There are many things I would love to learn and gain from this internship. This experience will allow me to enhance my communication skills, as I will learn how to properly present my data and research to other individuals at different events. I will also be able to better handle a fast pace environment as I will be conducting research day by day. Since I have never worked in a lab before, this experience will even give me the opportunity to adapt to new environments in a more efficient way. Lastly, I hope to grow my lab skills so that one day I can continue to do research while attending dental school. Overall, I hope to grow as an individual by gaining professional skills that will prepare me for the future!

I am most excited about seeing if curcumin inhibits or increases Streptococcus mutans bacteria biofilm formation. In my Indian culture, we use turmeric powder (curcumin) in almost all of our Indian dishes as it is one of our main ingredients. To see the effects of curcumin on our oral health would be fascinating and eye-opening!

The skills that I am using so far at my internship are independence and taking constructive criticism. Working independently is essential at a research site as I have learned to create new plans for different experiments and conduct the experiments in a time sufficient manner on my own. Also, I have learned to take constructive criticism in a positive way to better my research and take action immediately. By the end of my internship, I have learned work on my patience and communication as that is key to research. My critical thinking and detail-oriented skills have improved tremendously since the start of the internship. I have learned to step outside the box to do my own research to further my knowledge on specific topics to help design my overall experiment.

This internship has connected well with one of my classes, microbiology. In microbiology, I have learned about many different topics that encompass the study of microscopic organisms, bacteria, fungi, and much more. One topic that my microbiology course has covered deals with oral dysbiosis, which is the disruption of the homeostasis between microbiota and the host. A specific bacteria we discussed, within the topic of oral dysbiosis, is Streptococcus mutans. I have learned that S. mutans has a direct correlation with dental caries. This information helped me have a good foundation for my internship as I am working specifically with Streptococcus mutans. I not only had a good foundation about this bacteria, but was able to further my knowledge by understanding that is one of our common bacterias that is prevalent in our oral cavity and analyze how much biofilm (plaque) is produced from this bacteria in different experiments that I am conducting.

As the semester is coming to an end, my responsibilities and skills have increased tremendously. I have learned and performed the different microbiological procedures when examining the growth of Streptococcus mutans bacteria in our oral cavity. I also have been conducting my own experiments and learning day-by-day on how to develop and analyze an effective experiment. It has been eye opening to see the other experiments students and professionals are conducting as I never knew how prevalent Streptococcus mutans bacteria is to our oral health.

My contributions had a major impact on the goals at my site as I not only conducted my experiments weekly but had to read many case studies pertaining to my topic to understand the results and analyze effective treatments. My work mattered to getting the bigger job done because the different experiments I conducted weekly were sent to a biostatistician to get accurate results on my data. Without raw data from my experiments, I would not be able to test my hypothesis and understand the significance behind my research.

After submitting my self evaluation and analyzing my skills, I hope to continue to work on my communication and collaboration skills as those are critical in dental school. To continue on my goals, I need to focus on applying to dental school as my next step. I hope to plan out my prerequisite classes efficiently to prepare for the DAT. I also hope to take the connections I have made and reach out to obtain my letters of recommendations. Lastly, this lab has prepared me in confronting challenges and failure. From my mentor and other post docs, each and everyone has helped me understand that failure is a step on the road to success. I hope to continue to reach out for help and use the available resources to succeed in my profession.

Some behaviors and actions that I have seen that I want to have as a professional are presenting effective communication, providing constructive criticism, and collaborating well with co-workers and interns. Collaborating effectively is important to respect, listen, and incorporate a diversity of opinions. I believe that I am confident in presenting effective communication at my internship site since I discuss my results in a timely manner to get feedback on my research.

As a professional, I would love to work on my time management skills as I have learned spending too much time on one activity/experiment can take up the time needed to complete the other activity/experiment. Practicing good time management will allow me to advocate my time evenly with different tasks to ensure success.

My internship experience has been extremely different than what I expected when I started. When I started, I was terrified that I would not be capable to perform an experiment entirely by myself. I was terrified because before my internship started my chemistry lab due to COVID-19 was entirely online, so I was not comfortable being in a lab setting and I normally conducted labs with a partner in the past. However, as I designed my experiment with my supervisor, I gained the confidence to perform my own research experiment by myself. I have never been so intrigued and excited with the topic I am researching on which has helped me perform well independently.

Have you been surprised by anything in the day-to-day life of this work?

• The biggest thing that has surprised me about research in this lab is that there is never an ending to the topic you are researching on. For example, as I have researched on the topic of curcumin, there are many more experiments I could have conducted to test my hypothesis at hand. Since I work in a dental lab, another thing that has surprised me is how dental students, post-doc, and undergraduate students all are researching on different topics and obtain valuable findings pertaining to their topic. The research never ends and it is exceptional to see how motivated students and faculty are that I work with.

How was the experience different than what you originally expected?

• I originally expected to assist in another research project that a student may be conducting or be given a topic to research on, however I was able to create my own project for the year. This gave me much flexibility in developing an overall hypothesis and allowed me to work independently on the study.

How has this experience provided opportunities to engage and work with people from communities or cultures that are different from your own?

• This experience has allowed me to work and interact with faculty/students who have different work cultures than mine, which has made me aware of what type of work preference would benefit me. I have to come to learn that I would prefer to work a collaborated environment where I can share my ideas and learn from others.

How would you describe the workplace culture at your internship site using some of your responses to the questions in the article?

• I would describe the workplace culture as a collaborative and creative culture. At the internship site, my supervisor promotes his students to work amongst each other to learn the different microbiological techniques and learn about the different topics that affect our oral health. The workplace is also flexible, as we can choose our topic of study; however, the day-to-day work can be tedious. Once something new is uncovered within the data, many more opportunities/ideas can form. This is important to me when it comes to research because studying a topic that pertains to my life is not only intriguing but allows to connect my own background with research. Also, independent is one of the biggest descriptors that fits my role in the lab as I often find myself in the lab alone since I conduct my experiments at my own times.

How would you describe your ideal workplace culture?

• As I have stated, with research my schedule is pretty flexible as I make my own schedule to come into the lab. Leniency at times can be nice to work around your schedule, however in my future workplace I hope to have more accountability when it comes staff attendance. Having a set schedule in my workplace is essential as it would hold everyone accountable to their own duties/tasks. Also, I hope to be able to collaborate with others on a day-to-day basis as I enjoy sharing my thoughts and ideas to others.

In what ways have your attitudes and beliefs been impacted by engaging and working with people from communities or cultures that are different from your own? How have you grown as a professional as a result of these interactions or where would you like to continue to grow?

• My attitudes and beliefs have been impacted by engaging and working with people from communities or cultures that are different from my own as I have learned to accept people's different views and opinions. I have grown as a professional as a result of these interactions by understanding the value of cultural differences. When we interact and engage in cross cultural/community differences, a lack of awareness can lead to poor decisions. Allowing myself to understand the different prospectives increases the chance of me making a more insightful decision. I hope to continue to grow in this area because as a future health care provider, it is important to respect your patients beliefs, values, and customs as they will be more likely to communicate freely and honestly