Communication & Engaging in Argument

We were fortunate to work with two mentors for the duration of our STEM Capstone project.

Professor Judith Klein-Seetharaman

Source: Colorado School of Mines

Professor Klein-Seetharaman is an Associate Chemistry Professor at the Colorado School of Mines and was instrumental in guiding us through our project. With her help, we developed an interesting and specific research question to investigate. She helped us understand many different molecular concepts about enzymes and kinase proteins, and taught us how to use several different databases to gather our results, including the RCSB Protein Databank, UniProt, and PONDR. She provided feedback on our project slides for the DMRSEF and CSEF and helped us prepare an in-depth, college-level presentation. We are incredibly grateful for her guidance.

Dr. Lokender Kumar

Source: Colorado School of Mines

Dr. Lokender Kumar is a Research Assistant Professor in the Colorado School of Mines's Physics Department. He taught us about the process of gene optimization and instructed us throughout our experimental trials with the HEK-293 and MCF-7 cell lines. Under his supervision, we learned how to conduct SDS-PAGE and Western Blotting procedures in a research lab. Once we shifted to a computational approach, he further taught us how to use PyMOL software, which was a significant source for our computational results. He taught us many important skills which we will certainly use if we conduct future research on proteins and cell lines.

Science Fair Presentations

To qualify for our STEM Capstone Endorsement, Kevin and I were required to publicly present our project's findings in some form, so in February 2021 we took part in the Denver Metro Regional Science and Engineering Fair (DMRSEF). The fair included presentations from Middle and High Schoolers all throughout Denver and its surrounding communities. The presentations would then be evaluated by a set of judges for its effective portrayal of the scientific method. Due to COVID-19 regulations, the fair was operated in an entirely virtual manner this year, with judging interviews conducted over Zoom and other virtual platforms.

I had never participated in a Science Fair before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Kevin and I prepared the project presentation featured on the home page of this website, according to the DMRSEF regulations. With our mentors' feedback, we designed the presentation to be as professional as possible, yet visually pleasing to viewers. A short project intro video was also submitted via Youtube for our judges to view as they looked over our project presentation.

We practiced long and hard to prepare for the interviews, in which we would be asked questions about our project who had previewed our slideshow, rather than present it directly to them. Since we didn't know what questions we might be asked, we created a list of all possible questions and wrote out the answers in preparation. Then, we split up the list of questions so that each of us would be able to answer certain questions. This way, we could ensure that the interviews would run smoothly without us wondering who would answer each question as they were asked. We also prepared a short re-cap of our research project and our conclusions for the beginning of each interview.

Our DMRSEF interview went very well, and we ended up winning 2nd Place in the Senior Biological Sciences category!

Due to our placement at the DMRSEF, we were nominated to continue on to the prestigious Colorado Science and Engineering Fair (CSEF), which would take place in early April of 2021. We made a few modifications to our project presentation based on mentor feedback, and we wrote our official project abstract posted on the home page of this website.

After another round of interviews, Kevin and I learned that we received an Honorable Mention in the Senior Biochemistry & Chemistry category at the CSEF! We also won first place in a special award offered by the American Chemical Society.

Overall, I learned a lot of valuable skills from this experience, including how to prepare a professional research presentation and how to collaborate with other students and mentors throughout the STEM Capstone project. Because of COVID-19, I had to learn to communicate effectively through virtual means since in-person meetings were not always possible. I am incredibly thankful for all that I learned through this project about how to conduct real college-level research and communicate scientific findings. It was an amazing experience!

Works Cited

"Judith Klein-Seetharaman." Colorado School of Mines, https://chemistry.mines.edu/project/klein-seetharaman-judith/.

"Lokender Kumar." Colorado School of Mines, https://physics.mines.edu/project/kumar-lokender/.

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