My STEP Signature Project involved working closely with a clinical dietitian and research team on several Food-is-Medicine clinical trials focused on nutrition, physical activity, and chronic disease prevention. I met weekly with the team to review next steps and supported projects such as NutriCare, FFWM, SUSTAIN, and the Garden of Hope study through documentation, data organization, intervention development, and patient assessment support. Before starting my STEP Signature Project, I did not see research as something I would want to pursue as a career. I mostly thought of research as being very behind-the-scenes and separate from real patient care. Through this experience, that perspective completely changed. I learned how research directly affects patients, programs, and long-term health outcomes, especially in Food-is-Medicine initiatives. I also learned more about myself than I expected. I realized that I enjoy seeing a project from the very beginning through implementation and ongoing adjustments. I was surprised to find that I am now genuinely interested in research as a future career path, which is something I would not have predicted before this experience.

One of the most meaningful parts of my STEP project was meeting weekly with the clinical dietitian and research team. These meetings helped me understand how many steps go into running a clinical trial and how important communication and organization are. Being involved in these discussions allowed me to see how decisions are made and how challenges are addressed as they come up. Working on multiple clinical trials, including FFWM and SUSTAIN, also played a major role in shaping my perspective. I helped create standardized order guides, organized purchasing datasets, and categorized Mediterranean diet–aligned recipes. These tasks showed me how detailed and intentional research has to be in order to be effective and consistent. Transcribing and documenting a national oncology symposium co-hosted by Hope Lab was another impactful experience. It exposed me to a broader research community and helped me understand how research findings are shared and built upon. This experience helped me see the larger picture of how individual studies contribute to long-term change. Finally, assisting with patient assessment procedures, such as measuring skin carotenoids for the Garden of Hope study, allowed me to connect research with direct participant interaction. Being part of this process helped me better understand how data collection affects study outcomes and reinforced the importance of accuracy and care when working with patients.

This project is important to me because it has shaped how I think about my future. Realizing that I am interested in research has opened new opportunities and helped me see how I can contribute to meaningful work that directly impacts health and nutrition. It also gave me confidence in my ability to work in structured, team-based environments. Staying with this research team through graduation and hopefully beyond shows how valuable this experience has been to me. This project helped me find purpose in work that combines nutrition, research, and patient outcomes, and I have learned so much about nutrition that I now apply in my own life. Overall, this experience has influenced both my career goals and how I see my role in improving health through research, aligning with my goal of becoming a well-rounded medical professional who is knowledgeable and able to help others in a meaningful way.

I allocated my STEP Signature Project resources towards my time working as an undergraduate laboratory assistant in a biomedical engineering laboratory. Through the use of nanoparticle technology, the goal of our research was to create a more accessible and affordable device to detect certain biomolecules to diagnose diseases. My research was geared towards creating a dipstick that would elicit a color response in the presence of a certain biomolecule.  

Through my STEP Signature Project, I gained a better understanding of what scientific research involves and how it connects to the overarching goals of innovation. Before joining my lab, the only experiences I had of research mainly consisted of straightforward experiments that always provided clear answers. However, I quickly learned that much of the experiments we conduct require persistence, problem-solving, and teamwork. I became more comfortable with uncertainty and more patient with the trial and error process. I realized that even small results help build a much larger understanding. Additionally, I have gained important laboratory skills, not only during experimentation, but also what comes before the execution. I have learned the importance of conducting prior research and been given many opportunities to break down and present literature.  

This experience also changed how I view myself and my potential career path. Having the opportunity of working alongside experienced researchers, my principal investigator, and other undergraduates, such as myself, has shown me the importance of collaboration and insight from diverse perspectives matter as much as technical skills in the lab. This realization has helped me grow in confidence, discipline, and independence, and it strengthened my commitment to pursuing a career where I can keep exploring the connection between medical laboratory sciences and innovation. 

Several key experiences in my research lab contributed to my personal and academic growth during my STEP Signature Project. One of the most influential aspects was the hands-on experimentation involved in studying nanoparticle surface engineered sensing. When I first joined the lab, I was eager to involve myself in the subject of biomedical engineering because it was a topic I was unfamiliar with. Through repeated practice and guidance from my principal investigator (PI) and graduate students, I learned how to design experiments, interpret data, break down scientific literature, and approach unexpected results as opportunities for learning rather than as failures. These moments taught me patience and adaptability, skills that have shaped how I now approach challenges in and outside the lab. 

