Tag: classmates and peers

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lauren quotes

Lauren’s Quotes #10

[96-99] Then at the end of the internship, we had a really huge presentation. Getting ready for the presentation was absolutely terrifying, but I was still having a lot of fun working on it.

[211-217] For the presentation, we first had to write up I think a 300-word abstract. I remember everyone, at least in the room I was in, we all wrote up our abstracts and sent it to each other on Google Docs. We went through and we edited each other’s abstract. Someone would realize that you had a grammar error, and someone would be like, “This isn’t what the definition of this word is.” We all went through and we tried to make each other’s abstracts as good as they could be.

[218-224] Then the presentations, they were PowerPoint presentations. We, at least in the room I was in, we practiced our presentations with each other. While we were making the presentations, I could lean over to the person next to me and be like, “Hey, how does this look?” And they’d be like, “Hey, you need to move the picture. It’s too big.” Or something like that. We were just trying to make sure that everyone’s looked as good as it could, so we would all look good because we would all have amazing presentations.

[225-228] Then, when we were practicing our presentations, they would help with being like, “Hey, I don’t understand what this is. You need to explain this more.” Or, “Hey, you’re going way too fast. Breathe. Slow down. You have 15 minutes and you need to fill it.” We just supported each other.

[153-157] It was only that project that I did my presentation over. There were a bunch of scientists and people there watching and that’s what was so stressful because they were all really smart people with doctorates, or they were post-docs and stuff like that.

[514-521; 99] During my presentation, I was terrified that they would ask me a simple question and I would completely blank out. They may ask what’s a cell? And I’ll be like, “Oh, my god. What is a cell?” I was just sort of terrified of forgetting something simple and fundamental and looking like an idiot in front of all of these professional people. I wasn’t so scared that they would ask me a really complicated, in-depth question that I would forget. I felt like you would be more excused if you’re like, “Yeah, sorry. I’m an undergrad. I don’t know.” But I was just scared I would forget something simple. There was relief after the presentation. Ah, it’s done.

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lauren quotes

Lauren’s Quotes #16

[413-420] The paper that I’m on, I didn’t actually do any of the writing for it. I just did some simulation work for it. But my name got put on the paper. The project I did over the summer was the skyrmions and modeling them. I’m going to be helping one of my coworkers write that paper. He’s a grad student in the lab I’m in. But because I did all of the modeling work and then I’ll be helping write that because I’m that one that knows what I did. While he doesn’t know as much what I did. So, my name’s going to be on that paper, too.

[423-435] We have three graduate students in my lab. One of them started just recently, this semester. I haven’t really interacted with him much because it’s his first semester as a grad student, he’s mostly doing classes and stuff, I think. But the other two I have been working with since I got to the lab. One of them isn’t working on the same projects that I am, but if I have a question about some simple magnetism things, he can typically tell me an answer. Then the other one is the one I’m going to be working on the paper with. We’re working on the same project. I interact with him the most, even though our class schedules don’t line up all that well. We typically leave notes for each other. I’ll be like, “Hey, I re-ran the simulation and here are the changes. Here’s the data so that you can look at it.” And then he’ll leave me a note and be like, “Hey, can you change the exchange energy, make it higher so that we can see if that helps make it better?”

[597-603] Overall, it was fun doing something new for research. My skyrmions and my gadolinium iron sample. That was mine. It was new. No one else had looked at it yet. I’m sure people had looked at gadolinium iron before, but not the same that I had. Once I get the paper out, more people are going to build off of that. It’s different than, “Hey, I made a cool new bike pedal.” And then someone else being like, “I added ridges to the bike pedal. Isn’t it cooler?” It seems more awesome when it’s something completely new.

[701-709] However, before the summer, before I really started in the lab that I’m in, I was totally just believing I would finish my undergrad and then get a job and then work until I retired. But over the summer and doing research and being involved in that has definitely made me lean more towards going into research, which would mean going into more school. Because it was definitely something I enjoyed and found interesting and would be happy doing in life. My classes so much this year, they’re just sort of classes I need to continue on to next semester where I’ll have some more fun ones. They’re just a steppingstone to continuing.

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lauren quotes

Lauren’s Quotes #21

[14-19] Then after spring break, that’s when everything went down. My classes, they all got canceled and moved online because of the pandemic. My apartment got hit by a tree recently, so now I’m staying with my boyfriend’s family right now. And then my family has been exposed to the virus, and that’s kind of sucky, because my father’s immunocompromised.

[300-301] I mean, it’s also kind of sucky not being able to go and see my friends on campus anymore, because of everything happening.

[362-364] So, this semester, I’ve only really interacted with my teachers. I had a meeting with my advisor. You have to do one once a year. Teachers and my advisor are all I’ve really interacted with this semester.

[370-377; 383-385; 395-397] As far as my peers, I definitely had been interacting with other students a lot more. Three of us were in a little group together. So, I had the most knowledge about magnetism out of the three of us, but when the teacher started talking about chemistry terms or something, all three of us were sitting there like, “What’s chemistry?” However, since we transitioned online, I haven’t really worked with my peers online all that much. Or at all.

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lauren quotes

Lauren’s Quotes #23

[444-447] Once classes end, I plan to continue doing research. Hopefully I can go to the lab this summer, you know, depending it’s not canceled. If it is canceled, I’ve already worked it out with my boss. I can still work in the lab over the summer. So, I can continue doing research, just, it won’t be at a really cool lab.

[452-458] The more I do research, the more I want to do it for a living, because it is really fun figuring something out, and like, in the works I’m trusting. And typically, there’s more than one project going on, so if I get annoyed and not making any progress with the thing I’m working on, I can go and help someone else with their thing. Or sit there and be the rubber duck as they explain how it works to me. So, if they can figure something out themselves. You know, there’s just always something going on, so it’s less likely to be bored. And I enjoy it, and I think I would want to do it for the future.

[462-464] It’s not set in stone yet, but I do think I would like to go to grad school so that I could do research for a living. Maybe not in magnetism forever. Maybe I’ll find something else that I really like to do, but I am enjoying the research, and I think I want to continue doing that during my career.

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anna quotes

Anna’s Quotes #7

[636-638; 643-650] The classes that I’m taking are interesting and relevant. Also, I have won two awards from doing well in my extracurricular activities. I’m going out of my way to try to incorporate engineering into the rest of my life, like for the project that I’m working on. I got the IT excellence award or whatever, because I’m on the IT team for my school’s newspaper. I did a lot of work for them this past term, and they appreciated that. I also won the multicultural award for really trying to participate in and go to every event by the Intercultural Community Bridge Program at my institution, which introduces international students to the culture of the local city, institution, and the United States. That was awesome. I really appreciate that. They’re not really like awards, but they’re something and I’m happy about it.

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