Goals and Learning

Internship Goals

Strengthening
 transferable skills

Learning Goal #1

Develop independence and proficiency in a wide-range of laboratory skills, including wet lab techniques, data analysis, and written and verbal communication. 

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

How does this goal fit into my career journey or prepare me for the future?

After completing my undergraduate studies, I plan to attend graduate school and ultimately pursue a career in research. Based on my future aspirations, independence and proficiency in the lab will be required. I can expect to collaborate with my colleagues, but I will also need to conduct research projects and experiments independently. I do not possess any prior research experience, so my goal is to learn as much as possible from my mentor, supervisor, and the other lab members. 

Progress Update

I have learned so many new laboratory techniques through this internship, including Western blotting, cell and tissue culture maintenance, molecular cloning, DNA isolation, and CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing. In addition, I have gained confidence in working in a lab setting. 

Growing as a professional

Learning Goal #2

Learn more about preparing a strong graduate school application, explore potential fields of study, and clarify my career plans. 

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

How does this goal fit into my career journey or prepare me for the future?

As a first generation student, I am not sure what graduate school entails. My plan is to apply to graduate school next year, so I need to formulate a detailed application timeline this fall semester and begin assembling parts of my application in the spring. I want to learn more about the application process and get an early start in order to create a competitive application. 

I want to explore potential fields of study and identify my areas of interest. This will be crucial for determining which schools I apply to. In addition, I am interested in learning more about life as a PhD student and how graduate programs work in terms of funding, the curriculum, writing research proposals, defending a thesis, etc. These are some important parts to graduate school and I believe that having some knowledge about each can be useful for incoming students. Having an idea of what to expect in graduate school may also help me solidify my educational and career plans. 

Progress Update

As of right now, I do not have a set plan of what I want to do afterwards. I thought I wanted to enter a biomedical sciences PhD program, but I am not so sure that I want to do that anymore. 

Understanding the content/topic of work

Learning Goal #3

Gain an in-depth understanding of parasite biology and the tools utilized to study parasites in the lab. 

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

How does this goal fit into my career journey or prepare me for the future?

I want to contribute as much as possible to my internship site, but to do this, I need to learn about parasite biology and the research being conducted. As of right now, I am leaning towards specializing in microbiology or infectious diseases in graduate school. I am particularly interested in the microbial world, more specifically, I am interested in learning about how microorganisms cause disease and how effective treatments are developed. As a research intern at the Absalon lab, I will be able to explore some of the work being done within this field. 

Progress Update

Throughout the internship, I have spent time reading articles and research papers about malaria and Plasmodium parasites. Now, I feel more knowledgeable about this area of research. 

Career and Academic Goals

Career Goals

In the future, I plan to pursue a career as a research scientist at a federal medical research agency. I am particularly interested in conducting infectious disease research to further advance scientific knowledge of pathogens and develop treatments for such diseases. I am sure that I want to pursue this career because of my interest of the field and passion for science. 



Update

I plan to spend some time exploring other careers in public health, epidemiology, and infectious diseases. Through this internship, I learned that I do enjoy working in a lab and learning about infectious disease research. However, I am intrigued by the field as a whole and cannot see myself working in one narrow area of research. In a PhD program, I would focus on one specific area of research, so I am considering other options. 

Academic Goals

After completing my undergraduate studies, my goal is to enroll in a Biomedical Sciences PhD program. As of right now, I plan to specialize in infectious diseases or microbiology because of my great interest in infectious disease epidemiology. Graduate school is required for the career I want to pursue. Nevertheless, infectious disease biology fascinates me and I am always looking forward to learn more about it. Pursuing higher education will bring me closer to accomplishing my career goals. 

Update

As of right now, I do not know what path I will be taking. I do want to pursue graduate education and will be looking into MPH programs. This degree would allow me to work in a broader field. On the contrary, if I pursue a PhD, I would be working in a very specific field of research. 

Summer and Senior Year

This summer I will be conducting research at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. I will be studying Culex spp., the mosquitos that transmit West Nile Virus. Although I am not sure if I want to pursue a PhD in the future, I am still looking forward to this experience because it is related to infectious diseases. 

As for my senior year, I plan to apply to internships that are related to bioinformatics or public health. I want to do something more related to my degree to see if I want to explore career options in this area instead. 

Learning

I am feeling confident with my integration and application skills thus far. At my internship site, I have applied previously understood information, concepts, experiences, qualitative and quantitative techniques to new situations or settings. My past and current coursework, especially in biology, has enhanced my understanding of the work we do in the lab. Having some background knowledge of the biological processes has helped me understand how experiments work at the molecular level. At the same time, the work at my internship site connects to what I am learning in my courses, like Genetics. I also feel confident in my ability to take on tasks and ask for help when needed. I enjoy asking questions because I believe they help me understand concepts on a deeper level. 

The one area I would like to work on is independence. When it comes to carrying out procedures, I am able to do so after some practice and training. However, I am slower when it comes to setting up the experiments. For example, calculations need to be done for procedures like DNA cloning and growing bacterial cultures. The calculations are used to identify how much of a solution or reagent should be used. This skill will improve as I gain more practice and exposure. I can also take some time to review all the calculations done at the end of each week. 

Update

Skills: Communication and Teamwork

I feel more confident in my ability to communicate findings in a scientific manner. Reading articles and papers related to our malaria parasites really helped me understand the research we are doing. In the lab, I take on different tasks to help make progress with our research. It really is a team-based environment, which I have enjoyed and hope to have in my career in the future. 

Skill: Internship and Professional Goals

I would like to take more time revising my career plans. My end goal of working in the public health field still remains the same. However, I need to spend some time exploring other options outside of research. In addition, I need to reconsider my academic goals. A PhD program does not align with what I want in terms of work-life balance. I am sure that I want to advance my education, but I should decide if that means pursuing an MPH of MS in Bioinformatics.