Like I said in the week 7 blog, the last 3 weeks of the program, I was working 10-14 hour days and working on the weekend and I fell behind on the last two weeks of blogging. Not complaining; I loved the work. Just wanted to give an explanation. Now that I’m home, I finally had the time to finish them up. This is week 8.
Being a part of the Howard Hughes Research has been one of the most valuable experiences I’ve had at Duke so far. I did Science Olympiad in high school, but I’ve never worked in a lab before. I felt from the classes I’ve taken at Duke that I wanted to pursue science, but I still had my doubts because I didn’t have any lab experience. Howard Hughes let me know for sure that I enjoyed not only studying science, but doing science.
Furthermore, I was able to realize in what capacity I would like to continue studying science. After spending time in lab and lab meetings with grad students, post docs, and my mentor, Nick, I am confident I would like to go to graduate school. Learning about the grad school application process and the social dynamics involved in scientific research and the laboratory greatly strengthened my resolve.
Being able to be in charge of my own research project was in a way a double edged sword. On one hand, the independence I was given allowed me to be more creative and adventurous in my ideas then if I had been working for a graduate student. On the other hand, I faced a larger learning curve by working independently. But in the end, I couldn’t be happier with the way things turned out. Being almost entirely responsible for the success of my project made the stakes so high that I learned much quicker and worked much harder than I ever could have if I had been placed in a more relaxed environment.
As I have worked this summer, I feel I have found two different ways to look at science. The first way is that the goal of science is to find answers to questions so that we can come closer to the truth of what the universe really is. Thinking about it like that, I feel that the search for truth has a beautiful intrinsic value and scientific research needs no further justification than that. The other way I found to view science is as a means to help humanity solve problems and create better solutions. Thinking of it this way, the value of scientific research can be measured by how big of a problem that research has the potential to solve. Currently, I am trying to figure out to what extent I am driven by each of these viewpoints on science because I think in the future it will help determine which projects are the best fit for me and what the best methods are for me to approach those projects. I still haven’t figured myself out, but I’m enjoying myself in the process. I’ve realized that if I think something is fascinating, I want to learn about it for that reason in itself regardless of the direct application of it. However, I’ve also realized that my fascination with scientific ideas is influenced by how powerful of an affect I believe that idea can have on the world. So, I think I seek truth, and that truth is even more beautiful to me when I believe I can use it to touch, interact with, and change the world.
I’d like to thank Duke, the Howard Hughes Research Fellowship, Dr. G, KP, Nick, Mert, and TJ for making my summer as great as it was.
And here are the very last science memes of the summer:
