Over the course of this four week internship I have not only been able to learn about new subjects but, I was able to learn more about myself. There were aspects of this internship that I believe I thrived with and other things that I realized weren't the best for me. This internship has made me realize that I will thrive better in a more collaborative space. Even though I believe that a collaborative environment is better for me, this internship gave me an opportunity to develop my self-advocacy skills and become more independent as it wasn't as collaborative. This was important for me to do because not everything will be collaborative and you need to be able to be independent. This internship allowed me to realize that I do not want to pursue a research focused career in my future. If I choose to pursue medicine, I now know that I can cross research based careers off of the list. While this internship narrowed down my choices within the medical field, it broadened all of my other options. This is because through this internship I realized that I won't truly know if I enjoy a certain career field unless I experience it. Since I was working with graduate students during this internship, it influenced me to be even more sure that I want to attend graduate school.
I was academically and professionally performing at my best throughout the internship. I believe that I was as prepared for this internship as I could have been. Of course looking back I would have done some things differently. For example, I would have filled out all of the paperwork a few weeks prior, however I couldn't have done that during this internship as I was not aware of the paperwork or the process. But, I can apply this knowledge to any future internships. Over the course of the internship I got more comfortable talking to my coworkers and working in the office. In any future internships I will be able to use this one as an example of what to do and what to improve on. I will be commenting on Jeremy and Nia's blogposts.
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Part 1) Photo Essay Click on photos for more details. Part 2) My Internship Project, Explained My final internship project is a demonstration of a concept behind Atomic Force Microscopy that I created using Arduino. The reason that we decided that this would be my final project is because I hadn't used Arduino that much before and it was realistic for the time that I had. I thought it would be good to do a project using Arduino because it would be a good way for me to learn a new skill and I would be able to experience a little bit of coding. I hadn't coded before this but I always wanted to learn so this was a great way for me to start learning. I created this using jumper wires, a breadboard, an Arduino Uno, a LCD Qapass, an ultrasonic sensor (HC-SR04), a 1K Ohm resistor, and a blue LED. The proximity sensor's has three main interactive components: the ultrasonic sensor, the LCD, and the blue LED. When you put an object in front of the sensor, the LCD will display the distance (in cm) that the object is from the sensor. The LED comes into play when an object is within 10cm of the sensor. When you put the object within 10cm of the sensor, the blue LED will light up as a warning and when you move the object more than 10cm away from the sensor, the LED will turn off. The whole thing works off of the wiring and coding. The coding was done on the online Arduino Editor and the language that you code in is mainly c++. This project was important because it was able to benefit both me and the lab. It benefited me by challenging me to learn new things. I began to learn about coding and I was able to see if I enjoyed it or not. I think that to know if I enjoy coding for sure I would have to do some more coding but, I think that I have enjoyed it enough to want to learn more. I was also able to learn about how to use an Arduino. I watched videos in order to learn more about the wiring of an Arduino and through that I was able to learn more about the basics of electronics. The process of creating my project started by me watching many videos on the basics of coding for Arduino and the basics of circuit making. I watched these videos while I was waiting for the parts of my project to arrive. These videos helped me learn the necessary basics that I would need in order to complete my project. After the parts arrived I used the help of videos to start wiring the parts of my project together. After this I started writing the code for my project. After I finished writing the code, I tested everything multiple times. After tweaking certain parts of the code I was able to have a draft of my product. Then, I decided I wanted to add the LED so I wired that and I wrote the code for it as well. Then I had my final product. Below you will be able to find the code that I used and a wiring diagram I created. The pictures below are of my final project.
How did you measure the success of the work you did while you were an intern? What did you learn from this?
