After completing my LHSI internship, I have learned a lot about working in a laboratory as well as what I would like to do after I graduate.

For my internship I worked in Dr. Jason Organ's laboratory in the IUSM Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology. We worked on various topics in the field of musculoskeletal biomechanics. My internship was specifically focused on the structure and mechanics of primate tail vertebrae. 

Looking back on my internship, I was able to gain a lot of unique experience as well as build new skills. I learned many new research techniques that helped me in my work as well as creating a final poster. Having a broad knowledge of various research techniques will be very helpful if I decide to pursue graduate work. Graduate programs often require a lot intensive research and the skills I gained in Dr. Organ's lab will help me be prepared for this. 

Another general skill I gained from my internship was communication. Working in a research laboratory is primarily a team effort. You are required to work with multiple different people with different levels of education and different expertise. Therefore it is important that everyone stays on the same page and knows what is going on in the lab. Through my internship, I was able to became very proficient at communicating efficiently and effectively with my coworkers. 

Some other general skills I picked up during my internship were technical writing and presentation. Working in the lab often requires reports or memos to be written for various techniques, equipment, or projects. Keeping my coworkers well informed required me to often write instruction sets. This skill will be valuable in any career I choose. Being able to communicate complex information easily is a very useful skill. I was also able to strengthen my presentation skills while preparing for the Indiana Academy of Science and the LHSI poster sessions. Creating a poster on my research greatly improved my ability to communicate my research to the public. This skill will be incredibly useful if I decide to pursue a career in science, as poster shows are quite commonplace.

Overall, working in the lab has improved my skills in research as well as my general skills as an employee. 

Another very important thing I got out of my internship was being able to relate the concepts I have learned in my classes to actual research and applications. For the first semester of my internship I was taking a class called Biomechanics, the very topic we were studying in the lab. I found this very useful in my general education because biomedical engineering can often get very technical and theoretical and being able to visualize the things we were discussing greatly enhanced my learning and understanding. 

Looking back on the entirety of my internship, I feel I have improved myself in many different ways. I have made many new connections in the school of medicine and at IUPUI, ones I otherwise might not have made. I have also learned a lot about many of the career paths I am considering. My internship was a very good experience and challenging experience and I am very glad I was able to take part in it.