Retrospective Reflection

As an honors undergraduate student majoring in both computer science and psychology, a prospective scientist, and a veteran, I am proud of the emerging professional I have become with the help of Indiana University Indianapolis and the Honors College. I define myself as a driven and multidisciplinary emerging professional who is fervent about contributing to my community through science. My academic and honors journey has been forged by my rigorous coursework, intensive research, and ambitious work ethic constructed during my military service. More specifically, my junior and senior years have been uniquely shaped by the honors experiences I was involved with throughout my time at Indiana University Indianapolis. Three critical ways that my honors experiences have molded my abilities to succeed as a prospective scientist include fostering a multidisciplinary outlook in science, encouraging me to think abstractly when approaching problems, and promoting involvement inside the Indiana University Indianapolis community.

I started my academic journey after leaving the military, where I served four years as a paratrooper. To bridge the gap between soldier and civilian life, I joined the National Guard, where I served for my first three years of college, as seen in my National Guard Artifact in my Showcase 3 Artifact section. My first step to devoting myself to my found passion for academia was joining the Honors College.

During my first honors experience (H200), I was making my final transition out of the military to dedicate myself to my future in academics. Reflecting on my experiences in H200 and my journey map artifact, I feel I accomplished many of the visions that Honors College has for its students, which I was so eager to encompass. I wanted so badly to achieve academic excellence and hold myself to the high standard of what I envision a scholar to embody. It is a satisfying feeling reflecting to my original “I want to become” statement in my Showcase Artifact 1 page because I held true to so many of my core goals especially in the context of pursuing a PhD, contributing positivity to my community, and my passion for the outdoors outside of my academic and professional goals. Showcase Artifact 1 demonstrates my ability to stand fast and stay focused on my long-term goals both professionally and personally to academic faculty members, students I have developed networking relationships with, and future employers.

In addition to academic excellence, the Honors College places a high priority on engaged learning experiences. These experiences have molded my key academic and professional attributes, including my problem-solving abilities. Both computer science and psychology require abstract thinking to solve problems, and the opportunities that I had in the form of honors contracts were formative in synthesizing my abstract thinking skills. For example, I created a program capable of performing complex calculus computations such as derivatives and Reimann Sum computations in the form of an honors contract for Professor Doan Le. This is showcased in my Showcase Artifact 2 page, which goes into detail about this project. This honors experience provided me with an opportunity to use my computer science skills in a calculus course, enabling me to take a multidisciplinary approach to complex computations, thus contributing to the construction of the interdisciplinary outlook I have on science. In addition to this program that I created for calculus, I created a program for an honors contract for Dr. Kevin Rand in Theories of Personality, capable of administering a survey to evaluate students' individual alignments with specific Theories of Personality. This was another unique honors experience that helped me fine-tune my interdisciplinary approach to science and my passion for integrating technology into psychology.

Research has also been a pillar in my undergraduate journey both inside and outside of the Honors College. My honors experiences inside of the domain of research have been nothing short of spectacular. HON-H398 provided me with a way to earn honors credits for the research I was conducting in Dr. Stephen Boehm’s Lab in addiction and alcohol use. The first artifact in my Showcase Artifact 3 page shows a foundation of research skills and experiences that began a strenuous and rewarding path of gaining the research experience I needed to get accepted into a PhD program. HON-H398 allowed me to simultaneously earn credits towards my honors fulfillment and gain crucial research hours I needed in the Boehm Lab. The Honors College places a heavy emphasis on undergraduate research, which has been the most influential part of my undergraduate career. My second artifact in my Showcase Artifact 3 page demonstrates a culmination of undergraduate experiences to a finale. The independent research I have conducted and am still currently conducting is putting all my undergraduate research puzzle pieces together into a polished showcase of my research toolkit. The timeline between my HON-H398 pilot study (Showcase Artifact 3 page) and my PSYB-499 independent research experiment (Showcase Artifact 3 page) demonstrates my growth as a researcher and prospective scientist.

The artifacts displayed through my ePortfolio demonstrate how I have grown as a scholar and researcher inside and outside of the Honors College. My perspectives on problem solving and how science affects the world around me have evolved from mere speculation to a profound passion to contribute to something larger than myself. Honors contracts I completed for Professor Doan Le and Dr. Kevin Rand, HON-H398, and independent research I have conducted with the help of my lab mentor, Dr. Stehpen Boehm, have prepared me for my next step in academia. I have accepted an offer to a PhD program and will be continuing my scientific journey in graduate school with a toolkit provided to me by my experiences at Indiana University Indianapolis.

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