William participated in Field Studies by taking PWS 494R.
What type of projects did you work on as part of your Experiential Learning course?
eDNA (helped out with filtering late at night!), and some computational work involving Caddisfly silk genes.
What day to day tasks were part of this experience?
We usually had weekly activities like the ones listed above. These experiences were longer (~4-8 hours) so they were pretty spread out. Lab meetings were also held weekly
What did you learn unexpectedly?
I learned that I can lead a group pretty well!
How has this experience influenced your career goals?
It has made me realize that I want to be a scientist, even if I am going to pursue medicine. I think discovery and hypotheses are contained within any aspect of life.
What types of new opportunities are now available because of the experience?
I am working on my own project involving odorant binding proteins and cytochrome P450 genes. I can do my own work, and it involves coding! something I've always wanted to learn
Is there anything else you would like to share?
Research has been awesome. I have enjoyed making new friends and having my eyes opened to the world of bugs and biodiversity
