Author: Emily

Meet the PRAs: Breanna Bonner

Posted on September 29, 2025September 29, 2025 by Emily

Meet Breanna Bonner ’26, an OUR Peer Research Ambassador majoring in Human Rights and Media, Policy, and Social Movements (individualized major).

What is the focus of your research/creative activity?

My current research focus is exploring art and policy-based interventions to gun violence in the U.S. I spent the summer exploring these topics through the BOLD Scholars program, where I traveled to Kansas City, Chicago, and Boston to implement my project. The process included interviewing gun violence prevention scholars/practitioners from across the U.S., heavily engaging in literature, interviewing non-profits, and creating/ executing art-based processing curriculum for survivors of gun violence. My senior thesis aims to work with community members, policy-makers, and non-profits to study community perceptions of public safety. I am also currently working on curating an exhibit at UConn as a form of dissemination of my BOLD project!

Why did you get involved in research/creative activity?

I got involved in research because I am constantly looking to explore big questions. I’ve always wanted to know why society is the way that it is, and research has allowed me to not only explore these questions, but to actively engage in interventions. I love research because I believe that it has the power to inform social change when done correctly. To find solutions to social problems, we first have to be able to name them and understand their context.

What advice would you give to aspiring student researchers?

The advice that I would give to student researchers is to explore a topic that they’re truly passionate about. The best research projects center around questions that keep you up at night and make you excited to go into the ‘lab’ space the next day. Caring deeply about the topic prevents burnout and allows for reaching your full potential!

What is your greatest accomplishment so far?

Research-wise, my greatest accomplishment is leading an art-based processing retreat around gun violence solutions with 25 current and former gang-involved men in my hometown of Kansas City, Missouri. Watching them engage in passionate solution-based dialogue and seeing them hanging up the art-work that they created was the highlight of my career so far. I’m excited to go back and visit them!

Personally, being a senior in college and meeting my incredible campus family.

What are your plans after graduation? How has involvement in research/creative activity influenced your plans and/or prepared you for the future?

My plans after graduation are to either pursue graduate education researching public safety and social movement research methodology, or to work for a non-profit organization doing community participatory action research (PAR) My experiences doing community-based research in undergrad has prepared me to ask questions, think critically, and build coalitions across demographics for social change.

How to Make New Mistakes

Posted on September 29, 2025September 29, 2025 by Emily

By Andrei Abarientos, Peer Research Ambassador

There’s a plethora of articles, classes, and Reddit posts dedicated to ensuring your success in a research career: how to find a professor, how to read papers, and how to make the most of your research experience. Those resources are, of course, incredible and important as you begin your journey into research. On the other hand, there’s a shortage of resources on how to mess up, how to make mistakes and how to handle them. In my opinion, knowing how to deal with your own human fumbles can be an even more important skill to be an effective scientist or researcher. Properly reacting to mistakes is key for building endurance in research, where blunders are commonplace in the field.

With that in mind, I think of myself as a bit of an expert on mistake-making. To be clear, I consider myself fairly adept in the lab, and I’m proud of the work I’ve accomplished. At the same time, over the course of my research career, I’ve mixed up samples, pipetted incorrect amounts, and lost track of what step I was on during a long experiment (most wet lab folks probably know the mental struggle of pipetting clear liquids into more clear liquids without getting confused). I’ve spent hours on assays like a western blot only to see it fail for one reason or another (see SDS-PAGE “Hall of Shame” for a sense of what I’m talking about).

I take solace knowing I’m not alone in this, having witnessed everyone from other undergrads to tenure-track professors make simple mistakes The title of this article’s a bit misleading. There’s no need to discuss how to make a mistake; if you haven’t made a mistake yet, you just have to spend some more time doing research. When you do the work for long enough, it’s bound to happen. It isn’t really science without some degree of failure, is it?

