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Honors Experiences
Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship 2024 (SURF)
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This past summer (2024), I got the awesome opportunity to do research at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center all summer! In the beginning of the summer, I got to learn how to use Spike2 to turn diaphragm EMG recordings into quantifiable data. I then had the opportunity to perform a few perfusions (for three of them I removed the brain and for one of them I removed the spinal cord). The brains harvested from perfusions were cleared using a protocol my lab had never used before, so we were glad it worked well! After clearing and imaging the brains (which is a long process), I got to look at 3D renderings of the brains. I looked at cell bodies and processes in different areas of the brain. This was done to determine if there are any connections between the forebrain and the respiratory centers in the brainstem. The program ended with a poster symposium. I had never worked in a scientific setting, so this experience was really important to me. The graduate student I worked with and a postdoc in the lab were able to give me realistic insight as to what a career in research could look like as well as the process to get there. This contributed to growing into my definition of being a global citizen scholar in that I got the opportunity to learn about the lives of graduate students, the potential careers, and scientific knowledge. I included a screenshot from the scalable brain atlas I used to reference different areas of the brain because I was using this atlas all summer long searching up specific structures and I would have been lost otherwise.
Biomedical Lab Techniques Learning Assistant- COOP EXP PT - A&S 1
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Fall semester of my sophomore year, I was a learning assistant for Biomedical Lab Techniques. It was a really great opportunity to get a glimpse of the other side of college classes. My role involved working directly with the students in the lab, answering any questions that arise, and handing out any equipment necessary for the lab. I had a lot of fun interacting with the students, and I learned a lot about myself. Before starting, I was very nervous about speaking in front of groups of people, especially people around my age. However, as the semester progressed, I noticed that I gradually lost that anxiety without trying. It was really great to see students learn and to be part of it. When I saw the students struggling with the same concepts or techniques I struggled with when I took the course, I would use it as an opportunity to encourage them and let them know that I made the same mistakes. What was most important to me was to be involved in creating an atmosphere where students can make mistakes and ask questions no matter how silly it may seem to them; so, I tried to be open about my own mistakes and how in the end everything turned out alright. I included a picture of the textbook on the left. Almost all the questions asked in lab could be found in the textbook/ procedure; which I thought was silly because I could totally relate to the students' confusion when I took the class.
Science Zines​​
The fall semester of my sophomore year, I collaborated with an organization called Welcome Project to make three science zines. A zine is a DIY magazine; anyone can make one about anything they wish! Welcome Project is a place that emphasizes social justice through artwork. The idea behind the zines was to create a little booklet that shares accessible information on science topics. The three topics I created them on were: digestion, bacteria, and nutrition. There was a lot that went over my head when I first started making the zines. I wanted to make the font a color other than black, and it was small and hard to see, essentially it just was not accessible to everyone. Another thought that had never crossed my mind was about the placement of the zines once they were done. When I had gone into Welcome Project to drop them off, I was asked about how I wanted the placement to look. I spent the next fifteen minutes trying different places out. The biggest takeaway I took from the entire experience was totally unexpected, and it was about how much intention is put into the placement of objects in all sorts of places. It has made me appreciate all the meaning and thoughtfulness behind the things that once seemed insignificant.
I went to Queretaro, Mexico this past summer for a Maymester study abroad trip! It was a really amazing experience to get to explore a part of the world I had never been in. I got to go on various day trips with my class, and explore the city with the friends I made on that trip. I gained a better sense of independence and confidence while there as a result of maneuvering a new city on my own. I got to take a Spanish course and a couple cultural classes; all of the class sizes were much smaller than I was expecting, so they allowed for more class interaction and participation. I really feel like my Spanish improved so much inside and outside of the classroom setting. I chose to add this image because one of my favorite parts of the trip was the all the art all over the city, often having political references. My favorite poster I saw was one that had various copies hung around the city: it is a print of La Virgen de Guadalupe. There is so much artwork of La Virgencita, and I love it so much because it reminds me of my own mother and the prayer cards and artwork she had of La Virgencita.
SURF 2025
I participated in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program for a second summer in the same lab I had previously done SURF with. I grew a lot during this experience due to having to find a way to balance this program alongside the other activities I was participating in over the summer. The part where I grew the most in was poster making. My poster this year looked so much different than my poster from last year. There is much less text on the poster from this year than the one from last year. I struggled a lot to go from putting every single bit of information on the poster to just putting the skeleton of the information on the poster so that the rest of the information could be delivered orally. I have to agree with my mentor, however, that a poster with less chunks of text is much more visually appealing. Although this summer in the lab was less involved than my previous summer in the lab, I still got to engage in amazing learning opportunities and take on tasks by myself while my mentor was away for a few weeks. I had an excellent time getting to dive into my mentor's research world of exploring the potential for Norbaeocystin (non-hallucinogenic psilocybin analog) to increase recovery in C2 hemisection spinal cord injury mouse models.
