research

Mastering any skill takes practice.  As I continue to learn new things this summer, I have been thinking about how practice actually affects the inner workings of our brain and behavior.

In our latest seminar class, we were introduced to the book Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool where the authors discuss how there is power in purposeful practice.  Repetition and effort are definitely key ingredients as we strive to improve our research skills, but pairing those along with deliberate practice can help us progress even more.

Two of the points from the book that resonated with me are that deliberate practice requires full attention, and it requires feedback.

We have to be engaged with our work. 

If a basketball player practices shooting hoops for hours but doesn’t think about his shooting form, it will be very difficult for him to improve. The same concept can be applied to our work in the labs.  On the surface level, lab protocols may appear to be repetitive because there are many fundamental parts to it–passaging cells, counting cells, preparing well plates, etc. However, that is far from reality as the environment is filled with exciting scientific puzzles waiting for us to research and solve. I have an opportunity to work in lab each day and observe patterns, record results, and think about new methods to improve the experiment. The second point mentions how the best improvements are made when feedback is involved. This is highly applicable to my research experience here this summer. I am very grateful for my mentor, Susy, as she has taught me numerous aspects about researching and working with cells, guiding me throughout this entire learning process.

Practicing with a purposeful mentality will lead us toward improvement over time. We don’t have to come into research with a considerable amount of subject expertise, but with an optimistic mindset and working smart to achieve a high standard, we can further enhance our research experiences. As we enter into our seventh week of research, my friends and I are nearing the final stretch, and I know we will make the most of it!

The cancer research field is so complex, but with deliberate practice, I believe that we can continue learning more about the disease and potential methods to prevent and treat it in the future.

-Jaime Chen, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

During one of our first meetings of the summer, we were asked by our program supervisor to explain the differences between school and work, and to decide which of the two this REU fell under. We get paid, which feels like work, but we are also here to learn, which almost makes it seem as if we never left college for summer vacation. This program cannot be constrained to either school or work entirely, and I don’t believe that any of our future careers will be so easily classified either.

As researchers, it is in our job description to learn, and that is what this summer is about.

UT Austin is home to many summer research opportunities, one of which is the LIVESTRONG Cancer Institute Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) in the Dell Medical School, and runs nearly the same timeline as our own program. Over the past week and a half, we have attended three of their cancer lectures, where we have learned about experimental models, clinical trials, and cancer imaging. Each lecture, though early in the morning, was entertaining, interactive, and taught us something new about a different aspect of cancer. It is refreshing to see how these lecturers, all adults and well established in their field, are constantly trying to learn new things and see the world from different perspectives. Though the content itself is complex, each lecturer is able to explain their research in a professional, yet understandable fashion. Similarly, as each of us become more comfortable in our own lab, we are better able to explain our work to each other.

Science is most useful when it can be shared, and I am hopeful that the communication skills we learn here, both by presenting to each other and listening to lectures, will enable us to make sure science is more readily accessible to all.

-Maggie Cook, Arizona State University