The relationships I built with my PI, graduate student mentors, and fellow undergraduate researcher assistants were also important towards my transformation. Observing their problem-solving processes and hearing them discuss their own setbacks helped me understand that scientific progress is rarely linear. My PI always encourages discussion from every group, even if we are working on different projects. From these discussions, we are able to delve into successes, failures, and connecting adjacent concepts. This supportive environment boosted my confidence in contributing ideas and reminded me that collaboration and communication are as vital to research as technical expertise. 

Another meaningful part of my experience was participating in lab meetings and presentations, where I had the opportunity to share updates on my work and learn from others’ projects. Hearing about the diverse range of topics everyone explored broadened my understanding of how interconnected different fields of biology, engineering, and medicine can be. It also motivated me to think more deeply about the real-world applications of our research, especially in healthcare and biotechnology, and how I can find purpose in my experiments to link to my passion about inequalities within healthcare. These discussions gave me a stronger sense of purpose and helped me see how the small-scale work we do in the lab fits into a much larger scientific and societal context. 

Overall, the combination of mentorship and collaboration with these research processes has helped me develop a more mature perspective on science and learning. I came to see that achieving my goals within the lab is not just about mastering laboratory skills, but about working on communication, being open- minded, and having a willingness to learn from uncertainty. These lessons have shaped the way I view both my academic path and my future career goals. 

This transformation project was significant towards my professional goals because it helped me solidify what career path I wanted to pursue. I have greatly enjoyed gaining more experience in the lab and plan on fulfilling a laboratory technician or research adjacent career. Taking part as a research assistant in this lab has introduced me to the diverse world of research and has acted as a stepping stone for not only my professional goals, but also academic.  

Academically, I have pivoted my studies from a biology major to a medical laboratory sciences major. Through my research experience, I realized how much I value the precision, problem-solving, and analytical thinking that comes with laboratory work. I found fulfillment in understanding the mechanisms behind biological processes and in knowing that this type of work contributes directly to diagnosing and improving patient care. The work I carry out in my laboratory has created a strong foundation and made me a competitive candidate for my future studies and professional goals in the medical laboratory science field.  

On a personal level, this experience affirmed that I thrive in environments that challenge me intellectually and require careful attention to detail. It taught me that scientific research is not just about producing results but about contributing to a process that supports others, whether that’s through advancing knowledge or helping patients through diagnostic testing. This perspective has given me a clearer sense of direction and purpose in my academic path, which was a decision I had always struggled with during my undergraduate schooling. I now see my work in the lab not just as a student project, but as the beginning of a career dedicated to applying science in ways that directly impact human health. 

For my STEP project, I conducted undergraduate research examining the role of fungi in wetland restoration. My main activities included data analysis and entry, weighing, staining, and plating plant roots for microscopic observation. Once under the microscope, we observed different fungi along plant roots from the wetland environment, and compared them to those that didn’t have fungi, and then evaluated how this impacted plant survival.

While completing my STEP project, I grew to understand how much I enjoy working in a research lab on wetland restoration. I am a pre-med biochemistry student, and I didn’t think I would enjoy environmental research, but I wanted to challenge myself and try something new. My perspective on environmental research has changed, as I have grown to understand the complexity of restoration efforts. It is inspiring that we have the skills to further study and help our environment.

This project also allowed me to grow personally and professionally. I became more confident in my lab skills, data entry, and working in a team setting. Having more confidence in myself reinforced my passion for research, and it made me more eager to continue my pursuits in science and medicine, where I can continue using these lab skills to further contribute to improving our world.

The main activities that led my personal transformation were gaining hands-on experience in the lab and working with colleagues and mentors. Before this project, I only had lab experience from chemistry and biology courses here at OSU and from high school. Usually, these experiments would be started and completed in one class period. Working in the wetland restoration lab was completely different. Over the span of two months, we would perform the same procedures for weeks at a time. This required patience and an understanding of why we must complete these experiments over time. Over time, I learned how to properly stain and plate plant roots for observation. When the roots were finally being observed under the microscope and we were getting results, it was satisfying to look back at how far the research had come.

Another contributor to my growth was learning how to be responsible and organized in a lab setting. One of my tasks was data entry and organization, which plays a huge role in any research team. These contributions made a big difference in the project. Without organization and correct data entry, the research results may be invalid. Being organized and accurate also promotes a good flow in the lab and prevents confusion and backtracking.