The way I measures the success of the work I did while I was an intern was by asking my mentor and by reflecting on my own work. I reflected on my work to see if I really put as much effort into my work as I could have and if the final product was something that was worth being proud of. I asked my mentor if what I was doing was good and I asked questions to see what I could do to improve. I made sure to review my own work before asking my mentor. Something I learned from this was how important it is to review your own work before asking someone else to do it. This is important because you are taking time out of someone else's day so, you want to make sure that they can give you more meaningful feedback rather than taking up their time with simple mistakes that you could have seen by yourself. How was your work as an intern meaningful to your education? My work as an intern was meaningful to my education in many ways. I learned a lot of new things, mostly about nanotechnology and bioengineering. Something I learned about was the future of nanotechnology. I learned that right now they are trying to make new ways to deliver drugs that can be more effective and have less side effects. Another way that my work as an intern was meaningful to my education is in my ability to grow some skills such as self-advocacy, self-discipline and responsibility. These skills can all be transferred to my life as a high school student, college student and beyond. What did you learn about your own work from your internship project? Something I learned about my own work from my internship project is that I look for ways to improve the work that I do. My internship project was making a proximity sensor and when I finished making it I thought of ways to make it even better. I realized that I enjoy challenging myself, especially with the work that I do. For example, after I finished my proximity sensor, I decided that I wanted to add some LEDs that will turn on depending on how close or far you are from the sensor. I think that this is because I want to put out my best work. What qualities or characteristics did you see in the people around you that you want to develop in yourself? Why? Some qualities that I saw in the people around me that I would like to further develop in myself are self-discipline and persistence. The graduate students can come in and leave whenever they want. Many of them displayed a self-discipline that I would like to develop. They would come in for more than eight hours a day and constantly be working on their projects. They wouldn't really get distracted with their phones or anything else. They would even eat their lunch while working. I think that kind of self-discipline is really important to have, especially after high school since nobody is going to be constantly checking up on you. The persistence goes hand in hand with the self-discipline. They have to be persistent in order to work on the same project for years. They face many challenges and roadblocks but they push through those and continue their work. While they may get frustrated they don't let the frustration stop them. I think this is an admirable quality that I would like to further develop in myself. How did your view of life beyond high school change or develop during your time as an intern? My view of life beyond high school changed in many ways during my time as an intern. I think that biggest thing that changed was my view on being passionate about what you do. Before this internship I knew that it was important that you enjoyed what you did but, it was never my number one priority. After this internship it has moved up on my priority list. This is especially important if you are thinking of going into graduate school for something. Everyone that I have been working with are graduate students who have been working on the same project for years. If you are working on something for that long you have to be passionate about it, that doesn't mean that you won't have days where you are tired of working. But, the passion is what will keep you from giving up and it will make you get through the harder days. I now have a better understanding of why it is so important to be passionate and enjoy what you are doing. How might internship influence the direction of your life? This internship might influence the direction of my life by narrowing down and eliminating certain career paths that I was previously thinking about. Before this internship I had a very broad and general understanding of what I might have wanted to do in the future. The main field I had in mind was medicine but I also had law and business in mind as well. While this internship was focused on bioengineering and nanotechnology it was still able to narrow that list down. I was able to realize that I want to work in a field that has more interactions with people. Within the field of medicine I was able to take any kind of researching career off of the list. I personally believe that I would thrive better in a more collaborative environment. This internship also reinforced my want to go to graduate school. It was interesting to see how all of the graduate students were so involved in their projects and it made me sure that I wanted to go to graduate school whether it was for medicine, law or business. Another way this internship influenced the direction of my life is by making me realize that I shouldn't attach myself to the idea of one career path because I won't know what it is really like until I experience it. This internship made me want to get more internships in a variety of fields to be able to experience different careers. I will be commenting on Angeli and Jeremy's blogposts. I feel that so far during my internship I have advocated for myself when needed but, I know I can improve this skill. I have been asking questions to my supervisor and mentor whenever I am confused and I am comfortable doing so. The place I know I can improve in is asking my other co-workers for help. I am not completely comfortable doing so but I would like to be. I don't want them to feel like I am interrupting their work and that is what holds me back from asking them questions. My mentor gives me things to do and I finish them by myself for the most part but I do ask for help when I need it.
