Outcomes

Now that I have completed a research experience, I feel competent enough to start a project on my own. It sounds easy but when presented with a project, it is difficult to know what to start with especially when you are researching something that has never been done before and when your mentor speaks a different language! I was helping my mentor to create a concrete mix using a rare cement and with chemical additions that have not been tested in concrete before. I developed a good sense of judgment as to what kinds of controls are needed in the experiments and what kind of safety precautions I should be taking. And because my mentor couldn’t explain her research to me, I had to read her work in Spanish and understand it on my own.

This new skill of being able to conduct research has also taught me what I don’t know, if that makes sense. When people talk about the things they know, they talk as if they know all there is to know about that subject matter, because well, it’s impossible to know what you don’t know. This research has made me realize that I can never be sure about the facts of the topic because they are just facts until they are proved wrong, which happens a lot in science. I think is important even as a life skill because you should never be too over confident that you know all there is about something or someone, and these things or people can change too.

I have also gained more confidence in myself. During the second week of my research internship, I was actually presented with another project that was very time consuming. I felt incredibly overwhelmed because I had two projects, one of which I had no experience in. In addition, I was taking three online courses back at Houston Community College and I wanted to sight-see too. There were two days where I was worried that I would have to drop out of one of my classes in order to keep up with them but if I dropped a course, it would delay my graduation date at UTA. Well, lo and behold, everything got done and I never thought it would be as smooth as it was. I had to skip out on maybe two events with my friends in total out of the 5 weeks I was abroad. I was very happy to see that I was able to juggle all these things together especially while being in a foreign country. I feel like anything is possible now.

Since my parents were immigrants to the USA they did not really know how university processes worked. No one told me that I had to apply to college or how to do it, I didn’t know I had to take the SATs or how to search for a school. My mother always supported me in whatever I did so I never felt the academic pressure from her but on the other hand, that mean not having any academic guidance. I applied for universities because all my friends were doing it and trying to get into the best school. Had I not been friends with aspirational people such as these, I don’t think I would have gone to university right away. Learning how to do all these things on my own has made me become a very decisive person. I had to make a lot of life changing decisions such as deciding if I wanted to be career oriented or family oriented. For example, the result of that decision is what influenced me to go to Drexel University over 1,000 miles away from my family and boyfriend. Having to make decisions such as this has taught me good decision making skills (what I consider to be good, anyway) and this has helped me to earn this opportunity to conduct research abroad. My background has also forced me to be very independent which came in handy when I was in another country out of my comfort zone. I had to ask for help in a language I was uncomfortable speaking which can be incredibly intimidating. Ordering food especially was hard but I had to do it or go eat from a grocery store. I did have internet on my phone but it was only good for texting – something I hate to do. I had gone without talking to my family for more than two weeks at a time. My family has taught me to be very strong and independent which I think has proved to be an asset for me on this study abroad experience. It has given me the ability to push through being out of my comfort zone and have that make me a better person. These skills have helped me when travelling to different cities in Spain and also to Paris.

Travelling to the Eiffel Tower

The biggest challenge between me and my mentor was not the lack of educational training but it was the time frame. July was a very stressful month for my mentor because she was trying to complete all her projects by August 1 so that she could go on vacation. This meant that she did not have much time to discuss things with me. I had to perform experiments using materials that I personally thought were good and then put my results in a table and wait until the very end of the research experience to present them to her. This was a lot of pressure because I had no idea if I was doing what she wanted me to do all along before I made my presentation, poster, and report. She didn’t check my work along the way, which as you could imagine, is very frightening. In the end, my mentor was very pleased with my work and is actually turning in the test results that I produced into a super plasticizer manufacturing company so they can put my results on record because these tests had never been performed before. How exciting!

Here is cohort 1! I'm so happy to have made such wonderful friendships with these guys. 

Me with my poster.