About Me
Why Neuroscience?
As a senior at IUPUI, I am currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in neuroscience. I also have an Associate of Science degree in psychology from Ivy Tech Community College. I chose the path of exploring the brain and its root in behavior after first contemplating degrees that led up to it.
I first began with forensic psychology; however, the association to criminal behavior was not very interesting to me, so I decided to solely pursue psychology. Although I do currently have a degree in psychology and am still very much interested in how the mind works, I did not necessarily want to become a psychologist or counselor. Instead, I found lab work and scientific, hands-on endeavors more fascinating, so I decided to pursue neuroscience.
The experiences that lead up to this included quite a bit of late-night career researching as well as a day-long high school job shadow at the IU Neuroscience Center. The late-night career searching showed me what kinds of careers I could have with different degrees, and the job shadow taught me that although I enjoyed learning about the brain, I did not necessarily want to become a doctor/neurologist. The late-night researching as well as the brief job shadow led me to want to explore more lab-based experiences.
My Experiences: Volunteering
Strand Theatre
During my time at Ivy Tech, I volunteered for ten hours a semester, and since I took three semesters, that added up to thirty volunteer hours! I volunteered at several different places, but one place stuck out in particular to me: Strand Theatre in Shelbyville, IN. I worked the concessions and swept/took out the trash after each film or show. This volunteer experience allowed me to make great relationships with the community and long-time inhabitants of Shelbyville. It also allowed me to enjoy films from a wide variety of time periods as well as meet small-time bands and comedians.
Addiction Neuroscience Lab
During my time at IUPUI, I volunteered in the Addiction Neuroscience lab of Dr. Marian Logrip for almost a year, August 2020 to May 2021. I cleaned out rat experiment enclosures and handled rats to take them in or out of the enclosures. I also read the research papers pertaining to the experiments that Dr. Logrip was conducting as well as did some behavioral scoring with videos of the rats. It further pushed me to continue with pursuing experience in the neuroscience field, and it directly influenced my internship goals by driving me to want to be able to understand and communicate research as well as be a respectable lab assistant. This volunteer experience taught me how to carry out tasks with a team member in the most efficient way possible since we would tackle various parts of our duties in order to get them done quickly but thoroughly. It also opened the door to understanding the inner workings, and sometimes the undesirable aspects, of conducting experiments.
My Experiences: Work
American Rodent Supply (ARS)
From May 2020 to August 2021, I worked at American Rodent Supply (ARS), a company that supplies frozen rodents to owners of reptiles and other various pets and supplies rodent/reptile racks. Working alongside only about ten to fifteen people, I packed rodent/reptile racks in the warehouse, cleaned, and helped with other various tasks where I was needed, including packing partial racks and occasionally helping pack frozen rodents. This was one of my favorite jobs that I have had so far due to the work being relatively easy to understand but also physically demanding, and the team of people I worked alongside were very easy to get along with and fun to be around. This job experience taught me how to ask for help as well as help others with challenging tasks, and it gave me cooperation and organizational skills. This experience also influenced me to create the goal of being able to balance work and school better.
My Experiences: Other
IU School of Dentistry Research Day
During my time at my internship, I participated in the IU School of Dentistry's Research Day program where I created a poster for my project (presented on the My Internship page) and communicated the background, methods, results, and discussion of the project. This experience taught me so much about my project and was the turning point where everything about it started to "click." During the creation of the poster, I learned why I was doing the work I was doing which made me even more excited about it every time I arrived.