As a CS major interested in applications of CS in the healthcare field, DIY was the perfect fit for me. When I was choosing streams, I didn’t want to pick a stream that was purely CS but I also wanted to be able to use my CS knowledge. DIY was the only stream that fit these criteria. Picking DIY turned out to be a really good decision. The work that we do is both interesting and relevant. The work that we do isn’t too focused and there’s some variety to it compared to other streams.
Throughout the semester, I gained a lot of experience and learned so many things. This was my first time working in an actual lab. Before this, I had very minimal experience in a laboratory setting so DIY was a great opportunity to gain some experience. The thing that I really enjoyed about DIY was that we got to do a wide variety of things. When I talked to some of my friends in other streams, they were essentially doing the same experiment over and over again. Whereas with DIY, we got to do many different things and gain experience in many different lab techniques. We even got to do field research. The best part about DIY is that it’s a little more broad and allows you to pick what you’re interested in under the umbrella of point-of-care diagnostics. In addition to learning about doing research and being in a lab, it’s also allowed me to gain better time management skills. At the beginning of the semester, I found it extremely difficult to manage doing 6 hours of lab work in addition to all my other classes. By the end of the semester, I was so much better at managing to do everything. Overall, DIY has been an extremely rewarding experience and I’ve learned a lot of things, lab related and otherwise.
Ultimately, when it comes to research, you get out of it what you put into it. The FRI experience is truly what you make of it. You can’t breeze your way through it and expect to come out of it having learned tons of new things. That being said, if you do put in the work and the effort, you’ll definitely come out with at least some new knowledge and experience.
Here’s a picture of me on the news. How cool!!