I was lucky enough to be afforded this opportunity to be an undergraduate teaching assistant through what seems to be pure luck. In May of 2020, the Political Science department sent out inquiries looking for undergraduate students who were interested in serving as Research Assistants. I applied and was then matched up with Dr. Andrew…
Tag: Spring 2021
Overcoming Barriers in Ecological Research
I realized I was interested in ecology and wanted to have a role in studying the complexities of relationships between organisms and their environment after taking several ecology courses. I started talking to my ecology professor at this time and asked how one can get involved in ecological research, and she advised me to try to get in contact with principal investigators that focus on ecology at…
Embrace the Unknown – Becoming a Researcher
Getting Started with Research Regardless of your academic interests, you can participate in research. I’m not referring to synthesizing and summarizing papers and articles about a particular topic. I’m talking about embracing the unknown: asking questions, investigating problems, exploring different solutions, and evaluating your results. From History, Literature, or Music to Chemistry, Computer Science, or…
Continuing Research on Women in the Literature and Roman Ritual in the Secular Games of 17 B.C.E
In order to begin my research, I started very broadly. By looking into general resources pertaining to the Carmen Saeculare and the Secular Games themselves, I was able to branch off from there and find resources particularly pertaining to my interests. For example, I came across a passage in Michael Putnam’s book, Horace’s Carmen Saeculare: Ritual Magic and…
Finding My Passion For Research
My passion for research stems primarily from pure curiosity. I am constantly amazed when I think about the millions of small molecule interactions, signaling pathways, and biological phenomena that go on within us each and every day. It is these interactions that go on every second of every day behind our level of consciousness that…
A Call for College Students to Become Community Advocates
While I love college, there is one thing that never sat right with me about the experience. Countless students come from across the country, inhabit a city for a few years, and then often leave without a trace. Sure, they join clubs and create a pseudo-community of their own, but they rarely look up to…
Undecided? Advice For Majors Still in the Making, From a Senior Who Took Every Pit Stop
The spring before I planned to start at Pitt, I loaded my blue Ford Escape and prepared for the four-hour drive. I was leaving home to attend Admitted Student Day. As I started off on my drive, alone, I was left to contemplate what I knew would come next. I was not only preparing to…
My Global College Years At a Glance
Hi, my name is Karenna, and I am pleased to be serving as a Pitt Honors College Ambassador this academic year. I am a senior majoring in Political Science (International Relations) and English (Nonfiction Writing), minoring in Turkish, and pursuing certificates in Global and Eurasian Studies. I was born and raised in Fairfax, VA, where…
Just as strong acids and bases can drastically change their environment, strong TAs can make an equal change!
I have known Dr. Bell since spring of freshman year when I took his general chemistry two class. During this time, I would talk to Dr. Bell quite frequently before and after classes about concepts from lecture or chemistry in our everyday lives. After the semester had ended, I reached out to Dr. Bell over…
Always Something to Do
Hello again!! Despite how much time you spend in classes in college, so much more of life happens outside of the classroom. Pitt offers so many types of activities and extracurriculars to get involved with, which allows you to pursue interests that may not be allotted for within the traditional classroom setting. Whatever I couldn’t…