Tag: road less traveled

Last spring, we asked several current Penn students in the College of Arts & Sciences to talk to us about their summer internship experience.

We hope these brief interviews give you some insight into the many opportunities and career fields that await you out in the world!

Today’s interview is with Mary Xia, CAS ’16

Tell Us About Yourself

Name: Mary Xia
Hometown: Livingston NJ
Year/major/minor: Class of 2014, Major in Biology, Major in Computer Science, Minor in Nutrition

Favorite class/experience at Penn
Many. There are just so many opportunities to do pretty much anything here. One event (out of many) is being a Move-In Green Leader during move-in. We all recycled 20 tons of cardboard from solely move-in week in August 2013.

Where did you work and what was your job title?
I spent the summer between my Junior and Senior year participating in the Food Science Summer Scholar Program at Cornell University. I worked in a sensory research lab, focusing on how diet-restriction affects mouse taste receptor expression.

How did you get involved in your summer position?
I applied online to food science internships and jobs.

Did you have any background with this subject/field before?
I have been researching human taste receptors and taste perception at the Monell Chemical Senses Center since my second semester at Penn, and I have been interested in food science and nutrition since middle school. There was still a lot of novel material, especially as I was working with mice for the first time and on different pathways and lab techniques. However, food science is a really broad topic, ranging from sensory to food safety (microbiology) to food processing techniques (chemistry, engineering) and more. The scholars and I all had completely different projects across the spectrum, so there was definitely a lot to learn.

What was your favorite part of the experience?
Everything! Cornell’s Food Science department is incredible, and the entire program was extremely well-planned and diverse. I not only picked up how to get taste buds from mice tongues, but also had the chance to tour Kraft’s and Pepsi’s headquarters and learn about the industry. Most of the other scholars came from universities with Food Science programs, and it was fun to explore Ithaca with them. We also had a fantastic trip to Chicago for the annual Institute of Food Technologists Expo, a conference where thousands of food companies and academics gather to discuss food. I don’t think I could’ve asked for a better summer (except for more data/results).

What was something you learned/did that you didn’t expect?
Well, the entire summer was a learning experience, both in and out of the lab, so it’s difficult to just choose one. One nifty procedure I learned was how to obtain taste buds from the mouse tongue. You remove the tongue, peel off the top layer of the back of the tongue in one piece (the underside has the taste buds) and then suck up the taste buds using a little glass tip. This is all done under the microscope because everything is tiny. I also gained an industry perspective on so many topics, especially at the Expo where I talked to at least a hundred different companies about their products, processing techniques, and sustainability initiatives.

What was the most valuable lesson you took away from this experience?
I really enjoyed working with my lab members; everyone was extremely passionate, intelligent, and experienced. At the same time, they were willing and eager to try new techniques, figure out protocols, and read and discuss tons more papers. Scientific research is really frustrating when expensive experiments don’t work, or when results aren’t conclusive, and it really takes a lot of mental strength and passion to pursue this career.

How has this experience influenced your long-term career plans/goals?
I am certain that I like food science and its related topics, and that it will always be an interest/hobby of mine. In the future, I might migrate towards a career in food science or sensory research. For now, though, I will be working in an unrelated field.

Last spring, we asked several current Penn students in the College of Arts & Sciences to talk to us about their summer internship experience.

We hope these brief interviews give you some insight into the many opportunities and career fields that await you out in the world!

Today’s interview is with Sarah Mann, CAS ’14

Tell Us About Yourself
Name: Sarah Mann
Hometown: Tucson, AZ
Year/major/minor: 2014, Anthropology major concentration in human biology, Nutrition minor

Where did you work/job title?
I worked in the Laboratory of Innovative and Translational Nursing Research as a research assistant and laboratory technician under the guidance of Dr. Joseph Libonati.  The laboratory research focuses on the mechanisms by which exercise training benefits the heart in a host of different diseases including cardiovascular disease, hypertension, myocardial infarction, and doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity (chemotherapy drug that has cardiotoxic effects).

How did you get involved in your summer position?
During January 2013, I began looking for research positions, particularly ones that would enable me to get lots of hands on experience and conduct my own experiments.  I was browsing through a list of research opportunities and came across Dr. Libonati’s lab and was eager to learn more abut his lab.  After interviewing and receiving the positions as research assistant and laboratory technician I broached the topic of a summer position with him, which he gladly offered.

Did you have any background with this subject/field before?
I actually did not have much of a background with either cardiology or exercise, though I was familiar with the cardiotoxic effects of certain chemotherapy drugs.  I had previously worked in two labs, though (genetics lab at the University of Arizona and a breast cancer lab at the Arizona Cancer Center) and was familiar with basic laboratory techniques.  While I did not have much prior experience, I did not believe that to be a hindrance at all with my work, as Dr. Libonati promotes an environment of hands-on learning.  I did have to complete a slew of primary training and become certified to work with mice.

