As I progressed through my final fall semester here, I spent a significant amount of time in the lab pursuing research. What I want to highlight as my main takeaways from this semester and previous semesters is the importance of discussion and collaboration within the world of biological research. Being able to have a good…
Author: sarazdancewicz
Undergraduate Research: Making an Entrance
Coming into college my freshman year, I knew that I wanted to eventually go to grad school and get a PhD, and knew that I wanted to get involved in research as early as possible. I started reaching out to professors by October of my freshman year, after doing some digging on the Pitt webpages…
CURF Post #1: Introduction
Hello and welcome! My name is Sara Zdancewicz, a current fifth-year Biology and Statistics double major set to graduate this December. Outside of classes and research, I enjoy playing sports like soccer and volleyball, fencing sabre on the club fencing team, and even getting into a little bit of whitewater kayaking. I also love listening…
My Research after an Interdisciplinary Lens: What I’ve Learned
As my time taking part in the Brackenridge draws to a close, I need to reflect on how this fellowship was able to meaningfully change my experience doing research this summer. I think that being a Brackenridge fellow made me focus more on the bigger picture of my research, rather than get fully absorbed into…
Communicating Structural Biology to an Interdisciplinary Community
One of the often-overlooked benefits of doing STEM research, specifically in the fields of health science or pharmacology, is that the applicability and importance of the research is never questioned. Being able to answer and explain the question of “why” has always been far easier for me than to explain the question of “how” when…
Growing Interdisciplinary Interest: Brackenridge Blog Post #2
As the weeks have progressed, I’ve gained a better understanding of how participating in the Brackenridge Fellowship is going to continue to benefit me in a variety of ways throughout the rest of the summer. I think there are two distinct facets to consider when looking at how I interact with other Brackenridge scholars and…
My Introduction to the Brackenridge Fellowship
Hi all, and welcome! My name is Sara Zdancewicz, an undergraduate majoring in Statistics and Biology, and a current recipient of the Brackenridge Fellowship for the upcoming summer months. A little bit about me— I plan on graduating this December and will be applying to grad schools for Fall 2023 admittance in either Structural Biology…