The mentorship I received from Dr. Mandy Slate and graduate student Grace Gutierrez played a huge role in my growth as well. Working directly with my mentors was a beneficial experience. They guided me through each step while also allowing me to work individually to learn how a research lab works. Their leadership helped contribute to gaining personal confidence in a lab team setting and in myself. This benefited how I looked at myself and made me realize I am capable of handling further research pursuits. Through interactions with other undergraduate students in the lab, I also learned a lot about teamwork and how I can be an effective communicator.

This transformation is significant because it helped me discover a passion for research and drove my desire to pursue a career in science and medical research. Before this project, I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy research outside of medicine, but the experience showed me that it is important to experience other areas of expertise. Skills like patience, attention to detail, and lab work I gained are essential for my future career in medicine.

The biggest lesson this project taught me is to be uncomfortable and try new things. I met so many great people in this lab and had a great time completing research. The discomfort I experienced trying something new allowed me to gain new skills and strengthen my passion for furthering my research career as a future physician. I have also gained respect for those who contribute to research every day, since they are working to improve our lives every day. As someone who is pursuing medicine, the skills I have gained will improve my medical school applications and bring me one step closer to pursuing my dream of becoming a doctor. Overall, I have learned greatly from my STEP project and believe that this experience will stick with me in my future career as a physician and as an individual.

For my STEP 2025 project, I was an Undergraduate research assistant for the Buckeye Brain Aging Lab during the summer 2025 semester. As a undergraduate research assistant, some of my roles in the lab included being in charge of QCing neurological tests completed by participants, as well as assisting in running fitness appointments for participants as well. During fitness tests, I would help collect general body measurements of participants, then assess their physical abilities through a series of Gait Mobility testing.

Throughout the summer, I was able to learn more about developing my professional skills in patient/participant interactions, as well as coding and working with raw data. I am very glad I was able to do this summer STEP project because it introduced me to the world of research and helped me better my understanding of what it means to work in research and pursue a graduate program after undergraduate school. Before starting this STEP project, I was still very unsure on my career plan for after undergrad. I was in between pursing a career in Physicians Assistant (PA), medical school, or furthering my education through graduate school. After completing this project for the summer, my career views changed slightly, and I am more confident in pursuing a path in Physicians Assistant. Through my work, I realized that I much more prefer working directly with people and patients rather than doing work behind the scenes. While I enjoy working work and analyzing raw data collected from our experiments, I enjoyed performing the fitness exams and working with actual participants much more. In my future at OSU I plan to continue my work with the Buckeye Brain Aging Lab to gain valuable experience in research surrounding Brain Aging and modifiable lifestyle variables, and also help graduate students and research assistants with their work. After undergrad I plan to use my knowledge and experiences from this lab to work towards a Physicians Assistant program.

I think the most valuable experiences I had from joining the Buckeye Brain Aging Lab over the summer was the interactions I had with the undergraduate students, research assistants, graduate students, and principle investigator of the lab. Being able to learn from such a diverse crowd helped me realize other options I had once I finished my undergraduate degree. My graduate student mentor that I work under was also a Biology major in her undergrad, and it was very insightful learning about her experiences in undergrad and her journey throughout graduate school at Ohio State. A lot of the graduate students come from a wide variety of schools and programs across the country. Each member of the lab had a unique story of how they joined, and what they wanted to pursue in their futures. From hearing about their experiences before and during graduate school, I realized that pursuing a graduate degree was not something that would benefit my career. Although I enjoy what I do in my research lab and am very grateful for the chance to join, I have also learned through my fellow lab members that I do not want to pursue a permanent career in research, only because it does not fit my personal goals and aspirations in life.

A second experience from this lab that helped me grow and learn more about myself and the world was the CODE program I took through the psychology department as part of my lab. When I joined at the start of summer, my PI recommended that I join the CODE summer program as well in order to familiarize myself with Python, along with getting to meet different researchers and graduate students and hear their stories and experiences. Throughout the six week program, I was able to hear speakers come and talk about their journey in Neuro-psychological research.

