My REU Experience
Nicci Vyea R. Casenas
Welcome to my personal blog which captures every moment of my experience in an REU Data Mining Research at George Mason University during the term Summer 2019!
I'm currently a Senior student and an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant (UTA) in Computer Science at George Mason University. I strongly believe that knowledge is meant to be taught and shared, and thus I enjoy helping other students learn new ideas and concepts on a daily basis. I have always loved solving puzzles since I was young, and that pretty much brought me into the world of Computer Science.
Traveling is my favorite getaway from academics or University in general. Booking a flight to 'anywhere' whenever the semester ends has become a dangerous habit of mine.
This Data Mining project stands out as a point of interest for me because I believe it is important to learn how to create programs that can analyze vast quantities of data and use it to form statistics and patterns to improve services to better suit users in the future.
What is research to me?
Technology is constantly evolving and new ideas are being thought up every year, making advancement unavoidable. It has become an essential part of society, in terms of convenience and reliability. People rely on innovation to create new products, methods, and services that help provide convenience to the community as a whole.
To me, research is an essential part of innovation because not only does it help discover new ideas, but it also provides a ground for future innovation. Throughout the implementation process of a research project in which I am part of, I always think about what I would ought to do to make my research as meaningful as possible to its readers. I personally believe that my publications would make a great source and impact to future innovators, and that knowledge and inspiration should also be found within.
Similar to software development projects, research projects usually require a certain number of people working together. Dividing the work into smaller teams helps decrease workload as it also helps increase time efficiency. I believe people skills and team effort plays a huge role in a research project. Having good team development and people skills ensures that you and your team will have an effective support system throughout the whole research process.
Furthermore, great motivation and team development skills will definitely bring you to a smooth process in producing an intellectually meaningful research paper. As long as you believe in these aspects that provide a backbone in your research process, all great things such as hard work will come within.