A challenging week yet again.
After focusing on an idea for the original work proposal last week, I began researching and analyzing new information regarding environmental biological chemistry this week. First, I began by creating a list of what must be incorporated into my original work. In addition, it incorporates what research must be done. This week I began to analyze enzymes and their role in environmental biodegradation. Although this article provided significant information over microbial enzymes, it also laid the foundation for my next research assessments. In addition to working on my original work proposal, I also cold called a few biochemist professionals. However, all three of the laboratories and professors I called seemed to be busy with other activities. In contrast, I was referred to an environmental laboratory by another lab. My next actions will consist of calling them and hopefully scheduling an interview sometime in the near future. Next week, I must also better my organizational and time-management skills. This is because last week I wasn't able to stay on top of my workload. However, I learned my lesson. My plan for next week is to keep away from distractions and organize my work efficiently, using a timer and planners.
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I was faced with many challenging tasks this week.
Last week began the start of conducting interviews with professionals in the field of biological chemistry. However, this week I was unable to schedule an interview. Most of the professionals I called seemed to be busy with other activities. Some requested that I email instead of call while others did not pick up. Finally, a professor at University of Texas at Dallas seemed enthusiastic with helping to interview. However, the professor asked to reschedule the interview and therefore I do not have an interview next week either. My task for the next week is to schedule an interview with a environmental biochemist. In addition, I was faced with the task of creating an original work proposal. As I want to focus my study in ISM this year on environmental biological chemistry, I had trouble organizing my thoughts into an original work idea. However, after much consideration, I came across enzyme research. This week I read more about it and realized my growing interest in the topic. Therefore my goal for this year in ISM, is to create an educational article for my original work. This will raise awareness and help my community understand about environmental degradation through enzymatic research. From narrowing down a topic for further research into biological chemistry to having conducted my very first interview, this week was tedious yet interesting.
First, the week began with calling five professional laboratories and professors in the Dallas area. Most did not pick up the call and some asked to leave them an email regarding my purpose for calling. However, on the fifth try, I was able to get hold of an EliteMed lab receptionist that helped to set up an interview with Bob Patel, a clinical biochemist. During the interview, I asked question regarding laboratory procedures and equipment. This allowed for a better understanding of what a laboratory environment is like. In addition, I asked questions about Mr. Patel’s profession and what majority of clinical biochemists do on a day-to-day basis. Overall, this interview gave me insight into future areas of interest, such as how biochemists can now analyze environmental concerns using similar laboratory procedures. In addition to conducting an interview, I also narrowed my broad topic of biological chemistry down to environmental biological chemistry. Over the past years, I realized my interest in this field through extensive science projects and various high school classes that I took. In the near future, I plan to research in-depth about this subject and create a final product that benefits my community and environment. This week began the start of a year long assignment, creating a digital portfolio. As this descriptive website must represent my creative personality and specific field of study, it took awhile to start and finally create the digital portfolio. The addition of a consistent and vibrant theme allowed for a professional overview and helped to effectively brand myself as an individual in the growing biochemical field as well as the student mentorship area. Overall, I am excited to incorporate future projects into the portfolio and present it to various professionals. In addition to creating a digital portfolio, this week I also managed to narrow down my interest of biological chemistry to environmental biological chemistry that analyzes the metabolic reactions of living organisms and how that affects pollutants and the environment itself. This will eventually help me to focus on future research assessment and narrow my interview questions. Lastly, this week’s research assessment helped to further my knowledge over biological chemistry by highlighting dissolved organic carbon amounts in the marine carbon cycle. This intriguing article brought a nostalgic feeling as it reminded me of my science fair projects in middle school, where my interests in the science field first grew from. I hope to further explore this side of biological chemistry with future assessments and research. This exciting week was filled with creating a meaningful research assessment and finding professionals to interview about biological chemistry. In addition, this week consisted of editing the professional resume and collecting supplies for the ISM business symposium.
First, the following research assessment completed this week was challenging as it was hard finding an intriguing subtopic of biological chemistry that encompasses experimental data with molecular history. However, after much searching on online databases, I came across an article that described DNA genealogy. This topic seemed interesting as the experiment, described by A.A Klyosov, solved a 200-year-old Aryan mystery using only DNA mutation and dating its results back to ancestral migration patterns. Because of this research assessment encompassing genetic biochemistry, I plan to use this topic for the ISM topic proposal and create a project over this topic. Next, I have been preparing for the business symposium this week by strengthening my handshake skills and buying ISM supplies to better present myself in front of the other professionals and ISM students that will be attending the symposium. Lastly, I have also been preparing myself to begin cold calling biochemists. This is by creating an open timetable for scheduling interviews and setting up a professional voicemail. Overall I plan to begin cold calling next week and look forward to the business symposium. This week I learned that starting is always the hardest no matter the assignment. However, after beginning, the rest is simple.