Finally, through weekly meetings with my PI and the rest of my team, I was able to receive valuable advice and information about different ways I can use everything I’ve gained as being an undergraduate research assistant, and apply it to my career goals in the future. My PI was able to provide me with more opportunities to work directly with participants in the lab. This is more tailored to my interests in working directly with participants in both a clinical and non-clinical setting. There are also members of my lab team who are currently applying or applying to medical schools this cycle. Because there are similarities in the applications to PA and medical schools, I can learn from them and help build a better resume under by belt.

Overall, this project was impactful by solidifying my career path, learning what interests me the most in my field, and providing me with valuable professional skills to prepare me after I complete my undergraduate degree at The Ohio State University. I was able to develop both my clinical and non-clinical patient/participant interactions. This has been very beneficial to my future because I am now confident in my choice in major, and now have a much clearer path to reaching my career goals. This experience also showed me that I much rather prefer a career where I get to interact with people daily and help address their direct health needs. My work in the Buckeye Brain Aging Lab has introduced me to various clinical work, as well as the process of analyzing research data collected. I am grateful for the opportunity to partake in the STEP program during my Summer 2025 semester.

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. 

For my STEP project, I spent my summer working as a research intern at the Wyss Institute, an interdisciplinary research institute focused on the translation of scientific discoveries into health and environmental technology. Through Dr. William Shih’s Lab, I worked with the Crisscross Nanoconstruction team, where my role was to support the advancement of downstream applications of DNA nanotechnology using the crisscross technique. Throughout my experience, I gained tangible scientific research experience with both molecular biology techniques and software development, as well as design and organization skills through creating my own experiments and developing algorithms to optimize my device.

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. 

Even before I stepped foot into the Wyss, I had always been intensely curious about how to leverage nature’s machinery (from DNA to proteins to bacteria) to build more biologically-based technologies. Working with the lab opened my eyes to the many applications and possibilities that can emerge from one single type of biomolecule. Crisscross nanoconstruction, the technique my lab developed which uses DNA as a building block for multi-micron structures,  appealed to me as a unique way of engineering without hindrance from design and physical constrains present in other types of biological manufacturing and material engineering, With a design space built on DNA origami “slats” which glue together through complementary base pairing, the only significant hindrance to building a 2D structure was your own creativity (though this was evidently more difficult for structures with higher dimensions and complexity). Therefore, the experience transformed my perspective on research not only as inquiry, but also as creativity – where we leveraged inspiration from art to gain a deeper understanding of the molecular interactions that facilitated the growth of our nanoscale constructions. Through being mentored by a postdoctoral researcher and continuously brainstorming and discussing problems with the Crisscross team, this experience heightened my ability to take ownership over my own scientific and creative endeavors. Working among the team of researchers, each with their dedicated role in advancing crisscross technology, underscored that research is not an isolated pursuit. Research is a collaborative pipeline, with multiple parts working together to break down the results of an experiment and obsess over building our platform for the utmost optimization and performance. Overall, the persistence and innovative practice I gained built my confidence as a researcher and cultivated my joy in sharing science with others. 

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. 

One of my aims while working at a research institute was to reflect on what it means to be a scientist and identify if this was a mold that aligned with my inclinations and strengths. In addition, professionally, I was intent on understanding if research would be a suitable career path for me. This endeavor was split between finding areas at the intersection of biology, engineering, and math that piqued my interest and being attentive to the traits and qualities that made the researchers I worked with successful and perpetually passionate about their work. Then, I reflected on recognizing (or building) these characteristics in my own personality. During my first day working with my mentor in the lab, we drudged through a weekend’s worth of preparation to test a pipetting robot. Despite being an exciting start, the experiment inevitably failed and foreshadowed the months of repetitive failures that would come ahead of me. Yet during the preparation, we fell into a fascinating conversation on math and biology, where I was introduced to the periodic waves linked to the spatiotemporal activation of Hox genes and projects in DNA origami that leveraged algorithms and nature as a computing tool. I was immediately hooked by the breadth of the field that had been unearthed for me, and over the course of my internship, the excitement of reading literature would give me the forward momentum when my experiments showed little progress, allowing me to realize the joy I experienced while being around science.

