1.I used my STEP funds as a living stipend while I was a full-time research assistant in Dr. Glasper’s lab at the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research. I have been specifically working on analyzing microglia in the dentate gyrus after an immune stressor. This is part of a larger project trying to characterize microglia and the immune system in the California mouse, a biparental rodent species often used as a model to study stress. I spent most of my time taking 60x magnification images of sections of the dentate gyrus, and then doing Sholl analyses. I also helped with day-to-day activities, such as making solutions, animal handling and participating in lab meetings.

2.I had always assumed that working would be more difficult than school. I chose a difficult major, and I believed that work would be as difficult if not more so, given that I would be applying the information I learned as a student. However, I was pleasantly surprised that I both liked working full time and found it easier than school. On top of my 9-5 doing research, I chose to take a class. I enjoy the summer semester much more than expected! I had been considering graduating early, but the drawback I was always considering was that I was scared of post-grad life and what that would look like, especially because I am currently torn between pursuing a PhD or attending medical school.

3/4. My schedule was very typical every day and even every week. Because I had started in this lab in September 2023, I was well acquainted with everyone other than two undergraduate students that were only there for the summer. I would say that my relationships with the other people in my lab are what made me want to stay in the first place (but obviously, I had great interest in the research too). Ever since I started, everyone has been really friendly and open to questions and giving advice, which I appreciate. Sometimes I feel that I ask repetitive or unnecessary questions when I am trying to understand something, and especially coming in as a biochemistry major, I often feel that I don’t know anything at all. However, in my experience working, it might just be more of my own impostor syndrome talking rather than a genuine observation of my environment. I’m thankful to be in a lab where everyone is friendly and likes to talk about things outside of work as well.

I had the experience of attending the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program Symposium at the end of May. I listened to several talks from professors such as Dr. Davis from the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology) and Dr. Glasper (my lab’s PI!). I have been so used to boring, jargon-filled talks that I appreciated listening to people who were passionate about their research. I can only hope that I find a career in which I feel fulfilled enough to be able to talk about it like that! I wish I could have stayed for some of the talks done by graduate students, but I decided to only stop by for a few hours so I could get some more work done. I also attended the poster session afterwards to read and hear about some of the research done at Ohio State. It made me realize how interconnected many fields of science are, depending on the scale of what your project is and what you are studying. You can make your research as narrow and specific as you want, but then try to apply it to a broader idea. I do have to brush up on my statistics though, because I wasn’t entirely sure what anyone meant when people started talking about anything beyond ANOVAs or p-values. I hope to be able to learn some R someday. It’s funny how much more invigorated my interest for learning anything has become when I am not tested on it or have to sit in a noisy lecture hall to learn about it. It seems I maintain the information for longer and understand it more in depth. Looks like I have to wait until after my undergraduate career for that.

As I stated in my response to question 2, I have been very lost in trying to decide what to do after my undergraduate degree. I spend a lot of time worrying about whether or not I am good enough to get to a certain place, and that often cuts into time that I should be physically working towards my goals. Working as a research assistant has taught me that even though science is tedious and issues arise, it’s never over. This isn’t to say that you can be sloppy with your work, but rather that if you put genuine interest and care into what you are doing, instead of focusing on your failures, you can brainstorm ways to do better and how to avoid these situations. There is almost always a solution.

For example, I held two microscope slides against each other while I was trying to put them away into the fridge, and one slipped out of my hand and shattered. I felt horrible, but the slide was already shattered. It was my first time being left alone in the lab, so I had to message people individually on Slack to let them know what happened and ask for what to do next. It was a mistake, but that doesn’t mean I could skip accountability for what had happened. In the end, I taped up the part of the slide that was broken, noted it in my lab notebook, and had to balance the now weirdly-shaped slide on another one to continue imaging. Knowing that I could make amends, even though this situation was truly not that serious, helped boost my confidence, which is something I have been struggling with significantly since starting college. Being part of a project and having my opinion or commentary noted makes me feel that my contribution was wanted and acknowledged, and that making mistakes won’t permanently stain how people will see me as a person or question my intelligence. That is something I hope to extend to my academic life, where I can still achieve my goals despite set backs if I communicate appropriately.