BSURF has been a great summer experience for me. Prior to this program, I didn’t really have a substantial research experience and didn’t know exactly what it was like to go to lab every day and do experiments to answer scientific questions. I knew I wanted to become a scientist, but I didn’t know what was expecting me. Thanks to BSURF, I have a much better understanding of what the life of a researcher is like.
At the beginning, Dr. Grunwald told us that there are 4 fundamental components of science: Asking thought-provoking questions regarding the direction of research, doing craftwork (techniques, designing experiments) , communicating the work (poster presentations, chalk talks) and lastly doing all this under the frame of work ethics. After 8 weeks of being involved with all of these components, I can easily say that I have progressed significantly in these areas. I asked a lot of questions to my mentor about our project, I learned many great basic craftworks such as doing PCRs, running western blots, doing transfections and so on. I communicated my work by giving a chalk talk to my fellow BSURFers and presenting my poster. Lastly, I learned more about scientific integrity and research misconduct to make sure that I was doing everything in the right way.
Overall, I had a great time with all the enjoyable and informing seminars, daily lab work, and sharing my experiences with my peers. I thank the Trinity College for funding, Dr. Ron Grunwald and Jason for planning this great program, Dr. Chay Kuo and Dr. Khadar Abdi for their mentorship with my research, the faculty members who all gave great talks and my peers for the great time we spent together. I wish you all a great summer and hope we keep in touch in the future.
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