Public Health Overview

October 30, 2018 – 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm – at Kennedy Commons

I met Dr. Miller with a group of other students and I learned about the possible options for jobs related to the public health field. There are many different categories that could be explored in the public health field. There are two categories that I had recognized—biostatistics and epidemiology. I am going to minor in epidemiology, and one of the required classes are biostatistics. I was not sure of the difference between these two groups, so I had asked Dr. Miller. He said that he was not entirely sure either; however, the main difference between biostatistics and epidemiology is that biostatistics had more math than epidemiology. If I decided against the pre-medicine track, then I would have another option available (that I know at least a little about) to change to. He also gave us his email if we had other questions to ask him (miller.8332@osu.edu).

Stress Relief Craft

September 27, 2018 – 6:45 pm – 8:45 pm

At this event, we made slime and watch a movie about slime coming to life, have high elasticity, and is able to help cars fly. Having this chance to not have to constantly think about what I have to do was very nice. I have tried to make slime before, but the recipe may have been incorrect causing the slime not to work. The movie was quite odd; however, if I must come up with something that could be learned from the movie, then it would be to not be discouraged by failures or the disapproval of others. Another thing I learned from this experience was that taking some time to de-stress and relax is very important.

September TED Talk

September 26, 2018 – 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Students gathered to watch a TED talk over Ancient DNA and the difficulties of genetic recovery and cloning before discussing the pros and cons of such actions. Personally, I disapproved of such actions. Strict regulation of such research is needed in order for terrible events like in Jurassic Park do not occur. I know that Jurrasic Park is quite far-fetched, but nothing is impossible; therefore, precautions are still necessary for gray area research.

Fall Student Party

September 21, 2018 – 8:00 pm – 9:30 pm

This was a social gathering of biological sciences scholars that went together to a party that introduced some details of the Wexner Center for Arts and offered ice cream, pizza, and music.  The ice cream offered was Jeni’s ice cream, and I found out that my favorite flavor is salted caramel. The Wexner Center for Arts is a very beautiful place; the performing area is enormous with dim lighting, wide stage, and comfortable-looking seating. I only discovered that there was a Barnes and Noble Bookstore downstairs as I found the way out—which I probably should have gone to take a look at, but I was tired from a long day and was ready to go back to Barrett.

Undergraduate Research Q&A with Upperclassmen

September 13, 2018 – 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm at Ramseyer Room 100

Upperclassmen introduced the details of their research, how they got their job, and their experiences with at their job. Some ways they got their current research position was by sending their resumes to the professors who were in charge of the research they were interested in. The upperclassmen recommended contacting the professors towards the end of a semester, end of the school year (start of summer vacation), or the start of a new school year. There is importance in knowing what kind of research the professor is doing and reading some recently published articles of their work, and often when trying to get a research position, let the lead researcher know that you are interested, you know about what is being researched and avoid directly asking for pay and the position. This was a very valuable experience because I want to engage in research; however, I did not know where to begin.

Dr. Imitola Research Lab Visit

September 10, 2018 – 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm at the Biomedical Research Tower

Dr. Imitola is a neuroscientist and physician that does research on brain cancer stem cells’ properties, inflammation transcriptional control of NSCs, modeling inflammation-induced neurodegeneration, and repair with iPSCs. I also learned about a mentor program for researchers available under Dr. Imitola. This program enables inexperienced researchers to be paired with experienced researchers and learn about the entire process before engaging in the actual research. Applicants for this program do not have to be major or minor in Neuroscience. During this visit, I got the chance to see how a research lab and machinery that costs a lot of money look like.