Hannah Kim, COL’25, Glastonbury, CT
Coming into Penn, the idea of research was still very vague to me. It had seemed like a keyword just thrown around, and I really had no idea what it entailed. So when near the end of the second semester I had secured a position as an intern at Platt Labs, a neuroscience focused research lab under Dr. Michael Platt, I felt as though I was taking steps into completely uncharted territory.
I knew I wanted to learn more and explore in-depth neuroscience and specifically, the workings of the human brain. Platt Labs was a great place for me to learn about the different branches and fields of research under the broad term of neuroscience. Through weekly lab meetings where the post-docs presented what they were working on and casual conversations with the other interns in the lab, I gained basic familiarity with decision-making, the usage of macaques for experiments, and the effects of meditation on the brain, among other topics.
I found myself drawn to the idea of how close relationships can correlate with similar brain waves between friends. Working with one of the graduate students in the lab, I learned how to preprocess EEG data using python, and read multiple papers about the research done on the correlation between people and the similarity of brain activity. I not only was able to immerse myself in what neuroscience covers, but was able to organize and deal with the data itself.
As time went on, I grew more comfortable with the lab environment. I had a weekly routine, and I knew my tasks while also learning to ask my own questions and ideas for research. And just like I had wanted, I found myself knowing more about the field I was majoring in. My basic questions about research and my interests were being answered, and questions about my project and curiosities about what I could do in the future took their place.
Now, after over two months of going to the lab daily and focusing purely on research, I feel that I know what research is. It is a collaborative effort, not just by one person but by multiple people that contribute in different ways: I learned from my graduate student about the direct research, was guided by the professor who helped me decide on a project, and traded ideas with the other interns about each other’s research.
None of this would have been possible without the Career Services Summer Funding. The opportunity to live in Philly with barely any outside cost is something that I am extremely grateful for. The financial support to give me the chance to learn what research and my major mean to me is the first stepping stone for the rest of my undergraduate career and beyond.
This is part of a series of posts by recipients of the 2022 Career Services Summer Funding Grant. We’ve asked funding recipients to reflect on their summer experiences and talk about the industries in which they spent their summer. You can read the entire series here.
