The research proposal was a really great exercise in identifying a current problem and potential, feasible solution within a practical time period. While the other modules introduced and familiarized us to the actual lab work and etiquette needed to answer a research question, the goals, quality checks, and troubleshooting considerations weren't thought of by us. That being said, this research proposal was a more difficult assignment in many regards. Browsing through the discussion sections of numerous papers I was interested in gave me an idea of what a next step would be, but considering that I had no real expertise in any of those areas it was still difficult to identify what specific assays would be needed for those next steps. Because of this, I also had a hard time deciding on a general area for my topic. In this regard, listing 5 areas and then trying to blend them with my partners' helped us define a creative topic area that we could look more into.

The timescale for this project seemed to move so much more quickly than that of other modules', so scheduling regular meetings and outlining agenda items for each meeting helped keep us on track a lot. By discussing our ideas at various points with classmates and instructors/TAs, despite not having specialized expertise, we were eventually able to identify a niche we could address in our area within a 3-5 year time span, and then funny enough finding the papers to support our motivation and how we would move forward was the easiest part for me (definitely NOT the case for all groups though!).

I also really appreciated the wide variety of proposals that came up, from our epigenetic engineering for treatment of RA to engineering a mechanically accurate model of a heart to environmental engineering of bacteria to clean up oil spills. It made me realize (again) how diverse our department's applications can be, which I think was a really great learning experience.

-Bri Ko

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