Hi everyone! My name is CJ and I’m a senior studying neuroscience and dance. This semester I’m completing my neuroscience thesis from research I’ve done since my first year at Scripps! I thought for this blog post, it would be a good idea to reflect on my time in the lab and list the top 5 things I’ve learned through the research process!
I’m a student researcher in a computational neuroscience lab at the Natural Science Department working on an app-based cognitive task. I joined the lab my first year without a particular interest in computational work or research in general. Since then, I’ve found a real passion for research and I’m inspired to continue on in this field post-grad.
- Don’t underestimate the importance of lab bonding! I feel really lucky to be a part of a lab that prioritizes experiences outside that of lab work. I’ve spent two summers working full time at this lab and found our activities outside of research to be essential in having a productive and fun time! We’ve gone bowling, hiking, and have explored restaurants, just to name a few!
- Collaboration is the best way to do science! I’ve learned through my summers working in labs that most problems are always solved by talking them out. I would sometimes spend hours trying to fix a bug in my code and it was immediately solved when I shared my problem with a lab mate. Sometimes just talking something out solves the issue.
- Science benefits from non-scientific fields. In my lab, there are many interdisciplinary students also studying things like philosophy, computer science, physics, math, and, in my case, dance. I’ve found that by merging interests, one maximizes their creativity and can develop very interesting projects.
- Most of the work you do isn’t what gets published. Working on this project for four years, I have found that most of my time was spent cleaning data and trying to establish an accessible framework to analyze my findings. This kind of work, while time consuming, is ultimately not what gets shared!
- Research is fun! I only began looking for research experience because it was recommended for me as a pre-med student. But, I very quickly realized that I enjoyed research. My experience in the lab has been one of my favorites in college and one of the most pivotal!
Thanks for reading! I highly recommend joining a lab in college!