By Drew Tienken, Peer Research Ambassador

This past month, I submitted an abstract to present my research at my first international conference. After three years of pursuing independent research endeavors and developing transferable skills, I anticipated few obstacles to my pursuit of submitting a successful abstract. I could not have been more wrong.

After spending an exorbitant amount of time tweaking seemingly unimportant words, I sent my abstract over to my research advisor for some peer-editing. Despite only being seven sentences long, the paragraph had nearly 50 suggestions of things to change. I was shocked, and extremely upset with myself. How could I have received this criticism? Did I do a bad job? How could I spend so much time writing a piece that I thought was high-quality work, but receive such a large amount of feedback? Continue reading →

By Lauren Rudin, Peer Research Ambassador

As a second semester senior, my time as an undergraduate researcher is reaching an end and I have given my future beyond UConn serious consideration. When reflecting back on my experience while completing medical school applications, I realized that the skills research provides are much richer than the ability to check off a box on any application.

We have all heard of transferable skills, but how do you explain the skills you’ve developed through research and apply them to other settings? Continue reading →

By Mahima Mehta, Peer Research Ambassador

It’s easy to get in your head. I do it a lot. It’s especially easy when you’re surrounded by people you admire, people who obviously know what they are talking about.

For many of us undergraduates, research is a new and exciting opportunity. There is so much that comes with joining a lab. Think about your first lab meeting. You’ve made it past the interview stage and now you’re sitting beside your new labmates. They’re giving their elevator pitch about their research. Or maybe you are going over a research paper together. What are you thinking to yourself? Oh my god, what am I going to say when it’s my turn? They know I’m new to this. What if I say the wrong thing? Everyone starts somewhere. I don’t even know what they’re talking about. I don’t belong here– Continue reading →

By Alex Clonan, Peer Research Ambassador

Research is all about asking questions, each one viewed through a different lens and perspective. Our academic background, experiences, passions, and interests shape these different lenses. Together, a diverse community of investigators can work to ask questions and strive towards understanding.

I’ll tell you a little bit about my lens. As a first-year Electrical Engineering student, I applied to the Health Research Program and ended up having the opportunity to work at the Center for Quantitative Medicine at UConn Health. To be honest, leading up to my first day in the lab, I was terrified, having little to no experience in whatever ‘systems biology’ was, but I was eager to learn. I wasn’t quite sure how my engineering background would fit in, or what I would be able to contribute. Continue reading →

By Elisa Shaholli, Peer Research Ambassador

When synthesizing ideas  – whether it be for a research project, a plan for a class paper, or even just an idea for something personal like a DIY project –  I fall into the line of thinking of ‘this idea needs to be completely thought out and perfect.’ The more fool-proof the plan, the better the idea, because if it changes directions, that means my project wasn’t great to begin with and I’m doing it all wrong, right?

Well….. It’s actually the opposite! Continue reading →