But especially when you’re just getting started, I know that those small mistakes can feel terrifying. You want to come off as the perfect undergraduate star, and you want to prove your worth, both to your research group and to yourself. It feels like any error threatens that perception. Here’s a few tips on how to make the most of your mistakes:

Breathe. Like I said before, everyone makes mistakes. No matter what career you enter, they’re bound to happen, and research especially is full of them. Don’t brush errors aside, but don’t take them incredibly personally either. Your suitability for research isn’t defined by minute moments, but instead by big picture progress. Little errors say little about your aptitude, but your reaction can.
Own up to them. I know, especially with an academic mindset where mistakes are often affiliated with penalties and grade deductions, your first instinct may be to try to cover up your own errors. I’ve heard stories of undergraduates trying their best to move forward with an experiment knowing they messed up, wasting their time and possibly their mentor’s time. Especially if you’re working closely with a mentor on a project, or using someone else’s samples, it’s crucial that you let them know immediately so you can move forward effectively. If you’re in a positive research environment, you shouldn’t expect any sort of long-term detriment to simple, one-off mistakes. As always, communication is key.
Think about ways to prevent them in the future. Sometimes, things just happen: a distracting noise, a pipette going awry. Most of the time, though, there’s some sort of way you can mediate potential issues in the future. Sometimes, you just need to be more mindful of the work you’re doing. Especially if it’s a protocol you’ve done many times before, it can be easy to go on autopilot and make a simple foible. Simply forcing yourself to be present, and keeping past errors in mind, can be enough. Other times, you can consider making the work easier to remember for yourself, including integrating a checklist or putting away reagents as soon as you’re done working with them.

You are not defined by your mistakes but instead by your reaction to them, and how you carry yourself forward in the future. Mistakes are a part of the learning process. No matter what level of research you are on, you will inevitably mess up sometimes. The most memorable and important advice I’ve received since I began my research journey was three simple words: “Make new mistakes”. View your mistakes as a chance to learn something new and better your own skills. If you keep your head up and stay on a path of learning, you should be able to avoid making the same mistake twice.

Meet the PRAs: Olivia Joyce

Posted on September 19, 2025September 19, 2025 by Emily

Meet Olivia Joyce ’27, an OUR Peer Research Ambassador majoring in Political Science and Statistics and minoring in Public Policy and Analytics.

What is the focus of your research/creative activity?

Currently I am focused on a student led project for Summer 2025 that I hope to continue working on for my honors thesis! I am focusing on torture laws in the United States. I have been examining torture laws on a state-by-state basis and what exists in the legal statues across states. I am trying to make an argument that all forms of torture should be covered under state law and that torture as an act should be criminalized. For this project I was lucky enough to receive the Caxide Scholars Grant and have been able to work with my wonderful mentor Dr. Richards in the Political Science Department.

Why did you get involved in research/creative activity?

Upon entering UConn in my first semester, I found the Political Science department offers research assistant positions through the Bennett Honors Research Assistantship program for Honors students. I found a lot of the research topics and projects being done within the department super interesting and wanted to get a little bit of insight into what is research in the social sciences and whether it was something I would enjoy. I ended up loving the process and working so closely with faculty. After that I continued to pursue research experiences in political science and other disciplines.

What advice would you give to aspiring student researchers?

Getting involved in research seems intimidating and can take a bit of effort and persistence. As a student in the social sciences your research journey may look a little bit different than your friends or students in other majors. Social science research is important, and everyone should pursue research if they feel it is a good fit for them. It is important to follow your interests and passions. Identify what topics and disciplines you are interested in and start exploring.

What do you enjoy the most about participating in research/creative activity?

Participating in research has been such a rewarding experience for me. It has shaped my undergraduate experience. I think my favorite part is being able to get hands on experience working with data and information that I am learning about. I also think that being able to collaborate with the amazing UConn professors has been rewarding. Being able to build a relationship with a mentor and someone who wants to see you do well and help you get there has been an important part of my journey.

What are your plans after graduation? How has involvement in research/creative activity influenced your plans and/or prepared you for the future?

I plan to attend graduate school and hopefully end up in a research focused career. I would like to attend law school or a PhD program. Getting started in research so early on in my time here at UConn pushed me and inspired me to reexamine what I was looking for in a career. I think that research has pushed me to be more curious and analytical and I want to nurture those skills in my career. Research has allowed me to apply knowledge from my classes along with learning so many new things and it has taught me to always dig deeper with my learning and skills.

To make an appointment with Olivia, submit a meeting request here!

How Research Changed My Life: Reflections on a Research Journey

Posted on September 16, 2025September 16, 2025 by Emily

By Annette St. Jacques, Peer Research Ambassador

Students walking on top of Horsebarn Hill against a blue sky on August 27, 2025.

Research changed my life, and here’s why:

It was my first semester as a first-year student. I chose my major based on what I was interested in during high school, but I did not fully know what I wanted to do with my life after college. I still had so much time to think about how I wanted to implement the degree that I was working for, but I wanted to try something new in a field I was interested in.

