Name:Yaw Owusu-Boaitey

Internship, Co-op or Research Site:Colorado State University Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) in Molecular Biosciences

Position Title: Research Intern

Major(s)/Minor(s):Biological Sciences

Work Term:Summer 2018

Tell us about your internship, co-op, or research opportunity, including your day-to-day responsibilities.

I had a phenomenal experience in the Colorado State REU in Molecular Biosciences in summer 2018. I had the pleasure of working in the lab of Dr. Erin Osborne Nishimura as part of my first long-term research experience through the REU. My project assessed the impact of two common E. coli dietary sources on the health and behavior of the free-living nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, an unexpectedly charming model organism of study with many useful and fascinating characteristics.My day-to-day responsibilities included media making for the worms and bacteria, worm transfer between various agar plates and growth conditions for experimentation purposes, counting worm populations, conducting protocols to stain for fat levels within the worms, tracking worm movement, and creating weekly reports and updates for my work.

Describe the process of obtaining your position. When did you hear of the position and submit your application?

As a student in the Meyerhoff Scholars Program at UMBC, I received lots of guidance in applying for summer internships, including help with drafting personal statements and a resume. The UMBC Writing Center and Career Center were also instrumental during the revision process for my application materials.I began to research summer 2018 internship positions as early as fall 2017, mostly utilizing resources from the Research Opportunities webpage on the UMBC Undergraduate Research website. I submitted my applications in January 2018, since most summer research internships I applied to had deadlines in February and March 2018.

What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization?

Every aspect of the REU program was phenomenal and far exceeded my expectations. My lab members were incredibly friendly and knowledgeable, and the people I met in the program and in other labs at Colorado State helped me to develop as a research scientist. This development remains incredibly important to me, since I intend to pursue a graduate research degree in developmental biology or molecular genetics. Through the REU, I strengthened my understanding of developmental biology as well as my professional skills. The opportunity to spend ten weeks away from home developing my passion for research also provided me with the space to grow personally and learn about a school that I will consider attending for graduate studies. Lastly, and most importantly, I thoroughly enjoyed working with C. elegans, and its usefulness as a model organism continues to constantly fascinate me. For example, adult C. elegans worms have exactly 959 cells, and researchers know exactly when each cell type will arise during development. The worms take only four days to grow from embryo to adult. They can even be frozen indefinitely and brought back to life!

How do you believe you have made an impact through your work?

My particular project was one that lacks comprehensive study in labs that use C. elegans as a model organism. Most labs culture worms on agar plates seeded with the OP50 E. coli strain as a diet for the worms. If labs want to grow very large quantities of worms, a thicker-growing strain of E. coli, NA22, is instead provided as a diet for the worms. These two E. coli strains are often used interchangeably in C. elegans studies, and worm health under the two diets is largely assumed to be similar. However, sensitive genomics assays, quantitative experiments, or investigations into behavior or intestinal biology may be confounded by even subtle differences in worm development. Thus, we aimed to quantify effects of the two food sources on three key worm phenotypes: worm brood size, intestinal fat deposit levels, and motility. My project excited me and made me feel that I made a worthwhile impact in C. elegans research.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?

I would advise students to visit the Career Center, Undergraduate Research website, and other campus resources to browse opportunities they are interested in and keep track of deadlines well ahead of time (for internship applications, 3-4 months ahead of deadlines). I would also advise students to make appointments with the Career Center and Writing Center on campus to prepare the strongest possible application materials, including statements, resumes, and requests for letters of recommendation.

Like the Career Center on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram

#UMBCintern

Want to be the next Intern of the Week? Make sure to fill out this form and stay tuned. New interns are announced every Friday!

Welcome back, everyone! I hope your break was good and you all had a healthy and happy start to the new year. With the first week of classes behind us, it's time to get back in the swing of things and start working on career goals once again.

With any luck, you’re not too busy at the beginning of the semester, so it’s a great time to get a few things squared away. First, update your resume. Include projects you completed over break or last semester, a more recent GPA, and a more recent list of relevant coursework to name a few. As always, consider coming into the Career Center for more specific advice. We’re hosting our Resume Rescue event on February 6th and 12th, and we’d love to see you there! Next, begin preparing for our Career Fair! Be sure to put it on your calendar (February 15th from 11:30-3:30 at the RAC) and begin researching companies that will be in attendance. I’ll write a longer guide next week; be sure to keep an eye out for it! Finally, be sure to get a few more job or internship applications in before classes get too hectic. A lot of companies deadlines are approaching fast, so the sooner you can apply the better!

After you’ve done all that, take a minute to plan so your semester will go a little more smoothly. Research the deadlines for your favorite internships. There's nothing worse than realizing you’ll have to wait an extra year to apply. Consider scheduling an appointment with a Career Counselor here at the center to discuss career goals or even have a mock interview. Take a look at our upcoming events while you’re at it! Put them on your calendar now so you won’t forget. There's a lot of fun stuff coming up in the next few months, like an On The Road to the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab and a workshop on personal branding. And if you haven’t done so already, sign up for the BEYA Career Fair and Conference. It’s a free career fair with over 50 workshops. Sign up here!

I hope you all had an easy start to your semesters! Join me next week where I’ll be discussing how to make the most of the Spring Career Fair.