It’s odd to be writing my final blog entry outside of Charleston, Oregon. It makes me feel sad knowing that a chapter in my life has officially ended, but also hopeful of what is coming next. I think some of my biggest hopes for the program were that it would help refine my interests and better my academic trajectory. Coming from community college, research opportunities were few and even more scarce were labs able to provide prospective students with meaningful and rewarding opportunities. Without a shred of doubt, I can say that the OIMB REU Exploration of Marine Biology on the Oregon Coast (EMBOC) program has been the most transformative experience of my life. Talking to several people throughout the program and even sending out some late-night emails, I realize that none of us truly know where we will end up in life. That being said, I believe that this program set me up to reach newer heights that I would not have been able to reach on my own. I am reminded of Robert F. Smith’s, “Bus No. 13,” speech and how he viewed the bus program as a vector of his success because it allowed him to leave his impoverished community to attend schools in a more affluent one that were well-equipped to educate its students. It may be a little early to say, but I believe that I will see the impacts of this program for years to come. I have matured and gained a plethora of knowledge and skills in just 9 weeks. This has been my bus, or ship, that has taken me much farther in life than I would ever reached on my own. When my parents first came to this country, they did not have the fortune of knowing English or being able to go to school. They lived a hardworking lifestyle, and that strong work ethic was transcended into my siblings and I. Unfortunately, they could not offer me much to better prepare my educational experience. I also came from an area of poorly funded schools and I feel as if though I also slipped through the cracks. Community college offered me a way to better prepare for university and I gained a wholesome education from being there. This program, however, just took the fire I had and poured gasoline on it. It met all my expectations and more. Although the final week had turned out to be the one that went the fastest, it was also the most eventful. I got to speak to a couple of researchers that had or are actively doing research in genetics and gave me valuable insight on the field and advice going forward. Completing the poster and presenting it at the symposium was great for synthesizing my data and showcasing it to the scientific community. Admittedly, I was flustered at first, but I eventually shook out the jitters the more people came up and asked questions. It was great being able to interact with all the people I saw throughout the summer and show them exactly what I had been up to. All the REU’s posters were stunning, and it was great that we all could make it to that point together. I don’t think any of us in the beginning of the program would have imagined all that we ended up finding. By the end of the poster session, we took a group photo with all the REUs in front of the iconic OIMB sign and soon afterwards we headed to Maya’s house for the final potluck. We all started collecting blackberries for Maya to make a pie with. Now that I think of it, it was a nice gesture to end the summer with something that we all helped make together. We all sat around, enjoyed food, listened to Svetlana tear it up on the guitar, laughed as George poked fun at me, and were bouncing around conversations. We made our goodbyes and headed back to dorms where we got to spend the last moments together with each other and the University of Oregon students. It is amazing to think how much we all became friends and enjoyed the time we spent with each other. I don’t think any of us will forget this experience and I think we will always remember OIMB Summer 2019. There are so many people that I would want to thank for my time here. My deepest regards to Svetlana, Christina, Megan, Nicole, and Kara, for all the advice that you gave me throughout the program especially for troubleshooting and helping me get through some of the toughest moments. A huge thanks to Caitlin, Clara, Lauren, and Dean for the advice that you gave me on my poster during those final weeks and helping me put it all together. Thanks to George, Phil, Sadie, Nina, and Christina for allowing me to bumble into the other side of the lab and sit in on the microscopy sessions and catch jellyfish. Thanks to Craig Young lab; Matt for always being up to throw the frisbee around and Kaylee for always bringing her musical spirit( I will never forget you playing backup as we all turned into water drops), and Craig for allowing me to go into your lab even though I didn’t have much reason to be in there. Thanks to the South Sloo lab for allowing me to borrow waders; thanks to Sophia for being the best orator that has ever stepped foot onto OIMB campus, Bree for giving advice on population genetics, and Renee, who was always quick to burn me and bring out the fact that I clapped during the wrong time (and who still owes me two games of foosball!). Big thanks to the Galloway lab; Hannah and Steven always had plenty of style and laughs to share for all of us, thanks to Natalie for all her sage REU advice that she gave to us newbies, an incredible thanks to Ross for his R workshop, thanks to Julie and Aaron for their talks at PubSci and OIMB. Thanks to every OIMB seminar speaker for giving some of the best talks in the marine biology field. All the University of Oregon students were great, but a big shout out to Butters, Zack, Lincoln, and Mackenzie. A humble thanking to Newt, Jesse, Lisa, Debbie, and the rest of the entire OIMB crew for keeping the entire campus and ship in great shape. Last but not least, I would like to thank Maya and Richard for being the best directors we could have hoped for and the NSF grant that could fund all of our ventures. I hope to see everyone again in the future!