The close relationships that I developed with my mentor, PI, and other members of the team also allowed me to define what it means to be a scientist: to ideate, be inquisitive, and not to fear failure but to embrace possibilities. On top of the diligence and attention to detail everyone showed in their work, I was constantly inspired by the creative and playful drive they all had in many facets of their life. Outside of the “tinkering around” that my mentor would do in the lab, she was an experimental cook, dabbled in perfumery, and even synthesized her own music. Furthermore, the scientists and science-adjacent individuals I met through my social circles in Boston shared this love for exploration – from stop-motion animation to excelling in niche forms of surfing. Even my roommate, an MIT graduate, shaped my recipe-following ways to become a more dedicated scientist in the kitchen, where we spent each night working on a single dessert, manipulating a new variable each iteration to perfect the final bake. Taking part in these moments of play reminded me that the scientific method doesn’t always take place in the lab, and the constant exploration I observed people doing with their experiments and hobbies allowed me to remove some of the perfectionism I felt around my career endeavors. 

As someone passionate about many subjects, I struggled with knowing what career path and degree were best suited for me, an internal conflict that made the past two years of college especially challenging. During a one-on-one meeting with my PI, I expressed how my interest in designing with biological materials was shaped by my experience in his lab and sought his advice on how I should focus my studies. It was only a simple response – “study physics and chemistry with a life science application” that he gave, yet the phrasing and context made those words resonate deeply with my own interests. He underscored the importance of how a mechanistic understanding of molecular interactions is important for harnessing nature’s mechanisms – heeding to both my curiosity and desire to create –  and it felt as if a new sense of excitement had been lit inside of me. Taking this sense of direction forward with my other experiences, I came to see science not just as a career path but as a way of thinking, and I left with a deeper excitement for the possibilities ahead.

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 transformative experience was crucial to connecting with my personal and professional interests. Returning to school after completing my internship, I’ve returned with a new excitement about exploring classes to gain a better understanding of fundamentals in engineering, from thermodynamics to process design, and more fields of research in biotechnology beyond the molecular level. Prior to this summer, I had experienced burnout from studying pure physics and science, and believed I wasn’t interested or capable of pursuing it. However, through my conversations with researchers and getting to understand how mechanics and energy shape our abilities to manipulate the nanoscale world, I’ve become increasingly passionate about taking more classes in these areas to build a solid, interdisciplinary foundation for graduate school and further research endeavors. 

For my STEP Signature Project, I took part in a summer undergraduate research apprenticeship studying retroviral integration, with a focus on HIV. I spent most of my time running biomedical assays, testing integrase mutants, analyzing data, and discussing results with my mentor and lab team. The experience gave me a valuable chance to practice real lab techniques and contribute to ongoing scientific work.

Going into this project, I thought research would mostly mean carefully following set procedures until results came out, almost like solving a straightforward puzzle. Instead, I learned that science is often complicated, uncertain, and requires a lot of problem-solving. I became more comfortable with trial and error, realizing that setbacks are part of the process and can actually point the way forward.

This changed how I saw myself as a learner and researcher. Rather than just absorbing information, I started to consider myself as someone who could actively add to the scientific conversation. Gaining confidence in asking questions and troubleshooting problems showed me that I have the creativity and persistence to grow as a researcher.

One of the biggest turning points was when my first few assays didn’t work as expected. At first, I felt discouraged and questioned whether I was cut out for research. With guidance from my mentor, I learned to step back, figure out possible causes, and adjust the experiment. That process showed me that “failure” is really just part of moving toward better results.

Another important experience was presenting my work at lab meetings. Explaining my results and answering questions pushed me to think more critically about my data and how it fit into the bigger project. These discussions helped me appreciate how research depends on teamwork and clear communication.

Finally, mentorship was a huge part of my growth. My mentor not only taught me techniques but also shared their own experiences with challenges in research. Knowing that even seasoned scientists struggle made me more resilient and motivated me to keep going when things didn’t work out right away.

This change matters because it confirmed that I want to keep pursuing research and eventually a PhD. Learning to handle setbacks and stay flexible has given me a more realistic view of what research looks like day to day. I feel more confident that I can handle the challenges that come with advanced study.

On a personal level, this project taught me persistence and patience, which are skills I can carry into both my academic path and everyday life. Seeing myself as someone who can solve problems and contribute in meaningful ways gave me confidence as I think about the future.

For my STEP 2025 project, I was an Undergraduate research assistant for the Buckeye Brain Aging Lab during the summer 2025 semester. As a undergraduate research assistant, some of my roles in the lab included being in charge of QCing neurological tests completed by participants, as well as assisting in running fitness appointments for participants as well. During fitness tests, I would help collect general body measurements of participants, then assess their physical abilities through a series of Gait Mobility testing.

