Career Readiness Reflection

Throughout this project, we have learned to develop our critical thinking skills. In relation to research specifically, we have gained hands-on experience with the operations of designing, conducting, and analyzing an experiment. We have also worked to integrate any previous experiences and individual strengths to make a cohesive project. Throughout this experiment's timeline, we have had to solve problems and learn from any mistakes during the learning process. 

Our communication skills have also been developed. We have worked on expressing our ideas to fellow members in the lab to get feedback, as well as making our experiment understandable and engaging to a general audience. Furthermore, working towards presenting this project at the Undergraduate Research Forum has allowed us to focus on big picture concepts and how that relates to each facet of our study. This has provided a better understanding of scientific communication as a whole. 

We have additionally worked on our professionalism skills as a result of this experience.  We have learned to prioritize tasks and create timelines to stay on task and meet research goals. Moreover, dividing tasks, being dependable for our responsibilities, and remaining transparent about our capabilities and limits has allowed us to effectively manage our time and resources. Our passion in the project has also given us a sense of dedication and attention to detail we hope to be able to extend to our future careers.

Teamwork is another skill we have refined throughout this project. Since this is a group project, we have learned to collaborate with one another. From introductory literature research, to bouncing ideas off of one another, to dividing experimental and data analysis tasks, we have successfully learned to work with each other throughout the past two semesters. Additionally, we have learned to take advice and constructive criticism from our supervisor and fellow labmates to further hone our skills and make our project the best that it can be.

- Hope and Caleigh