by Rebecca Schelling, President of Internal Affairs of Nu Rho Psi at UVA
I never thought that I would be alive to see a global pandemic play out in front of me, but if there’s one thing that 2020 has taught everyone, it’s to expect the unexpected. I’m very grateful that covid has not impacted the health of my friends and family, but being in quarantine has made an impact on one of my other life bloods: my science. Sitting in my apartment, I can’t help but be nostalgic for my hours in my chemical biology lab. Who knew that I’d one day be so desperate to use a pipette.
This is the unfortunate reality facing many STEM undergraduates right now. It is far too easy to feel as though time is ticking away from you when you only have four years in college. I know I’ve done my fair share of worrying, but as I’ve talked to my friends and trusted professors, I’ve come to realize that there are still ways to engage in science from the comforts of your quarantine space. If you’re like me and have been wondering what to do with your time to stay involved, here’s a few tips I picked up over the last couple of weeks:
Attend Virtual Seminars and Conferences
The science departments at UVa are constantly bringing a fantastic cropping of scientists to the university community to talk about their work. These talks are a great way to see the cutting edge research happening outside of the university and to start networking with people who could become future mentors. Keep an eye out for the seminar schedules on department pages, email department coordinators to get on the seminar listservs, and attend ones that you are interested in!
If you already have presentation-ready data, consider signing up for a virtual conference! You can get some practice in talking about your research, making a poster, and have the opportunity to see what else is happening in your field.
Explore Your Career Path
Remember when you said that would start looking into higher education programs or the job market when you had the time? Now you do! Whatever you are planning to do after you graduate from college, consider taking the time away from in-person activities to explore your options and start asking yourself difficult questions about your future goals. If you have no idea what those goals look like, you can also reach out to professors or the career center for advice. Professors, in my personal experience, are some of your best resources, and I highly recommend talking to them while you still have the chance.
Work Up Existing Data
Are you, like me, someone who always seems to have so many experiments to run during a week that you have trouble finding time to actually work up the data you collected? Now’s the perfect opportunity to amend the situation! Pro tip: try creating a concept map of all the figures you would include in a paper on your research, and then actually try making those figures. You may just find that you are missing crucial pieces of information to make your scientific inquiry more cohesive and comprehensive. Make a note of what those pieces of information are and then plan the experiments you’ll need to do to fill in the gaps. That way, you can hit the ground running once you are back in your lab space.
Learn about the Publication Process
One of the most important aspects of scientific research is being able to communicate your findings to others. If you or your graduate student have publishable data, spend some time learning how to write an effective paper. Play around with illustrator, organize your data so that they are easy to follow, and discuss the implications of your findings with the people in your lab. Then, when you’re ready, you can start drafting a write-up of your research with your mentor and work towards submitting it to a journal.
Delve into the Literature
Conducting a literature search isn’t the most glamorous part of being a researcher, but it is important for staying up to date with your topic and getting help if you’re stuck on how to approach a piece of your project. After all, the scientific community really is your best resource. If you can’t be in a lab, maybe taking a step back from your project and looking through related work might help you approach something in a more effective manner. You also might find some good information to add to a future introduction section of a research paper.
Teach!
One of the things that has been helping to keep me sane throughout quarantine has been tutoring for science classes. Teaching helps you solidify the class material in your head and gives you an outlet to talk about something you’re passionate about, so it’s really a win-win situation. You even get to make some spending money while doing it.
Get Involved in an Academic CIO
Finding like-minded people who geek about the same things that you do is one of the best feelings, especially when your normal avenues for engagement are closed off from you. CIOs are wonderful for meeting new people while also providing you with pre-professional resources and community engagement opportunities. If you are interested in neuroscience, consider joining Nu Rho Psi at UVa! Our application is currently live on the Application Process tab of our website, https://nurhopsiatuva.wixsite.com/nrpuva. We’d love to see you at our next event!
Picture credit: McGill University
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