I learned about research from a professor. At the time, I was unaware that all the professors have some sort of research going on outside of teaching. I started looking into the research labs within my major, and sent a lot of emails hoping for any type of response. At that time, I did not know how to get involved. It took a few months to find a lab that I felt I could fit into, but by the end of my second semester, I was able to secure a spot in a lab for the fall.

I spent my second year reading publications and getting trained on new techniques. Believe it or not, I spent the greater part of my third semester dissecting fruit fly ovaries. More importantly, I started to appreciate how research works. I decided that next summer, I wanted to stay in the lab, so I applied for a SURF award and received one! I spent that summer fully focused on my project, without having to worry about classes. That summer was eye-opening, and it made me ponder about what I wanted to do with my life.

In my third year as a student and my second year as a researcher, I gained confidence in the work that I was doing. I was able to get some interesting results in my research project, and I was able to present my data all across the country at symposiums and conferences. My spring break included a long weekend in New York City, presenting at Madison Square Garden, and a week in San Diego, attending a national conference. While these opportunities were just some of the big ones, there were small things I have learned in my research journey.

Since I was little, I was fascinated by how things work. Research is hard work, but I have also found a passion for creativity. I have learned how to read about something, think about an idea, come up with a question, and see what happens when I experiment. At the end of my third year, my project mentor said that I could work in the lab again in the summer. I have gained independence is my abilities and helped me figure out what I want to do with my life.

For me, classes and course work does not come easy. Studying and memorizing just to be settling in the medians for exams was, and still is a struggle for me. Research has become an outlet for me. It is a place for me to learn into the depths of my mind and think of the unknown. Now that I am going into my last year as an undergraduate student, I have realized that research has helped me find out who I am and how I want to go forward. The critical thinking skills I have acquired have helped me in the lab, but also outside of the lab. Research has, and still is, teaching me new outlooks.

Looking back, I realize how naïve I was. I thought that my major was just a single road to a specific career. Getting involved in research opened up my mind. I have been able to take what I learned in my courses and implement it in a different way. I have also had the opportunity to explore different career paths. My research mentor has been able to connect me to many experts in my field and help me plan for my future in a different way than I ever imagined.

Now as I enter my last year as an undergraduate student, I have decided that I want to pursue a career as a researcher. An idea that I never thought about before coming to UConn, but one that I have found to be my true calling.

Annette is a senior majoring in Molecular and Cell Biology. To learn more about her, click here.

Meet the PRAs: Alana Wolfson

Posted on September 12, 2025September 15, 2025 by Emily

Meet Alana Wolfson ’27, an OUR Peer Research Ambassador majoring in Animal Science and minoring in Molecular and Cell Biology.

Photo of a peer research ambassador with the text "Meet the PRAs" in the top right corner, with the name "Alana, Peer Research Ambassador" in the lower right corner.

What is the focus of your research/creative activity?

My research project is on how poor diets during sheep gestation can impact the muscle development and mitochondria of their offspring and, “grand” offspring.

Why did you get involved in research/creative activity?

I got involved in research to explore my interests related to veterinary medicine and cell biology. Research allows me to dive deeper into a specific concept or idea outside of a normal classroom curriculum.

What advice would you give to aspiring student researchers?

The main piece of advice I would give aspiring student researchers is to try any idea, possible connection, or questions they have. I would encourage them to keep pushing for their goals and interests in this field, regardless of rejection.

What do you enjoy the most about participating in research/creative activity?

The most satisfying part about participating in research is presenting the final project. I enjoy sharing my experimental outcomes and sparking conversations with various people in academia.

Describe the impact your research experience/creative activity has had on you.

Research sparked my curiosity and confidence. Constantly reading new articles, talking to professors, and presenting my work in front of people in academia gave me these skills.

What is your greatest accomplishment so far?

My greatest accomplishment in research so far was when I presented at a research conference (American Physiological Society) with a wide range of successful scientists. I learned a ton from the American Physiological Society’s community and my mentor’s colleagues.

What are your plans after graduation? How has involvement in research/creative activity influenced your plans and/or prepared you for the future?

My plan after graduation is to attend veterinary school. Research and my passion for veterinary medicine coincide with each other. Research allowed me to study a specific topic in veterinary medicine/animal science of my interest.

To make an appointment with Alana, submit a meeting request here!