Student Research at Duke

Wow, it’s hard to believe that that was just eight weeks of my life.  The experience was incredible.  Although it wasn’t my first time doing research, it was the first time I had to deal with the frustration of having absolutely no results from the first six weeks.  (Of course, as Stephanie would say, that’s research).  In the end though, it turned out well, and I actually want to go back to work in the lab again.  The social experience was probably just as important.  The program provided us with such a great chance of meeting people so many people who share similar interests.  The social experience alone makes the program worth the eight weeks.

Probably the most important thing I have learned this summer in terms of career choices is that it’s very hard to predict what a certain career would be like. Even though working at a lab has largely turned out to be what I expected, what I felt about it has changed as summer progressed. Initially, I was quite skeptical about actually enjoying the work that I would be doing. I imagined lab to be like the lab classes that we had at school–following protocols mindlessly. And, in fact, most of work is exactly like that. What I didn’t see beforehand, however, is the importance of having an ultimate goal in mind. That goal is what makes me willingly want to spend more time after work, or go in on weekends to work. And the progress that is made from all this work toward this goal is a very exhilarating form of satisfaction, something that makes work ultimately enjoyable despite the reptitive nature of the process. That’s something that is common to almost all research. In conclusion, I think if I were to go into research, the topic I study doesn’t matter too much to me, as long as I am fairly knowledgeable of that topic (and knowledge is something that can be obtained over time). Overall, I think this experience has given me some insight into the lives of researchers.