Goals & Learning

Goals

#1: Gain insight on common laboratory techniques and protocols

#2: Analyze results and clearly present results to others

#3: Explore computational analysis programs

#1 Gaining Insight on Common Laboratory Techniques: Laboratory work is my main goal, so this fits in because I will need to know various ways to conduct experiments and be able to troubleshoot experimental issues. 

1. Relating concepts in chemistry and biology to understand what is going on structurally vs functionally (Learning how residues contribute to Amot function)

2. Look at mutated sequences on various online platforms to understand what is occurring functionally. 

3. Using protocols that are established in OneNote to perform experiments and analyze the effects of the results. 

PROGRESS: Throughout the year, I have had many opportunities to do benchwork and learn procedures commonly used in biology research. I was very nervous to mess up procedures at the beginning and required a lot of assistance in performing experiments. Now at the end of my internship, I am much more confident in the steps of experiments and can better understand the use of each step as it contributes to our research. Something that I take away from this goal is the importance of the laboratory classes and exploring ways to improve the techniques of a particular procedure to be more efficient. 

#2 Analyzing Experimental Results: For Forensics, experimental data must be accurate and I must be able to fully understand and communicate my results in a courtroom setting.

1. Work to strengthen teamwork by working on an interdisciplinary team while reaching a research objective 

2. Independently work on a specific research topic that will eventually merge with other members of the research team who have interconnecting concepts. 

3. Contribute information from my research to the papers and project reports of the lab, as well as giving presentations to others on the research team as we begin to merge our work. 

PROGRESS: At the beginning, it was difficult to step back from an experiment to fully understand why each step is necessary. As I have been doing more experiments independently, I am able to recognize more easily what each step does and can reevaluate how to move forward if a step in the procedure is not going the exact way we may want it to. In the computational analysis, I can visually see what is happening to the structures we are studying and I am at a point where I am able to explain how I created the structures and analyze them to others in the lab. The methods I have used in my computational analysis is now being used by other members in their own research. 

#3 Understanding Computation Programs: Technology has been in wide spread use to advance science, and keeping up with different applications used for various experiments is crucial. 

1. Experimenting with PyMol application to be able to view, predict, and mutate different amino acid sequences. 

2. Using various online databases (ie. Robetta, Alphafold) in order to convert the sequences between different platforms to further analyze data 

3. Reading through different scientific papers to be able to relate the work being reported back to my own research. 

PROGRESS: This goal was challenging due to how unfamiliar I was with this type of analysis. I have gained an appreciation for this type of analysis and I believe I am more comfortable exploring new applications to for experimentation. Throughout the internship, I also learned how to analyze the data that I gathered through the various programs using SAXS data (a type of computational analysis) and be able to share this information with others. I do not believe I want to pursue this in my career, but I am grateful that I can understand a different type of experimentation and use the experience to see where my interests lie. 

My career goal coming into this program was to do laboratory work as a Forensic Scientist. As I have gone through this internship, I wanted to confirm this was something I wanted to pursue and keep an open mind to other areas. Now at the end of my internship, I can say that this is something I want to continue to pursue. I feel confident in the career direction I chose and this internship experience has allowed me to make more informed career-related decisions. 

My goals from when I applied to this program a year ago are not too different from my goals now. I am still unsure of the specific area of Forensics I would like to pursue, but my curriosity to explore my options is still the same. Learning as much as I can during my time in undergraduate studies will continue to be a goal of mine. I am in pursuit of Forensic related internships to gain deeper knowledge of that space. I hope to participate in one by the time I graduate. In my time of being an intern, I have made a meaningful connection with my supervisor and I plan to continue my research project from this year in the upcoming academic year. 

Learning

From just a few short months, I have become more confident in teamwork and problem solving skills. I have become more comfortable working with the others in my lab and collaborating with my PI on my two separate types of projects. I have done wet lab work where I needed deeper instruction on the procedures from the senior members of the lab. They have helped guide me through the procedures and digest the purpose of the experiments as it contributes to the research. I also feel stronger in my problem solving skills as I started out doing computational research. I have had to troubleshoot different programs and overcome technological challenges and be able to research solutions when I come across issues in the experiments. I feel more comfortable exploring programs and finding the resources to back up my computational research through journals to confirm my work has been done correctly. 

The internship lab are different from the lab courses I take for my major because most of the prepping is done for me by the TAs. I have been able to work on preparing the necessary supplies to run my experiments and increase my knowledge on the experimental process. This has encouraged me to work even harder in my classes and has allowed me to apply the topics I learn in class to real research. 

I have gained more insight on the importance of applying the content learned in the classroom to the research. I also feel that I can better gauge the direction I want to take my Forensic Science major. After this semester I know this is the direction I want to take and I feel a greater appreciation for the career path I chose. Though research is different from what I will be doing, many of the applications and methods are the same. I am grateful to have been able to learn more in this field to connect it to what I want to pursue in the future.  

Skills Assessment

From the spring reflection, I would say I have become more confident in the Independence and Problem-solving and Perseverance categories. I was very nervous coming into this internship and wanted to do a good job. Because of this, I would ask many questions and would need assistance from multiple people. I became reliant on them, but now I am able to do experiments more independently with confidence. I just completed two large experiments independently where I had a large volume of samples. It was difficult to manage at first, but as I continued going the steps, I learned how to become more efficient in the procedure. I would like to continue working on both of these, but also Confronting Challenges and Failure. It is hard for me when I struggle because I feel as though I have failed those around me and myself. Learning how to handle challenges is important in growing in this field. Nothing goes exactly according to plan, so by working on this, I can problem-solve and get back on track. 

My previous strengths included Communication and Teamwork and I think that I did grow in Communication with others. I feel more comfortable around the others in the lab and asking them questions. As I have been growing in my Independence, I have required minimal assistance from others, but I have been able to communicate my findings to others and explain my methodology in professional and technical ways.