A New Experience
This past summer I had the opportunity to be a summer intern at the medical device sector of Cardinal Health. While I was hesitant to leave my research for a few months, I knew that this would be a great opportunity to expand my technical skills and learn how to be an engineer in the field.
In my internship, I worked with the R&D remediation team that looked at existing products that needed to be re-documented or tested in order to satisfy international regulations. I spent the first half of my summer creating and performing test procedures and creating result reports. I was able to use a lot of the skills that I had learned through my research project, such as using an experimental protocol and documenting the results in a professional manner. There were a lot of technical skills that I gained, such as using an Instron machine and using SolidWorks to design fixtures. The second half of my internship focused on the design control process, where I conducted a gap analysis on our existing wound care projects. Learning about this process was especially beneficial as I start my capstone project this year.
While I am glad to be working back in my lab, I am grateful that I took this internship. I was able to develop existing skills and gain new ones that will help me through my senior year and into my career. Not only that, I met some amazing people, made great connections, and genuinely had a lot of fun. I want to encourage everyone to keep an open mind for opportunities that come their way. Especially as students or young adults, new experiences can be eye-opening and provide a direction for our futures.
Presenting at GW Research Days
Recently, I had the opportunity to present at GW research days, an event where students from all different disciplines present their research projects to students and faculty. It turned out to be a great event to showcase what I have been working on for the past year and I ended up learning a lot from the experience.
To prepare for the event, I had to make a poster detailing my research. This was a new experience for me as I had to summarize my findings in a coherent and impactful way. During the process, I started to feel anxious about having to articulate my project. I wondered whether my results and analysis were sufficiently strong and whether I would be able to properly answer questions on the topic. While I had previously been anticipating this day, I was now starting to feel apprehensive.
As GW Research Day began, I began to feel my nerves steadying with confidence in my poster and encouraging words from my lab team. During the few hours, I talked to many students and faculty and presented to a panel of judges. I found myself enjoying the fact that I got to share the project that I have been invested in for the past few months. I was even able to have a conversation with the judges about what the next steps in my project would be and it gave me a few ideas for continuing this project.
This event and my research in general have taught me that it is normal to feel uneasy when starting something new but that stepping out of your comfort zone is often worth the reward.
Trial and Error
The part about research that always appealed to me was this idea of carving your own path. You get to ask your own questions and find your own answers. It’s all about finding what interests you and setting your mind to discover new possibilities. It wasn’t until I started my project this summer that I realized that research isn’t always as easy and ideal as I imagined.
When I first started my project, I was incredibly optimistic that I would find the results that I was looking for and be able to show the world what I had found. But science isn’t that simple. It took me a while to realize that real lab work wasn’t like doing an experiment in class where you knew what answers you were supposed to get. My first attempt at my project didn’t have great results. Ideally, the data should have followed an exponential trend line but instead, it was very sporadic with no pattern to draw results from. It was a really frustrating process to have expectations that just weren’t met. It was difficult because there wasn’t a clear set of instructions I could turn to. I just had to try again.
So with the input of my professor, I modified my protocol and started on my second try. It ended up working a lot better. It still wasn’t perfect but it was definitely progress. I realized that research is all about trial and error. You have to try different directions with your project and it may take some time and that’s okay. It’s important to not be discouraged and realize that many people have been in your shoes before. Science can be frustrating and complex, but putting in the extra time and effort is also what makes it equally rewarding.
Bio
Meghana is studying heart failure using a technique called CUBIC clearing. Clearing organs is a procedure that is used to remove lipids from tissue in order to make imaging easier and more precise. Meghana will be looking for the expression of DREADDS, designer drugs used to activate neurons in the brain that affect areas of the heart, with guidance from her faculty mentor, Matthew Kay, a SEAS professor and associate chair for research and graduate affairs.