Claire Hall,
Junior, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Athens, OH 11 November 2013 – The spring semester of my sophomore year I applied through my Advisor for an Undergraduate Research Assistant position in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department. I had the privilege of being hired under
Dr. Monica Burdick to help in her cancer therapeutics and diagnostics research. Currently I help with one of her projects in collaboration with two other researchers at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. The research concerns identification of proteins that target specific ligands on breast cancer cells. Ultimately the research would be used to detect and or combat early metastasis, the spread, of breast cancer cells.
This great position, provided by federal funding Dr. Burdick received for research, has given me the opportunity to learn a great deal about standard experiments and procedures used in research and the industry today for biomedical and biomolecular engineering. I will someday be able to take this knowledge and experience into a co-op or my first job after graduation. It has also given me a chance to not only learn from Dr. Burdick, but also her graduate students and other undergraduate students. I feel it has also helped me to apply the knowledge from research to my classes and vice versa.
Undergraduate research is a fantastic way for students to get involved and gain valuable experience in a field while still taking classes.
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