As far as getting the position, it really came down to networking with my professors and asking them for advice. I was really intimidated/confused at the end of sophomore year on how to look for summer opportunities, and Dr. Dunlap/ Dr. Hinds were both really helpful with calming my nerves and giving me guidance. Dr. Dunlap kept me in mind knowing that I was looking for opportunities and forwarded some info about the position after Dr. White (a SMC alum) reached out to him looking for undergrads. From there, it was very simple- I just had to prepare for a zoom interview. I wasn’t asked to provide a transcript or resume so I’m assuming someone in the science dept. wrote me a very nice recommendation?? Shoutout to whoever that was because this position was amazing.

Over a total of 11 weeks, I had to learn everything I needed to know about the specific project I was assigned and be ready to present to the lab what I had been helping out with by the end of my time there. The first two weeks were heavy on background reading/note taking and learning/shadowing on all the lab procedures I needed to know how to do on my own. From there, I worked with my mentor to set a weekly work routine that contributed to whatever was needed for his project, whether that be culturing cells every other day or running gels and assays with our plate reader/imager. I attended weekly lab meetings and bi-weekly subgroup meetings where we discussed new data, gave feedback on labmates’ papers/presentations, etc. This was a full time position (9-5, M-F).

As far as finding an opportunity, I reached out to Dr. Rowsell directly during spring of my freshman year and I got started directly in my sophomore fall semester. Dr. Rowsell was very happy to have students to want to participate in research. Most professors do, and all you have to do is ask! 

My responsibilities were to develop DNA replication primers for my specific gene FGF3. Additionally, I was responsible for running the gel electrophoresis experiments to determine if my gene was present or not in early embryonic neurons. 

I applied for my program just on the MGCB University of Chicago website in the beginning of the year.  I found this REU from the NSF website which has a long list of all of the REU’s going on for that year.  I explored several of them and applied to about three, University of Chicago being one of them.

I had several responsibilities, but this will vary on the program you are in, the kind of project that you are working on, and your mentor.  I was partnering with my mentor and we worked on a project together so expectations were much higher than my peers since he wanted to publish this data.  I was in the lab everyday for at least 8 hours, and sometimes on the weekends.  I had presentations almost weekly and I had to report to my mentor and my PI weekly.  I took care of my own fly lines, I crossed them, dissected them, stained, mounted, imaged, and many more things.  By the time I finished we had enough data to publish which was a lot of work, time, and responsibility. Again, this varies as I had peers who had much more “chill” projects. 

I applied for my program just on the MGCB University of Chicago website in the beginning of the year.  I found this REU from the NSF website which has a long list of all of the REU’s going on for that year.  I explored several of them and applied to about three, University of Chicago being one of them.

I had several responsibilities, but this will vary on the program you are in, the kind of project that you are working on, and your mentor.  I was partnering with my mentor and we worked on a project together so expectations were much higher than my peers since he wanted to publish this data.  I was in the lab everyday for at least 8 hours, and sometimes on the weekends.  I had presentations almost weekly and I had to report to my mentor and my PI weekly.  I took care of my own fly lines, I crossed them, dissected them, stained, mounted, imaged, and many more things.  By the time I finished we had enough data to publish which was a lot of work, time, and responsibility. Again, this varies as I had peers who had much more “chill” projects.