Proposal presentation fun!


This was my favorite project to work on. I loved the collaboration and freedom. Usually in my UROP, I am just doing smaller projects that my mentor tells me to do within a larger goal, so this was a whole new world. The process, from posing ideas to researching, and then coming up for a proposal was very engaging. When we started our pitching ideas, we had so many. A challenge was trying to focus on just one idea without branching out to others. This process made me realize how capable I am to come up with new ideas. Often, I doubt my ability to be innovative as it sometimes seems other people have “already thought of that idea”. Further, I never connected research with creativity for some reason, but this process has shown me that there is creativity within research . 

Once we chose a specific topic and goal, researching (to the best of our ability) was so interesting. I loved learning new topics and subjects. Thanks to our journal club, it was easier to sift through journal articles and piece together the info I needed. We realized that there were many alternate decisions that could be made and it was hard to decide which path to take. I realize research is all about choosing one direction, and then maybe going the other route if that one fails. 

Overall, presenting our idea was the best part because it was our own creation. I loved sharing our ideas to the class and getting feedback. 

Regarding Mod 3, this was by far my favorite module. Using M13 bacteriophage to create batteries is such a novel idea and it made me realize the wide range of ideas that encompass bioengineering. I will forever cherish my battery breadboard :) 

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