TrUE Scholars
At the beginning of the current spring semester, I switched from a chemistry-related project to an animal science-related project with a new mentor. I had to adjust to a whole new research team, schedule, field of study, and much more. Now that we are a couple of months into the semester, I feel that I am finally settled in and have a clear understanding of the project and overall expectations. Every so often, I have been asked to assist graduate students while they feed cattle for different projects. I had no idea how much precision and organization went into this process. I learned how to feed the different cattle their different diets, and most importantly why and how it would affect the research. Learning about how what is put into the body affects so many different aspects of an animal's life is something I haven't necessarily thought about before joining this project. This was a very important and interesting experience to me considering I want to pursue a career in Animal Science.
My research team has experienced some delays in timing with parts of our research
project, but we have overcome the challenge and used the extra time to become even
more prepared and ready for our experiment. In general, I feel that I am a very patient
and open-minded person, and that was a skill that came very naturally in this lab.
There were times when I would spend hours testing to see if a machine would work.
Or times when I would have to label over one hundred test tubes for an upcoming experiment.
My patience and attention to detail played a huge role in the success of these tasks.
And in the end, I feel that each one resulted in a success.
My overall experience has been very rewarding. I have developed a connection with
one graduate student in particular, and she has taught me so much about research and
more specifically cattle nutrition. I have also learned things beyond science or research-related
skills such as communicating with a team, scheduling meetings, cleaning a workspace,
and writing abstracts or summaries. Every day, I see connections between what I learn
in my research lab to what I'm learning in a Chemistry class, Animal Physiology class,
or even life in general. I am looking forward to learning even more as time goes on,
and I especially can't wait to share and present what I have discovered.