Mishael Majeed, COL ’25, Little Rock, AR
This summer I had the incredible opportunity to delve into the realm of machine learning for the first time through Dr. Lu’s Lab (The Lu Group) at the Penn Institute for Computational Science.
When looking for research opportunities, I wanted to find something that would encapsulate my interests in both the engineering field and the healthcare field, and I stumbled upon Dr. Lu’s lab, which combines mathematics, machine learning, and computer science to applicable biological and chemical systems, many of which would be relevant in healthcare. Dr. Lu’s lab was welcoming and gave me the time and opportunity to start learning about machine learning and helped my transition to applying what I learned into the research very smoothly.
I was fortunate to be paired with my lab mentor, ph.D student Mitchell Daneker, who understood my nervousness starting at the lab with no machine learning experience. He told me that he was once in my shoes as well, and that over time I will slowly learn, and that I just have to trust the process. He was able to guide me, while also allowing me to explore and delve into the topics on my own and learn from my own trial and error, which I realized was truly the best way to learn. At that moment, I understood what it truly meant to trust the process. I started getting a grasp on things, and also started to realize on my own the significance of machine learning.
The reason why machine learning is so relevant in healthcare is because it has the capability to predict and create models of any system, given many data points. Using that data, it’s able to paint a picture for someone who wants to predict, say, possibly the glucose level variations in someone with type 2 diabetes, another paper written by the Lu lab. In my research this summer, I was able to work and am still currently working on 36 different properties of cells and their variations in normal humans, using different machine learning techniques.
This experience not only enriched my knowledge, but made me realize that it was possible to combine different niches you are interested in to be able to truly follow your passions, especially at Penn. I want to be able to pursue a career where I am able to use different types of strategies, and produce something that will help patients across the world learn more about themselves and be able to access treatments that are tailored to them. I have gained valuable skills and memorable experiences, and I am extremely thankful to Penn Career Services and all the donors who were able to make this possible for me.
This is part of a series of posts by recipients of the 2023 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
