I chose DIY Diagnostics because I fell in love with how comfortable it felt. DIY is honestly just a family of researchers helping each other out. I also was passionate about what research we conducted—we were relevant to the real world and in changing lives on a day to day basis. This concept was really important to me because I am a public health major and wanted research that dealt with populations and diagnostic practices. The main idea of DIY is to make lives easier for both the patients and medical professionals. I absolutely loved the relevance and day-to-day application of our lab’s research and projects. I particularly was entranced by the idea of having a ongoing human subject research pertaining to patients that have been diagnosed Parkinson’s Disease and analyzing their keystroke patterns. Currently, for my independent project this semester I am learning to use LAMP (a DNA amplification method similar to PCR but is more accurate, easier and newer) as a diagnostic to detect Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, a deadly and usually asymptomatic disease. I am collaborating with 2 other researchers (one of them guiding/mentoring us through the process). Last semester I learned the importance of collaborating with others and their different skill sets. If someone told me a year ago about the skills I have learned and continue to learn through the Freshmen Research Initiative I would’ve laughed because I didn’t think I had what it took to be an undergrad researcher in an actual college research lab. Some of these skills include coding using different languages, Nanophotometer, PCR, 3D printing, Qbit, sampling Waller Creek and so much more that I am still learning to understand. Through FRI I have learned persistence, asking for help, and how to make a mean graph with my data. Not only am I involved in my own research stream I am also a mentor for freshman in Scientific Inquiry Across Disciplines—the UGS class of FRI. It is through mentoring that class of incoming freshmen do I realize just how far I have come. 🙂