Great Expectations

When I first read that I had been accepted to the Howard Hughes program for the summer, I was immediately nervous and incredibly excited to see what the summer would hold. After talking with an alumni of the program, I realized what a great opportunity I had been given to look into the lives of researchers here at Duke. Since I have never worked in a lab before this summer, I was very nervous because I had absolutely no idea what I would be doing or what I would be in charge of at the lab. However, now that I have settled in at my lab, I have calmed my nerves enough to see how beneficial this program will be.

Through this program, I hope to gain a better understanding of what life is truly like as a professional researcher. Seeing the day-to-day lives of the people that work in my lab and hearing their backstories and the years that they have dedicated to their education and the work that they are currently doing has shown me that the life of a researcher is not necessarily an easy one, but if you are passionate about your research topic it can be very rewarding. In addition, I hope to use this program to develop strong relationships with the people in my lab. After this summer, I might decide to continue working for Dr. Patek or maybe I will try to work with one of the faculty speakers that spark my interest. Either way, it never hurts to have a friendly face who is a well-regarded faculty member of the department that I am interested in studying. However, the main goal that I have for this summer is to definitively decide if research is a career path that I am seriously interested in pursuing.

On another note, the lab that I am working in this summer is Dr. Sheila Patek’s lab. We are located in the Biological Sciences building, and whenever I need a brief break from data analysis I love walking up and down the halls of the building and looking at all of the different biology or evolutionary anthropology labs that are housed within the building. Here’s a picture of the main area of the lab that I work in!

This is the Instron, a materials testing machine, which we can use to examine the mechanical properties of the exoskeletons of mantis shrimp.

This is the Instron, a materials testing machine, which we can use to examine the mechanical properties of the exoskeletons of mantis shrimp.

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