STEP Undergraduate Research: Caleb Rykaczewski Reflection

1. Please provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project. Write two or three sentences describing the main activities your STEP Signature Project entailed.
My STEP Project fell into the research experience project type. For 7 weeks this summer a STEP fellowship allowed me to study embryo transfer success and the impacts of extreme weather on cattle. Due to the circumstances of COVID-19, I was able to conduct my literature review, data processing, and analysis from home under the advising of Dr. Alvaro Garcia Guerra in the Department of Animal Sciences at The Ohio State University.

2. What about your understanding of yourself, your assumptions, or your view of the world changed/transformed while completing your STEP Signature Project? Write one or two paragraphs to describe the change or transformation that took place.
This summer I transformed from a student attempting to learn for the purpose of gaining knowledge into a researcher learning for the purpose of doing my job more effectively. During these few weeks, I was able to take the time to read scientific review articles provided to me and search out a few more to supplement my study and learn more about the subject. My goal in attending college was to accrue as much knowledge as possible, which has now turned into applying that information effectively in a career after I graduate. This signature project allowed me the opportunity to think critically about scientific articles and their relevance to a question I set out to answer. Essentially, I started to learn how to do the job of a career scientist.

3. What events, interactions, relationships, or activities during your STEP Signature Project led to the change/transformation that you discussed in #2, and how did those affect you? Write three or four paragraphs describing the key aspects of your experiences completing your STEP Signature Project that led to this change/transformation.
The global pandemic put a damper on the number of social connections and relationships I was able to develop during this signature project, but through the process of literature review, there were a few authors that kept recurring in most of my readings. It was fascinating to follow the progression of articles from the early 1980s through 2020. I read a living history of ideas, as they were built upon and refuted by authors continuously working to refine conclusions and offer up new questions. Some of the scientists, like Dr. Hansen and Dr. Thatcher, at the University of Florida, I feel as though I got to know very well. Their progression of projects followed my same questions about the impacts of heat stress on fertility. Following from study to study gave me a better idea of what the scientific process is like over the years and in an academic setting.
Since I was completing my research project from home, I had to use the resources available to access data that has already been collected. Dr. Garcia Guerra from the Department of Animal Sciences here at Ohio State has a database that details various animal metrics and the results of embryo transfers that occurred between January of 2014 and December 2016 in Wisconsin. Additionally, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration keeps track of weather data all around the country for use in numerous other agencies like NASA and the National Weather Service. This data is publicly accessible so with the assistance of Dr. Hopkins the Assistant State Climatologist of Wisconsin I accessed this data and combined the two databases to be able to answer questions about the impact of extreme environmental conditions on embryo transfer success. This whole process of data collection and combination into a usable database helped me to understand the value of relationships within the scientific community. I learned that collaborating with peers helps to raise the quality and capabilities of everyone involved. This project would not have been possible without access to the data Dr. Garcia Guerra collected, nor would it have been possible without access to the weather data, and finally none of this would have happened without someone there to bring it all together.
Finally, what this project has taught me about the scientific process if that it never stops, nor is there ever a finite endpoint. With the beginning of school coming around new projects have started so my time working on this signature project culminated with a presentation of my experimental design and defense of my hypotheses in a lab meeting. I received many valuable critiques and suggestions for future studies. It was an incredibly valuable experience and each step of the way I learned how ideas can change and morph as new information is acquired. It is important to always keep this in mind as an investigator. Never assume the end is really the end. The more you know the less you know, and this is the direction I will take after this project. I don’t have any solid answers yet, but I have lots of new questions.

4. Why is this change/transformation significant or valuable for your life? Write one or two paragraphs discussing why this change or development matters and/or relates to your academic, personal, and/or professional goals and future plans.

My professional goals are to work as a researcher for an institution guided towards improving reproductive medicine in human and animal species. This project allowed me one of my first opportunities to do real research work that contributes to that goal. It will be important to have as many of these experiences as possible when applying for jobs in the future. Knowing now the perspective of a researcher my final year at Ohio State will include coursework geared towards improving myself as an investigator rather than just receiving a passing grade.