0 Comments
Presenting at the Center for Marine Life Center (CMLC) had ended up being a hoot! The weekend brings in a lot of people into Charleston, and we were able to make the best of the bigger crowd. We got to show off all the work that we have done, and even specimens that we collected in the local area. I felt a bit nervous at first, but people were very enthusiastic of the research we were all doing. We had locals, but we also had people from around the country that just so happened to be passing through Charleston. It was great being able to interact with such a diverse crowd and be able to give and share insight. Surprisingly, a lot of the locals had been very curious about the nemerteans. Many of them routinely collect clams in the mudflats and come across the phylum but had known very little about them. It was great being able to answer many of the questions people had. It helped reinforce a lot of what I learned throughout the summer, and also added to people’s understanding of an understudied phylum. Going into the week, we all had to have a rough draft for a poster. Afterwards everyone had to switch gears. Some of us were throwing it into high gear to collect the data needed for their project, and others went deeper into the poster-making aspect. I went more into the poster-making aspect. Initially I would’ve thought that it would’ve been more relaxed, but I realized now it was a lot of work. Poster-making is a finicky process and comes with the challenge of having to maximize impact through language and visuals in a limited amount of space. Leading up to the professional development session I thought my poster was half-way finished, but I ended up starting from scratch again. In the end, I felt that I could communicate my message in a much better fashion. Thankfully the grad students have been an invaluable resource to improving the presentation and impact. I give my deepest and sincerest regards to all the grad students who have helped me in any way possible. Alas, we are on the downswing and can count the days before the curtain falls and we’re all back to our respective homes. Troubleshooting has been going very well. I can always appreciate when things go my way, but I have learned to have a growth mindset when it comes to the samples that give me difficulty. Was it the way I mixed the solution? Could I have possibly contaminated the sample? Was it the right temperature/primer set? What should be the next step for me? Although at first it was frustrating to not get a band that I wanted or figuring out why the reaction was not working, I learned to appreciate that it’s adding to my skillset. Throughout this week, I have also begun to work on my poster and really think of the collective knowledge that I have been gaining from my time here. At first it felt very daunting to try to boil down everything that I have done so far, but little by little I’ve been able to piece together a solid start. It really wasn’t until that I had to write about my experiment that I began to connect the dots to make the bigger picture clearer to not only myself, but to a broader audience. This has been particularly beneficial given that we will be presenting our research on Saturday at the Coastal Marine Life Center (CMLC). Being that a broad spectrum of people visit the CMLC it offers the challenge of being able to showcase our research in a more palatable format. One thing that may not come across many undergraduates, or at least be emphasized enough, is the obligation to be able to share our breadth of knowledge to the general mass. It’s great that what we are learning is enriching our own individual lives, but it will remain in an echo chamber unless we are able to dispense that knowledge to the community. That is not to say that I did not have my fair share of fun this week. I was able to go jellyfishing several times, along with being able to catch a very good low tide that gave us an opportune time to venture out into some very remote areas. Ultimately, I think what this week has really shown me is the value of being able to digest the research. Not only for our own interest (e.g., making a poster), but also to enrich the general society. |
AuthorI’m a first-generation college student. I like enjoying the outdoors and finding new hiking trails. Archives
August 2019
Categories |
Proudly powered by Weebly