Goals


Setting goals are important!

Site Goals

My site is working to emphasize the importance of effective science communication, and to teach the skills needed to present science information accurately. This is important for getting the public interested in science along with preventing the spread of misinformation.

I decided to join this internship site since it was one of my goals to learn professionalism and how to write and read about science communication, and my site has helped me achieve this goal. I have already worked on some impactful pieces, and I am looking forward to eventually writing my own piece for the site.

LHSI

My goals at the start of the year was to work on communicating professionally and with confidence. When looking back at my goals from when I applied to work for LHSI, I was focused on gaining skills on professionalism and learning tasks that will be important now and after college. This goal also went along with my other goals to improve my science literacy and communication skills which require similar practice.

I have already gained a lot of experience communicating consistently with my site supervisors, and reaching out to authors in a professional manner which has taught me a lot of skills that I can use in academia and after college when I apply for other jobs. I have also been able to work on these skills through communicating with other members of LHSI especially through online sites like Zoom, email, or canvas.


Looking Towards the Future

Learning Goals

While working for my internship site I have already learned a lot of transferrable skills. A number of things I have already learned include:

  • how to communicate professionally with authors

  • how to improve science literacy through reading and writing

  • how to conduct primary and secondary research

Each of these skills were things I wanted to improve on this year and are helping me in both LHSI and in my fall semester classes.

I'm looking forward to improving these skills more as we create more posts and when I eventually write my own piece for the blog. My current academic goal is to get into the Cytotechnology program at IUPUI and working at my site has taught me how to effectively communicate the research that I will have to conduct along with how to connect with other professionals in the science field.

Personal and Career Goals

My goal has always been set to do whatever it is I am passionate about and I find that working in science communication has made these goals even more attainable. My career goal is to help build the bridge between science and the humanities and with science communication I can develop the science work I do into meaningful information that anyone can access.

I have always been very interested in science and I especially have a love for anatomy. I also have a passion for writing and reading and in my first year of college I struggled with deciding what path I wanted to go down. When I first heard about this internship it meshed both of my favorite subjects into one with science communication.


Documenting Progress

When I first applied for LHSI I had my goals listed out for what I wanted to gain from the internship along with what my longer career goals were. By documenting my goals from the past and from now, I can compare what has changed and what has stayed the same.

I had written down that I wasn't sure about my goals for graduation besides wanting to learn more about Cytotechnology and gaining lab experience. After a semester of more classes and working with LHSI, I have learned that there is still a lot I'm unsure about and there are a lot of fields that spark my interest. However, I am still eager to apply for the Cytoechnology program and I want to continue improving my science literacy through reading and writing pieces along with spreading the important information science communication has to offer.

I have also found that I have become more involved on the IUPUI campus by joining more clubs. LHSI has inspired me to reach out to more of my peers after communicating with fellow interns and I have really enjoyed the community that the internship has to offer. I joined Undergraduate Women in Science club to connect more with other students at IUPUI especially now when we are unable to meet face to face.


Professional Goals

Choosing a career starts with a passion. I have always been eager to learn and my interest in how our bodies worked led to my passion for anatomy. After taking anatomy and physiology classes in both high school and my first year in college, I knew I was in the right place. While I was eager to learn, I was also just as excited to write. Reading and writing are essential for learning about science, and I had my own love for both of these fields. As I took more lab classes I knew I chose the right field with Cytotechnology, since I appreciated every time I got behind a microscope. However, I was missing the other experience of reading scientific literature and getting the chance to write myself.

New Internship and New Opportunities

When I found the LHSI program I knew this was a great opportunity to get the chance to read, edit, and even write in the science field. When I got the chance to write my own piece for the SciComm PLOS Blog I had several ideas and eventually settled down on writing about the biology behind politics. This piece was so much fun to do research on, along with getting the chance to write about an important subject for the public to learn about.

While my professional goals have remained the same, I do want to continue incorporating science communication into my future career. Through reading and supporting other blogs to even writing about my own experiences, I want to spread the importance of science communication.