Summer undergraduate research fellowship
(CCHMC SURF) - 2019
This last summer, between my second and third years at UC, I was fortunate to again participate in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program offered through Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC). If you have read about any of my other honors experiences in research, you will not be surprised to learn that I worked in the Lewkowich Lab, in the department of Immunology. Over my 10 weeks in the lab, I developed and carried out experiments supporting my ongoing project exploring the effects of paternal allergen exposure on the development of asthma in offspring. These experiments collectively were one of the largest undertakings I have ever attempted; over the course of the summer I bred about 30 mice, producing over 150 offspring that needed individually treated for 4 separate experiments. Although it was difficult at times, this experience taught me so much about organization, collaboration, experimental design, and problem-solving. For the first time, these experiments were completely mine and I had to plan them, gather supplies, implement treatments, and collaborate with other members of my lab to share resources. In addition, I really began to understand what career paths I could potentially take in research and what goals I could make to set me on those paths. Look below for a picture from the end-of-summer SURF poster presentation, which I chose to illustrate this experience because it shows not only progress of my paternal exposure project, but also what I have learned about communicating scientific data and professionalism.