What was your favorite part of the experience?
My favorite part of my experience working in Dr. Libonati’s lab was learning a variety of techniques that I can carry with me to different research opportunities I may have upon graduation.  I was certified to work with mice (running/training them on a treadmill for one of the research projects), learned how to perform cell culture experiments and even got to design my own – looking at the potential for glucose and insulin to mitigate the effects of cisplatin, a chemotherapy drug, induced cardiotoxicity on rat cardiomyocytes.  I also had the opportunity to learn and perform a rather unique technique, the Langendorff perfusion (isolated perfused heart assay) on rat hearts.  This technique is truly unbelievable as I watched Dr. Libonati perform surgery to excise the heart from the rat, and attach the heart to a series of tubing to perform the heart assay allowing the heart to continue to beat outside of the body (due to the infusion/flow of Krebs solution, which mimics the blood).  The Langendorff technique enables the examination of cardiac contractile strength and heart rate to be studied even during a scenario mimicking a heart attack (lowering or turning off the flow of Krebs solution).  I truly enjoyed learning all of these techniques and being able to actually conduct experiments rather than simply shadowing.

What was something you learned/did that you didn’t expect?
I did not anticipate learning about the statistical process of analyzing data or the process of writing scientific articles for publication.  However I am so grateful for having been given this experience.  I learned how to use STATA and which specific tests to run to analyze a set of data.  I also was able to participate in the process of writing a scientific paper for publication including data analysis, formatting figures, and actual writing of the different sections.  These skills are incredibly valuable as I continue to pursue my interest in research.

What was the most valuable lesson you took away from this experience?
The most valuable lesson I took away from this experience is that research does not always go the way you expect, your hypothesis may be proven wrong or even certain experiments may not run as planned.  Troubleshooting during these circumstances is essential.  Oftentimes research can be frustrating and I’ve come to realize that great determination and perseverance is needed to be successful in this field.  Success does not come without an immense amount of hard work and the drive and desire to see the project through.

How has this experience influenced your long-term career plans/goals?
My experience working in Dr. Libonati’s lab has actually come to shape my long-term career plans and goals greatly.  I have always been interested in medicine, however I had never given much thought to pursing a career in research.  After working in my lab I am confident that I want to continue performing experiments and contributing to the vast database of scientific literature.  I will be pursing an MD/PhD in my near future, attempting to combine my passion for nutrition with my interest in oncology.

What would you recommend to other students trying to pursue the Road Less Traveled?
I would recommend for other students to pursue a field of interest that truly sounds interesting to them.  That is, it is important to follow one’s passions.  I strongly believe that I felt so rewarded by working in my lab because I was very interested in the research we were conducting (looking at the effects of different chemo drugs on the heart).  Furthermore, though, and perhaps just as importantly, I think it is essential to find an opportunity that allows one to actually get hands-on learning.  While yes, one can learn by watching, learning by doing is that much more powerful.  I am extremely appreciative of my opportunity to work in the Laboratory of Innovative and Translational Nursing Research under Dr. Libonati and fellow researchers and hope that others will pursue their passions and the “road less traveled” – not just simply settling for any opportunity along the way.

Last spring, we asked several current Penn students in the College of Arts & Sciences to talk to us about their summer internship experience.

We hope these brief interviews give you some insight into the many opportunities and career fields that await you out in the world!

Today’s interview is with Kaustuh Deo, CAS-WH ’16
Tell Us About Yourself

Name: Kaustubh Deo
Hometown: Seattle, Washington, United States
Year/major/minor: 2016, Huntsman Program (Business and International Studies), French Minor
Where did you work and what was your job title?

I split my summer into two portions. The first six weeks were spent doing the Penn-in-Tours program in France. When I returned, I completed six week internship at Five Ultimate, a company that specializes in making jerseys for Ultimate Frisbee teams around the world. I was a marketing intern, though the marketing department consisted of one of the co-founders and the head of marketing (and me).

How did you get involved in your summer position?

I’ve played Ultimate since middle school, and during the junior year of high school I got a summer job doing quality control, meaning I just had to make sure all the jerseys were printed properly and the right sizes were included in every team order. It was a really boring job, but I was able to meet everyone at the company (around 10-15 full-time employees), including the five founders, who are all siblings, hence the name Five Ultimate. I emailed one of the founders and asked her if there was any way to put together a business-related internship for the second half of the summer. I met with her when I went home during Spring Break and we were able to figure out a plan that would be mutually beneficial.

Did you have any background with this subject/field before?