Last week I created a resume that reflected my goals in ISM and my personality and qualities as a person. However, I realized after peer editing and self evaluations that the resume was of poor quality. This was because of misalignments in subheadings, paragraph-like bullet points, and poor choice of color and design. This week I decided that in order to fix these mistakes, I must evaluate my errors and begin with a fresh perspective to the resume. In my case, the fresh perspective was creating brand new resume that corrected my previous perceptions. This new and improved resume highlights my education and expertise in biological chemistry as compared to before and is visually engaging towards the audience. In addition to re-creating the resume, I gave a head start to next week's research assessment. Despite the previous research assessments I completed, this research assessment seemed a bit more challenging. Previously, I had covered a biological chemistry career outlook and terminology and equipment used by biochemists. This week I began to focus on biochemist's reports and experiments and how they shape their outlook on research. Overall, this excruciating week has come to an end and I look forward to presenting my new resume at interviews and to other professionals. This week in ISM was full of improvement and development from focusing on building an engaging resume to completing a thorough research assessment.
I began the week by composing a creative and eye-catching resume. The templates were premade, which made the resume composition easy. However, choosing a theme that reflects biological chemistry and myself was challenging. By playing with various fonts and colors, I found a perfect set of monotonous as well as vivid colors and patterns for the resume. Next, this week's research assessment helped to further my knowledge on biological chemistry with the addition of DNA sequencing and gel electrophoresis techniques research. More specifically, looking into the Human Genome project gave insight into other major experimental projects done by biochemists in the past. This intriguing topic reflects current issues in the medical industry, such as gene discrimination, that I would like to further assess in the future. In the end, I created ten original interview questions that highlighted the foundations of a biochemist. In addition, questions about specialized biochemist were also included in the list, such as for clinical and genetic biochemists. As I faced these assignments, I improved my writing structure as well as professional vocabulary. By focusing on time management skills and using an agenda and timer, I was able to complete both resume, research assessment and interview questions on time. Throughout this week in ISM, the process for gathering useful and credible sources for research assessments was improved significantly. In addition, obtaining future possible mentor contacts and beginning to create a professional resume were tedious tasks.
First, searching for professionals in the field of interest was a bit challenging. Because of being below the age limit of creating a LinkedIn account, the professionals found had to be searched using different databases. Most of the ones found were biological chemistry professors from University of Texas at Dallas and they helped to create a network of contacts for mentor purposes. Afterwards, the task of creating a meaningful research assessment was completed. By looking up numerous articles and journal entries in various databases, I was able to narrow down the search and find three articles that gave a sufficient outlook over biological chemistry and clearly described basic biomolecules and enzymes found in this field of study. With the annotated articles and new information, I set out to write the research assessment. Lastly, I began to create my very first professional resume for mentor purposes. By using a user-friendly website such as Canva, templates for creating creative and insightful resumes were provided. However, choosing the right color theme with the right template was challenging. Beginning with a simple arrangement of monotonous colors and then added various other colors such as light blue to add emphasis on different subheadings and texts within the resume. Nevertheless, this resume template is subject to change as there still is searching for more themes that help to clearly represent personality and achievements. Overall, contacting possible mentors, finish creating a professional resume, and completing more meaningful research relevant to biological chemistry is something to look forward to next week. This past week was eventful. After reviewing in-depth the foundations of biological chemistry, I geared my research towards the foundation of becoming a biochemist. In addition, my time-management and organization skills improved throughout the week.
First, the week began with a light online search of possible credible sources that describe the work environment and qualifications for a biochemist. According to such research, it appears that much of a biochemist’s work is focused towards laboratory experiments and chemical analysis. This week research allowed for a deeper meaning of biological chemistry altogether. In addition, I am now able to figure out what classes must be taken in high school in order to prepare myself for classes in college. Throughout this week, I have been able to stay on top of the extensive homework assigned each night and its classes. The habit of consequently writing in an agenda and timing each assignment a day has been proven helpful. Next week and future weeks, I hope to follow this same routine throughout the school year. In addition to these time-management and organizational skills, research in specific biochemistry topics will hopefully help to further my understanding in this topic as well as get more insight on how biological chemistry is like as a career choice. Overall, this eventful week has been exciting and I cannot wait until mentor interviews and visits begin. I made it. I made it through the first week of such an excruciating school year.
However, more importantly, this was my first week exploring biological chemistry in such depth and precision. I frankly do not remember the last time I felt so passionate about a topic related to school and researching. First, I began my week with a healthy refresher of some chemical foundations, such as the creation of different compounds and bonds found in nature. Nevertheless, I also revised some biology basics from freshman year of high school. In addition, I discovered helpful tools, such as online editing websites for completing my research during class. I hope that this will enable me to stay organized throughout this year and future years. As of now my time management and organizational skills are a bit rusty, as the new year has just begun. However, I do plan to improve and build upon these skills as the year progresses. My goals for the following weeks consists of research and more research. I would like to gain sufficient amounts knowledge before I begin mentor visits to show development in my higher level thinking skills and biological chemistry topic. More specifically, next week I would like to research the foundations of a biochemist and their role in the scientific community. In addition, I plan to better my time management skill by planning out accordingly the specific activities I need to complete each day. To conclude, I look forward to this year in the Independent Study Mentorship program and hope to absorb as much information about my career study as I can. |
AuthorWritten by Khushi Borikar Archives
April 2019
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