I will forever value the experience I was granted this summer as part of the Brackenridge Fellowship. I learned a lot about interdisciplinary work, the research process, and the opportunities available to me at Pitt. This summer I learned that research, particularly the methods and timeline of a study, are not as strict as I…
Tag: cannon crew
Fin
Above all, my understanding of conducting research broadened over the summer. I learned more about the facets and intricacies of my own project, but that pales in comparison to what I learned about the work of others. Through the seminars, ideathon, presentations, and my cohort, I was able to learn about myriad projects across all…
Evolving Perspectives on Research
Before starting the Brackenridge this summer, during the past spring semester I completed philosophy research in a directed study for a different topic in the field of metaethics. (The focus, similarly to my initial plan in the Brackenridge, was trained on a specific position in the field of metaethics, this one called neo-Aristotelian ethical naturalism….
Interdisciplinary = Greater than the Sum of its Parts
Over the past few weeks, we were exposed to the prospect of interdisciplinary research. Because my own project is focused in one field of discipline, it was nice to work with other researchers for a different subject matter, consciously uniting our various backgrounds to tackle an issue related to higher education accessibility or inequality. My…
Connecting With the World (Starting From My Childhood Bedroom)
The Brackenridge alum I chose to connect with via Pitt Commons was Sam Cwalina, a doctoral candidate at the University of Southern California. It is incredible that as Pitt students we are able to make such connections with people across the country, and, I expect, the rest of the world. I chose to request a…
Networking and Class
As part of the prompt for this week’s blog post, we were instructed to create a profile on Pitt Commons as a first step to connecting with other Brackenridge alumni who have similar interests, career paths, or academic majors. I reached out to an alum who studied Philosophy and German as an undergrad and ended…
Réseau
Connections are important in any vocation, and especially in research. Only in collaboration and heeding works past and present in one’s field can new research be impactful. Isaac Newton once said, “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants,” and I believe that encompasses the significance of…
Crossing Academic Boundaries
In order to make one’s research accessible to all audiences, which is paramount to the universality of such studies, it is imperative that the information be translated, at least partially, into lay speak. Otherwise, no one beyond a small subset of people in a particular niche of study will be able to grasp the core…
Thinking Together
We’ve talked a lot about presenting research here at the Brackenridge. Unsurprisingly, it’s really difficult. I remember a couple weeks ago sitting down with my family for dinner (one of the nicer aspects of quarantine, to be sure) where I was asked what I had done that day for my research project. The question was…
Audible to All
Talking to a general audience about research in any field is a difficult task. The extent to which you explain the depths of your project is a very arbitrary decision (and one that always leads to a mental impasse for me!). Field-specific jargon, which you may not even perceive as veiled language to the average…