I had no formal experience with marketing specifically, but I am very knowledgeable about Ultimate and the culture of the sport, which is obviously very valuable for a company whose customers are all Ultimate players. Further, my team here at Penn usually orders our jerseys from Five.

What was your favorite part of the experience?

It was really great to work side-by-side with the head of marketing in the open office set-up. Everyone could chat with each other throughout the day, leading to a relaxed, friendly work environment. It showed me what kind of people I want to work around.

What was something you learned/did that you didn’t expect?

The experience provided me with an insight to how a small business or start-up operates, which is great context as I move forward and intern with larger corporations in future summers. Second, my original motivation in pursuing this internship was to assess if marketing would be something I want to do in the future and this gave me an idea of what marketing entails in the real world.

What was the most valuable lesson you took away from this experience?

I think learning how to work independently while on a team was extremely valuable. Most of our school work tends to be individual, while group work tends to be completed as a group. However, working a job usually requires individual work that is then aggregated into a group effort. At Five, I took care of my part of projects while my co-workers did their parts, and then we would meet primarily to collaborate and merge our work (unlike school, where we meet to do the actual work itself). Learning this dynamic makes me a more productive employee and more valuable teammate.

How has this experience influenced your long-term career plans/goals?

I definitely know now that I need to work in a setting that promotes collaboration and cross-fertilization of ideas. Working in a vacuum with little understanding of the big picture is not something I want to do. In addition, I learned that marketing is a little too qualitative for my taste, so I’m going to look for careers that require more quantitative analysis and technical work.

What would you recommend to other students trying to pursue the Road Less Traveled?

Email anyone and everyone who could possibly help you. This includes extended family, high school teachers, parents of your college/high school friends, etc. I even googled random companies in industries I was interested in, then went into their “People” section of the website, and would read employee bios until I found someone who went to Penn and email them. I’ve actually gotten to have coffee or phone calls with some very interesting people that way, even if it doesn’t necessarily lead to a job.

Last spring, we asked several current Penn students in the College of Arts & Sciences to talk to us about their summer internship experience.

We hope these brief interviews give you some insight into the many opportunities and career fields that await you out in the world!

Today’s interview is with Will Marble, CAS ’15

Name: Will Marble
Hometown: Erdenheim, Pennsylvania
Year/Majors: 2015, majoring in political science and economics

Favorite class at Penn: Two of my favorite classes were actually with professors I worked with over the summer: Prof. John Lapinski’s class, “Elections, Polling, and the Media,” and Prof. Marc Meredith’s class, “Statistical Methods in Political Science.” Both involved original research papers, which was challenging but rewarding.

Where did you work and what was your job title?
Last summer I worked as an undergraduate research fellow for a political science program at Penn, the Program for Opinion Research and Election Studies (PORES). I did research assistance for Profs. John Lapinski, Marc Meredith, and Matt Levendusky on projects related to election administration and public opinion.

How did you get involved in your summer position?
PORES is a new program, and I first heard about the plans for the program from Prof. Lapinski, the program director, last winter. However, it dropped off my radar until I saw an email on the political science major listserv advertising the research fellow position. I sent an application to Prof. Lapinski and set up the job in mid-April.

Did you have any background with this subject/field before?
I had a bit of background in this subject before, since I am a political science major. My job involved a lot of quantitative data analysis, which touched on topics I learned about in my introductory statistics and econometrics classes. But I had not done any political science research prior to last summer.

What was your favorite part of the experience?
My favorite part of the experience was learning the nitty-gritty of quantitative political science research. When you read a published paper, it’s easy to take for granted all of the small bits of work that go into it (from finding data sources, to cleaning the data, to analyzing it). Over the summer, I learned how to take those steps to generate interesting, original research.

What was something you learned/did that you didn’t expect?
I was surprised to learn how inconsistent and messy some government data is (particularly at the local level). To overcome the problem of really, really messy data — for example, a 10,000-page PDF that needs to be turned into a spreadsheet of a few hundred lines) — and to analyze it once it was cleaned, I became fairly good at programming in the statistics package Stata, which is a really valuable skill for doing quantitative research.

What was the most valuable lesson you took away from this experience?
The most valuable lesson I took away was how to think about the research process: from doing background research to developing theories and hypotheses, to identifying how to where to find the data to test those theories, to actually doing the analysis. Another valuable lesson in realism is something Prof. Meredith told me: If you want to know how long a research project will take, make a first guess. Multiply that number by eight, and then you have a reasonable estimate.

How has this experience influenced your long-term career plans/goals?
I’m still involved in the PORES program as a research assistant for Prof. Lapinski, and the experience has convinced me that I want to pursue graduate studies in political science. I’ve really enjoyed being involved with original research, so I’m planning on applying to Ph.D. programs next school year.