants and dental hygienists. Communication & teamwork skills are important because they help with problem-solving and avoiding any confusion that can lead to major problems.

What tasks, responsibilities, projects, or activities will you do to meet this goal?

1. Attend recurring lab meetings where we brainstorm future research ideas for the lab.

2. Participate in the Dental School Research Day on April 10th to present my work (aside from the LHSI showcase).

3. Always ask for feedback to be aware of my good areas and the areas that need improvement.

Progress: Throughout the internship, I’ve strengthened my communication and teamwork skills by actively participating in weekly lab meetings, where I contributed ideas and collaborated on research planning. I have already finished my abstract and my poster for Dental School Research Day, and I can't wait to present my findings. While balancing lab tasks with presentation prep initially challenged my time management, prioritizing deadlines helped me adapt. Moving forward, I’ll expand this goal to include leadership skills, such as leading tasks during team projects, to better prepare for a career in dentistry.

Learning Goal #2:  Gain experience in collecting and analyzing relevant lab data. 

How does this goal fit your career journey or prepare you for the future?

I believe that having experience with collecting and analyzing data to prove a hypothesis would help me grow because it would allow others interested in the same research field to replicate my procedure and come up with their findings and would help me improve my critical thinking skills.

What tasks, responsibilities, projects, or activities will you do to meet this goal?

1. Familiarize myself with apps that help visualize data, such as Excel.

2. Collect meaningful data that other researchers can use to further their own projects.

3. Work on coming up with a way to help people easily visualize my data and findings during the LHSI showcase and dental research day.

Progress: Throughout the internship, I gained hands-on experience in collecting and analyzing lab data by mastering Excel for statistical comparisons, such as t-tests, and creating clear visualizations for presentations at the LHSI Showcase and the IUSD Research Day. Successfully generating reproducible protocols allowed peers to replicate my methods, while troubleshooting inconsistent transfection data improved my problem-solving skills. However, managing large datasets initially felt overwhelming, and balancing data collection and data analysis required practice.

Learning Goal #3: Build relevant connections and explore a career in research. 

How does this goal fit your career journey or prepare you for the future? 

This internship introduced me to the DDS/PhD dual degree offered by the dental school, which I was not aware of beforehand. I think my time at this site will help me decide whether I would like to pursue this dual degree or not since my direct supervisor is currently enrolled in this program herself.

What tasks, responsibilities, projects, or activities will you do to meet this goal?

1. Get to know current DDS students or professors at the dental school and during research day.

2. Ask my supervisor what her day-to-day activities look like.

3. Eventually work on my independent project to further involve myself in the lab.

Progress: This internship has significantly advanced my exploration of a research-focused dental career by connecting me with mentors in the DDS/PhD program, including my supervisor, who shared insights into balancing clinical training with lab work. Attending the IUSD Research Day will allow me to network with dental faculty and students, which will help build important connections. However, I initially hesitated to approach my supervisor and need to improve proactive outreach. While my interest in the dental field has grown, this experience confirmed that I will be involving research in my future career.

1. Which skills on the survey are you using so far, or where are you more confident already? Give specific examples of how you're using those skills or how you know you're growing. 

One skill on the survey that I am currently using in this internship is working independently. So far, I have been taught how to use the software that counts cells and dendrites, and since then, I have been working on my own and analyzing data based on the experimental results. I believe the fact that I was familiar with Excel before the internship saved me a lot of time because I regularly use it to analyze data. I am also applying feedback from my supervisors to improve my data collection skills and produce improved results that support our hypothesis.

2. Which skills from the survey would you like to continue to work on? What will you do to grow the skills? 

One skill from the survey I would like to continue working on throughout this internship is improving my communication skills. At the very start of the internship, there were a lot of communication errors on both ends that got in the way of me starting the internship. Thankfully, that was resolved, but I believe that both my internship site and I can improve our communication with each other by keeping each other up to date on lab-related things through email. This can also be improved by creating specific expectations of me and letting me know ahead of time if anything changes about my schedule, etc. Before presenting at the showcase and the research day, I will be presenting my project with my supervisor first so that I feel more comfortable presenting my work to others.

3. How has the internship helped you gain a deeper understanding of your coursework or major? 

As a biology major, the information that I have learned in this internship so far improved my understanding of cell biology as a whole. The lab focuses on bone cells, such as osteocytes and osteoblasts. I think understanding more cell biology now from my site will help me in the future because I will be taking cell biology as a class next semester, and I think getting to know some of the material now will give me a head start and help me be successful in the class. Studying osteocyte mechanosensing helped me grasp concepts about bone remodeling, making signal transduction pathways and bone-cell interactions more relatable. For example, observing how osteocytes regulate osteoblasts and osteoclasts in the lab enhanced my understanding of bone homeostasis. Additionally, approaching assignments with a research mindset is similar to how I plan experiments in the lab.