The chalk talks I, along with my fellows, was able to hear were definitely intriguing in different ways. Some talks were really great at explaining in simple terms the nature of their project, while others were really identifiable for me in content that I understood specifically and could relate to my project. Despite my interest in all of the talks, one of the talks that stood out to me interest-wise was that which was given by Ricardo. Since I also found myself very interested in the talk given by Raj about advancing the capabilities and design of electrodes, I think my interest in these may have been based in some of the electric engineering I studied in high school.
Anyhow, Ricardo’s research question was “What is the relationship between lag times of unimanual vs bimanual tests?” I liked that Ricardo’s work dealt with a broad range of biological specificities, from the tiny scale of signaling between neurons in the brain and the engineering complications of monitoring that, to the broad area of study that is interested in providing body function to individuals who have lost it. Also on a not as formal note I just thought it was really cool that Ricardo’s research was dealing with monkeys, which are a deal more complex/intelligent than other model test subjects that we are all using (I mean I’m using plants!). Lastly Ricardo did a good job in explaining his project in terms that were easy to understand, even the complex side of it, such as the data modeling.
These talks were a really great preview for the poster session that we will have, and they made me quite excited to see some of the results that people will come up with and excited about the opportunity to just look more into methodologies and background of the many projects that I found especially interesting.
