During my high school summers, I interned at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. While at NASA, I worked on a team to develop various instruments for remote sensing of gas concentrations in the atmospheres of Mars and the Earth.

This past summer, I interned at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in the department of Vascular Surgery. My main project was to design a program to analyze microscopic cross sections of arteries and determine certain characteristics of their elastic microstructure. I used this program to develop a preliminary model of these arteries and how they change with age and various risk factors. This model could ultimately be used by doctors to help them obtain a clearer “view” of their patient’s arteries early on in a case. In order to retrieve data for this project, I also spent a significant amount of time dissecting human arteries and testing their mechanical properties. Another project of mine involved performing comparative genomic studies to isolate mutations responsible for causing abdominal aortic aneurysms. Finally, when time permitted, I was able to shadow surgeons in the operating room, and see what the real life of a surgeon is like!

I found this research opportunity by searching for summer MD/PhD programs. This search returned a page on the American Association of Medical Colleges website that listed several excellent summer programs for students interested in pursuing an MD/PhD.

I worked with a multitude of people from various backgrounds. My supervisor was Dr. B. Timothy Baxter, a vascular surgeon at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. I primarily worked with Dr. Alexey Kamenskiy, a biomechanical engineer, and Dr. Jason MacTaggart, another vascular surgeon. Along with this diverse group of mentors, I worked with several other students, some undergrads and some in the midst of their residencies.

I did receive course credit (Prac 098), as well as a stipend of 3,000. However, I never really thought of either of these facts. I was required to spend about 40 hours every week, but I found myself spending upwards of 60 hours some weeks (especially if I was shadowing a surgeon, or performing an important experiment). This may seem like too much, but I must admit that I enjoyed every second.

I had completed all the introductory science courses (CHEM 102, BIOL 141, MATH 251, PHYS 122), but did not have any “specialized” knowledge per se.

Since my project involved a lot of coding, I learned a substantial amount from online lectures on image processing, tutorials for fast processing, and similar digital sources. I also learned a great deal from reading old papers in the field of biomechanics and discussing these papers with my mentors.

The hardest part of my research was working with variability in human samples. It is difficult to analyze perfect images, but to analyze fuzzy images with different color distributions and shapes is an entirely different story altogether.

The most unexpected part of my research was the fact that I could work on the computer one day, work in the wet-lab the next day, and observe an operation the day after that!

This research relates to my work in ENCH 215, the first major class in the chemical engineering sequence. I am currently working with a team to develop a heart-lung machine, which essentially acts like an external pump that oxygenates blood during open-heart surgery. We are using principles of hemodynamics that were the basis of my summer research.

Presenting at ABRCMS helped me review my research as well as the relevant literature on a far deeper level than I had over the summer. I was able to organize my work into a clear sequence of events and really understand the impact of what I had done. ABRCMS also offered me the opportunity to share my excitement for the subject with other people, and get their feedback on my work. Hearing and answering people’s questions also sparked new ideas that I hope to expound upon in the future.

First, get to know your professors! However, do not do this only for a recommendation letter, do this because your professors can offer excellent advice in helping you get into research, and ultimately into graduate/professional school later!

Second, apply to as many places as you can, and be proactive. Also, don’t dismiss a program because it doesn’t have EXACTLY what you want to do… its better to have 5 options to pick from than none at all.

I hope to pursue an MD/PhD after graduating from UMBC.

I play viola in the UMBC community symphony, I am a member of the Honors College Council, and I am a sophomore representative in our chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. I am also a part of our schools chapter of the American Chemical Society and Pre-Med society.

Read his abstract here...

How did you find out that you could do research in your field in the summer? 

I applied to several internships for the summer and I was offered one (internship) position at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

I had no idea what I wanted to do, but the internship at NIST helped me narrow my career options.

I applied to other places, such as Washington Water and Sanitary Commission in Gaithersburg, Lockheed Martin, and more.

The application was not hard and a lot of help was given in editing the personal statement.

My summer research project was applying machine learning techniques to manufacturing. Machine learning, in this case, is where data is inputted into a program and the program then learns the patterns and structure of the data. After that, predictions of new data are generated. In my project, I studied the efficiency between the theoretical and predicted, or machine-learned, data.

Who was your mentor for this project? 

Dr. Sudarsan Rachuri, an Industrial Engineer in the Life Cycle Engineering Group at NIST.