One example of me self-advocating is when I was asked to make a list of ideas for my project. I started looking online for different ideas but I was having trouble connecting anything I saw to the work they are doing in the Lal Lab. I asked my mentor if there was anyway for me to connect certain projects to the work they are doing in the lab and she helped me by explaining how each project could or could not connect. This helped me narrow down and eventually choose a final project to do. Are you following the advice in "How to be an intern everyone remembers"? If so, how is it working out? If not, what are you going to start doing? I have found myself to be busy most of the time but, I have not been able to constantly doing work because we still have to order the parts for my project so that I can start it. While I am waiting I have been watching videos and reading articles about various topics that will help me when I start my project. There isn't any meetings at this lab so I don't have an opportunity to be late to any meetings or showing up without a notebook. I have been on time in the mornings everyday. Since I don't have a strict schedule I have a general time when I show up which is between 9:30 and 10:00. I never show up later than 10. I did get a chance to meet everyone and introduce myself. They are pretty busy so I couldn't have an entire conversation with every person but, we all know each other's names. Dressing very professionally is not something that I do at my internship. This is because it is all grad students so they show up in leggings and sweatshirts. I usually wear jeans and a blouse or a jacket. I feel like if I dressed up anymore professionally it would be uncomfortable since even the professor doesn't dress extremely professionally. I don't think that I will begin to dress more professional because I would look more out of place than standing out in a good way. I will be commenting on Angeli and Matias' blogposts. My internship project will be creating an Arduino distance meter. Basically I will use an Arduino, ultrasonic sensor, and a display in order to make a device that can precisely measure how far away something is. For example, if you hold your hand above the sensor, the display will show how far your hand is from the sensor (5 inches, 24 cm, etc.). I think that this will be a fun and satisfying project because I will have a final product to show at the end of internship.
One skill that will be necessary for this project is coding. I chose to do this project because it involves coding. I haven't had much experience coding so I thought that this would be a great opportunity to be able to start learning how to code and see if I enjoy coding. This will be a good opportunity for me to either find a new interest or eliminate a possible career path. Another skill that will be needed for this project will be the ability to ask for help when I need it. The reason that this skill may be difficult to have is because I don't want to bother the grad students. Even though I know that they won't be annoyed if I ask questions, it is a mental obstacle that I will have to overcome. This is something that I have already tried to start doing just so that I will be comfortable asking questions when I need help during my project. The support that I will need is just answering any questions that may come up during the process of my project. These questions will probably be about the coding and wiring that I will be doing. I can get this support from any of the grad students in the lab but, I will most likely reach out to Grace who is the grad student that has been helping me out in the lab. I will be commenting on Cheyenne and Elizabeth's blogposts. Part 1) Mentor Interview I interviewed my mentor, Ratnesh Lal.
Part 2) Internship Reflection:
I will be commenting on Angeli and Sheyla's blogs. What strikes me most about my workplace is how much preparation you have to take in order to actually begin working in the lab. You have to fill out a lot of paperwork which I expected, but you also have to do some online training courses and there is an assessment you have to take at the end of it. I imagine this is what I will be doing for most of my time during these first couple of days. Besides that something that strikes me is how focused everyone is and how much they actually enjoy their work. The culture of the lab seems to be that you start working as soon as you get into the lab and you really don't sit around doing nothing. I expected that everyone would be hard at work, but they have a good balance of being focused but also being able to talk at the same time as they are working.