Throughout the summer, I was able to learn more about developing my professional skills in patient/participant interactions, as well as coding and working with raw data. I am very glad I was able to do this summer STEP project because it introduced me to the world of research and helped me better my understanding of what it means to work in research and pursue a graduate program after undergraduate school. Before starting this STEP project, I was still very unsure on my career plan for after undergrad. I was in between pursing a career in Physicians Assistant (PA), medical school, or furthering my education through graduate school. After completing this project for the summer, my career views changed slightly, and I am more confident in pursuing a path in Physicians Assistant. Through my work, I realized that I much more prefer working directly with people and patients rather than doing work behind the scenes. While I enjoy working work and analyzing raw data collected from our experiments, I enjoyed performing the fitness exams and working with actual participants much more. In my future at OSU I plan to continue my work with the Buckeye Brain Aging Lab to gain valuable experience in research surrounding Brain Aging and modifiable lifestyle variables, and also help graduate students and research assistants with their work. After undergrad I plan to use my knowledge and experiences from this lab to work towards a Physicians Assistant program.

I think the most valuable experiences I had from joining the Buckeye Brain Aging Lab over the summer was the interactions I had with the undergraduate students, research assistants, graduate students, and principle investigator of the lab. Being able to learn from such a diverse crowd helped me realize other options I had once I finished my undergraduate degree. My graduate student mentor that I work under was also a Biology major in her undergrad, and it was very insightful learning about her experiences in undergrad and her journey throughout graduate school at Ohio State. A lot of the graduate students come from a wide variety of schools and programs across the country. Each member of the lab had a unique story of how they joined, and what they wanted to pursue in their futures. From hearing about their experiences before and during graduate school, I realized that pursuing a graduate degree was not something that would benefit my career. Although I enjoy what I do in my research lab and am very grateful for the chance to join, I have also learned through my fellow lab members that I do not want to pursue a permanent career in research, only because it does not fit my personal goals and aspirations in life.

A second experience from this lab that helped me grow and learn more about myself and the world was the CODE program I took through the psychology department as part of my lab. When I joined at the start of summer, my PI recommended that I join the CODE summer program as well in order to familiarize myself with Python, along with getting to meet different researchers and graduate students and hear their stories and experiences. Throughout the six week program, I was able to hear speakers come and talk about their journey in Neuro-psychological research.

Finally, through weekly meetings with my PI and the rest of my team, I was able to receive valuable advice and information about different ways I can use everything I’ve gained as being an undergraduate research assistant, and apply it to my career goals in the future. My PI was able to provide me with more opportunities to work directly with participants in the lab. This is more tailored to my interests in working directly with participants in both a clinical and non-clinical setting. There are also members of my lab team who are currently applying or applying to medical schools this cycle. Because there are similarities in the applications to PA and medical schools, I can learn from them and help build a better resume under by belt.

Overall, this project was impactful by solidifying my career path, learning what interests me the most in my field, and providing me with valuable professional skills to prepare me after I complete my undergraduate degree at The Ohio State University. I was able to develop both my clinical and non-clinical patient/participant interactions. This has been very beneficial to my future because I am now confident in my choice in major, and now have a much clearer path to reaching my career goals. This experience also showed me that I much rather prefer a career where I get to interact with people daily and help address their direct health needs. My work in the Buckeye Brain Aging Lab has introduced me to various clinical work, as well as the process of analyzing research data collected. I am grateful for the opportunity to partake in the STEP program during my Summer 2025 semester.

1. Please provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project.

For my STEP project, I did undergraduate research here at the Ohio State University under Dr. Taylor, doing sustainability polymer research in CBEC (the chemical and biomedical engineering building). Mainly, I aided a PhD student in her research on spinning fibers, making samples, and testing them. I also got to do my own research by aging fibers, analyzing samples, and presenting a poster to participate in the undergraduate research showcase.

2. What about your understanding of yourself, your assumptions, or your view of the world changed/transformed while completing your STEP Signature Project?

As someone who grew up in rural Ohio and has never traveled outside of the country, I realized my worldview was incredibly narrow, and how lucky I am! In and outside of my lab, I got to meet many amazing people from all over the globe who shared some of their experiences and why they chose OSU for graduate school. I chose Ohio State because of its great chemical engineering program and proximity, but meeting people who have traveled thousands of miles and left their families to go here made me grateful that I have this opportunity so close to my friends and family.