How much time do you put into this work? 

Eight hours a day, five days a week for 11 weeks.

The internship provided a stipend and housing in a hotel about ten to fifteen minutes from NIST. I recommend staying at the hotel for future interns because students from all over the country come and it is a great learning experience as well.

My academic background included just the prerequisite engineering classes at UMBC.

For this project, I had to do a lot of background research in the beginning stage of the internship.

The hardest part was not having much direction. When my mentor asked for something to be done, I had to figure things out on my own before coming back to collaborate with him.

Throughout the internship, my mentor made many changes to my project, including switching the topic completely in the middle of the summer. That was very unexpected and slightly stressful, but it was a challenge I had to take on.

This research does not relate to my course work at UMBC, but it was a good experience at a professional company.

Be open to any opportunities, changes, and more because research can be very flexible.

I lived on campus my freshman year, but I will be commuting for the upcoming fall.

After my first semester at UMBC, I knew I wanted to get involved in research. I went to the Psychology department’s website and read every faculty members page to see whose research appealed to me. I was really interested in Dr. Charissa Cheah’s work so I e-mailed her and the next thing I knew, I was scheduled for an interview.

Both of my parents immigrated to the United States, and growing up, I noticed a lot of differences between myself and other kids at school, especially how our parents approached our social lives. For instance, it really upset the 10-year-old me that I could not sleep over at my friends’ houses! For my project, I wanted to look at common characteristics in Chinese immigrant children’s social networks, how involved parents are when it comes to their children’s play dates, and how those two things are associated.

Yes.

I registered for 2 credits last semester, so I was required to complete 90 hours of lab work by the end of the semester—about 6 hours a week. I was in the lab about 4 hours during the week, though that changed from week to week depending on what assignments I was working on. I also went to a lot of home visits, which is when we actually collect our data. Those would take up 3-5 hours at a time on Saturday or Sunday mornings or afternoons. Now that I’m working on my own independent research in addition to the things I do as a research assistant, I know I’m going to need to put in extra time for my project.

When I first sat down to look at the application, I was pretty overwhelmed and I had no idea where to start. I typed up some of my answers, hoping I at least somewhat sounded like I knew what I was talking about, and sent it to Dr. Cheah. I was pretty far off the mark, and that first draft was full of red marks and comments! Thankfully, Dr. Cheah gave me a lot of guidance so I was able to better understand what I needed to convey. After that, it was just a matter of forcing myself to sit down and work on it, work on it, and work on it some more. I spent a lot of time staring at my computer, wanting to bang my head on the table, but it really does not seem that bad when I look back. Writing is a huge part of research and is something that (in my experience) never gets easier, but the process flows more smoothly each time you do it. Plus, the relief you feel when you finish makes it all worth it!

When I went to Dr. Cheah with my project proposal, it was big and broad and vague and unsure. With her help, I was able to narrow it all down into something manageable. She talked me through pulling this idea from out of the clouds down into a project I could actually complete, which was amazing. Dr. Cheah helped me with the application itself by untangling this huge jumble of words I wrote and magically turning it into something coherent. Even though I completed the application myself, her guidance made a world of a difference.

There is a difference between doing the bare minimum and actually getting involved. If you want to get involved, it takes a lot of time and a lot of hard work, but if you enjoy it, even the tedious parts can be fun. Also, be brave and volunteer for opportunities! I was always the quiet student in class, but my experience became a million times better when I stepped out of my comfort zone.

During Spring 2013, I checked in with my advisor, Dr. Bayles, and expressed interest in doing research. She knew that I was on the biotechnology track for chemical engineering so she suggested that I look into Dr. Marten’s lab, which mainly deals with fungal biology and industrial uses of filamentous fungi. Her guidance was essential in my placement in Dr. Marten’s lab.

When I met Dr. Marten, I demonstrated my enthusiasm for learning about research and he graciously allowed me into his lab. I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with a team and I’ve been a part of his lab since June 2013.

Yes, this is my first independent project. Although this URA project is technically independent, its success is reliant on not only me and Nicholas Rogers. Without our team of hardworking undergraduates, our project would never meet an end.

Nicholas applied for the URA the previous year, in order to fund the preceding project. This project yielded products which are integral in our current project. When I joined MartenLab, Nicholas had told me about this program and we applied for it together.

