What years did you participate in UROP?

I participated in the second semester of my freshman year, in 2013, and then continued into the summer with the UROP Summer Biomedical and Life Sciences Fellowship program.

 

What made you choose UROP?

I knew I wanted to get involved in research but didn't know where to start to get more lab experience; UROP made it easy to get involved quickly and build my experience from there.

What do you think you have learned from your UROP experience?

I learned a lot about the realities of designing and performing your own experiments, and what it is like to participate in a research lab environment in a larger capacity than working as a lab tech.

What is the extent to which you have kept in contact with your Research Mentor?

My research mentor and I email each other a couple times a year at least with updates or asking questions about topics in the field since I stayed in a similar area of research for my graduate studies. He has also written me letters of recommendation for grant applications in graduate school which have been very helpful.

How did your UROP experience shape or inform the next steps you took in your academic and professional journey?

I ended up staying in the lab I did my UROP experience in after the program had completed and doing my honors thesis work there. This was very helpful in applying for graduate schools, and when I started graduate school I felt very prepared for what was expected of me in the lab.

What advice would you give to a current UROP student?

Keeping in touch with your mentor can be really helpful along the way for letters of recommendation and networking, especially if you stay in a similar field, but even if you change areas of research going forward the research world is smaller than it appears and chances are they will know someone that will be helpful to you later on in your career.

What are some recent publications or accomplishments that you are proud of?

I recently published my first author publication developing a mouse model of pulmonary Mycobacteroides abscessus infection.

(https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-60452-1)

Is there any other advice you would like to impart to current or future UROP students?

There is a lot of pressure as an undergraduate to be prepared for the next step to graduate school, and working hard in your studies and in a lab is important and makes you very competitive, but remember you will do your best work if you take time for yourself as well. Work smarter, not harder, and you'll get more out of what you do.