What strikes me most about my colleagues is how nice they are. Of the graduate students I have met so far, they are all very nice and welcoming. Before I started, I thought that they might not want to be bothered by a high schooler since they are trying to finish their own projects but, they all seem to be open to helping me when they can. I haven't been able to work with them super closely yet since I am still doing all of the lab safety training but, I think that I will have a good experience working with them. Something else that strikes me about my colleagues is how willing they are to help each other and how excited they get when someone else accomplishes something. Even if they aren't working on the same project they seem excited to see each other do well. What strikes me most about the job I am doing is that under one department there are so many different projects going on. I expected it to be one project that everyone works on together but, it isn't. Everyone has projects of their own interests that still all connect somehow. Another thing that strikes me about the job I am doing is how laid-back it seems to be while still maintaining a set of expectations. It is expected of you to be independent but, it is fine if you have questions or need help. Also, since the paperwork is going to take a while to process I get to work with Arduinos and make something cool while I wait. I am excited for this because it means that I will have something interesting to do while I wait for the paperwork to be completed. Something that I am excited about is learning more about the different projects that are being done at the lab. They are all very interesting but, I get to choose one to do a sub-project on for my internship. It is difficult to choose one, especially since I feel like each one is very interesting to me and I can learn a lot from all of them. Once I choose one I feel like I will enjoy it and be able to develop my skills in that certain area. Some of the projects that are being done in the Lal lab are, instrument development for bio-molecular imaging and detection, the delivery of drugs to specific organs and sites of interest in the body to minimize side effects while curing diseases and how ion channel structures in neurons affect their activity. Within these projects there are more projects, so there are a lot to choose from. Something that I am worried about is being able to keep up with what is going on in the lab. All of the projects and research topics are very complex. This makes me a little worried because it is a little nerve-wracking to go into a workplace where everyone around you knows what they are doing. Even though I shouldn't be worried since everyone seems really nice and open to answer questions, it still worries me a bit. I think that this worry will go away pretty quickly because it is mostly here since I don't know exactly what project I will be doing. I also still haven't met all of the graduate students so I still have to do that until I can choose a final project. I am hoping that I will meet everyone by the end of this week or earlier so that I can choose a project soon. Sasha Rashid
UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering Mentor: Ratnesh Lal - Professor/Doctor Teacher Nikolova My first impressions of the building were exactly what I expected. I have been to the Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall before so I knew where to go already. The building is right in front of the stone bear sculpture that's pretty well-known at UCSD. Inside the building is quiet and clean, which doesn't surprise me since it is mostly PHD students working and labs that work with different chemicals. The building is very simple on the outside, concrete with clean windows. A typical day at the lab is very laid-back, and calm. Everyone is working on their own project, but are still willing to help you if needed. The building is three floors and each floor is a good size, probably 20-30 different rooms on each floor. These rooms range from labs to offices to study rooms. The atmosphere is pretty casual, it's mostly graduate students and the professors are very nice. There is probably 15-25 professors in that building and my professor has 6 graduate students. The lab's general work policies are very laid-back. People just come in when they want, stay for however long they need to and get work done. There isn't really any "tardiness" because the professor expects everyone to be pretty independent meaning you should be able to make your own schedule. The dress code is very casual, the only guidelines are lab safety rules. This means that yo just have to wear close-toes shoes and full length pants. When I went in the students were very casual, it was mostly sweatshirts and leggings. One guy was dressed nice, but he said it was because he had somewhere to go later. This means that I won't have to stress about what I am wearing everyday as long as I follow the lab safety rules. My career day experience was pretty good. I got some paperwork done and then met some of the PHD students. I didn't get to decide on a project while I was there because not all the PHD students were there to tell me what they were working on. I will be going back next week to finalize the paperwork and hopefully decide on a project. Everyone there was really nice and welcoming. They were all willing to help me and answer questions. I think this will be a good experience because I will be able to develop professional skills and skills for college. I expect it to be a fun, yet challenging experience. I expect biology and chemistry will be a great help in this internship. Specifically since they both gave me some general knowledge of the subjects, which will be a great foundation to build off of. Also, they gave me experience in how to conduct a scientific experiment which is pretty much the while point of my internship. I think math will also have helped me for this internship since a lot of science is math and you have to be able to do different types of math to interpret results of scientific experiments. |