Freshman Year
My freshman year of college has been characterized by unparalleled personal and professional growth. After only having been a student at The Ohio State University for two semesters, I am already heavily involved in research. At OSU, I am a member of Dr. Xia Ning’s research lab, in which I am developing an interactive web portal for a knowledge graph representing clinical trials data in the United States. I also got the opportunity to conduct summer research at Brown University and the Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the results of which will be invaluable in preventing suicide among elderly veterans.
In addition to research, I have also accepted a part-time job at the Translational Data Analytics Institute, where I will be serving on the newly created Data Science Service Corps assisting OSU faculty across a variety of disciplines with their data needs. I am excited to have the opportunity to strengthen my professional relationship with TDAI, and I look forward to exploring the new doors that this experience will open.
Beyond academics, I also joined multiple student organizations, including the Big Data and Analytics Association, the Archery Club, and the Artificial Intelligence Club. I have enjoyed getting to meet new people and make friends through these clubs, and I plan to find even more clubs related to my interests next year.
My experience this year has left no doubt in my mind that I made the right choice coming to The Ohio State University. I cannot even begin to imagine the incredible opportunities I will be presented with over the next three years. I am already counting down the days until I get back on campus in the fall!
Sophomore Year
As I wrap up my sophomore year, I cannot believe that I am already halfway through my undergraduate college experience. The friendships I made last year have deepened and my academic interests have intensified. I am spending more time than ever working in Dr. Ning’s lab, and I’ve discovered a love for teaching through my tutoring work at TDAI. Within both of these jobs, I have the freedom to explore and the resources to pursue various passion projects. For example, I am currently creating an introductory R course to supplement the Masters in Translational Data Analytics coursework, and I am loving every second of it.
This summer, I will be staying on campus to work full-time in Dr. Ning’s lab. I am hoping to eventually publish a paper about this work. I will also be taking a differential equations class over the summer so that I free up space for more interesting math classes during the academic year. Leah and I are trying to convince Dr. Emily Rudman (our favorite math professor) to teach abstract algebra next spring!
Any time I wasn’t in class these past two semesters, there was a high probability that you would find me in Res on 10 Room 285 playing Mario Kart Wii with my best friends in their suite. My now-refined Mario Kart skills are my crowning achievement of this year. I am looking forward to all of my friends coming back to campus in the fall!
