I basically walked into this internship with almost no real lab experience. I'm not including the labs, we've done in Physics, Biology, and Chemistry because those weren't done in a real lab setting. I wasn't really sure what to expect or what I was doing.
When you're conducting research, you have to be super careful and meticulous. You don't want your data to be messed up. This is something you're publishing, you can't take it lightly. So, there's a lot of steps involved in taking what seems like the simplest measurement.
Thankfully, I wasn't just thrown to the wolves (or lab experiments, in this case). My mentor worked with me through each step until I felt confident that I could complete it and the quality of my work satisfied her. It also helps that Dr. Ngo (my mentor) is really good at providing detailed instruction and providing me with understandable answers to whatever questions I have. So is Lauren, who works part-time and comes in on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
When you're conducting research, you have to be super careful and meticulous. You don't want your data to be messed up. This is something you're publishing, you can't take it lightly. So, there's a lot of steps involved in taking what seems like the simplest measurement.
Thankfully, I wasn't just thrown to the wolves (or lab experiments, in this case). My mentor worked with me through each step until I felt confident that I could complete it and the quality of my work satisfied her. It also helps that Dr. Ngo (my mentor) is really good at providing detailed instruction and providing me with understandable answers to whatever questions I have. So is Lauren, who works part-time and comes in on Tuesdays and Thursdays.