As I fell in love with the work I was doing and got more confident in my lab skills, I became increasingly motivated to pursue research in graduate school. Also, becoming more used to the graduate school environment allowed me to feel more like an adult as I was able to view what my future every day would look like. With the start of my 3^rd year, not only do I feel more motivated as an upperclassman, but also sure of myself, which has already improved my year quite drastically.

3. What events, interactions, relationships, or activities during your STEP Signature Project led to the change/transformation that you discussed in number two, and how did those affect you?

This experience gave me the opportunity to learn from a huge group of like-minded graduate students and professors from all over the globe who had gone through the same self-discovery that I am currently going through. Being able to ask them how they came to the same conclusions and what they did next allowed me to visualize myself taking similar career steps and now better address the next step in my career journey.

Specifically, my advisor has been crucial in this process, as I’ve been able to discuss all the details about how she became a professor, including the programs she applied to in her undergraduate studies and how she chose her graduate school. Also, since we have a small lab with only two graduate students currently, I’ve been able to get closer with them to the point where we’ve become like a lab family. With these mentors to help me find out and get to where I need to go, I’ve been able to make much more detailed goals to meet before graduate school.

After my previous experience in high school and college, I knew I wanted to do research in something related to materials, as I love sewing and textile crafts, but I didn’t know what fields of chemical engineering there were. So, this lab was the perfect one for me. Not only was it a great introduction to research, as the people in it are incredibly kind, but it is also more related to my interests. Over the summer of being in the lab, I fell in love with working with polymers and carbon nanotube fibers, and I would love to research something similar or adjacent in the future.

My summer lab experience coincidentally aligned with an undergraduate research symposium held in early August, where I was able to create a poster, present my research, and meet other undergraduates in the area for the first time. Although my poster wasn’t perfect, it was an invaluable experience to be so well introduced to academia and to get practice networking with other people in and outside of my field.

4. Why is this change/transformation significant or valuable for your life?

Comparing my college experience now to how it was last year, I am significantly more confident in myself and my future, allowing myself to flourish. As cheesy as that sounds, it really is true, as I am better at getting out of my comfort zone and understanding my responsibilities. Now that I’ve built these connections with my advisor and lab mates, I feel less alone on campus. Last year, I often found myself questioning if I should change my major, but now that I have become more confident in my abilities and I have mentors who have been through what I’m going through, I’m able to break down my tasks and realistically manage my time. This experience not only developed my network of people but also built up my skills to help me achieve my goals. The best way to describe its impact is that achieving my goals used to feel like facing an impossible climb, but now it is more comparable to a grand staircase, as the steps to get there, my goal, and how far I’ve come have become clearer.

For my STEP project, I conducted research over the summer in the lab of Dr. Namal Liyanage at OSU. My work focused on an adjuvant for an HIV vaccine in development, particularly how these drugs affect immune cells called natural killer cells. I led multiple stages in the research process, including designing experiments, collecting and analyzing data, and reading scientific literature to interpret the results.

This opportunity greatly changed my views towards research, and how I approach it. When I started this project, I had not had this sort of full-time lab experience, so I had a relatively simplified view of the process of research. I came to understand throughout this project that research has setbacks, and you must continually follow where it leads you if you want to make progress. I learned that failure is a necessary part of this learning process, since it often teaches the most valuable lessons.

These ideas were always apparent to me throughout this summer because of how prevalent they were throughout my daily activities in the lab. For example, there were many times throughout the summer when I had to adapt and take my work in a direction that I didn’t previously anticipate. When I was analyzing my data, I had a huge collection of features that I could look at — that made the process quite overwhelming. As I worked through it, there were several points when I found something interesting, and I kept digging into that data to see whether I had found something real and useful. So, when trying to develop a cohesive story of how my immune cells responded to the vaccine adjuvant, I had to keep adjusting the lens through which I viewed those results. In this way, I learned to be very flexible and adaptive, as I could never know which perspective would yield the best outcomes.

