By: Nike Izmaylov
Disclaimer: The author does not have any conflicting interests with regards to the labs referenced in this article. Researching places to research? Scrambling to find a place after you failed to keep your eyes on the PRISE? If you still haven’t arranged what you’ll be doing over the summer and are interested in pursuing research opportunities, consider an internship at one of the following labs right here on campus, which are accepting undergraduates including freshmen. These don’t represent the full body of undergrad-accepting labs on campus, but take this as a smattering of the diverse smorgasbord of cutting-edge science development happening on campus—science development that you can help out with. Have you ever wondered about the neurobiological basis for behaviour? Ever considered how behaviours could have evolved over time from the seemingly simple to the overwhelmingly complex? At the de Bivort lab, headed by Dr. Ben de Bivort, study the behaviour of Drosophila fruit flies through comparative genomics and circuit neuroscience to untangle the mysteries of how behaviour evolution can cause speciation and individual preferences. Curious to learn—and help to discover more—about how animal embryos differentiate cells early in development? Want to develop skill and experience with about high-throughput gene expression and next-generation genetic sequencing? The Extavour lab, headed by Dr. Cassandra Extavour, is looking for motivated undergrads to assist in screening for gene controls to uncover how both model and non-model organisms become organisms in the first place. Enjoy dabbling in computation and software? Interested in discovering new functions of RNA and strengthening evolutionary models? Working under Elena Rivas, a senior research fellow at the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, help to develop new algorithms and models through statistical inference to solve the enigma of long coding RNAs. Fancy yourself an engineer? Intrigued by the concept of programming biological nano-machines for very real world applications? At the Molecular Systems Lab, headed by Peng Yin, learn how to engineer programmable molecular systems, built with nucleic acids rather than with the typical tools of engineering. Consider yourself a flower enthusiast? Ever thought about how flowers have evolved—and why? The Kramer lab, headed by Elena Kramer, researches a variety of aspects of evolution and morphology of flower biology, including interactions with pollinators such as bees and birds, how the various parts of a flower—petal, fruit, sepal, and so on—evolved, and the effects of gene duplication. Ever considered the neuronal background behind instinctive versus learned behaviours? Curious about the mystery of how a few interconnected cells can generate emergent complex behaviour? The Engert lab at the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology If something on this list has intrigued you, take a deeper look at what they do, and send off an email with your qualifications—the most that they can say is “no”. Consider asking your professors or TFs for more recommendations; they could even put in a good word for you. Whatever you choose to pursue this summer, whether it’s research or something else, remember that the sooner you contact perspective mentors, the easier it’ll be. Good luck from all of us here at Scientista!
0 Comments
2/27/2016 0 Comments From High School to HarvardBy: Soumyaa Mazumder
It’s about twenty minutes into my PS11 class when Professor Anderson suddenly stops talking. The topic for this morning lecture is energy, and so far we’ve discussed various categories of energy, ranging from electromagnetic to kinetic. But just after Anderson finishes up his discussion of transferring energy from the macroscopic to microscopic realms, he pauses before asking, “I haven’t really defined energy yet, have I?” It’s an amusing revelation at first, until he follows up with a surprising statement: energy itself has no strict definition. As Anderson goes on to explain, even Richard Feynman, one of the most celebrated modern physicists, admitted that energy “is not a description of a mechanism, or anything concrete,” but somehow always manages to obey some strange fact that it never changes in numerical value no matter through what process nature tries to transform it. Several months ago, at the start of my freshman year, the discussion such as the one above might have frustrated me. As someone who wants to pursue science and loves learning about why certain phenomena occur the way they do, it can be an unsettling feeling when even a great Harvard scientist tells his class that some of the most fundamental concepts (concepts that we as students often take for granted or do complex analyses and calculations on without fully understanding them) are not entirely understood. Outside of just adjusting to the complex and more fast-paced nature of college science courses, perhaps the biggest lesson I’ve learned from my classes this year is learning to be comfortable with the unknown. In high school, what with the focus sometimes on perfect AP scores, it was often easy to approach the material in my science classes as a sort of checklist, that by covering x, y, and z topic, you can assume that you understand the content well. Whether it was biology or physics, the standard model for learning was to review lectures, do as many practice problems as you could, take the test, and then move on to the next topic. And while that model is obviously still similar to that of college science courses, what Harvard, and college in general, has shown me is that paradoxically, the more in-depth you wish to learn a subject, sometimes the more you realize how little you actually know. You realize that for all the difficult calculations that are performed in your physics class, sometimes the seemingly “basic” ideas can be unclear because physicists themselves do not understand them in concrete ways quite yet. You realize that in order to understand how a certain drug precisely works in a biological system requires a deeper understanding of chemical and physical principles and a realization that to understand one field in depth often requires understanding other, related fields in great detail as well. You realize that even your amazing, established professors don’t have all the answers sometimes because the scientific questions are actually a lot more complex than they seem. And while that can be a slightly unsettling feeling at times, this realization that you’re not going to learn everything there is to know about the subject from just one class, it can be liberating as well. Instead of being frustrated about not knowing every concept in great detail, I’ve learned to approach my classes from the mindset of just taking in as much information as I can and trying to understand it in as much depth as possible given what we know at this time. After all, it’s not the concepts we do know, but rather the realization of how much we don’t understand and of how many unsolved, interesting questions there are still out there that pushes science forward and makes it so exciting in the first place. |
What's NewUpcoming EventsFinal ScientisTalk of the Semester!
When: 4/25, 6-70pm Where: Lowell Small Dining Hall Subscribe to Our Mailing ListArchives
November 2016
Categories |
The Scientista Foundation, Inc. All Rights Reserved © 2011-2021 | Based in NY | [email protected]
The Network for Pre-Professional Women in Science and Engineering
The Scientista Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) -- Donate!
The Network for Pre-Professional Women in Science and Engineering
The Scientista Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) -- Donate!