The hardest part of our research would be figuring out where something went wrong. Sometimes, finding a solution to a problem is easy to pinpoint but most of the time, it is incredibly difficult. However, when a problem is solved, it is satisfying to know that the project can continue.

The most unexpected thing about my research is the cohesiveness of our team. We are able to cooperate well with each other to move our project forward with minimal conflict. Their perspective and work on our project is essential.

Seek out research opportunities and keep a positive attitude. Browse departmental profiles, email advisors and talk to professors, all under the assumption that a lab position is attainable. I certainly would not have the chance to work in a lab if I didn’t believe I could and if I simply stayed in my room. By taking the initiative, my fate in research was not left to chance and I was able to be involved with a field I never considered before.

Freshman year I attended one of the “How to Get Started in Research” workshops hosted by the Office of Undergraduate Education. There I learned about all of the available resources for finding summer research. One of the most useful tools I found was the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program’s website, where you can search and find a list of NSF- sponsored summer research programs in your field.

Last year I participated in a summer research program at James Madison University. I was interested in seeing how research in a government laboratory would compare, which would help me decide on my future.

Last year, as a first time applicant, I applied to eight places and was only accepted into two. A few of the “rejections” were notices that they no longer had funding to support the program for that summer. Some other locations just never gave a response. This year, I applied to six locations, four of which were rejections, one NIST was an acceptance, and the last I informed I was no longer eligible for after accepting NIST. I was rather risky both years and probably should have applied to more places, but it worked out in the end.

Almost all summer research applications are fairly straightforward and seem very similar to a college application. The hardest part is probably the personal statement, since most people are not used to writing about themselves. Janet McGlynn and Devon Fick from the Office of Undergraduate Education were a big help in the NIST Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) application process; they can even help you with general application questions like how to write a resume or personal statement. It can also be helpful to ask your friends or professors to read your personal statement and give suggestions.

My project focused on finding an expansion for a fundamental solution to Laplace’s equation in rotationally-invariant cyclidic coordinates. Basically, Laplace’s equation is a fairly important partial differential equation in physics and you usually want to use a coordinate system that best matches your problem. Similar work has been done on the more well-known coordinate systems, like spherical or cylindrical coordinates, but very little has been done in these coordinates.

My mentor was Dr. Howard Cohl from the Applied and Computational Mathematics Division in the Information Technology Laboratory.

We were full-time employees for eleven weeks, so we had to show up for eight hours a day, five days a week. I did take advantage of the various weekly seminars and special events, which helped break up the week into more manageable chunks.

We were paid a stipend of $5500 ($500 per week). The program also provided free housing at a nearby apartment-style hotel with transportation to and from the NIST campus each day.

Before starting, I had taken three semesters of advanced math, physics, and computer science courses. The most relevant courses that helped with my research were Partial Differential Equations and Differential Geometry.

Anything I didn’t come in knowing, I had to learn on my own. The best sources I found were the internet and textbooks in the NIST Math Library. It’s crucial to double-check any of your sources, though. Over the course of my project, I found, and corrected, at least five errors in the literature, in both on-line and print sources.

The hardest part about my research, and probably research in general, is finding something new and interesting in so little time. Eleven weeks may seem like a lot of time, but you quickly find that a lot of time is lost going down the wrong path, usually due to a typo somewhere. The good news is that you eventually become an expert at what you’re doing: a derivation that originally took me a week to go through I could eventually do for other problems within a few hours.

I was originally assigned to a project that I quickly found was not suited to my interests. I spoke up to my adviser and we figured out a new project that was much more geared towards my skills and interests. My adviser was very accommodating and for that I am extremely thankful.

Through research I was finally able to use the techniques and concepts I learned in the classroom. Key concepts for my research were Laplace’s equation and separation of variables from Partial Differential Equations and coordinate transformations and the metric tensor from Differential Geometry. That said, being involved in research also means learning new skills and concepts that you would likely never see in the classroom. Research is the process of continually learning and applying your knowledge.

My advice is to start early and get to know your professors. Not only will they be writing your letters of reference for internship and graduate school applications, but some of them are just interesting people to talk to. Also, the more you interact with them, the more they can say about you. Professors who do research themselves may even be able to offer you a position in their own lab.

I hope to attend graduate school after graduating from UMBC to pursue a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics. My long-term goal is to work at a university so I can be involved in both research and teaching.