I also experienced my fair share of failures throughout the summer. As anybody in research will tell you, you should never expect an experiment to work the first time. Indeed, my work was no different — I messed up experiments in ways where I would have to do the entire day over again, this time taking extra care to do that part correctly. However frustrating those times may be, I realize looking back that those failures are incredibly valuable for understanding my work. When I failed an experiment, I was forced to ask myself why. I would then go through all of the steps in my mind, considering how deviations at each of them might lead to the faulty results that I observed. In this way, I could develop a very thorough and mechanistic understanding of the experiments I was doing. One great example is flow cytometry, which is a procedure that requires several parameters to be correct and well-coordinated. I’ve learned a good deal about how flow cytometry works just by failing in a particular way, then investigating how each of those parameters could be screwed up to get the results I saw. Therefore, while I used to see failures as just a bad thing, I do now recognize the silver lining when it comes to long-term growth and understanding.

One unexpected skill that I needed to develop throughout this summer was the ability to synthesize my research with real-world significance. I noticed in my day-to-day that I would gravitate towards a few modes of operation — e.g. procedure writing mode, experimentation mode, statistical analysis mode — but those were all very restricted in scope. I was good at getting into the tiny details of each of those processes, but one thing I didn’t yet know how to do was how to properly explain what all of it means. One of my tasks this summer was to read scientific papers and report on how to interpret my data. For example, if my immune cells are producing more of a certain chemical, I needed to assert what that means for the overall function of the vaccine. It was so difficult to make these connections because of how vast and complicated this field was; I needed to read dozens of papers just to begin to understand how these immune cells worked. But as I kept working towards that goal, I began to recognize the obvious but under-appreciated skill that every researcher needs to have: the ability to argue why all these numbers and graphs actually matter in the real world.

These transformations are significant to me because they helped me get into the mindset of what it means to be a researcher. I previously understood research to be intellectually challenging, sure, but I did not grasp the constant demand for adaptability, resilience, and big-picture thinking in its day-to-day practice. I had intended to continue research throughout my career, and after experiencing these challenges myself, that desire is even more solidified. I am inspired by how researchers continue to move forward and make new discoveries in the face of these obstacles, and I hope to one day count myself among them. This project clarified what it means to “think like a scientist”, and it taught me skills that I will continue to hone for the rest of my life.

1. My main activities during my STEP project include running biochemical experiments that measure things such as metabolic activity, cell membrane damage, and mitochondrial function. This also included culturing muscle cells and using them through the duration of the project for pharmacological and inhibitor experimentation.
2. During this project, I got to understand how I approach thinking about issues where there is no right answer. I was a learning curve to understand that I wasn’t chasing an established answer but rather generating new ideas and new information. Yes, part of this was figured out in my experimentation and days spent in the lab doing wet lab work, but actually a majority of this growth came when I was away from my lab.

The days spent flipping through books or pouring through publications on my computer are the times where real growth and my understanding of myself changed. It was a really great experience to go from reading a paper and looking up every other word to understanding it completely on the first try. I feel like I finally got to see what being a scientist was really about. Not simply the lab work, but the amount of reading and thinking that goes into generating new ideas and information.

3. One person in particular who was essential in my acheivements discussed in # 2 was my mentor for this project. Dr. Pari has been a massive help in shaping the way I grow as a researcher. He pushed me to a higher level of understanding on this topic by quizzing me at random and having me present my findings at lab meetings. He held me to very high standards and gave me constructive criticism when needed.

While our lab is small and my PI is busy frequently, he made time to meet with me almost everyday and talk through my experiments. He pushed me to be a bigger lead on my project and didn’t just hand me the answers. I frequently found myself reading the papers he would send me on new publications that just came through on my topic. After reading, I would discuss them with him.

Without him as my mentor and PI, I would undoubtedly not be where I am right now. I’m looking forward to working with him still during the school year and working on an off-shoot of my finished project. I want to grow more as a researcher and take charge of generating new ideas for my project. With his guidance and my experience from this project, I know I can do it.

4. This change is very significant to my life because of my chosen career path. After earning my bachelors, I plan to pursue a PhD and enter into a scientific career in academia. I want to follow a similar path to my PI and continue to teach and explore. Because of my experience with this project, I can say for certain that my chosen career path is perfect for me, and I take much joy in the process.

In addition to confirming my passion for research, I also dramatically improved my scientific writing, communication, and critical thinking skills which are important for any field someone goes into. Knowing how to accurately understand medical and scientific information being presented is important to being an informed citizen in America and will greatly improve my quality of life as well as my career skills.