July 29, 2019, Filed Under: 2019, graduate school, learning, researchImportance of good communication from scientists Dr. Thomas Lindsay recently spoke to us about the important relationship scientists have with their audiences and made the connection easy to visualize via a triangular diagram in which each connection between speaker, audience, and subject are all intimately related but do not necessarily share equal weight. It is never the audience’s fault for misunderstanding the message being relayed, so scientists are encouraged to adjust their communication channels for different groups. For example, in order to fully understand the topic being discussed, an audience full of businessmen might require different terminology or visuals than that of scientists from a similar field of interest. This seminar came at a perfect time for us since we are preparing to present both oral and written versions of our research to different groups of people. Since the audiences will differ from our poster sessions to our written abstract submissions, it is important for us to begin thinking of how we might adjust our communication channels. This can range from limiting the amount of technical terminology used or including carefully labelled visuals that can be easily understood by anyone. The process of writing our abstracts began during this seminar with a peer review. This eased a lot of nerves since we are all comfortable with each other, but still gave us a space to gather constructive feedback on our early drafts. We each made sure that specific questions were answered in each portion of the abstract and things were written in a clear, yet concise manner. Though we didn’t get a chance to do another verbal practice run of our presentations, Dr. Lindsay still covered how to most effectively grab the audience’s attention, keep them engaged by presenting the practical application up front, and help the audience visualize the need and benefits for the solution to the topic of discussion. A look into a poster presentation done by another undergraduate in my lab We are only days away from submitting and presenting our research from this summer, which is mind blowing because these 10 weeks have flown by. However, with the help of Dr. Lindsay, our graduate mentors, and program coordinators, we are more than prepared (and excited!). These communication skills will follow us for our entire career as scientists, and we have an opportunity to exercise them early on. -Jessica Heard, Auburn University
July 26, 2018, Filed Under: 2018, graduate school, learning, reflectionsGraduate School Hi, my name is Donovan Moses, a rising sophomore studying materials science and engineering at Penn State University. Participating in this research experience here at UT Austin has made me think about what I actually want to do in the future and graduate school is definitely an option on the list. My thoughts about graduate school and research started out as two very separate categories. I always thought that in graduate school I would have to take classes and it was just be an extension of what I’m doing in my undergraduate career. Research was just something extra that could be done on the side and maybe I didn’t even have to worry about it. This summer I learned how intertwined graduate school and research are and this made going to graduate school much more appealing to me. Photo of mouse brain vasculature; one of the challenges of the summer is to remove noisy data from the image through processing in MATLAB Over the summer I got to experience the everyday activities of a graduate student. I come in everyday and I might not have a set schedule for the day but there is a problem to solve and my job is to figure out how to solve it. I enjoy this type of work because it feels like I’m making a significant impact on difficult and relevant problems everyday. This REU has helped me realize that I want to go to graduate school so that I can change the world through my work. -Donovan Moses, Penn State University
June 24, 2016, Filed Under: 2016, graduate school, reflections, researchConsidering Research as a Career Photo by Hannah Horng at the pedestrian footbridge across Lady Bird Lake I’ve never been one to think particularly far ahead into the future—the idea that I don’t know who or where I am going to be in a couple years terrifies me. That’s why I’ve often avoided thinking too much about the details of graduate school, namely where I want to go or what I want to study. I’ve focused more on what I do know for sure—that I want my future career to be centered around biological research, and to do research at a higher level I need to go to graduate school. To that end I’ve tried to center my college experience around widening my horizons and learning about all the possibilities and applications that the world of bioengineering has to offer in hopes of finally finding a subject that I’m passionate about. This REU has challenged me to work in optics, a field that I know next to nothing about. I’ve never taken a microscopy class and I’ve never operated anything more complicated than your average fluorescence microscope. The past three weeks have been a crash course of protocols and concepts that I’ve never seen before, and in the process I’ve learned valuable lessons about research as a career path. The primary lesson is that there are a multitude of different ways to approach a problem, and hence many ways to research it. Finding a field that I’m passionate about is not as easy as interning in one lab and letting that determine my entire problem solving approach. Over the course of the summer I’ve opened my eyes to a new method of diagnosing cancer and assessing the mechanisms of cancer treatments (through single particle trajectories). Cancer is the common enemy, and there’s more than one way to wage war on it. Coming to Austin has shown me that there’s a wider world out there, in both the research sense and the literal sense. We’re still rising sophomores, so we still have time left to explore more opportunities before we apply to graduate school programs. Here’s to hoping that we find our callings in the next couple years, and complete part of that journey this summer. -Hannah Horng, Univ of Maryland, College Park
