Today I finally have my first visit for my internship!!!
With Ms. Mroczka's accompany, we headed to RPI this afternoon right after school. To be honest, I was nervously excited. I did not know what my mentor is going to ask me or what task am I going to be assigned to, yet I was so ready to express my passion to him. In fact, my mind was blown away even when I first entered the building. There is a broad space in the build with modern designs that makes it look very "technological".
I met my mentor, Dr. Koffas, and he led us into the building to his office. Not surprise at all, he was a really nice man. In his way of talking, he conveyed a sense of intellect and patience. He is also very flexible, too. When we asked about the privacy issue about the lab, he was very generous and welcomed us to take pictures of the project, which made me really glad and thankful.
My research mainly focuses on molecular biology. His current research group is working on "Network, Metabolic, Cellular Engineering". He told us that some common used techniques in this lab are purifying proteins, purifying DNA, and even cloning! I was literally so excited (and Ms. Mroczka was excited for me too!) when I heard this because they are exactly the things I would like to explore even though they were completely new! When he asked me about my interests and what I hope to take away from this internship, I answered anything and everything, and I told him how much I love biology. As we are entering my favorite chapter in my biology class - genetics, and I hope I can apply my knowledge on the labs I will be working on and further explore the topic:)
After all, I will not be starting my internship until after the Thanksgiving break, and I will be working with his graduate students or postdocs. However, although it was just a short meeting, I am glad that my internship is finally starting!
Peggy, you are clearly excited and energized for your internship - good for you! An optimistic and can-do attitude will serve you well this year as you work your way through your internship. I am glad that you are interested in your research topics and I am looking forward to what you accomplish!
ReplyDeleteYay! You finally found out what you're doing! I know you were anxiously awaiting the news! It sounds like it parallels your interests in genetics, molecular biology, and cellular engineering! I can’t wait to hear more about your work! Will you have some pictures soon? :) Also, what are you cloning? That sounds so interesting! I look forward to meeting again and hearing all about it because we didn’t have much to discuss at our last meeting.
ReplyDeleteNice comment, Kailin. Your writing is encouraging and inspirational!
DeletePeggy, please remember to post every week, even when you do not travel to your internship.
ReplyDeleteHi Peggy!
ReplyDeleteWhen we talked you had mentioned how interested you were in biology, especially biotechnology or biomedical fields. You told me you were going to use your internship to gain more Biology experience on a molecular level and your internship sounds perfect for that! The fact that you're also working with things such as cloning that are relatively recent to the science field must be really exciting. I hope to see some pictures soon and hear more about how you are going to be using cellular engineering in your internship.