During my first semester of college, I was fortunate enough to take American Politics with Professor Chris Bonneau. Throughout this course, I was very engaged in the material and often attended office hours or scheduled times to meet with him to discuss parts of the content which I did not understand. The following semester, I…
Tag: Fall 2020
The Joys of Learning, Teaching, and Everything in Between
Ever since completing General Chemistry 1 with Dr. Ewing, I knew I wanted to collaborate with him again during my undergraduate career. I became a UTA for the course the following year but could not work with Dr. Ewing as he was on a sabbatical. During my second year, I learned about the great variety…
Mischief Management: Reflections and Advice on Learning to Teach
Developing close working relationships with your professors is by far the best way to get involved with research and other fellowships here at Pitt. My faculty mentor, Dr. Lori Campbell, has actually been a part of my journey at Pitt since before I even officially started here. In the spring of 2019, just a few…
Some Reflections on Teaching and (Un)Learning
I began working with my mentor, Gretchen Bender, this past spring as a research assistant in the development of the class for which I am now a teaching assistant, HAA 1025: Museums: Society and Inclusion?. As we worked to refine the course, we had no idea that it would be taught remotely in a…
Learning Through Teaching in a Virtual Environment
Working with Professor Gretchen Bender this semester as a teaching assistant for Museums: Society and Inclusion? has been an enriching experience. I was also fortunate enough to work with her this past spring as a research assistant alongside several other undergraduate students from the History of Art and Architecture department. We helped Professor Bender develop…
The Research Process: How To Polish A Diamond In The Rough
The research process can be tough, and at times, grueling. There are a lot of hiccups—the struggle to find the best sources, not having “good data”, trouble with equipment, endlessly reading dense materials, having insufficient technical understanding of the content, the stress of having limited funds, and among all, the burnout and lack of motivation…
Learning How to Research and Presenting it : Pandemic Edition
My research experience in the last two years has undoubtedly been the best learning experience I have ever had in my life. In my opinion, there are two major components to learning how to do research. First, it is imperative to learn more about how your PI thinks and develops projects, with focus on both…
Theatre and Collaboration: Finding a Mentor and Learning How to Teach
When people ask me how I found my faculty mentor for this fellowship, I tell them that it was actually flipped. My faculty mentor, Gianni Downs, sent me an email with this opportunity after I expressed interest in TA’ing his scene painting class. Together we worked on what this project could be and how I…
Finding My Own Path to Research
I first started to become involved in research in the Classics department in my first semester at Pitt. I emailed the chair of the department, Dr. Possanza, describing some of the topics that I was interested in and asked if there were any professors in the Classics department that he thought would be worth reaching…
My Neuroscience Research Journey
My research mentor for my fellowship this fall is Dr. Bill Yates, a professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at Pitt’s School of Medicine. For well over thirty years, Dr. Yates has been a major contributor to science in his research on the vestibular influences on cardiovascular regulation, neurobiology of motion sickness, multisensory integration of…