What was valuable about the experience

In my 4+ years of research at Ursinus I was given countless experiences by doing research. I would have to say that my first experience was my most valuable, which was the FUTURE program. I came to Ursinus with a love for science, but little direction beyond that. The FUTURE program opened my eyes to all the career paths science offered and gave me my first experience working in a laboratory. That experience led me to pursue my Ph.D. in biomedical sciences and I will always be grateful for the opportunity to be in this wonderful program. 

The coolest part of the experience

I had 2 stand out memories of doing research with the neuroscience department. First, would be publishing my research in my sophomore year! It was incredibly rewarding to see a project to publication and be able to contribute to the final product at such an early stage of my career. 

Another fantastic experience was traveling to conferences. I presented in a local conference my freshman year and the Society for Neuroscience conferences during my sophomore and senior years! Travelling to D.C. and San Diego for the latter conferences was especially cool because I had never been there before! 

Who I met that made a difference

My research mentor, Dr. Favero, made the biggest difference in my career because she taught me everything I know about working in the lab and being a scientist. She was a fantastic mentor who showed me how to love science all the time: on rough days when nothing seems to go right and especially on the best days when you celebrate a publication or a significantly different data set. I also met so many passionate students through FUTURE and Summer Fellows that motivated me!