Hello, everyone! My name is Rena, and I am so thrilled and honored to be part of BSURF.
The main reason I applied to BSURF was for the exploration component of the program. There are so many opportunities at Duke, and I want to take advantage of them all before deciding any specific pathway and career. I feel like there is no better time to explore than the present, and I feel strongly that BSURF is a step in the right direction for getting my foot in the door and also learning more about new subjects.
I am in an ecosystem and ecotoxicology lab, working heavily with aquatic insects. In just my first week, I have already learned how to identify macroinvertebrates (though I will need to put this into more practice), became an engineer (sort of) with a structure I built with my mentor for subsampling insects, and all about the watersheds around our area and how we can study their different components. And there are still seven more weeks in the program to do more field work and get more experience in dichotomous classification of aquatic macroinvertebrates.
As you can see, I am already learning so much, and this access to and exploration of new knowledge is really what I hope to gain from BSURF – this is what research is to me! Moreover, I have already had so much fun through this program: getting to visit Dr. Grunwald’s house and going to the farmer’s market, and much more to come.
So, all in all, I am looking forward to learning and having fun while I am doing it. I greatly appreciate the opportunity the BSURF gives me for summer research and exploration in that regard.
(Also, if you feel so inclined, look up caddisfly larvae. Their faces are so cute, and some build little houses for themselves!)
