The faculty seminars were always brimming with new information, and not just on the speakers’ fields. Each offered advice to us as young scientists. The multitude of career paths by the faculty demonstrated the unpredictability of the future and helped to limit one of my greatest fears, wasting time working on a path that I will never follow to the end. Every talk reinforced the heterogeneity of the people who practice science, the types of research performed, and the methods used to answer questions.
The work in the lab itself was tremendously educational. I learned so many techniques from the ground-up. I gained easy skills that are necessary for basic biology, and others that are very unique for this project and require a lot of dexterity and practice. The work in the lab also made me realize how much work beyond the experiments is performed. Time spent on planning how a test should be run, adapting on the fly, and organizing the materials needed was just as critical to understanding how science is performed as actually doing experiments.
I wish I could say I have a definitive career path after performing research. I have enjoyed my time immensely and do plan to continue research in biology. However, I haven’t yet caught the ‘research bug’ and I still want to participate in other opportunities in similar disciplines. This mirrors the advice of what a lot of speakers pointed to. Experiment with experiences. Look for that potential path. Regardless of my path in the future, I am confident that my research experiences this summer, and in the future, will be extremely impactful on my ways of thinking.
Thank you so much to everyone who organized BSURF, especially Dr. G and Jason. Also, thank you to my lab mentor, Marguerita Klein, for having the patience to teach me so much, and to my P.I, Dr. Bohórquez, for allowing me to participate in a great lab. Finally, thank you to my peers for a great eight weeks and I hope to meet with you all again during the year.
